THIS LUXURY WATERFRONT RESORT IN THE HAMPTONS OF GREECE WAS JUST NAMED ONE OF THE BEST NEW HOTELS IN THE WORLD

One&Only just opened its first resort in Greece on the Athens Riviera.

It was Friday night on the Athens Riviera, and I was determined to get dressed up, even though my friend Talia and I had just flown in from L.A. There's precedent for getting dolled up around here, I told her, as we settled into our two-bedroom at the new One&Only Aesthesis in Glyfada, Greece. That might seem a stretch in a seaside suburb 10 miles from Athens, but in the '60s, the Athens Riviera was roughly what Montauk, in New York, is today. Sophia Loren came to this luxurious, Athens-adjacent enclave in '57 to shoot a few movie scenes. Jackie Onassis had a Glyfada villa in the '60s. 

I visited the Athens Riviera in 2021, arriving the day Greece reopened to American travelers, to report on this 13-mile coastline as it set out to become the Hamptons of Greece — again. Between the sunsets, sparkling Saronic Gulf, Old Hollywood stories, and new hotels in the works, I was hooked. But in 2021, there was just one luxury hotel, which, while promising, doesn't make a destination. So, I was back, two-and-a-half years later, to see the Riviera take shape. 

Talia and I showed up at El Bar by Paco Morales — the chef behind Michelin three-starred Noor in Cordoba, Spain — around 8:30 p.m., and the energy was already high. The pop-up restaurant within One&Only Aesthesis has black-woven floor lamps instead of vibe-killing overhead lighting, fabric-paneled walls, and tables divided by ZZ plants nestling each group in their own private jungle. We lingered at the black-marble show kitchen, where a chef was laser-focused on plating shrimp-and-tomato salads. Once we took our seats, a steady stream of tapas was headed to the table: sous-vide chicken croquettes topped with a thin veil of raw tuna and caviar, kranios sashimi with a punchy mandarin orange sauce, calamari bocadillos with a light lemon cream.

"This was a place to have fun," said Yann Gillett, the general manager of the One&Only Aesthesis, when we talked later about the area's Loren-Onassis heyday.

In the '60s, before this was Greece's first One&Only, it was a resort called Asteria Beach Club. While the One&Only's 51-acre footprint is far more luxurious than its predecessor's, the goal is to show guests a good time, just a 30-minute drive from the center of Athens.

Here, my take on the It List 2024–winning One&Only Aesthesis and how it's helping the Athens Riviera become a destination that rivals Greece's Cycladic islands.

The Rooms

We stayed in a two-bedroom residence with direct beach access and a private, sun lounger–flanked pool. The 1,378 square feet of indoor space afforded us a living room with floor-to-ceiling windows gazing out toward the beach (and the sunset) and a full kitchen. Better still, each residence has a 24/7 host to help you plan your itinerary, make dinner reservations, or, in my case, satisfy a craving for pasta at midnight. The residences, of which there are 18, have either two or three bedrooms.

There are also 95 bungalows on the property, with gorgeous stone walls, marble and natural wood interiors, and art curated by Greek artist Anna Chatzinassiou. The bungalows have been built "on the footprints of the old bungalows," said Gillett, referring to the accommodations that lined this waterfront at Asteria Beach Club. These swish, standalone cottages have an outdoor patio with a plunge pool (plus swings or daybeds with white-and-blue pillows). My favorite was the select few with private docks and small steel ladders descending to the Saronic Gulf, making the rooms feel like overwater bungalows.

There are entry-level rooms in the main building (which also houses the lobby, Alelia bar, and Ora restaurant) overlooking the communal pools and beach. Finally, the top-tier stays are the villas; the $35,000-a-night Villa One has a private rooftop, a massive pool, and 9,600 square feet of outdoor space. All room types come with complimentary breakfast and access to a host, available via WhatsApp 24/7.

Food and Drink

El Bar by Paco Morales is a pop-up restaurant that will become a new concept later this year. While there are not yet details on the next pop-up, the hotel's main dining venue, Ora, is just as enticing as El Bar. The tarama (a creamy dip with fish roe, very Greek) was some of the best I've had, served with piping-hot freshly baked pita. The Italian-Greek restaurant has alfresco dining — umbrella-shaded tables with suede mustard-yellow chairs overlook the pool — and a stunning indoor operation with leather banquettes, terrazzo floors, and mirror-tiled walls. Talia and I enjoyed a three-hour lunch one afternoon at Ora, where I fell hard for the sea urchin and bottarga pasta, slathered in Greek olive oil and fresh herbs and the fresh oysters from northern Greece finished with sweet vinegar.

