One&Only Aesthesis Athens and Kéa Island – exclusive Greece journey

The resort lies in the fashionable Athens suburb of Glyfada on the Athens Riviera, set within a 21-hectare beach and forest reserve overlooking the Aegean. Despite its proximity to the city it feels like a private island. Athens' ancient sights are around 30 minutes away, as are the city centre and the airport.

In the 1950s and 1960s the site was home to the legendary Asteria Beach Club, a meeting place for international celebrity. In 2023 the first One&Only in Greece opened here, giving the mid-century legacy a contemporary reading. A sixties-style reception building, with a sweeping staircase down to the Alelia bar, sets the tone; the low, widely spaced structures open onto Mediterranean vegetation. For its sustainable approach the resort holds LEED and SITES certification: some 200,000 newly planted Mediterranean and native species, efficient building services, local materials.

There are 127 accommodations plus 14 private homes, generously spread across the grounds. The range runs from rooms through bungalows, suites and residences to villas; the expansive outdoor areas have a private pool, garden, outdoor shower and fire pit. Floor-to-ceiling windows, pale wood and natural stone define the mid-century interiors; some accommodations sit directly on the water, others in Mediterranean gardens. The top category is the 1,400 m² Villa One with 922 m² of outdoor space, a 25-metre pool, a jacuzzi by the sea and a sunken lounge with fire pit.

The culinary heart is Ora by Ettore Botrini, serving the starred chef's modern Mediterranean cuisine, and Manko, a day-to-night destination with Peruvian-inspired food, its own pool and three bars right on the beach. There are also the Alelia bar, the Minima pool bar and the evening address Thimsi.

The first Guerlain Spa in Greece offers ten treatment rooms, including two double suites, a sauna, hammam and outdoor pool, along with highly personalised treatments; a Bastien Gonzalez Pedi:Mani:Cure studio completes it. Club One comprises tennis and padel courts, a fitness centre with Technogym equipment, personal training and yoga and pilates classes; several pools range from an adults-only oasis to family and children's pools, and there is a beach club with cabanas. Activity comes in the form of e-foiling, paddleboarding, kayaking, cycling and running paths along the coast, sunset yacht charters or guided tours to the Acropolis.

The resort extends across some 65 hectares of cliffside overlooking the Aegean and settles into the spare landscape of dry-stone walls and olive groves. Kéa, called Tzia by the Greeks, is the Cycladic island closest to Athens and noticeably quieter than its better-known neighbours.

Opened in 2024, the house is an all-villa resort. The design is by John Heah (Heah & Co, London) and takes up Kéa's building tradition: hand-cut natural stone and Greek marble meet tall atria, whitewashed walls, pergolas and rounded arches. Main building and villa clusters together form a village-like structure with the character of a small community.

Sixty-three villas with one to four bedrooms range from around 75 m² one-bedroom villas to roughly 180 m² two-bedroom cliff villas, each with equally generous outdoor space. Features include a green roof, a freestanding bathtub with sea view, an infinity pool and a courtyard with a fire pit. Every villa is looked after by a personal host, reachable around the clock, who also drives guests around the grounds in electric vehicles.

At the centre of the resort, Atria serves refined Greek cuisine family-style, while the Kosmos Lounge offers fresh juices, afternoon tea and evening cocktails on the sea-view terrace. The Kaiki Bar sits by the infinity pool, and the wine bar Èpicora focuses on artisanal cheese and charcuterie with Greek and international wines. There are also the beach club and the speakeasy bar Incognito with rum cocktails. Experiences such as the Fire & Ice cooking class at the beach club, "Dining in the Shallows" with seafood knee-deep in the water, or panigiri evenings with music, dancing and wood-fired meat on the piazza round out the offering.

The three-storey One&Only Spa on the water follows the ancient principle of sophrosyne and combines a watsu therapy pool, cold-water pools, steam rooms, saunas, jacuzzis and an indoor-outdoor pool above the sea; Club One offers an indoor-outdoor fitness centre as well as tennis and padel courts. Families find cycling tours, kayaks, paddleboards and canoes in the bay, teenagers the One Tribe hub with a half basketball court and chill-out areas. For younger children there is the KidsOnly club, designed as a shipwreck around marine biology and island mythology. Beyond the resort lie hiking trails to ancient Karthaia, the Lion of Kéa and more than 30 beaches.