Hotel Review: IKOS Olivia, Halkidiki in Greece

Words by Nick Hendrix

It was John Heywood in 1546 that stated that we couldn’t ‘eat our cake and have it too’ and after a wet, windy and wonderful 10 days at Greece’s IKOS Olivia I feel I can finally, after 400 years, challenge that precept.

Holidays are such precious things, aren’t they? Time away from the grind of domestic daily life, time spent with family devoid of schedule and chores, time to embrace a different climate, culture and cuisine. However, when you have a rapacious four-year-old nipping at your heels and your sanity, it’s easy to feel that any holiday with him in tow is simply parenting in another country, with even less childcare than you had back at home. So now, I’m not sure how much of a holiday a holiday often is. Which seems rather ridiculous given how much it costs to have one. We want to have a relaxed holiday (our cake) but also a holiday with children (and eat it too). Cue: IKOS the saviour, IKOS the great, IKOS the salvation.

IKOS Resorts own eight different hotels across primarily Greece with two in Spain, and they have created, if not copyrighted, a brand of hotel that offers an adult experience that caters for children, whilst not neglecting the specific needs of parents whilst also not negating a truly kid-friendly environment. (Their website will say this much more eloquently.)

Hotel

IKOS Olivia exterior — Ikos Olivia’s chic design of subtle elegance sits serenely among 22 acres of lush greenery shaded by ancient olive trees and fragrant firs

We chose Olivia, for no reason really other than we hadn’t been to the Halkidiki area of Greece before so thought we’d check it out. The hotel is deemed a resort in that it sprawls somewhat but it still maintains the intimacy and calmness of a boutique hotel while covering a large area.

Now I think it’s important to state early on, for the sake of transparency, that the weather whilst we were there was, well, quite terrible. When, as per the universal tradition, we pulled back the curtains on the first morning, we were welcomed by grey skies, and people scuttling about with umbrellas over their heads. Which ironically was exactly what we were looking at a day before back in Blighty. Maybe we hadn’t left yet? Maybe we were confused? But no, it was 15 degrees and raining. By the end of our 10 days, it had risen to a comfortable 23 degrees, and we made good use of various pools and sun loungers. Let’s just say it started really badly, and it got a lot better. As an actor, well used to failure and disappointment, I quickly saw positives – this is a hell of a way to review a hotel. If IKOS Olivia can come out of this well, when the hotel is really tested, then we’ll be on to a winner.

I’ve never been to an all-inclusive hotel (let’s not mention the Don Manolo in Magaluf circa 2003, which was inclusive of all its sticky floored teenage sess-pitted-ness) so I was particularly curious to see how it all worked. What IKOS excels in is really making you feel like you leave your wallet by the door and treat the place like your home. There are no visible premiums for food or drink anywhere – whether you want a Coke or a Negroni you can have five of them without judgement (thankfully). So, although a very expensive hotel it does feel like it’s easy to see value for money.

Room

It always feels a little odd talking about the various rooms at a hotel when you’ve only stayed in one of them but not this time! By virtue of various booking complexities, we stayed in four different rooms over our 10 day stay, which wasn’t as much of a faff as it may sound.

We started in the main building on the third floor in a superior double room with an ocean view. It was lovely, but I’d say a bit pokey for a family of three, the wardrobe barely contained one’s selection of pastel linen shirts let alone anyone else’s stuff. Next up was a one bedroom bungalow suite which was perfect – large space, big separate living room which turned into a kid’s room and a decent garden (that we could see the rain engulf every now and then.) It was also located right on the edge of the property so no through traffic and no noise – tranquil heaven. We followed that with a similar floorplan but a first-floor version, with a balcony, right in the centre of the resort which gave us great access to restaurants and pools and a bit more of a buzzy atmosphere.

