Ikos Aria

Thid was our second stay at ikos. Last year we stayed at Dassia in Corfu. kos is a very small, less known island. You can fly from athens or most european cities directly to Kos in the summer. We took the ferry from Bodrum/ turkey. The ferry takes 25min. The customs in Kos was the most painful part of the trip. Be prepared to stand in the sun for 1.5-2 hours. The port is 45 min drive from the resort. The airport is only 10min away.

The resort is on the opposite side of the island at Kefalos beach.

Resort is beautiful, much nicer and newer than Dassia. We had delux rooms. The delux pool/ beach and bar are much nicer and worth it. Dassia did not have an exclusive delux bar/ restaurant and the pool was pretty bad.

At aria the delux pool is beautiful and the bar where seasons restaurant is super nice.

The beach is perfect. Wr travel to greece for the aegean so we never used the pool. We spent all our time at the beach. There is a small island across the beach you can swim to and climb. Its great.

The staff at the resort is super nice as you would expect. We have been told they start the season with 600 employees but they are down to 400 bc most kids make some money and want to vacation in august so they quit. This had put obvious strain on staffing!!!

In every restaurant there was a delay and disconnect between food and drinks. Food arrived on time. Drinks were late or did not arrive. This is a problem. When u go to ikos u soent a lot of your hard earned money and their staffing should not be your problem. Thats a failure on their part.

The gym was great. I enjoyed the outdoor area.

Our favorite restsurants were Anaya Ouzo Seasons Dinner by the beach

Italian is mediocre and good for lunch. I wouldnt waste dinner here. Simplest most famous dish “ margarita pizza” and they dont even have that right. It is a cheese pizza not margarita. My 12 yo said “ dad this cant be margarita it doesnt have basil !”

The prices listed on tge menu for the wines are exaggerated. They put 90 euro for a wine that costs 30euro. I think thats silly because their customers are not supid and they have an iphone. I took a pic of the delux winelist and asked gemini to find the retail prices and ratings of the wines.

Their winelist is ok but it is not what they pretend to be!

Room is great, very comfortable, spacious.

The bottom line is you will have better food at four seasons or if you seek out restaurants on your own but it will cost you a fortune.

This is by no means cheap, the opposite but it is i think still a good value

First timers to an Ikos resort, having chosen it based on the recommendation of friends who have been before. We had high hopes but also some reservations as we have experienced poor all inclusives in the past….Ikos Aria surpassed all our expectations. We cannot express enough how incredible this place is. The food, the drinks, the setting, the decor everything really is five star but what needs mentioning most, is the staff. They are just out of this world, incredible. Friendly, welcoming, they literally cannot do enough for you & we were treated like old friends, they really made our time magical & I will list the ones who need special recognition from management at the end of this review. We spent time in both the standard & deluxe rooms & I would say both are fabulous although the deluxe rooms are much more spacious & we really loved the garden / patio area. Seasons restaurant in the deluxe area is also something very special particularly for lunch but the absolute BEST lunch by far is the Ouzo grill. The setting overlooking the beautiful sea & the little island opposite is idyllic, the array of salads, breads, sides etc are wonderful & the provisions of grilled seafood, fish & meats is incredible. We couldn’t get enough! Beach service on both sides is brilliant, the staff are attentive without being overbearing & the sunbeds are very comfy. The grounds of the hotel are utterly delightful with annotated herb & plant gardens describing usages for their medicinal properties which was a gorgeous touch & also an insect garden too. The buggies run from each side of the resort & a special mention should go to our favourite driver who we named “Hedgehog hunter” - he would point out these sweet little creatures during our Tim trips at night, he was so fun & enthusiastic but stupidly on our part we forgot his name - sorry! The inclusion of ancient ruins within the grounds is fabulous & also the ruins separating the beach areas is a really cool & interesting aspect of this resort. The resort is focussed on being family friendly but as an adult only couple we definitely didn’t feel out of place or that the place was overrun with kids. The deluxe area has an adults only pool which is very serene & peaceful & there is also an adults only section of the standard area beach. We took part in two complementary activities; wine tasting & cocktail making & these were both excellent. We met the resort sommelier, Theodora who then assisted us with some amazing wine pairings for the restaurants each night & these wines were there for us when we arrived at our table. Impeccable service, never experienced something so personalised & superb at the same time. Jacques is THE man for the cocktails at the class & in general. We learned loads & had brilliant fun at the same time. The white party is a nice touch & the music in the evenings is perfect, Constantina is an exceptional singer, & her accompanying band members are also fantastic. We had one particularly brilliant night when everyone was up dancing, it was wonderful! We would also hugely recommend experiencing dinner on the beach - the food was exquisite, the staff wonderful again & it was a beautiful way to spend our last night. We also got to liaise with the hotel deputy manager, Stelios who ensured our stay was nothing but perfection. We rarely return to the same hotel but this place won our hearts, we cannot wait to go back! Thank you Ikos Aria so much!

Fresco Olga Sofia

Standard Beach Dimitris

Oliva Stelios

Ouzo lunch Freddy Yvonne Vangelis

Main Bar Martha Jacques

Deluxe Beach Tomas Achilles

Kos Julia Ricardo

Dinner on the beach Marios

Deluxe Bar Manager Zizi (sorry if spelt wrong)