One-Minute Hotel / Cali, Mykonos
If you thought Mykonos had reached capacity when it came to gorgeous hotels, it’s just gone way over the top with a pool we defy you to beat.
So, where are we?
The gayest Greek island of Mykonos, which (and never mind that everyone from Lindsay Lohan to… let’s just call her ‘the unpleasant one from TOWIE’ have tried to muscle in) is still sleek and sexy and sophisticated. We’re actually not in town, not on Ornos Beach and not on Elia Beach, so it’s a bit of a voyage of discovery even for Mykonophiles like ourselves.
And where we’re staying...?
At Cali, a new hotel tumbling down a hill in Kalafati with views down over the Aegean, where it has secured itself a little beach for you to dip toe into. An easy Uber from town and from the Jackie O Beach Club and from Soho House and Scorpios, if you have all the right memberships, it’s secluded but not cut off.
What’s the style?
We all know that Greece does white on white like no one else, but this is next-level white on white (with no blue, which we think is progress). From the lobby, which is all marble with a mini-pool and just-so lighting (oh and views! That’s why they don’t need to use blue) through to rooms and restaurants all of which are muted and classy with natural materials, contemporary styling and sleek concrete on the walls. The restaurant has a view, there’s a great little gym but the superstar sucking up all the attention is the pool, the longest in Mykonos, a ribbon of blue twisting itself right along the perimeter with infinity views out to sea. It’s a handsome rock star of a pool with a lovely little bar/café right there so you never have to pull yourself away from it, not even for a second. OK, maybe for a spa treatment or a yacht cruise with lashings of fizzy things.
And the rooms?
You know when people say a room is relaxing and you think, ‘What does that mean?’? Well, it means the sort of room you get at Cali in a symphony of creams and beiges and whites all in natural materials: little sisal mats by the bed, raw plaster on the walls, stone floors. All 40 villas have a little pool (ours had a view not only of the sea but of the upcoming helipad!) and you can get them to send you someone to do pilates with you in the open air or even give you a massage (best we’ve ever had, by the way!) We had friends over, and they hate us to this day.
Is there a story?
Designed, built and owned by a private family who actually hang around and if you’re lucky treat you to martinis at the bar (hi Eric!), this is the antidote to the hard-partying side of Mykonos that gets all the (wrong) headlines.
And to eat?
The casual feeling that vibrates through Cali extends to the restaurant, but don’t think that means they don’t have the island’s first Michelin star chef attached, because they do. The food is relaxed and unpretentious, though some of it certainly counts as fine dining. Whether it’s an all-day burger you’re after, a mineral-packed salad or something fancier, it’s as sustainable as it can be with zero-waste as the target.
So, to sum up...
There was a time you’d live it up in Mykonos and then take yourself off to nearby Santorini to get over it. Now Cali is here, there’s no need for that nonsense. Either stay and get yourself taxi-ed to whatever party you fancy, or live it up and then come here for the r’n’r by that superstar swimming pool and on the pocket handkerchief beach. A thing of beauty, a joy forever.
