The Mainland Greece Hotels Giving the Islands a Run for Their Money
Skip the island ferries. These design-forward mainland hotels offer mountain-meets-sea views and a slower, more rooted kind of luxury.
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The Greek mainland rarely headlines the fantasy—but maybe that’s its edge. Far from the algorithm-fed visuals of whitewashed domes and cruise ports, this is where the real variation kicks in. Roughly 80 percent of the country is mountainous, and the terrain changes fast: fir-covered peaks give way to sunlit vineyards, then drop into seaside fort towns still shaped by centuries of occupation and reinvention. What the mainland lacks in postcard shorthand, it more than makes up for in scale, surprise and hospitality with room to breathe. And it’s remarkably accessible. A well-kept road network and easy-to-follow signage—in English as well as Greek—make it simple to string together multiple regions without logistics becoming the main event. Beyond Athens lie cities and villages often left off the itinerary, but rich in culture, architecture and culinary pride. You don’t need a ferry timetable here, just curiosity and a rental car.
Mainland hotels tend to be grounded in place and story: coast and countryside, ruin and retreat—without ever backtracking. You’ll sleep in Ottoman mansions and neoclassical relics turned Design Hotels, in biodynamic farms that host chef residencies and hillside villas with cinematic sea views. There’s more room to breathe, literally and creatively, making these properties ideal for families, architecture nerds or anyone seeking substance over waterfront sunloungers (though you can also find those aplenty). What sets these properties apart isn’t just where they are, but how they frame the land around them. A spa carved into the mythical Mystras bedrock. A villa with views that stretch from Mount Taygetos to the sea. A café-bar inside a former distillery turned design hub in Thessaloniki.
Mainland Greece is less about island-hopping and more about map-making—stringing together new favorites, discovering pockets of design and culture that aren’t already on someone else’s list. In short: it’s Greece, grown up.
Best Mainland Greece Hotels for Your Summer Vacation
- Hipsters Hotel
- Ace Hotel & Swim Club Athens
- Meraviglia Slow Living
- Korona Boutique Hotel
- Perianth Hotel
- On Residence
- Peliva Nature And Suites
- The Danai
- Kinglin Luxury Living
- Stoes Boutique Hotel
- Euphoria Retreat
- Ekies All Senses Resort
- Mandarin Oriental Costa Navarino
- Not Hotel
- Manna Arcadia
- The Dolli
- Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel Athens
- Kyrimai
- Dexamenes Seaside Hotel
- Aristi Mountain Resort
- Kinsterna
- One&Only Aesthesis
- Monument Hotel
- Hotel Grand Bretagne
- Cape Sounio Grecotel Boutique Resort
- Amanzoe
Hipsters Hotel
- Papadopoulou 2, Thessaloniki 546 24, Greece
A century-old structure once occupied by distillers and metal merchants now hums with new energy as Hipsters Hotel—an industrially charged, 17-room boutique in Thessaloniki’s city center. Creative director Tolis Koumparos retained the neoclassical bones of the 1925 building—diamond-motif façade, metalwork railings, tiled floors—while staging a stark, modernist reframe using galvanized steel, blackened finishes and high-concept lighting. Inside, the rooms skew gallery-meets-atelier, with original ceiling reliefs and vintage staircases offset by furniture from Jean Prouvé, Verner Panton and Tom Dixon, who also designed the hotel’s Executive Suite. A design shop and café-bar further animate the street-level footprint, alongside rotating exhibitions curated by photographer Stratos Kalafatis that document the building’s layered restoration.
Ace Hotel & Swim Club Athens
- Glyfada Beach, Glyfada 166 74, Greece
Opened in 2024, the Glyfada sibling of Palm Springs’ cult-favorite Ace brand instantly nails the Greek Riviera’s 1970s-meets-modern vibe. A repurposed brutalist pool club now pulses with earth-toned rooms, vinyl stacks and sleek '70s nostalgia. Sebastian restaurant dishes sea bream crudo and caper-heavy tapenade, while cocktails—like the jalapeño-spiced “Fly Me To Tulum”—keep the energy high. A terrace balcony overlooks the pool and beach beyond. Staff know local artists by name; art installations, vintage fittings and Greek vinyl fill every corner. With on-point service and genuine local connections, Ace Athens is relaxed, cool and deeply in tune with its context.
