Daios Cove has the whole of a cove to itself. The address is Vathi, 72100 Agios Nikolaos, Crete, a few kilometres from the town on the north-east coast of the island, and the estate steps down the slope of a secluded bay to a private beach at the bottom of it. The operator is Daios Hotels.
Three pieces of work over three years are what make the cove worth the trip. The spa was redesigned and relaunched as Kēpos by GOCO in 2022, five goal-led wellness programmes followed in 2023, and in spring 2024 the premium suites reopened, redrawn, as The Collection.
The spa above the bay
Kēpos runs to 2,500 square metres above the water. The name is the ancient and modern Greek word κῆπος, meaning garden, oasis or sanctuary, and the spa takes it from the garden where the Greek philosopher Epicurus read and taught the principles of wellbeing and happiness.
It holds nine private treatment rooms, two double wellness suites, a vitality heated pool, a leisure pool, a private hammam suite and a double Thai massage suite. The harder equipment sits beside them: a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, a cryotherapy chamber, an infrared sauna, an experience shower walk, a Finnish sauna at 90°C and a soft sauna at 60°C. The rituals use 111SKIN and [comfort zone], and the fitness programming in the BXR Gym, indoors and out, is by BXR London. The facilities are open to guests aged 16 and above.
Kēpos was built with Elastic Architects of Athens, Barr + Wray of Dubai and IndigoEight of London, and it has run since 2022. The design starts from Ariadne’s thread and the Cretan labyrinth. An oval ball of thread at the reception is the first sculptural piece a guest meets, a woven carpet runs the corridor to the treatment rooms, stone is revealed at the lower zone of the walls, and at the centre of the plan a glass-roofed garden holds daybeds around a firepit.
The Collection
The Collection opened in spring 2024 as 26 suites across seven categories, from 50 to 186 square metres. Each suite has an open-plan living room that gives onto an outdoor dining area over the cove. Other categories in the range come with a heated seawater pool and sundeck of their own, a living room and a dining room set apart from each other, and as many as three bathrooms. The facades follow the curve of the bay. Dimitris Daios, who founded Daios Cove, put the suites at the end of the wellness sequence that began with Kēpos in 2022.
Who drew the rooms
Elastic Architects of Athens drew The Collection and the Taverna and RHO restaurants. In the suites the practice brought the curve of the cove indoors: winding walls, soft arches in the structure and bespoke furniture, with Cretan weaving artwork worked into the scheme and warm tones in wood and marble. For the two restaurants it started from the sariki, the hand-woven silk headscarf that is a Cretan custom, and from macramé, the island’s own knotted weaving. Clay went into hand-crafted pieces, and Green Onyx and Didimon marble were laid in fishbone patterns.
The Mansion
The Mansion is the largest house on the estate: 600 square metres indoors over three separate levels, with an open-plan living area, a kitchen, three bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms and walk-in dressing rooms, staff quarters, and a private heated indoor pool with a steam room and sauna. Outside, a 250 square metre terrace and sundeck carries an outdoor heated infinity pool. It sleeps two to six adults, or two adults and up to five children. Guests in it have a dedicated concierge, a private chef on request, catering for private dining, a personal trainer on request and in-suite treatments.
The table and the walls
Menus at the Ocean Restaurant and the Ocean Bar are written by Ducasse Conseil. The resort reads the table at the Ocean as Crete’s own position at the crossroads of three continents and four seas, an island shaped by several civilisations. Six restaurants and bars are open across the estate. At the Ocean the resort hangs work by emerging international artists, chosen with the Saatchi Art gallery. Suite and villa guests have the Residents’ Club, the all-inclusive arrangement that covers meals in the food outlets, 24-hour room service, the mini bar and the drinks at the bars.
Who is this for
The cove suits a traveller who wants one bay for a week, with the water in sight from everywhere in it. A sea-water infinity pool looks out over the Aegean, a water sports centre and a tennis court sit in the grounds, and electric club cars move guests between them. Beyond the gates are the historical sites and archaeological treasures of Crete, reachable as day excursions. The mood is quiet and inward, with deep blue filling every opening.
