Kivotos Santorini stands high on the cliffside at Imerovigli, Santorini, and the building is black. On an island whose luxury houses are whitewashed and cut into the caldera wall, that one decision is the argument of the place: the colour came off the volcano underneath. The restaurant carries the same argument in its name. MAVRO is the Greek word for black.

The house opened in 2019, the second property of the Michopoulos family, whose long interest in architecture and the fine and applied arts shaped it. The first was Kivotos Mykonos, and Kivotos Hotels & Villas has been in hospitality for more than 25 years. There are 10 rooms, suites and villas here, each with a private pool or hot tub, and the hotel’s affiliations include L.V.X., Preferred Hotels & Resorts.

The building

Black was chosen as a badge of difference, and the hotel reads the choice as symbolic too: black absorbs all colours, so it stands for desire. Inside, the design is minimalist, with smooth lines and curved corners in the Cycladic manner under modern finishes. Local materials and traditional craftsmanship carry the detail. Balcony and window layouts were drawn one by one, the furnishings and fabrics were made for the rooms, and the hand-crafted lighting was shaped after the volcano, set alongside an ambient system so a guest can take the room up or down.

The rooms were laid out for an unobstructed 180-degree view of the caldera, so nothing stands in front of anything else. The entrance is at road level, so guests arrive by car. Most properties on this cliff are reached on foot, down several flights of steps.

The table

MAVRO, dinner 18:00 to 23:00, Monday to Sunday, sits on the highest point of the Santorini caldera and serves no other meal. Availability is limited, so a table has to be booked in advance. Before dinner the lounge on the terrace keeps a sunset hour, 18:30 to 20:30, also by reservation, and it comes with a programme the hotel calls Sun Rituals. A chef will cook dinner privately too, in a guest’s own suite or villa.

The kitchen buys from local fishermen, farmers and artisans, and builds the menu on Santorini’s own terroir, the character the island’s soil and sea give what grows in them. In 2023 it was rebuilt under the head chef Dimitris Katrivesis, with three tasting menus named after the stages of the moon: Full Moon, Half Moon and Dark Side of the Moon, the vegan one. Robata, cooking over an open fire, ran through the carte, and the dishes came tapas-style, in small plates to share. The published menus are those of the 2025 season.

The bar keeps its own menu of Mediterranean small plates and platters, with produce from the same seas: carabineiro, the large scarlet deep-water prawn, and great amberjack from the Cyclades. The pool bar runs through the day on raw oysters, ceviche and crab rolls alongside olives, chickpeas and cheese. Breakfast comes to the room with champagne, if a guest wants it that way.

The water and the treatments

The house has a heated outdoor infinity pool, plus a pool or hot tub in every key, as the trade calls a room. The shared water sits on a terrace with a pool bar and sunbeds above the caldera.

Kivotos has in-suite treatments; no spa building stands on the site. A therapist comes to the suite or villa, and the range runs from deep tissue, Ayurvedic and Shiatsu massage through gem and sound therapy to yin yoga. One-day and two-day retreats build on sound therapy, breathwork and yin yoga, and yoga and Pilates come on request.

The service

Butler service is available, housekeeping comes twice a day, and arrival is a glass of champagne. In-room dining runs around the clock. For a guest who arrives or leaves by air or sea, the hotel arranges transfers, and it will charter a private plane, helicopter or boat. Laundry and dry cleaning, parking and express check-in are on the same list, and a doctor comes on request. The hotel takes weddings and private events too.

Who is this for

Kivotos suits couples and small parties who want the caldera in front of them and very few other guests behind them. Imerovigli is a quiet village on the rim, and Skaros Rock is among the landmarks nearby. Santorini Airport is 8 kilometres off, about 12 minutes by car, and the bus stop on the main road is 500 metres, roughly 8 minutes on foot. The hotel’s concierge books wine tastings, cooking classes and a day’s sailing to beaches and small islands.