Kenshō is a Japanese word meaning enlightenment: after a cocktail mixed by the hotel’s dapper barman, a meal rustled up by clever chef George Stylianoudakis and a night or two in one of the whitewashed rooms, you’ll certainly have achieved a higher level of consciousness. Staff waft around in ethereal linen layers like off-duty angels; to keep things at a celestial level, there’s a serene, sea-spying pool, an expert onsite yoga teacher and a madcap, cave-set spa.

At the hotel

Spa with treatment rooms, hammam and plunge pool; alfresco Jacuzzi; yoga area; free WiFi throughout. In rooms: TV, minibar, Hermès bath products.

Our favourite rooms

Room number 121 – a Junior Suite – has a swing chair you’ll want to take home with you and some bonkers chunks of crystal set in its ceiling, along with a hunk of whitewashed treetrunk spliced onto one wall. There’s also an outdoor Jacuzzi, designed for sunrise and sunset sessions (preferably accompanied by champagne/some of bartender Alex’s cocktails).

Poolside

There’s a sea-spying outdoor pool by the bar, shielded by a glass wall and flanked by chic sun loungers. Should you get thirsty from splashing and sploshing, the bar is just a flipper’s flap away. (There’s also a little pool in the basement spa.) You can easily walk to Ornos Beach.

Spa

Affectionately known as the Cave, the spa is proof of Kenshō’s playful side, featuring craggy, rock-boulder walls, a colour-lit pool, a Jacuzzi and curved massage chairs that look like they’ve been left behind by aliens. Treat sun-frazzled skin to one of the refreshing, soothing therapies starring fragrant Fleur’s products: a clay-and-cucumber body mask or a body peel plus massage, perhaps.

Packing tips

Swish swimwear for the pool; some cue words for cocktails: ‘refreshing’, ‘sour’, ‘sunset’, for example.

Also

Design fans will wander around wide-eyed admiring Kenshō’s collection, which includes pieces by designers such as Patricia Urquiola, Paola Navone, Il Laboratorio and more. Reforested wood gets a star role; for every tree used, another seven are planted.

Children

Little Smiths can come too, but don’t expect heaps of family-friendly frills – Kenshō was definitely designed with grown-ups in mind. Baby bedlinen can be provided, as can on-loan highchairs; babysitting is €40 an hour.

    

 

 

https://www.mrandmrssmith.com/

Pin0