Visitors looking to escape the crowds in Greece's Santorini and Milos can look forward to the grand opening this spring of Gundari, a 30-room property on Folegandros, one of the lesser-known Cycladic islands.
Billed as the island's first luxury boutique hotel, the property is set on a protected wildlife reserve on Folegandros' southeastern coast. The name "Gundari" means "rocky place," and accommodations, which include suites and villas, take their design inspiration from their surroundings.
Three- and four-bedroom, cliff-front villas offer nearly 6,500 square feet of indoor and outdoor space, with views of the surrounding cliffs and the Aegean Sea, as well as private, solar-powered infinity pools and hot tubs.
An additional three clifftop villas and a wine bar, housed in an original farmhouse on the property, will be part of the Phase 2 opening this summer.
Designed by Athens-based design studio Block722, the EarthCheck Certified hotel property features unpolished marble floors, linear lines and indoor-outdoor spaces.
Dining and wellness at Gundari
The Orizon restaurant is overseen by Michelin-starred chef Lefteris Lazarou, whose menu emphasizes local products, including fresh, responsibly sourced seafood and produce from the on-site organic farm.
Guests can select their own produce from the farm, then enjoy a farm-to-fork dinner that incorporates those ingredients, such as sun-ripened tomatoes and wild herbs.
Other amenities include a sunken swim-up bar, a main cocktail bar and a subterranean spa offering treatments by an international roster of visiting wellness practitioners. Treatments include sound bathing, energy healing, yoga, meditation, aromatherapy rituals and a variety of facials and massages with heated herbal compresses.
The 100-acre property framed by limestone cliffs offers sunset views of Milos to the west and Santorini to the east. Folegandros' whitewashed main village, Chora, is 2 miles away.
What to do on Folegandros
Guests can explore the island on the property's six Fiat 500e Cabrios, a Jeep Renegade, an electric Mini Moke, 12 electric bikes and a Cool Jub 250S e-motorbike.
Local activities include a visit to the hilltop Church of Panagia, a history and architecture tour, scuba diving and snorkeling trips and a hike along 35 miles of trails that wind around the property. Excursions via Gundari's private Axopar speedboat to nearby islands such as Polyaigos and Sifnos, sunset cruises with cliffside dinners and wine-tasting adventures on Sikinos also are available.
A highlight is a private cooking class at Irene's Restaurant -- a local institution for more than 70 years — where owner "Yia Yia" Irene is on hand to teach guests how to make rice-stuffed tomatoes and other regional dishes.
The property is dedicated to the protection of the threatened Eleonora's Falcon, one of the island's rare native species with a population of fewer than 20,000.
Gundari opens for the season May 16 and is accessible via daily high-speed ferries from the port of Piraeus in Athens and from Santorini.