Meraviglia Slow Living
- Mytikas, Preveza, Epirus Coast, Greece
The Epirus region has always been a bit of a mystery, what with its half-forgotten coastline, mythological side notes and the kind of Ionian views that make you consider deleting your return flight. Newcomer Meraviglia Slow Living makes good on that ambiguity, leaning into it with 12 sculptural suites, each with a private pool, sea-facing garden and just enough design muscle to reveal the hand of its builder-owner, Aris Tzimas—a construction heavyweight who spent two decades dreaming up this hideaway. Don’t let the name fool you—“slow living” here doesn’t mean passive. You can kayak through wetlands, birdwatch for herons and hawks, or explore necromantic ruins with Homeric backstory. But if you’d rather stay horizontal, you’ll be well-rewarded with in-room meals, shaded hammocks and spa massages on a sea-view deck (although dinner at La Pergola is an absolute must).
Korona Boutique Hotel
- Itylo, Mani, Greece
Korona Boutique Hotel sits inside a restored fortified home in the Maniot village of Itylo, a five-key micro-hotel that trades in material honesty and spatial restraint. Owners Kalia Konstantinidou and Antonis Eliopoulos preserved the bones—local stone, traditional ironwork—and stripped the rest to its essentials: crisp linens, mineral textures and fig-laced courtyards that nod to the dry Peloponnesian air. Just outside, the landscape does most of the heavy lifting. The Ottoman-era fortress of Kefala hovers across the gorge, and the frescoed 16th-century Dekoulos Monastery—zodiac and all—sits tucked into the hillside below. Down at sea level, the bay of Neo Itilo delivers the kind of languid payoff that justifies this particular region’s slow-burn cult following.
Perianth Hotel
- Limpona Street 2, Athens 10560, Greece
New for summer 2025, Anther—Perianth Hotel’s design-forward restaurant helmed by Milos alum Nasos Tsironikos—brings contemporary Greek cuisine into sharp focus. Think fennel pie with pickled shrimp, or egg staka reimagined as fine dining, served on hand-painted ceramics by Valinia Svoronou beneath a surrealist mural by Eleni Bagaki. The 47-room neomodernist property, tucked off Agias Irinis Square, is a thoughtful blend of Athenian modernism and lived-in elegance: terrazzo floors, curved brass and K-Studio's signature restraint. Rooms offer softened geometrics, steel-framed Acropolis views, and direct access to Zen Center Athens, a nonprofit meditation hub run by the hotel’s founding siblings.
On Residence
- Leoforos Nikis 5, Thessaloniki 546 24, Greece
On Residence is set on the waterfront, where the city’s art deco past meets its culinary present. The hotel occupies the revived 1926 Olympos Naoussa building, once a high-society haunt, now reengineered for modern hospitality with a preservationist’s eye. Inside: 60 rooms and suites layered with velvet, brass and archival photography, many with sea views and a few original stucco ceilings recast by hand. The lobby stairway, re-polished to a slow-glow finish, anchors a space rooted in 1920s glam. The restaurant returns under its original name, where chef Dimitris Tasioulas plays cultural DJ with a menu of Slavic, Jewish and Ottoman references (mackerel smoked in cedar, crayfish in sweet-wine broth). Upstairs, Tiger Loop bar riffs on Chinoiserie with a zodiac-inspired cocktail menu and interiors that nod to Shanghai jazz clubs.
Peliva Nature And Suites
- Agios Athanasios 370 10, Greece
Peliva Nature & Suites keeps things elemental in the best sense. Just three suites sit nestled into a hillside in Pinakátai, one of Pelion’s quieter, less-performed villages. Each unit comes with a stone fireplace, shaded pergola and wide-angle views of the Pagasetic Gulf, best taken in over breakfast from the private terrace. Interiors pull from the surroundings: raw stone, olivewood, woven textiles. There’s no formal reception or restaurant here, but that’s by design—guests drive ten minutes to Vyzitsa for taverna staples or head downhill to Milies for coastal seafood with a mountain backdrop.
The Danai
- Nikiti 630 88, Greece
Perched above a quiet ribbon of Aegean coastline on the Sithonia peninsula, this 56-suite property sprawls across lush gardens and whitewashed terraces, offering a surprising amount of space and seclusion for a destination often associated with packed beach clubs and Instagram-fed resorts. The best rooms—panorama suites and private pool suites—open directly to the sea, many with plunge pools and shaded gardens that double as outdoor living rooms. A trio of restaurants cater to different moods: Squirrel is the high-wire act with its French-Med tasting menu, Andromeda plays it pan-Med, and Anithos serves grilled seafood feet from the waterline. The on-site spa, cellar (stocking 1,700+ labels) and Aristotle-inspired cocktail bar suggest a hotel unhurried by trend cycles.
