Ios Grand Pool Suites

Style

Going swimmingly

Setting

The all-a-glitter Aegean

Three distinct shades of blue are all you’ll see from your private pool at Ios Grand Pool Suites, a discreet retreat high above buzzing Mylopotas Beach on the Cycladic island of Ios. Life is lived outside in the trade winds and the sunshine, with lazily long lunches and calming cocktails served right to your terrace, and little more to do than doze off into a novel or watch the superyachts come and go in the bay below. And when the noon sun shines, your pool is just a few steps away for a splash about.

Facilities

Rooms

An all-suite property; each of the 12 has a private terrace, pool and views of the Aegean.

Checkout

Check-in is from 3pm, and check-out is at 11am. Late check-out until 6pm is available for an extra charge of 50 per cent of the room rate.

More Details

Room rates include an à la carte breakfast served to your private terrace each morning.

Also

Unfortunately, uneven terrain and a hillside locale makes this hotel unsuitable for guests with limited mobility.

Hotel Closed

The hotel is typically closed from October to May each winter

Fitness Center

Free Internet Access

Pool

On-Site Restaurant

Room Service

At the Hotel

Gym, spa with couples treatment room, hammam, Jacuzzi, freshwater indoor pool, sauna, free WiFi. In rooms: private terrace and swimming pool, outdoor shower, sunloungers, outdoor dining area, outdoor fridge and minibar, 50-inch TV, desk, Nespresso machine, tea-making kit, kitchenette, air-conditioning, Molton Brown bath products.

Our Favourite Rooms

The end-facing Grand Three Bedroom Suite has 180-degree views that take in the rocky hillscape beyond Mylopotas Beach.

Poolside

The clue is in the name, so finding a little acqua in which to immerse yourself is never a concern. Each suite has its own private pool with sunloungers, and guests have access to a two pools at sister stay Ios Palace Hotel & Spa nearby, where there are cabanas and a bar serving cocktails in front of equally waterlogged panoramic views. Those searching for a soothing saltwater swim are spoilt for choice – the kilometre-long Mylopotas Beach is a short amble away and caters for all. The smooth, sandy beach fringes a calm bay which is not only great for swimming, but shelves quickly into deep water, making it ideal for watersports. The beach is organised with shaded cabanas and drink service near the bars and clubs, but morphs into empty open sands, so it’s always possible to find some space. Nevertheless, early risers will enjoy a tranquillity missed by the revellers still sleeping off the previous night’s indulgences.

Spa

There’s little more you need to work off the tension of city life than an outdoor treatment table and a view across the Aegean – while there's not a spa onsite, sister stay Ios Palace takes no chances, and the spa here is among the best on the island. Facilities include a couples treatment room, a hammam, and an indoor freshwater pool with a Jacuzzi. The treatment menu is inspired not only by island life and Greek traditions but hard-fought experience, and uses local Cycladic products. A day-one essential is the 45-minute Golden Hour ‘bronzing experience’, which flushes your dry pores with Cretan olive oil, herbs and aloe vera in preparation for the long days of sun-tanning to come.

Packing Tips

Bring a captain’s hat – many of the island’s 32 beaches are accessible only by water, and would-be captains can rent a small motorboat from nearby Chora and set sail for the day. You don’t need a boat licence.

Also

The facilities at the sister property, Ios Palace Hotel, are available to all Ios Grand Pool Suites guests.

Children

Children are welcome, and those over the age of 12 are priced as adults. Babysitting can be arranged with 48 hours’ notice and costs €30-50 per hour, depending on time of booking.

Gallery

Food & Drink

Top Table

On the edge as the sun sets.

Dress Code

Largely you'll be on your private terrace or submerged in a pool, so swimwear is acceptable. Dress up for date nights at Ios Palace Hotel next door.

Hotel Restaurant

The hotel’s own Tomatini Restaurant is located next door in the sister property, the Ios Palace Hotel, and whips up favourite Greek and Mediterranean contemporary dishes. There’s a special nod to local recipes as well as old favourites (in such heat Mr Smith can never ignore a club sandwich served with a cold Coke), and an impressive 80 per cent of all ingredients are sourced from within the island. Dining is exclusively outside and poolside, with that epic vista across Mylopotas Beach and the barren hills beyond an omnipresent milieu.

Hotel Bar

The Edge Bar is a special project of multi-award-winning mixologist Constantinos Athanasiou and sits sandwiched between pool and clifftop at the sister Ios Palace Hotel. There’s an impressive list of Greek wines and alcohol-free spirits, but the fortifying Homer’s Rhapsody cocktail (Skinos Mastiha, Metaxa 7 Stars, thyme liqueur, lemon juice, cucumber syrup, truffle oil) not only pays deference to the poet but is just the reviver you need after a hot day in the sun. Any of the libations can be delivered to your suite.

Last Orders

When the final tsipouro has been poured.

Room Service

When your poolside terrace is your private dining room, you’ll feel like eating every meal in your suite. Breakfast is served privately every morning, and the entire menu of the Tomatini Restaurant can be served à la carte to your terrace until 11pm.

Planes

The fastest connection from mainland Greece to the hotel is via the nearby island of Santorini, from where ferries to Ios are plentiful and take under an hour. Long-haul travellers can land at Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos and transfer to ferry number one at Piraeus Port, a 45-minute journey by car.

Automobiles

There is a certain joie de vivre to a buzzy little rental car on a Greek island, especially if the top goes down – those yearning to explore can park at the hotel for free. But Ios is so small that you’ll rarely need your own wheels otherwise. Have that extra Mythos beer and call a taxi instead.

Worth Getting Out of Bed For

Ios Grand sits three kilometres around the coast from Chora (‘Hora’ in the local dialect), the focal point of the island. It’s a photogenic place – if you’ve ever seen one of those faded Greek island posters behind a kebab shop counter in a city like London or Melbourne, there’s a good chance that the photo is of Chora. Miniscule alleyways trace this way and that through ramshackle whitewashed homes reflecting the noon sun, draped elegantly in dazzling geranium and bougainvillea growing from every conceivable nook. Brave the heat to hike up past the four chapels to the Odysseas Elytis open-air theatre, designed in 1997 by Peter Haupt, Professor of Architecture at the University of Berlin. Even if you don’t catch one of the famous sunset performances, the views across the blue-domed chapels of Chora and to Mylopotas beach justify the sweat. It's an uphill grind to Chora from Ios Grand but it’s all downhill on the way back – a shuttle bus runs every 20 minutes in peak season and costs €2. Logophiles will want to visit to the Tomb of Homer in the northernmost part of the island, but owing to the plentiful bars, beach clubs and watersports at Mylopotas Beach, Mrs Smith understands why you’d never want to leave at all. Nonetheless, it’s worth making the short walk to the Museum of Modern Art to see the collection of painting, photography and sculpture by French philhellene Jean Marie Drot and his favourite contemporaries, housed in the former mansion of the artist.

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. .