Contessina Suites & Spa
Making a splash
Banana-tree-lined backstreet
Despite its regal name, Contessina Suites & Spa is really a rather laidback sort, where you can float your cares away on one of many pools (or a private pool if you wish), be soothed by Ancient Grecian panaceas in the fairy-grotto spa and wash your troubles away with lashings of local wine in child-free silence (the hotel is for over-18s only). And, several of Zankynthos’s gorgeous Ionian-lapped beaches are close by, so your stay will be more prostrate-on-a-beach-towel than standing-on-ceremony.
Facilities
Rooms
64 suites.
Checkout
11am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 3pm.
More Details
Rates usually include an American buffet breakfast or local and international à la carte dishes.
Also
There are specially adapted rooms for guests with mobility issues. And the hotel has brochures and room numbers in braille and manuals detailing adaptations throughout the property.
Hotel Closed
The hotel closes at the end of October for the winter season and re-opens in April.
Fitness Center
Free Internet Access
Laundry
Pool
On-Site Restaurant
Room Service
Spa
At the Hotel
Spa with a sauna, steam room and boutique; roof terrace; fitness centre, alfresco lounging areas, concierge, laundry, business centre, laundry, free WiFi. In rooms: A small Zakynthian treat to welcome you, Smart TV, Nespresso machine, tea-making kit, bathrobes and slippers.
Our Favourite Rooms
We’ve never met a private pool we didn’t like, and with little to distinguish the suites’ decor here, it’s a feature that will win most over. However, the suites with shared pools are surprisingly sheltered, if you work out a schedule with your neighbour – there’s a leafy barrier between you and the resort at large.
Poolside
There are three. The indoor spa pool (open 10am to 6pm) has a fantastical setting, a stone grotto with curvaceous walls, a freehand squiggle of a pool, Roman steps to perch on and swing chairs to rock yourself in. The main-event outdoor pool, in the hotel’s interior courtyard, is large enough for uninterrupted laps and is surrounded by oversized bean bags, day-beds sunk into the deck and shaded sunloungers, and there’s a second smaller pool with inlaid greenery next to it (both open from 8am to 8pm).
Spa
Kamara Spa feels like the dwelling of especially stylish cave people, with its bowed stone walls and low lighting. You’ll be enrobed in silken lotions and mud masks; tossed like a Greek salad in sage, olive oil, black sand, lavender, bilberry and raki; pummelled like an Olympian of old; and treated like gods and goddesses on signature journeys inspired by the Aegean Sea and Apollo and Aphrodite (the latter’s for lovers). Plus there’s a sauna and steam room, pool and Jacuzzi, mani-pedi room, and a top-of-the-line fitness centre.
Packing Tips
All the swimwear you own – yes, even the banana hammock – whether you wade out into the Ionian, have a private pool to sink into or simply take a dip in the sky-blue waters of the main hotel pool, you’ll be immersed in water at some point.
Also
If any of the products infused with Grecian goodness used during your spa treatment were particularly effective, you can buy them – and the hotel’s own award-winning olive oil – in the onsite boutique. You can easily hail the concierge on the hotel’s app.
Children
Bye bye, baby – this is for over-18s only. But sister stay Contessina Hotel is a little more nurturing with a kid-friendly pool and family suites.
Gallery
Food & Drink
Top Table
If the weather’s good – and here, it mostly is – then make your way to the terrace. Take things to another level for a special occasion; specifically, the roof, where there’s a leafy enclave overlooking the resort which can be booked privately.
Dress Code
No need to go full goddess, just drape something floaty over your swimwear.
Hotel Restaurant
Lentika Restaurant is named for the sedan-style boxes Zakynthian royals would be discreetly ferried about in – although we’re not sure why, as the space is light-flooded, commodious and almost incorrigibly social, with its huge shared table as a centrepiece. It’s similar in style to the rest of the hotel: luxe yet simple with earthy hues and organic textures, and the terrace overlooks the goings-on around the pool. The island’s farms, fisheries and markets and some home grows supply the restaurant, and chef Christoforos Peskias’ menu, which gets refreshed frequently, is proudly Zakynthian, but there’s some inspiration from further afield, too.
Hotel Bar
Pick a poison a day and run with it, because cocktails arranged by spirit are the pool bar’s life blood. So, make ours a mojito on Monday, a mint julep on Tuesday, a gin basil smash on Wednesday, tequila-sloshed ginger margarita on Thursday and a porn-star martini for Friday. Then, freestyle it on the weekends, with Aperol spritzes and one of the hotel’s signature drinks: maybe a Cavaliere with tsipouras, grape juice and lime; or a refreshing Nobile with gin, elderflower, hibiscus and prosecco. And for fine Grecian wines, book a tasting in the hotel’s cellar with your very own sommelier – where picks from the island’s and the Peloponnese are stashed in cubby holes and nest in crates (there’s even a modern amphora).
Last Orders
Breakfast runs from 7.30am to 10.30am, snacks from noon to 10.30pm, and dinner from 7pm to 10.30pm. The bar runs dry at midnight.
Room Service
You can dine in your room round the clock on a selection of light bites and main meals.
Planes
Zakynthos Airport (AKA Dionysios Solomos) is just a 20-minute drive from the hotel. Direct flights arrive from a number of major cities in Europe, but those arriving from further afield will need to stop over. The hotel can arrange transfers on request.
Automobiles
If you really want to burrow into the most remote and beautiful bits of the island, then a car will come in handy, but you’ll need steely nerves – roads can be narrow and rustic and ridden by drivers for whom a speed limit is a serving suggestion. If that doesn’t faze you, there’s valet parking at the hotel. Otherwise, there’s no shame in flopping and dropping, and the hotel can help with hiring taxis or drivers.
Worth Getting Out of Bed For
Zakynthos translates to ‘amazing and loving’ – and while we’re dubious about the ‘loving’ bit (buy us a raki first, Zakynthos…), it certainly is amazing, and the hotel goes to great lengths to show you this. They bring in local musicians for jazz and traditional ‘kantades’ nights, arrange tea parties like the nobility of old enjoyed, pack picnics for days at Tsilivi beach (just 100 metres away), and send you on photo safaris to local beauty spots, say Navagio (AKA Shipwreck Beach) an aquamarine cove where limestone cliffs soar majestically from the water. They’ll also charter you a yacht, for a trip along the coast or a romantic sundowner. Kalamaki Beach is another picturesque spot for laying your towel, and while the hotel is adults-only, you can indulge your childish side with a visit to Tsilivi Water Park. Zante Town is just a 15-minute drive away and it has a few interesting museums to nose around (the Byzantine Museum and the Museum of Dionysios Solomos & Andreas Kalvos will give you a good grounding in local history). And it’s possible to spot sea turtles and seals at the Marine Park in the south. But really, your time here is best spent soaking in a pool, being slathered in olive oil in the spa, or call on the lovely staff to organise a vino-tasting session.
Earn or Redeem Points with World of Hyatt
This Mr & Mrs Smith hotel participates in the World of Hyatt loyalty program. As a member, you can earn and redeem points and enjoy exclusive benefits for qualifying nights. .
