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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.

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. 

Contessina Suites & Spa

地址

Tsilivi Zakynthos, Tsilivi