Review: Amanzoe Pool Pavilion

After four great nights in Santorini, we spent our next four nights at Amanzoe, which is a property I’ve heard so many great things about. I’m going to be breaking this review into two parts, given that it will be quite long.

This post will talk about how I booked, how you get to Amanzoe, and the room we had here, and then in the next installment I’ll cover all the other features of the hotel, including dining, activities, the beach club, service, and more.

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Why I love Aman Hotels

I’ve written in the past about why I love Aman Hotels — they’re quite literally my favorite hotels in the world. Yes, they’re expensive, but unlike when you stay at a mega-resort with hundreds of rooms that still sometimes charge $1,000+ per night, you actually feel special at Amans.

Everything about Amans is so spectacular — their locations, the service, the design, the food, etc.

I’ve never had a bad Aman experience, and if anything, I’ve often wondered how some Amans make money, in spite of their high prices, given that I’ve been at several properties where there were only a few guests (admittedly I have no doubt that they’re making money in Greece in summer, as this hotel was sold out). 😉

Booking Amanzoe

Aman doesn’t have a loyalty program, and they don’t really discount rates much. So in general there are three ways to maximize value at Amans:

• Book through Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts® or Virtuoso to secure a room upgrade, property specific amenity, and other perks
• Book one of the packages available on Aman’s website; in addition to their daily rate, they often have packages that include certain activities, and sometimes even lunch and dinner, which can represent significant savings
• Book using the Citi Prestige fourth night free benefit, though I haven’t been able to use this at all Amans, especially those that require a credit card authorization form

In the case of this hotel, the best option was booking using the Citi Prestige fourth night free benefit. The nightly rate here was 1,200EUR before the fourth  night free. Yes, I know that’s really, really expensive, and it pained me to pay that much. It’s actually the most I’ve ever paid for a hotel.

Getting to Amanzoe

While most people visiting Greece vacation in the Greek Isles, Amanzoe is located on the mainland, near the town of Porto Heli.

The drive from Athens takes about 2.5 hours. In retrospect we should have probably rented a car, but I figured driving in Greece would be challenging, which didn’t seem to be the case. The scenery on the drive was beautiful. While the first hour or so of the drive is down a boring highway, the rest of the drive is along the coastline, and the scenery is breathtaking.

You can arrange a transfer through the hotel for 400EUR one-way, plus a 24% VAT.

I instead booked through Blacklane with a 20% off code, which instead cost about 260EUR all-in for a Mercedes E-Class.

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion review

We arrived at Amanzoe in the early afternoon. Arriving at an Aman tends to be overwhelming, as they usually have what can only be described as a welcome committee. Several of the managers, including the GM, greeted us, and then one of the front office staff brought us to our room.

Amanzoe reception

I’ll of course have a lot more on the resort in the next installment, but my gosh, is this place even real?!

View from Amanzoe reception

Amanzoe property

Amanzoe has about 50 rooms, which are scattered all around the property’s roughly 50 acres. There are some Amans where there’s a huge difference between the base room and an upgraded room, but that’s really not the case at Amanzoe. As far as I know the interior space of all the villas is identical. The only difference is the view, and that some villas have six meter pools, while others have 12 meter pools.

Walkway to Amanzoe suite

So our room was a “basic” Pool Pavilion, a modest 2,260 square foot private villa with a pool (in fairness, I believe that square footage includes outdoor space). 😉

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion exterior

There was a main door to enter the villa “compound,” and then a further door to the interior space.

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion entrance

The villa was gorgeous. It had an entryway, which is where the minibar, in-room coffee machine, and snacks were located, all of which were complimentary, and restocked daily.

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion entryway

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion complimentary minibar

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion complimentary snacks

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion coffee machine

Inside the entrance and to the right was the living area, featuring a couch, daybed, and chair.

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion living area

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion living area

On the table was a welcome amenity consisting of a bottle of Greek liquor.

Amanzoe welcome amenity

At the far end of that area was a desk. Far too many resorts don’t have desks (while I appreciate them wanting to encourage people to disconnect, not working isn’t always realistic), so I was happy to see this feature.

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion desk

The comfortable king size bed was right next to the living area.

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion bedroom

Back near the entrance was a fireplace.

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion fireplace

Then there was the bathroom, which probably took up half of the room’s interior space.

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion bathroom

There was a soaking tub, as well as a big walk-in shower.

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion bathtub

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion shower

Toiletries were in large unbranded containers (this is the first Aman I recall staying at that uses plastic containers for this).

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion toiletries

One side of the bathroom had a large counter and a toilet.

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion bathroom

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion toilet

The other side of the bathroom also had a toilet, along with a smaller sink.

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion bathroom

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion toilet

The bathroom area also had a good amount of closet space.

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion closet

While the interior of the room was lovely, the highlight was the outdoor space.

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion outdoor space

There was a six meter plunge pool, and in spite of having an entry level room, the views of the coast and sea in the distance were beautiful.

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion private pool

The outdoor area had plenty of seating, including sun beds, a big couch and table, and a couple of chairs.

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion outdoor space

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion outdoor space

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion outdoor space

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion outdoor space

There was another seating area off to the side.

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion outdoor space

If you wanted to leave the villa from the outdoor area without going inside (or if you want room service delivered outside), there’s a path that goes along the outside to the entrance.

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion outdoor path

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion outdoor path

In-room Wi-Fi was fast and free, and didn’t even require logging in.

Also, as is the norm at Amans, housekeeping was basically magic. They don’t just refresh your room once a day, but rather they refresh it basically as often as you leave the room. So whether it’s just replacing used towels or tidying up, when you return your room you’ll always find that it’s in perfect condition.

It always amazes me how they manage to do this without ever knocking on the door or being there when I return to the room. The timing is always right. That’s part of the magic of Aman.

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion bottom line

I was impressed by our Pool Pavilion at Amanzoe. There aren’t many hotels that have entry level rooms this nice. I thought the room was luxurious and well designed while still being true to its locale (in other words, an ultra-modern minimalist room just wouldn’t work that well here, in my opinion).

So yeah, this place obviously isn’t cheap, but they really do give you an experience. I’ll have a lot more on that in the next installment.