Sani Dunes sits on the Aegean shore of the Kassandra peninsula in Halkidiki, one of the five hotels inside Sani Resort. It opened at the end of June 2017 on a beachfront plot, and it is built around water. A heated lagoon pool of 3,500m2, which the house calls the largest heated lagoon-style pool in Greece, snakes through it, and its perimeter hugs every room and suite, so a guest steps off the terrace and in.
There are 136 rooms and suites, all of them low-rise: 80 junior suites and panorama junior suites, and 56 double and family rooms. They are laid out in two areas, each around its own pool, with the deluxe rooms and suites wrapped around the larger one. Beyond them the hotel keeps an exclusively serviced beach of its own, and it stands close to Sani Marina, with its boutiques and its late hours.
The hotel was conceived as a private beachfront house for adults and children over the age of 12, and it still describes its atmosphere as grown-up. Its own room list carries family rooms and family suites among the categories, so the age bar it opened with does not describe who may stay. The one age rule its pages state is at the spa.
The building
Nimand Architects, of Thessaloniki, drew both the building and the interiors, AKTOR built it, and the work completed in 2017. The forms are simple and geometric, the materials chosen so the hotel blends into the ground around it, green roofs run over it and water is worked through the plan at many points. The central building holds the reception and a two-level lobby, where an installation by the sculptor Costas Varotsos rises through both levels, part of the structure rather than something hung in it. Sunlight and the colour of the sea reach the rooms through a private garden or a balcony, by category, and the beachfront suites open straight onto the serviced sand. The design took Best Design Hotel 2019 at the Connoisseur Circle Hospitality Awards, presented at ITB Berlin.
The ground
Sani Resort runs across 1,000 acres of beach-framed forest on the Halkidiki peninsula, with seven beaches along it, and Sani Dunes stands on the Aegean shore of that estate. The resort says it was the first carbon neutral resort in Greece.
The spa
The D Spa is at Sani Dunes and opens every day from 8am to 8pm. It has six private treatment rooms, five single and one couples’ suite, and works with Anne Semonin Paris products. The thermal area holds a steam room, a sauna, an emotion shower and an ice bucket shower, and there is a manicure and pedicure room and a shop selling the Anne Semonin range. Children under 16 cannot use the facilities, and there is a junior menu for ages 12 to 16.
The table
Fresco is the hotel’s Italian room, serving from 6.30pm to 9.30pm, with a menu created by the chef Ettore Botrini. Its terrace is open to the sun, with Mount Olympus in view, and the kitchen runs classic dishes alongside its own, from meat, seafood and market produce, with the sommeliers pairing the wine. The Beach House is the hotel’s restaurant and bar on the sand. There are two bars and two thematic restaurants besides, with views over the pools and the sea.
Who is this for
The sands are white and the water shallow and clear, so this is a hotel for a long day spent in and out of it. The rooms are plain and contemporary, with panoramic windows and balconies over the gardens, and every bar and restaurant here is set up for grown-ups. A glass of Sani’s own Land of Grace wine arrives with you. Couples fit it best, along with families whose children are old enough for a quiet afternoon.