Kinglin Luxury Living
- Mitromara 8, Athina 117 42, Greece
Kinglin Luxury Living bridges the comfort of a serviced apartment with the polish of boutique hospitality, without the hotel theatrics. Tucked into a quiet street in central Athens, the property is an insider’s landing pad for longer stays and low-key indulgence. Each of the one-bedroom suites features custom-made furnishings, marble art pieces and Marshall speakers, alongside practicalities like kitchenettes, washing machines and rain showers. Balconies, terraces, or patios offer a breath of air, while a daily breakfast box stocked with artisanal Greek staples lands at your door each morning. Concierge services run deep, from personal training under the Acropolis to massages or jet charters.
Stoes Boutique Hotel
- Efthimiou Christou 11, Ioannina, Greece
In the heart of Ioannina’s old quarter, just steps from the Byzantine castle walls, Stoes Boutique Hotel occupies a 19th-century mansion that walks the line between monastic and opulent, with parquet floors, stone walls, velvet-upholstered Chesterfields and tiled fireplaces that offer an urbane counterpoint to the lakeside city’s folkloric appeal. Rooms range from cloistered singles to airy suites with private terraces and decorative tiled baths. Public spaces include a tranquil courtyard, a high-ceilinged salon and a discreet all-day bar. The house restaurant delivers unfussy Greek fare with a focus on Epirotic flavors. Within walking distance: artisan workshops, lakeside tavernas and the pedestrianized core of Ioannina, now buzzing with art students and café life.
Euphoria Retreat
- Mystras, Sparti, Greece
Aimed at travelers who pack more supplements than shoes, Euphoria represents its name without irony. Euphoria Retreat takes the concept of wellness and runs with it, all the way to cellular detoxification and breathwork sessions in a salt cave. This isn’t your average “spa with rooms” setup. It’s a full-blown optimization campus for those who want their smoothies glycemic-indexed and their plunge pools mood-lit. The architecture alone seems designed to recalibrate your cortisol levels: domed ceilings, monastic lighting and a four-story spa that feels like a Byzantine temple crossed with a Bond villain’s lair. You might come for the infrared saunas and customized metabolic menus, but you’ll stay for the surreal sensation of floating in a spherical hydrotherapy pool beneath a strobing light installation.
Ekies All Senses Resort
- Vourvourou, Halkidiki, Greece
Post 2017 overhaul by Beetroot Design Studio, this long-cherished resort was brought into sharper focus of its original purpose: slow-living bohemia. The 76 rooms and suites skip the cookie-cutter formula for a more tactile approach—platform beds, reed-woven dividers, handmade ceramics, hammocks slung over private courtyards, some with plunge pools pointed at the Aegean. The ethos here is less luxury-by-numbers, more barefoot intelligence. The on-site restaurant riffs on heirloom family recipes, reworking them with foraged herbs and zero-fuss plating. Cocktails highlight fresh-plucked botanicals, and the beach, mercifully, trades in serenity over scene.
Mandarin Oriental Costa Navarino
- Costa Navarino Bay, Pilos 240 01, Greece
Mandarin Oriental’s Greek debut trades island clichés for hillside seclusion above Navarino Bay. The 99-key retreat balances modernist lines with Mediterranean materials—rattan, terrazzo, arched stone—and every suite faces the sea. Villas come with private pools and floor-to-ceiling views. There’s no buffet, just a breakfast “tapas” tray of thyme honey, yogurt and cocoa-dusted charcuterie. Pizza Sapienza serves an omakase of Roman pies, while the spa evokes a Cycladic temple with linen-draped stone walls and glass-wrapped pools. Located within Costa Navarino’s resort complex—complete with golf courses, an agora and sister hotels—Mandarin maintains its own polished rhythm, defined by discreet service, regional sourcing and a sea-facing quiet that feels a world away from the island circuit.
