Omicron Hotels announced Tierras Villas on 31 March 2026: a five-villa estate on the hillside above Mononaftis beach at Agia Pelagia, on the northern coast of Crete. The same announcement carried an expansion of Momi Slow Living, the group’s house in the coastal town of Hersonissos.
Five villas sit on the slope, each named for an element. The house reads Roē as the continuous flow of life, Phōs for light, Ryāki for water, Tērra for the earth and Anēmi for the wind. It describes what it has built as a private complex of five villas shaped by raw materials and simple living.
The villas will open on 1 July 2026. The first season will run from 1 July to 31 October 2026.
The houses on the hillside
Tierras Villas is the fourth and newest of the Cretan houses owned and run by Omicron Hotels, family-held and led by the twin brothers Ioannis and Nikolaos Orfanakis. Their daughters, Danae and Konstantina Orfanaki, set the creative direction, and the architect is Manos Kipritidis, who drew the buildings to engage the landscape instead of dominating it. The structural walls run in long horizontal lines that follow the contours of the hillside, and they frame an unbroken view of the Aegean. The palette is pale stone, raw wood and soft earthy tones, and the detailing is spare. The property was built in collaboration with Cretan artisans and producers, in materials and finishes that take the island’s own palette.
Tierras stands beside two of the group’s other Cretan houses, the cliff-top Acro Suites and the shoreline Seaside. Momi Slow Living completes the four.
Each villa is laid out for the move between indoors and out, with its own pool, terraces open to the sun and the water in sight through glass walls. The largest is Tērra, two bedrooms, 150 sq.m indoors, with three bathrooms and a 210 sq.m patio holding sunloungers, a barbecue and a dining table. Marble, stone, wood and metal meet there, wicker panels screen the quieter corners, and the pool is 40 sq.m. The smallest is Roē, one bedroom, 55 sq.m indoors, with a 25 sq.m infinity pool suspended above the ground and a patio of its own. Phōs holds two bedrooms and wide balconies, and Ryāki and Anēmi take broad terraces. Every villa has a full kitchen, a lounge, walk-in showers and private parking.
The table and the island
Dining will be chef-led. Breakfast will be delivered to the villa each morning, and each villa will be let with a private chef experience, in-villa dining arranged by the house’s own chefs at a supplement. The house will also run foraging excursions into the island. Guests will take the restaurants of the two neighbouring Omicron houses, Acro Suites and Seaside, Caléa among them, and they will hold priority on those reservations.
The spa menu will be delivered inside the villa as well: massage rituals, lymphatic therapies, Ayurvedic treatments, Thai massage and sound healing. Guests will also use the Bath House Spa at Acro Suites next door, with its cave-inspired treatment rooms and hydrotherapy facilities, and the yoga and fitness rooms there. A photographer can be booked for the stay, at a supplement like the chef.
Who is this for
This suits a guest who wants a house of their own and complete quiet. Mononaftis is a small cove 20 minutes by car from Heraklion, under half an hour from the airport, and the last kilometres drop down a road to the rocky shore. Olive groves, rock and Mediterranean scrub surround the houses. The beach below has clear water and good diving, and the coves of Psaromoura and Ligaria and the main beach at Agia Pelagia are a few minutes further on.