There are also three bars on-site: Alelia, just off Ora restaurant, perfect for a pre-dinner Negroni; the poolside Minima bar; and my favorite, Thimsi, an ideal sunset perch right next to the beach.

Activities and Experiences

The beating heart of the resort is the pool area, which is landscaped with olive trees and faces the beach. All three 53-foot-long pools are next to the main building and Ora restaurant, lined by light-wood cabanas or blue-and-white-striped sun loungers. The resort has a gym, tennis courts, and forested trails for guests to run and cycle on (bikes are available on request).

To connect guests to Athens, One&Only offers an abundance of city tours, including private tours of the Acropolis, a Greek sandal–making workshop in Athens, and visits to the Benaki Museum network's seven sites. Guests can also work with the concierge to charter a boat for a day sailing the Saronic Gulf.

The Spa

I spent more time in the spa than anyone who traveled 6,800 miles to Greece should. In my defense, it's the first Guerlain Spa in Greece, and I was keen to try Guerlain skin care products, which are known for using black-bee honey harvested from the French island of Ouessant. I had a sumptuous 60-minute facial with liberally applied Abeille Royale products. I returned two days later for a manicure because Gillett told me it was the best I would ever have. Sure enough, the Bastien Gonzalez nail treatment — available at most One&Only properties and myriad luxury hotels outside the U.S. — offered no nail polish but a complete reboot for my hands. The managers are licensed podiatrists, including the professional who massaged my hands and meticulously buffed my nails with a pearly cream that left an attractive, lasting sheen.

Family-friendly Offerings 

Talia and I worked with our hosts to tour two Athens museums; one was the main building of the Benaki Museum, with prehistoric, Byzantine, and neo-Hellenic art exhibitions, among others. The other was the Benaki Toy Museum. Tracing toy collections through the centuries isn't a regular pastime for me, but I was charmed by how fun it was to introduce a child to one of Greece's most important attractions: its history. The hotel has a KidsOnly club for children ages four to 11, but their child-friendly tours are well-thought-out and worth arranging with the concierge.

Accessibility and Sustainability 

Per Greek laws, five percent of the hotel's 115 accommodations are outfitted for guests with mobility impairments. The hotel has six accessible rooms — four rooms in the main building and two bungalows. Most of the common spaces are also designed to be fully wheelchair accessible. On the sustainability front, One&Only Aesthesis has both LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and SITES certifications. When the property was built, any removed trees were replanted, and 200,000 plant species native to the Mediterranean are now growing on the property. They were specifically chosen for their low-water requirements.

Location

One&Only is set directly on Asteras Beach. If you head north along the Riviera, you'll hit Glyfada Beach, followed by the in-the-works Ellinikon Experience Park. As T+L previously reported, Ellinikon is an $8-billion green space "on the former site of the city’s international airport" with "trails, fitness classes, fountains, a Zen garden, and bountiful native plants and flowers." From there, you can head east to Athens (a 40-minute drive to the city center) or west to Piraeus, a port city with a central cruise terminal. South of One&Only, the Riviera continues, winding down to my favorite Riviera attraction: Lake Vouliagmeni. The mineral-rich, crystal-clear green water is warm and filled with tadpoles that delicately nibble at your feet — nature's exfoliant. Post up on the umbrella-lined beach or continue to nearby Astir Beach, home to the Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel Athens and a waterfront Matsuhisa.

How to Get the Most Value Out of Your Stay

There is currently no way to earn One&Only loyalty points that are redeemable for a stay — though guests can use stays to earn Emirates miles. One&Only has an exclusive offers page where you can browse deals for all O&O properties. Limited-time offers for One&Only Aesthesis include third-night-free packages, 30 percent off at the Guerlain Spa, or complimentary drinks at Alelia bar, all contingent on the type of room you book and when. Finally, summer is the high season on the Athens Riviera, but rates drop significantly in the winter (while the temperature remains moderate in the 50s and 60s).

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2024-04-16T16:12:36Z dg43tfdfdgfd