Accidental Islander: How I Found a "Suite" Slice of Luxury at Ios Bliss
Between the glitter of Mykonos and the crowds of Santorini lies a quiet island with soul—and a hidden, family-run sanctuary where luxury meets total privacy.
My first introduction (is that a contradiction in terms? oh well, in some islands it all blurs) to Ios, a relatively obscure Greek island that floats in moonlight and blue water between Naxos and Santorini, was frankly a bit rough.
It was a few years back when you could still hop off a ferry and just find a place to stay, sans Wifi or booking engine. I walked right up to a dazzlingly white hotel by the beach hoping to find a room, but security asked me to leave: I had unwittingly wandered on the makeshift set of a British reality TV show.
That little misunderstanding led me to a great hotel halfway between the little port (tiny, but more sophisticated than you might think) and Chora, the nec plus ultra of Cycladic island villages, with little white chapels that dance their way above the palm trees and up to the stars.
Like a wily cat who appears from nowhere and chooses you, so it was with Ios and me. There are two, perhaps three locations in Greece that tug at my heart so hard when I leave, that leaving always feels like a mistake. Ios is one of them. It makes no sense. No logic. It’s worse than love.
I’ve written about Ios a lot, chiefly for Greece Is but also for other publications and this column too, so consider this just a short dispatch. I dropped into Ios for just a few days this June and want to reveal one of the best places to stay on this most eclectic of islands: Ios Bliss.
Like that make-believe hotel I stumbled into some years back, I discovered Bliss the first time completely by accident. I had been staying in another hotel just steps from the iconic Mylopotas Beach when one evening I went for stroll on the little road behind the beach. I found a series of gleaming white arches with no sign. I inquired within: it was a new all-suite boutique-style hotel property, so new they hadn’t put a sign up yet. There is a discreet sign now.
Bliss is a family-run property with eight luminous suites, each one a Premium Suite with Private Pool. And these pools are not tiny by any stretch. Each suite has a cool, crisp contemporary look (black and white aesthetics) and sleek poolside terrace, with lush plantings: think Ios violets and fragrant frangipani trees. Cool, crisp, clean, calm. Calm to the point of actually calming…a reflection, in a sense, of how Ios will alter your state of mind if you don’t demand too much of it. Don’t expect it to be Santorini, it isn’t. Or Mykonos — the island spirits will just laugh. Those islands have glitter and glamor and they do it very well, but Ios is an island with soul. With some pretty fabulous beaches, too.
Ios Bliss is a Mykonos-caliber property in terms of the luxury quotient. Stay here and you will likely run into Stavros, who’s part of the family that runs the show and he runs it with the seemingly effortless efficiency of a Swiss train. Whatever you need, he’ll find it. Iced cappuccino? You won’t have to ask twice. He’s as affable as they come and both he and the small staff (which includes his Dad!) put the “A” in anticipatory service.
There’s a larger, central pool by the breakfast area, by the way, but if you prefer seclusion, you’ll be left to bask in the comforts of your sweet suite sanctuary. No upsells, no noisy neighboring guests because each suite is detached. You want to drop off the map? You can do that here, knowing that one of Greece’s best beaches is ten minutes down the road and that you can visit Homer’s tomb, if you are so inclined, on the other side of the island.
As stated, this is just a short dispatch, with more on Ios to come. I can report that despite the war in the Middle East and associated financial turbulence, bookings in the islands like Santorini, Paros and Naxos are up. Things are getting busy. If you want to reserve a little slice of Cycladic island heaven for yourself or your family in the heart of the archipelago this summer, don’t wait until the last minute. Your “garden retreat steps from the sea” awaits…
