Ammades All Suites Beach Hotel & Spa stands on Leoforos Kallitheas at Kallithea, east coast of Rhodes, 50 metres back from a sand beach. Every room in it is a suite, there are 45 of them, and it admits adults only.
The owner calls Ammades an eco-resort and says the sustainability is designed in; the suites are finished in environmentally friendly materials. The house welcomes guests of 16 and over when an adult accompanies them, and counts a guest of 18 or over an adult.
The setting
Loungers and parasols on the beach are free in a marked area, and there is a beach bar. The nightclubs, restaurants, bars and shops of the east coast are a short drive away. Reception answers at any hour, in several languages, and the same desk arranges car hire and laundry, and a transfer to the airport or the port at extra charge. The car park has points for charging an electric car, and Ammades greets an arriving guest with a drink.
Dogs up to 7kg are admitted, one to a suite, on prior notice and for a charge.
The suites
The Open Plan Suites are 37 to 39 m² indoors, with a furnished balcony of 6 to 7 m², a king bed, a sofa bed and a 65-inch television with Netflix. The view is either partial sea or panoramic. The private-pool suites are a little smaller inside, 36 to 38 m², with 40 to 43 m² of terrace, and on that terrace a heated fresh-water pool of 20 m² with a jacuzzi, and loungers and parasols of their own.
Two suites run to 73 m² indoors. The one-bedroom penthouse has a panoramic sea view, a 19 m² balcony and a bathtub. In the two-bedroom the sea view is partial, the pool and terrace match the smaller private-pool suites, and a second room with two single beds brings it to four sleepers. Every suite has an espresso machine with capsules restocked daily, a minibar, blackout curtains, a digital safe, keyless entry from a phone and Greek toiletries.
The table
Ammades Taste is the house restaurant, and its kitchen is set on Greek cooking. Breakfast runs from 7am to 10.30am, half buffet and half à la carte, with a Greek breakfast buffet alongside it; a late riser’s continental breakfast is offered until 11am, and an early breakfast can be asked for at reception by 7pm the night before. Dinner is à la carte from 6.30pm to 10.30pm, last orders at 10pm, and it has to be booked at least a day ahead. The kitchen caters for gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan diets. The second place to eat is Ammades Seaside Restaurant & Bar, and there is a lounge bar. Room service brings dinner to the suite.
The spa
Idolo Spa works through Germaine de Capuccini and opens from 10am to 7pm, Monday to Sunday. The list runs to massage, facials, body wraps and scrubs, Greek signature treatments, couple massages, manicure and pedicure, and treatments for pregnant and nursing women. A massage can be taken outdoors. A steam bath, a gym and yoga classes sit alongside the treatment rooms. Hair and beauty are handled in a salon at a sister hotel of the group.
The owner
Esperia Group has run hotels on Rhodes since 1969, when it opened the Esperia Hotel in Rhodes town. It now has ten hotels on the island, six of them on the east coast at Kallithea and four in Rhodes town, among them resorts, apartments and town hotels. The group also runs a water park and a car and motorcycle rental business.
Who is this for
Ammades suits a couple who want the water close and a day they need not plan, and it suits two friends travelling on the same terms. It also suits a traveller with a small dog in tow. Breakfast sits under a wooden pergola with the waves audible from the table, and that is the tone of the place: unhurried, quiet, close to the sand rather than above it. Water sports run off the beach for a morning that wants some effort in it.
