Your own hot tub. On your own balcony. In Mykonos. Shall we just pack and talk about it on the way?
But that’s not the end of it. The hot tub and the balcony are at Bill & Coo Suites and Lounge, one of the coolest hotels on an island that has made a name for itself from cool hotels. One with beautiful views out across the Aegean, a location that means you can actually walk into town (please don’t get one of those quad bikes: all you ever see is people with the skin off their legs missing), and staff that takes even the legendary hospitality of the Greeks to the next level. And that’s quite a feat.
Walking in, you realise straight away that this is very much a designer experience. Pass the slick, modern reception and, if you arrive after dark, you’ll see the pool glistening with stars (there are tiny lights studding the bottom) with an outdoor lounge all around. Come during the daytime and that outdoor lounge is a row of sunbeds (you can watch them perform the transformation over a cocktail just before sundown), while the wood-panelled area to your left will be full of people enjoying lunch and the way the wood plays with the light.
And then there’s that view. With the red roof of a church with a white cross on top in the foreground then the sea out to other islands… it’s something you never quite get over, especially at sunset and you know how famous Mykonos is for sunsets. And yes, there’s a bar at the other side of the pool, one you can sit up at while they sort out cocktails for you.
And the glassed-in (if it needs to be) room to the right, that’s the restaurant, Gastronomy Project, widely held to be one of the finest on the whole island going way beyond a Greek salad and grilled fish to superstar dishes you might expect to find in a big city restaurant, not necessarily a small holiday island, but then that’s Mykonos. We actually landed them with a vegan order… which they fulfilled with charm and humour (and pretty great food!) And new for this season is the Michelin-star Chef Series, with residences from Arnaud Bignon, Alexandros Tsiotinis, Luca Piscazzi, names, names, names. As for the design, it’s everything you would imagine with food like that: natural stone, rope, wood, calming, cool and contemporary.
But you’re wondering about the hot tub. Well, first you have to go through the beautiful modern room, albeit with traditional Greek beams across the ceiling. All white – normal for Greece – with a natural palette of creams and beiges and woods, the effect is totally calming, though you can play with the lights to make it feel funky when you’re in getting-ready mode. A little day bed for reading your book, a desk if you have work, a wide wide bed, a sea view and out of those doors opposite the bed a wide wide balcony with loungers set up to catch that view and a big-enough-for-four hot tub (though not all rooms have that, so make sure you ask if that’s what you’re into).
But we see all that glamour up there and raise you… the Bill & Coo Villas, this year’s mark-up on the ritz and glitz. The three one-bedroom villas can be booked alone or as a triptyque of lush for you and your mates/loved ones/brand-new loved ones (this is Mykonos) – with yacht charter and private jet add-ons if your add-on contingency has gone all Rishi Sunak – and all a hop and/or skip from Mykonos town, which is a boon seeing as a lot of Mykonian villas are a hop and/or schlepp from the action.
And while we have you, a big shout-out to the not new but very much improved-even-more Beefbar, over on Bill & Coo Coast – their hideaway tucked into nearby Agios Ioannis bay – with its international day-night vibe with a side-order of nibbly bits (divided into ‘Leaf, Reef, Beef’), plus the brand-new Beach Lounge with views over to Delos, the birth place of Apollo, because if anyone liked a song and a dance…
The LGBTQ+ has always expected a lot from Mykonos, ever since the 1970s before the Kardashians and the Lohans of this world discovered it. And Mykonos has always come up with the goods. But not like this. Very rarely like this.
