Aristide Hotel Syros

Aristide Hotel Syros

Syros is not the island most people think of when they think of the Greek islands, which is what keeps it feeling like a discovery. No Mykonos crowds, no Santorini selfie queues, no performed version of Greece for foreign consumption. What it has instead is a city, Hermoupolis, built in the 19th century when Syros was one of the wealthiest trading ports in the Mediterranean, with marble pavements, Neoclassical mansions, a working university, art galleries, and an opera house modelled on La Scala. The Cycladic blue and white is nowhere to be found. The architecture is closer to Venice than the Aegean. The Aristide occupies one of those mansions, a 1920s palazzo in the Vaporia neighbourhood, acquired and restored by author and economist Oana Aristide with her sister and mother in 2020 with the particular care of people who intended to live there as well as open it to guests. Nine suites, each named and individually designed, Doric columns made from Acropolis marble at the entrance, a spiral marble staircase to the first floor, five-metre ceilings in almost every room, nine types of Greek marble used throughout, and art in every corner including a gallery for resident artists. Three suites have private terraces with stone plunge pools. Five have sea views over the Aegean. The rooftop restaurant serves contemporary Cycladic cuisine with an exclusively Greek wine list and a sommelier who knows it. Breakfast is in the tropical garden, one of the few green spaces in the city, with organic produce much of it grown on site. No single-use plastics, composted food waste, solar heating, and compostable flax slippers in the rooms. The nearest beach is eight minutes on foot. Small Luxury Hotels of the World. Short version: A nine-suite restored 1920s palazzo in the Vaporia neighbourhood of Hermoupolis, Syros, designed by its owner-family with nine types of Greek marble, a resident artist gallery, a rooftop restaurant with Aegean views, and a sustainable philosophy that runs from the kitchen to the compostable slippers in the rooms. One of the least visited and most beautiful islands in Greece, and that is the argument for going.