Andronis Minois stands 200 metres back from Parasporos beach, Paros, with a stretch of golden sand between the suites and the swimming. Its 44 suites are laid over two floors, and the house is the first on Paros for Andronis Hotels, a family-owned collection of luxury hotels and villas in Athens and Santorini. It is also the group’s first beachfront location.
Andronis bought the existing Minois Hotel in 2023 and reopened it under its own name in early May 2024. The renovation was by Mutiny Architecture & Design, an Athens practice whose own project record dates the completed work to 2023 and puts it at 2,600 square metres at Parasporos. The house is closed November to April.
The plan
Mutiny cofounder Manos Gogoulis described the result as a small Cycladic settlement, “with scattered white volumes and freely designed pathways”, and called that the canvas the rest of the scheme was applied to. White plaster runs indoors and out, broken by coloured ceramic tile, bold geometric pattern, pebble, wood and thatch. Pergolas and ceramic threads frame the outdoor rooms, set to give different readings of light and shadow as the day moves.
Much of the fitting out went to Greek makers. The handmade washbasins and the coloured tiles that mark the room numbers are by A Mano Creations, in Athens. The earthenware cups, bowls and vases were made by Ea Ceramics on Crete. The minimalist works hung through the house are by Alexandra Papadimouli of the Round Button, who took the Cyclades as their subject. For a group known for white on the Santorini cliffs, the colour and the commissioned work are a change of register.
The suites
There are nine categories, running from 26 to 70 square metres. The two largest are both 70 square metres for up to four people: the Deluxe Suite, with two bedrooms under Cycladic-style king beds and a view over the garden, and the Minois Blu Suite, which looks at the sea. The Essence and Origin Suites take up to three at 50 square metres, one facing the water and one the garden. The smallest footprint is 26 square metres, in the Light Suite and at the lower end of the Terra Suite Sea View, which runs from 26 to 36. Suites have terraces or patios of their own, and the multi-bedroom suites have private pools.
Olvo
Olvo is cut into the tiered ground of the house and faces the Aegean. The kitchen sets Cycladic cooking against Nikkei and Peruvian influence, in dishes such as beef tartare and seabream, and the wine list draws on Paros itself, on Naxos and Santorini, and on the rest of Greece. Chef Tsantilas began cooking in his family’s kitchen alongside his grandmother, apprenticed under a Japanese sushi master, and worked through Greek cooking after that. Service runs 1pm to 4pm and 6.30pm to 10.30pm. The indoor dining rooms are smoke-free, and pets are not accommodated at Olvo.
Aura Spa and the grounds
Aura Spa is dug in below ground and works with ESPA, and its treatments run to massage and salt scrubs. Above it the central pool is trimmed with cabanas and a lounge deck that carries from the afternoon into the evening, and there is an outdoor gym with its own kit. Kitesurfing and diving are run from the property. Winery tours and horseback riding are off site.
Who is this for
The house suits a traveller who wants the Cyclades at their own pace and a flat day between the sand and the pool. George Filippidis, managing director of Andronis Hotels, describes Paros as Cycladic architecture set among picturesque villages such as Lefkes, golden beaches and a lively nightlife at Naoussa. The island has no international airport. You can take it as slowly as you want, he says, strolling villages you can only enter on foot, or swimming at an isolated beach such as Molos or Agios Sostis.
