Mykonos Riviera Hotel & Spa, the island’s newest luxury hotel in close proximity to Mykonos Town, opened May 9 for its first full season. The luxury, 44 room-and-suite, nautical-chic hotel was designed by London’s MKV Design and built into the hillside with unique features like a glass-bottom pool lit with fiber-optics to twinkle at night; an art installation by Athens sculptor Venia Dimitrakopoulou that nods to its setting near the marina; and a large selection of villas built into the cascading resort, which appeal to multigenerational family groups.
“My family has been hosting guests on Mykonos Island for decades, and we’re pleased to present the island’s newest luxury hotel close to town,” says Managing Director Theodore Daktylidis, whose family also owns the luxury Mykonos Grand Hotel & Resort and Petasos Beach Hotel & Spa, members of Small Luxury Hotels of the World. “We built Mykonos Riviera, with its large number of two- and three-bedroom maisonettes, to appeal to a variety of visitors, including families who we’ve been seeing coming to Mykonos in record numbers over the last five years.”
Mykonos Riviera has 44 rooms and suites, including the largest entry-level rooms on Mykonos, as well as 10 unique, two- and three-bedroom maisonettes, or villas. Each two-story maisonette has its own living spaces, pool and terraces, and some have their own gym and spa.
The hotel’s main, 2,200-square-foot infinity pool faces west, for nightly sunsets over the sparkling Aegean Sea, and is lit with fiber optics for a unique twinkling starlit effect after sundown. Other amenities include two restaurants with Greek and Mediterranean cuisine, and a 5,000 square foot Oqua Spa featuring an indoor, naturally lit heated thalassotherapy pool, a Traditional Roman Hammam, and sauna, in addition to six treatment rooms, and a fully equipped 800-square-foot fitness center.
Mykonos Riviera is located approximately 1 mile from Mykonos Town, and close to some of the island’s most popular beaches: Ayios Stefanos, Nammos, and Principote. The hotel provides a daily complimentary shuttle for guests to navigate the island with ease. And its location, in front of the Tourlos Marina & Port, allows guests to arrive via yacht and conveniently anchor their craft in the marina. Guests without their own boat have easy access to the hotel’s fleet of speed boats for tours of the island, or to arrive in style to the island’s many beach clubs.
About the Design
Just as the Mykonos capital, Chora, tumbles down the rockface to the Aegean Sea, Mykonos Riviera is terraced down the hillside. The reception lobby begins as a cave-like, window-less space flowing from the ground level arrival beneath an elevated infinity pool and opening out at the far end with a seating area and windows looking over the sea. The genius of the design by MKV Design is the deep, glazed “windows” punched through the ceiling under the pool. By day, this means that the space below is constantly alive, shimmering with reflections of water and sunlight from above. In the evening, it is illuminated by fiber optic lights embedded into the walls of the pool shining like stars in the night sky. Both floors and walls are in polished concrete, and decoration is kept to a minimum with only a playful knotted rope swing and rope screen behind the reception desk to embellish the space. The custom-designed reception desk is finished in mirror, reflecting and amplifying the magical light and shadows all-around.
Outside a striking sail-like triangle-shaped sculpture by renowned Athens-based artist Venia Dimitrakopoulou hangs over a corridor and glistens against the brilliant Cycladic light on the wall of the Mykonos Riviera. Dimitrakopoulou constructed the piece out of inox, a durable material frequently used in boatbuilding, that can withstand harsh weather, but also provide a dynamic, mirror-like effect.
“My aim was to produce something valuable, a jewel of sorts, that complements the hotel’s great beauty,” says Dimitrakopoulou. “Mykonos Riviera is uniquely attractive for a number of reasons: Its vantage location; its starlight pool and the play of light in the reception; the multi-level design and the different views this affords; the hotel’s impeccable aesthetic, its gorgeous lighting and super professional, yet cordial staff.” With this in mind, she named her work “Elxis,” which means attraction in Greek.
The brand new Mykonos Riviera is a sparkling new addition to the island of winds and is a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, Signature Travel Network, and Travel Leaders. Open seasonally May to mid-October.
