Ikos Olivia stands on the Halkidiki coast, on 22 acres of planted ground shaded by old olive trees and firs. The water in front of it is Toroneos Bay, the gulf between the first two fingers of the peninsula, and the shore there runs 450m, Blue Flag sand. The house has 291 rooms, suites and bungalows, and the drive from Thessaloniki airport is 70 km, about an hour.

It opened in 2015, one of two houses the brand put on the Gulf of Toroneos that year, Ikos Oceania first and Olivia after it. Halkidiki is the brand’s home ground, and Ikos Oceania is on the same coast.

The refurbishment came in two phases. Phase one landed for the 2024 season, and it took the entrance, five restaurants and the bars, added a sixth dining room in The Garden, and put a Deluxe bar under a Mediterranean marquee on the beach, set for the sunsets. Old olive trees line the new entrance, where a fountain steps water down the middle of it. Phase two refitted every room, suite and bungalow for the 2025 season, and the resort reopened in April 2025 with the new restaurants and bars and the new garden entrance.

The tables

Five a la carte restaurants, one buffet, six bars: Provence for French cooking, Fresco for Italian, Ouzo for Greek, Anaya for Asian, Flavors for the buffet, and The Garden, the first room of its kind in the Ikos portfolio. The Garden is drawn to blur the line between a dining room and a garden, and the cooking there is Mediterranean crossed with the dishes of a French bistro, local produce leading. Ouzo is on the beach, where one long table is set towards the water with old olive trees around it, and a small bar of olives and olive oil stands at its door. Fresco is on the shore of the gulf. Anaya is indoors, under a pergola and out on a terrace, with a teppanyaki kitchen on either side of a wide pool of water. Behind every table is a list of more than 100 labels. Potami, the beach club, came with the same phase, its oval teak bar carrying the bottle rack above it under a ceiling of reed. The dining rooms, the lobby and the public areas are the work of GRONDA, the Spanish studio that drew The Garden for the brand.

The rooms

The palette inside is mocha and ivory, with warm wood, cotton and linen. Most rooms open onto a balcony or a planted garden, and the beachfront suites look out over the water. The one-bedroom bungalow suite runs 55 square metres and sleeps five, with a balcony or a private garden of its own. Two more Deluxe one-bedroom bungalow suites arrived for the 2026 season, one with a private garden and one with a beachfront balcony, both of them 55 square metres for five. The Deluxe schedule also runs to a one-bedroom suite with a private pool and a two-bedroom suite on the beach, and the Deluxe Collection has its own area of the grounds, with its own pool and bar.

The pools and the spa

Four heated, indoor and outdoor pools are in the grounds, among them a lagoon pool with a swim-up bar, children’s paddling pools and a splash pool. The Ikos Spa by Anne Semonin, the Paris house, has thermal suites, and the wellness classes come with the stay.

What the stay carries

Dinner off the property is part of the stay, at local restaurants the resort selects under its Dine Out programme. The Local Drive Adventure puts an electric MINI Countryman on the road for the ancient villages and the hilltop views, and Local Discovery carries tickets to local museums and landmarks of its own. The stay also takes in the restaurants and the wine, tennis on two floodlit courts, the children’s football academy, kayaking, windsurfing, yoga and the gyms, and childcare staff run the creche, the kids club and the teen club, with babysitting as well.

Who is this for

A family that wants one address to hold a fortnight, and a couple who want a suite on the sand over a room by the main building. The mood is quiet and green: low buildings, shade, water a short walk in any direction. Mornings run between the main pool and the beach pool. Afternoons are the Almyra beach bar, the Helios bar and the gelateria, and the grounds hold a theatre and a shopping area for the hours between.