Not Hotel
- Voutadon 16, Athens 118 54, Greece
Once a brothel and later a barracks, Not Hotel has shape-shifted through Athens’ long chapters, but its current iteration hits differently. The 21-room property sits in the heart of Gazi, a creative district a few blocks from the ancient Agora. Interiors are cinematic: marble, velvet and antique desks punctuate exposed stone walls, while Art Deco nods meet a jazz-bar palette. Each suite opens onto a central courtyard lush with olive trees and aromatic herbs, framing a modest pool that feels more Riviera than city center. The food program zeroes in on hyperlocal sourcing, with only-here olive oils and small-batch wines as the stars.
Manna Arcadia
- Korfoxylia, Magouliana 220 10, Greece
Tucked into the fir-thick folds of Mount Mainalo, this former sanatorium is not just architectural preservation but a total reprogramming of rural luxury—an alpine hideaway that feels more like a design thesis than a hospitality project. Behind the neoclassical façade: 32 rooms pared down to organics, with chestnut wood, wool, rattan and a palette that pulls directly from the Arcadian earth. This Design Hotels member is made for guests who hike before breakfast and debate fermentation over whiskey by night. The spa favors sauna sessions and outdoor yoga over marble opulence, while chef Athinagoras Kostakos rethinks Greek mountain cuisine with foraged tweaks and locavore discipline. Dinner might involve river trout, smoked dairy, or a wild herb pesto you might not be able to pronounce (but will think about later).
The Dolli
- Mitropoleos 49, Athina 105 56, Greece
A neoclassical landmark with one of the city’s most coveted sightlines, The Dolli offers a high-design counterpoint to Athens’ grit and grandeur. Grecotel’s seven-year restoration repositions this 1925 former mansion—once the seat of textile magnates—as a contemporary art hotel with classical bones. Towering windows and rounded corners give way to interiors layered with François-Xavier Lalanne sculptures, Jean Cocteau ceramics and a mobile by Calder, all staged beneath 12-foot ceilings and stucco rosettes. The 46 rooms and suites adopt a softened urban palette—creams, marble, polished woods—designed to quiet the chaos of the surrounding Plaka district. A rooftop infinity pool flanked by a glasshouse restaurant and discreet sundeck frames the Parthenon.
Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel Athens
- Apollonos 40, Athens, 166 71, Greece
The Athens Riviera has flirted with reinvention for decades, but it’s Four Seasons that finally made it stick. Set on the pine-draped Lemos peninsula, this restored 1960s-era icon delivers a version of Athenian glamour. Legacy cabanas still dot the shoreline, now reimagined for private, high-design seclusion, while the main hotel unfurls with glassy symmetry toward the Aegean. Rooms feature tonal palettes of sand and slate, supersized soaking tubs and balconies that catch either sea or pine. Regional nods—evil eye coasters, mastiha liqueur, sesame bars—are woven in with taste, not trope. It’s classic Four Seasons, but looser in posture: a little sunlight on the shoulders, a little Greek edge in the playlist, with dining options that cover the global spectrum.
Kyrimai
- Gerolimenas 230 62, Greece
At the furthest edge of the Peloponnese, where the road—and Greece—runs out, Kyrimai sits anchored in a 19th-century stone tower that once fueled one of the region’s busiest trading ports. The restoration is uncommonly intact: original wood beams, vaulted wine cellars turned reception, thick masonry walls that now hold 22 rooms and suites arranged like a low-slung acropolis of pale stone and shuttered windows. Interiors land somewhere between rural French maison and Maniot stronghold—chaise longues, gilded armoires, high-thread-count beds beneath whitewashed rafters. The restaurant, cantilevered over the sea, offers the area’s most assured cooking: creamed feta with samphire, marinated sardines, house-distilled cocktails laced with local sage. Guests are known to plunge off the dock between courses.
Dexamenes Seaside Hotel
- Pedestrian of Kourouta, Kourouta 272 00, Greece
What was once a postwar wine factory now functions as one of Greece’s most original Design Hotels. Athens-based K-Studio’s conversion leaves the bones intact—rows of 1920s concrete tanks repurposed into suites that open straight onto a scrubby beach. Reclaimed brick, old water pipes and poured concrete furniture root the space in its industrial past, while clean-lined glass and steel nudge it into the now. Programming is arguably cerebral: sound bath rituals in open-air tank rooms, wine performance tastings and ephemeral art installations. Nearly 90 percent of the hotel’s power is self-produced and waste is reabsorbed as form. The result: an off-grid cultural lab disguised as a low-slung retreat.
