The Drive ...

I just drove there and back and a couple of little things that made the directions from the airport easier:

Follow the signs toward Elefsina straight away from the airport. When the directions say E65, what the signs will say are A7 - that is toward Kalamata Tripoli. Follow A7 as far as you can.

But yes, basically it's quite simple. Tolls were about 12.50 Euro going and a tad less returning. The first part of the trip is quite fast due to the A7 being so nice. It's the last 45 km or so that will add another hour. Once the A7 is completed I would guess the drive will go from 4 hours to 3.5 or so.

The Stay...

As for the stay, it was quite nice. I'm not much for resorts and doubt I would care for it when it is full, but in the beginning of June, when no one else is there, it's amazing. I did not want to leave ...not just the resort ...I didn't want to leave my suite!

I had an upgrade to a Grand Suite - this is the second-floor suite without the infinity pool. There is nothing in the room I could ever say is cheap or skimpy. Everything is lovely and of exceptional quality, down to the waterproof television on the remote-controlled articulating arm over the top-filling infinity bathtub. There were 42 switches in the room (yes, I counted) and 5-6 remotes. I have no clue what all I could have done! (That infinity tub takes about an hour to fill, btw, plan accordingly.)

There was a bottle of wine in the room and I requested another bottle as my amenity. It was a 2008 cabernet. The welcome bottle was drinkable; the amenity bottle was quite good.

The staff was very friendly and delightful at every turn. I cannot say a negative word about any I came in contact with. All were warm, friendly and helpful. Many are not native to Greece, and honestly I could have been at a resort anywhere. I'm not sure there's anything distinctly Greek about it, not that that's a problem.

The spa is amazing. I have never seen one quite like it. There are three swimming pool-sized jetted pools, varying from 32-36C in temp. One has jets in loungers, another has three jets that blast you from above and the third has such powerful underwater jets you have to hold on to handles to stay in place. There are four steam rooms, including the ice room, a standard steam, a brine-scented one (this was turned up too high and burned my feet in the seconds I stayed in) and an herbal one, and a dry sauna. There are also several showers including a Scottish dump bucket (pull the chain and the bucket of water tips over). The bi-thermal shower with jets all around was turned up too hard and was quite painful. The spa was the weakest area with regard to staff as I didn't not get an orientation/tour prior to my treatment. I ended up finding their many relaxation areas as well as the pools/steams/showers on my own. Insist on a tour if you use the spa as you don't want to miss anything.

My massage was excellent. The best deal on the menu is a four-hands massage for the same price as a two-hands massage. I thought it was a typo, but the spa confirmed it was not. Schedule this early as only a few of their therapists are trained to give the treatment.

The dessert outlet, Kayak, has good and varied flavors of ice cream (had about 20 flavors). The signature cocktails at the pool were creative and tasty and slightly pricey at ~12-13 Euros each.

I had room service a couple of nights and ate at a couple of the restaurants and found them all good in quality. The Italian restaurant was a little too permissive in allowing children to ride their bikes through the outdoor dining area, having some close calls with a few diners and some candles on tables.

During the slow season there is no charge for the pool cabanas, which is quite nice, especially as I don't think I saw more than about half a dozen people at the pool.

There were a few glitches - what you'd typically find at any newer property and none that detracted from my stay. It took a few calls to get my a/c operating. A front desk manager called to follow up and said someone else would do so in the morning (it still wasn't fixed), but there was no call. When I called again and it was ultimately fixed, the manager sent up a nice fruit plate.

I ordered the same pasta dish from room service a few nights and one night it arrived without the veggies described on the menu and the next night the veggies were there. Not a big deal, but just an example of not quite having it down.

The menu in the Italian restaurant had a legend on the bottom for SuperFoodsRX, gluten-free, etc., but did not mark the cooresponding items on the menu.

People arrived sometimes with things I never called for - an additional key, for example, or to pick up room service items that had already been picked up.

The women's bathrobes - in the spa and the rooms - are apparently made for someone who is a size 1, really. I managed to make use of mine, but they were ridiculously small.

A few of the electric cart drivers need to be cautioned to slow down. I had to jump into a planter to avoid being hit when a driver was coming around a curve in the dark one night.

Excursions ...

I did the hike to the waterfalls/pools - Polimnos. They're about a 20-minute drive and the hike is 30 minutes or so. They're quite beautiful. The trail is well defined. And the pools have a beautiful color like glacial lakes, and they're about the same temperature.

I also hiked to the Paleo Castro above the beautiful crescent-shaped Voidokilia. This is an easier hike than it appears (the castle looks way up there) and only takes about 30 minutes to the top. It's a bit more grueling than the waterfall hike, but worth it. It is fiercely guarded by seemingly hundreds of giant spiders along the way that always manage to greet you at eye level. There's also a cave along the way. There was no one else there and you can walk along the castle walls a bit (the inside is overgrown). Apparently, during spring flamingos come around sunset to the wetlands by the bay, but I never went around dusk.

Overall, a lovely place I will eagerly return to.