Amnzoe Essence

I corresponded extensively with the hotel pre-arrival. They were very very prompt in returning my emails and answering questions. I had contact with both the GM Sven and the reservations department. I was very happy with my pre-arrival contact. I had the choice of two packages for my four night stay; the Amanzoe Awakening or the Amanzoe Essence. 

The Amanzoe awakening package included:

• Daily Breakfast
• Comp upgrade subject to availability (at time of booking)
• Day 1:Excursion to Epidavros, Mycenae and Nafplio (including transfer and guides)
• Day 2:Fraxthi Cave and the Avgo Monastery visit, including Picnic
• Greek Wine Tasting at the resort (evening)
• Day 3:Visit the island of Hydra / the museums / Monasteries and cosmopolitan city / Guide and Donkey Ride included

The Amanzoe Essence package included:

• Accommodation upgrade (subject to availability)
• Half board (up to two people per room)
• EUR 100 spa credit once during stay
• Regular complimentary group movement sessions, including yoga, Pilates and fitness classes
• Late checkout (until 4pm)

We decided that we would rather relax more than be busy with activiities and went with the Amanzoe Essence package (which was the same price as teh standard daily rate). They were able to confirm an upgrade at booking from a pool pavillion to a deluxe pool pavillion (note that now there are 4 different pavillion categories).....

In addition, the hotel was great about sending over menu lists, activities lists, room service lists, spa list; pretty much any list that we could want. They did also offer Aman provided transfer from Athens airport:

•  Ground transfer (2 ½ hours), either with a luxury sedan car at the cost of €390 plus 24% tax or with a luxury SUV at the cost of €440 plus 24% tax per way. 
•  Helicopter transfer (20 min and max 5 passengers) at the cost of €2.550 per way.
• Boat transfer via  ‘Aquazoe’, which is a Pershing 62. The transfer with Aquazoe (1 hour 45min and max 8 passengers) is at the cost of €5.500 per way.

Looking over the options we decided to save some €€€€€ and went with a Sixt auto rental, which was for 189 euro we ended up with an Audi Q5

After landing on our flight at ATH airport, we were quickly into our rental car. The drive from Athens really takes a solid 2.5 hours and there are tolls around the way so have you € ready. The last 1.5 hour are on some windy roads so if you're really prone to car sickness I'ld highly recommend the helicopter... I think... upon arrival we were greeted by the staff, including the GM and then passed off to someoen (who I can't remember) to show us around the property and then to our room. All check-in formalities were done in the room. 

The hard product is phenomenal. Not too much to say. Loved the toto toilets; though his and hers areas are probably overkill (was it xracer who said that as well?) In addition, the steps around the wet area seem like a death trap waiting to happen. I had asked for the pool to be heated as high as possible, which unfortunately still wasn't that warm. STill even though it was the beginning of October it was indeed useable... DEfinitely the larger pool is teh way to go; can't imagine how small the smaller one was (wold be great if it was a meter or two wider as well)Not much to add, except for I moved the coffee machine into one of the bathroom areas as to keep the noise to a miniumium in the morning while my wife slept. Oh and included minibar was great. The pavillion was quite comfortable, we spent a ton of time there. Loved both the indoor and outdoor space (though it seems like I didnt take that many pictures outdoors) I'll just let the pictures do the talking.. Of note it was disappointing that they have plastic toiliteries bottles; I quite prefer the more eco friendly approach that I've seen elsewhere...

we took breakfast in our room each morning. It was all quite good but like most of the food I've had at Amans it was good but never truly remarkable. We ate lunch often at the beach club and had some nice calamari there as well.. I wish I could remember more specifically about the food but unfortunately I can't. So neither horrendous nor exceptional.  We did do the special Greek night which was good but it was our last night and I was preoccupped with something else. I apologize for not being more specific here but apparently I neglected to take pictures of the food so have nothing to jog my memory...

Greek Night

We ventured to the beach club most mornings via bike. It's a nice easy 15-20 minute all downhill ride. We of course were not motivated at all to return via bike so utilized the van return service. It's a nice facility on a calm bay. The beach is quite rocky (I thought I had heard stories of imported sand but didn't see any evidence of that here... ) Solid service here, from beach attendants to water sports aids. We mainly spent time standup paddle boarding here. While warm, the water wasn't quite as warm as I like to spend an extended period of time in it. There appears to be some construction of beach villas around the beach club area so it'll be interesting to see how they turn out. I do not see the appeal of staying down at the bottom of the hill in a cabana though; maybe if they build the area out more. Of note, there was an extensive fire that almost threated the beach club I think in August of last year. Fortunately they got it under control before any damage was done. I really didn't find the pools very appealing. they seemed to lack character and have a thick lip to preclude any view... one of the more disappointing Aman pools

The resort grounds are stunning. Gathy did a great job. Perched high on the hills there are amazing views. Sunset is truly incredibly. As has been noted before though the main pool doesn't take advantage of any of this. I wish they had put in a iconic pool here, much like Amankila or as I've heard the cliff pool at Amanoi... nonetheless it's quite a beautiful spot.. 

We had a number of treatments in the spa. All of high quality. I don't like that Aman seems to be going to generic spa products. Well at least not resort specific. We really enjoyed the special touches that existed with Amangiri's sage products. I'm sure that there was a fitness room; however I'm pretty sure that I didn't see the inside of it...

we really thought about doing Spetses and Hydra but decided to just stick around the resort and hang out. We did end doing a self tour half day to Spetses (after all we had the car) which was nice to see. Very easy to drive over (20 mins?) and then take a water taxi (20 euros I think). The hotel did make us a lunch reservation which turned out to be unnecessary...

Overall, very good. Sven was quite quite visible. We had one night where there was this awful storm; water blowing in everywhere; the umbrella base had been knocked over and cracked. Next day, they managed to have everything cleaned up like it never happened. On our next to last day they stopped us on the way to the beach club and said "just to let you know, ATC has called a strike for tomorrow.." very nonchalantly... I didn't really think too much about it but before biking off I thought maybe to look into it. Turns out the ATC strike had been called the night before for our departure day (and 4 out of the subsequent 5 days)and turns out it was all of Greece ATC; meaning that no flights were operating out of Greece. Panic ensued for me; because it did turn out to be a big deal. They did offer to help, but being the resourceful FTer that I am I was able to go beyond their means. Of course at that point (almost noon) I had no options to leave Greece that day. My flight the next day had already been canceled; calls to LH resulted in being confirmed on the next available in 3 days... so I needed to start thinking of options to get back to the USA. Working with the hotel, I was able to get confirmed on a ferry from Greece to Italy (and they had arranged for my car to be dropped at the ferry dock). From Italy I was able to get back to the USA. It took me about 5 hours; 5 very stressful hours but afterwards I ordered a bottle of champagne to the room to enjoy by the pool which was nice. We had our Greek dinner that night and during the appetizer portion I was informed that the strike had been called off.. which meant I had to undo everything that I did but I was able to and even returned us to our original flight schedule. The one quibble with service happened here and it's not a huge deal. I had left our ferry teicket info ajd asked the hotel to follow-up with the ferry company to try to see if they could refund our tickets. They were unable to get ahold of anyone and didn't proceed any further from there (to be fair by the T and C of the tickets I wasn't eligible for any refund. All and all the service was at a very high level and I was happy with it. I do wish they had had a bit more urgency re: the ATC strike though but they did have a lot on their plate as well. Sven is quite a good GM; very protypical Aman.

A great stay. Would definitely return. The hard product is fantastic. Food fine enough I guess. Biggest problem was probably the travel between the airport. Overall we were very satisfied