Utopia stands on the hillside above Elia Beach, the longest sand on Mykonos, on the island’s south coast. The buildings are whitewashed blocks set into the rock and stepped down the slope, and every room looks out over the water and the islands beyond it. The house has 64 rooms and suites, plus one villa.
Elia is a long run of sand with clear water and an unhurried temper, with water sports, beach bars and places to eat along it. Utopia keeps a dedicated area of the beach for its guests, arranged through reception shortly before arrival and charged at a nominal rate that covers towels and a drink. Guests of the Grand Majestic Villa use it at no charge. The house sits just under a kilometre from the sand, down a steep track, so a shuttle runs between the two.
The rooms
The Grand Majestic Villa is the largest of them, 135 to 270 m² over two storeys, and it sleeps up to 13. It can be taken by the floor or whole, and its 120 square metre terrace carries an infinity pool, a hot tub, sunbeds and a barbecue area over Elia Beach.
Four room and suite categories sit beneath it. The Signature Retreat is 25 square metres, the Heavenly Retreat 35, the Majestic Retreat 45, and the Grand Majestic Retreat 50 to 55 with a free-standing deep soak tub. Each is offered with a private saltwater pool, a hot tub or a furnished balcony. Inside, the materials are flagstone, driftwood, carved stone and wood, with knitted blankets and, in some rooms, granite baths. The chalky white tiled corridors between them echo the narrow winding streets of Mykonos Town.
A hillside the family built
The Myconian Collection has been in the Daktylides family since 1979, founded by George and Elefteria Daktylides, and their four sons run it now. The family’s move onto Elia began when they bought the first sloping field above the beach and opened the Royal there in 2000. The Imperial followed in 2002, then the Villa Collection, Utopia, Avaton and Panoptis Escape.
The table
Pavilion is a Relais & Châteaux table under Executive Chef Nikos Moroglou, and it serves through the day. Lunch and dinner are à la carte, cooked by chef Fei Boumi, and the carte stays close to home. Greek dips open it, with tzatziki, spicy feta and aubergine made in the kitchen. After them come grilled octopus with romesco, orzo giouvetsi in a prawn and tomato bisque, and Black Angus fillet with garlic mushrooms. Breakfast is a buffet, laid at Latitudes over the beach: pancakes, eggs, seasonal fruit, Greek yoghurt, spinach and feta pie. The Pool Club is the bar.
The spa
Sanctuary Spa works from the Aegean itself, with thalassotherapy and hydromassage among its treatments. It is compact, with three treatment rooms. Elemis and Augustus Badiner products are used in the facials and massages, and a skin analysis can be taken first. The seating around the thalassotherapy pool is made from compressed volcanic basalt fibres. Elsewhere there is a small gym over the sea, a main pool with its own bar, and araucaria trees standing on the terrace beside the infinity pool.
Mykonos Town, the water taxis and Delos
Mykonos Town is 25 minutes by road, and the house shuttle runs there at intervals through the day, arranged through reception. The town holds the windmills, the Little Venice waterfront, the boutiques and the bars, and it is the island’s transport hub, with buses, taxis and water taxis out to the other beaches. Water taxis also run along the coast to the louder sand at Super Paradise, Psarou and Ornos. Delos, the island southwest of Mykonos where Apollo was said to have been born, is about 30 minutes away by ferry.
Who is this for
Utopia suits a couple above all. Staff use your name and keep a note of what you like, from the morning coffee to the wine. The lobby reads as part gallery, part safari lodge, with pale walls and floors, stools cut from tree trunks, chairs built from branches and canopies of rushes over the dining terrace. Bannisters, lamps, candle holders and place settings are carved from wood, and the shower rooms are black-tiled behind smoked glass.