Aristi Mountain Resort
- Aristi, Zagori, Greece
Far from the island crowd and closer to the Albanian border than Athens, Aristi Mountain Resort reads like a love letter to Zagori’s stone village vernacular. The buildings blend into the landscape—slate roofs, thick walls—and the interiors hit that alpine-meets-modern sweet spot sans pastiche. The on-site restaurant, Salvia, goes local without grandstanding: think wild boar from nearby forests, mushrooms handpicked from mountain trails and cheeses made within a stone’s throw of your table. For those less drawn to menus and more to maps, the Vikos Gorge and Pindus peaks offer a taste of uncurated Greece.
Kinsterna
- Agios Stefanos 230 70, Greece
An hour inland from the sea-facing stone ramparts of Monemvasia’s fortress town, Kinsterna reimagines a 13th-century Byzantine estate as a slow-living retreat. Tucked into terraced hillsides with sweeping views of the Aegean, the 51-room property retains its monastic bones—cisterns, arches and time-smoothed masonry—layered with polished restraint: neutral-toned linens, spring-fed pools and spa pavilions carved into vaulted stone chambers. The original cistern is now the social center, flanked by cantilevered platforms and shaded gardens. Rooms blend historical austerity with discreet indulgence—timber ceilings, thick walls and terraces laced with jasmine. The on-site taverna and vineyard pulls ingredients from the estate’s own groves and herb gardens.
One&Only Aesthesis
- Glyfada Beach, 166 74 Glyfada, Greece
One and Only Aesthesis—the brand’s European debut—resurrects the star-studded glamour of the 1950s Asteria Beach Club as Athens' newest ultra-luxe seaside escape. The architectural centerpiece houses massive villas, but the 95 olive grove-sheltered bungalows are the true headliners. These indulgent cocoons flaunt oversized beds, soaking tubs, rain showers and poolside fireplaces amplifying the seductive spirit. Begin your tenure properly with the legendary local breakfast spread of delicacies like buckwheat porridge.
Monument Hotel
- Aiolou 4, Athens 105 55, Greece
In the heart of the ancient capital, Monument seamlessly fuses Ernst Ziller's 1800s architectural gem with modern Scandinavian design across just nine decadent suites. Yet the true pedigree lies in the painstaking preservation of historic bones complemented by indulgences like a soothing spa, romantic rooftop retreat and outdoor jacuzzis. Launch your Athenian awakening with an artisanal local breakfast before plunging into the Parthenon's storied fabric from your doorstep.
Hotel Grand Bretagne
- Constitution Square, Athens, 105 64
Grande Bretagne is Athens in formalwear: marble-laden, brass-trimmed and unapologetically opulent. Overlooking Syntagma Square and the Parliament, the 321-room property has long been the city’s diplomatic salon, a favorite for politicians and celebrities alike. Rooms layer brocade, lacquered wood and Acropolis views, while the rooftop restaurant channels old-guard elegance with feta-laced breakfasts and precision Negronis. The GB Spa is a statement in itself, with amethyst steam rooms and Espa rituals that cater as much to jet-lagged CEOs as to local socialites. Families are surprisingly well-accommodated and the central location unlocks both designer shopping and late-night souvlaki crawls. This is a hotel where the concierge can land you a butler and a backstage tour, often in the same breath.
Cape Sounio Grecotel Boutique Resort
- Sounio 195 00, Greece
An hour from Athens, underneath the ancient Temple of Poseidon, Cape Sounio elevates Grecian lore with its reborn premier resort, revealed in May 2024. The 139 pine-sheltered bungalows and villas cascade amphitheater-style with panoramas of the Aegean, and many boast private pools. Gastronomy steals the show across six new and refreshed venues, including the beachfront Aegean Grill and The Temple, where Greco-French fare illuminates under the ancient temple itself.
Amanzoe
- Kranidi 213 00, Greece
Amanzoe is set high above Porto Heli in an olive-dotted plateau. This neoclassical compound trades in quiet spectacle: colonnaded walkways, marble pavilions and symmetrical terraces that track the shifting light. Each suite is a freestanding monument—giant pools, shaded courtyards and sliding glass walls framing the sea. Interiors skew monastic: all limestone, espresso wood and design discipline. The private Beach Club sits below, hidden in a pine cove with its own dining and four cabanas. Up top, the spa features on Peloponnesian botanicals and Aman’s usual exactitude. Helicopter arrivals are common; so are breakfast meetings that bleed into late-day swims.