Lastly, we hit the jackpot and accessed the deluxe area. Now, although the hotel is all-inclusive and across the board of high quality and, as I said, a place you leave your wallet at the door – if your wallet is much larger then you can leave it at a different door. The deluxe door. The Deluxe Collection (across all IKOS’s) offers a higher level of finish and saliently an extra level of seclusion, space and peace. The room we had overlooked the deluxe pool, which is aesthetically the same as others, it just has less people using it. The room was identical, but the finishes were smarter with some freebies in the room but otherwise no different. What the deluxe brings is that VIP experience that some people demand for appearance’s sake, or if you’re a celebrity hiding out, then some much-needed privacy.

Food

IKOS Olivia restaurant interior — Ikos Olivia’s diverse dining experiences invite you to explore the aromatic tastes of Asia, Italian delicacies, traditional French gastronomy, Greek flavours and more

There are six restaurants on site which cover Italian, Asian, French, Greek and International cuisines with formality ranging from casual buffet (Flavors) through al fresco (The Garden) to finer dining (Anaya). I say ‘finer dining’ instead of ‘fine dining’ as this hotel doesn’t need to go all Michelin starred, white table clothed formality as the quality of the food is at that level across the board. And as the family friendly ethos has to permeate all elements, any restaurant still has to have the ability to have kids, whether the parents invite them or not.

There isn’t an ‘adults only’ restaurant. There are quietly secreted little areas that are, or sections of certain pools that are, but its subtlety done and doesn’t feel authoritarian or restrictive. It’s easy as a parent on holiday somewhere classy to feel that the appendages you deigned to bring with you are a burden to the establishment. IKOS couldn’t be further from that.

Importantly when talking of eating out (something that can seem like World War Three to some tired parents) each restaurant comes with a (well-funded) military parade of highchairs, cutlery, bowls, booster seats and food on offer. All spotless. All probably from IKEA but then so is our stuff at home so our four-year-old didn’t bat an eyelid at any meal. There also isn’t a reductive kid’s menu with just chicken nuggets on offer – there is a Toddler’s Menu and a Kid’s Menu. Toddlers are presented with various pre-blended foods and the kids can have fried squid or zucchini if they fancy it.

To do

IKOS Olivia swimming pool — Unfurling along the white sands of the Gulf of Toroneos, Ikos Olivia offers sophisticated suites, turquoise pools and fine dining experiences

Now, as this is a family friendly place, we must look at what’s offer in terms of entertaining those little terrorisers – what the cocktail list is like, and the size of a double bed aren’t really of interest to those that want to run around from 7am to 7pm. This is where the bad weather really showed the power of this hotel. There are two large playgrounds at Olivia, actual playgrounds – something the best funded councils in London would envy. Swings, slides, trampolines, sandboxes you name it. And all immaculate and staffed for safety. There is also a heated shallow pool with a splash pad next to it – this was essentially a playground submerged in a foot of water with an AstroTurf floor so the kids could run around on it and not slip over. So, when the weather turns and the beach (usual mainstay of any family trip as you can never build too many sandcastles) proves inhospitable, there is plenty to entertain the kids that’s still outdoors.

Of course, there are also indoor offerings of a kid’s club, a creche and little drop-in play area – all of these can be prebooked and we saw plenty of parents dropping their kids off there in the morning so they could get a massage and start on the G ‘n’ Ts early. I guess for some this is the more obvious having cake and eating it situation. Take the kids on holiday whilst also not having them with you – IKOS can cater to all parenting approaches!

There’s so much to do at IKOS Olivia that I could write a weighty tome – football club, sailing, outdoor gym classes, tennis, yoga, bike hire, kids cookery, oh, and everyone has the use of a Tesla for a day! That was an interesting addition – we all want a little explore on holiday but for one day out, car hire seems a little extravagant, but this cures that. All I’d say is that the nearest neighbouring sights weren’t exciting enough to drag us away from this peaceful and enjoyable hotel. Still, it was fun to cruise around in EV silence.

In a nutshell

So I guess in summary I say to you John Heywood that I went on a restful, classy, adult holiday where I supped on culinary delights, drank cocktails with my wife and all in the company of an energetic four-year-old who wasn’t a burden, didn’t feel overlooked or ignored and importantly had just as good a time as we did. I think all parents will agree that is a tasty bit of cake that we have both had and eaten.