Ikos Aria

Had a fantastic 11 day stay at the ikos aria and would highly recommend it. We were a family of 7 with children aged 14, almost 12, 6 and 2 4 year olds. It was our first stay at an Ikos although we have stayed at Sani club and Sani beach and we were not disappointed. The place is beautiful and definitely feels 5 star. We had a 1 bed suite with garden beside the beach pool for 5 of us and a superior triple for the other 2. The 1 bed suite wasn’t huge but was big enough for the 5 of us, with 2 completely separateable rooms. The ‘lounge’ was made up as a kids bedroom permanently with a large double sofa bed and then a separate single fold out bed. Bed was very comfortable except the pillows were very soft but I asked for firmer ones the 2nd day and they brought some within an hour. Bathrooms are nice although disappointingly only had bath towels as opposed to bath sheets. The Anne Semonin toiletries are good. The minibar is restocked daily (and all included) and they were very happy to take requests for anything you’d like in there including different wine etc. Fantastic location straight onto the beach pool which we thought was by far the nicest pool. Shelving on one side so great for kids. To us the deluxe rooms didn’t seem worth the extra. The only real benefit was the use of Seasons restaurant (which we liked). It felt quite away from everything else and the pool didn’t seem better. The service throughout the hotel was excellent with all the staff so good with kids and keen to help. Particular mention to Paris and his team by the beach pool who kept us well stocked with excellent cocktails and ice creams/milkshakes for the kids! My son managed to hurt himself jumping in the pool one day and they got a great doctor very quickly and paid for a taxi to a clinic for him to have stitches and even collected his prescription for me. The food and drink quality was very good. By far the best I’ve seen in an all inclusive. We ate in all the restaurants and probably liked ouzo and Provence the best. Every one was good though, and the breakfast buffet was excellent. If you want lunch at ouzo you do need to get there early or you’ll have to queue. As others have said how busy it is is the issue. You need to book restaurants as soon as you can in advance. You can book 3 before you arrive and then need to book the rest as soon as you check in. That being said the staff were excellent when you rang them at trying to solve issues and get you into places when you couldn’t!. as others have said, you also needed to get sunbeds by the pool before 9am most days. The kids club was also excellent with a great timetable of free activities and lots of friends to make. Again you need to book this well in advance of your stay, however don’t panic if it’s full as so many don’t turn up each day they seemed to always fit people in. One disappointment was the teen activities. There was theoretically a teen club but no one came to any activities. I think they could really do with some kind of gameS room for teens with a pool table and play station for example. It was sometimes a challenge keeping the older ones entertained. The theatre had good shows every night. Check the schedule in advance as some were more for kids and some for adults. I’d definitely recommend booking the mini for a day. Again you can do this before you arrive. Really nice little cars and good to get out for a day exploring. In summary I’d highly recommend Ikos. It’s expensive but you do get what you paid for. I will definitely either go back or try one of the others (as long as we haven’t been bankrupted by coronavirus!)

Having previously stayed at the Ikos Oceania and Ikos Olivia, both in Halkidiki (see my other reviews), we had high expectations of this new Ikos resort in Kos, especially as this time we had travelled with friends (another couple) who hadn't been to an Ikos before. We weren't disappointed! Another superb resort in a fantastic location. Food, wine and cocktails of the highest standard we have come to expect from the Ikos brand. This particular resort had three extra a la carte restaurants in addition to the usual offer of the Ouzo (Greek), Anaya (Asian), Provence (French), which were the Kos (local dishes), Seasons (daily produce) and the Olivia (Spanish). Again we couldn't fault any of them, they were just superb. Even the included room service and poolside menus were top notch (I can highly recommend the Pork Gyros!). So impressed again and if we weren't already Ikos converts we certainly are now, and we're off to the Ikos Dassia in September 2020!

Our second visit as a couple (age 30 & 31) to an IKOS resort and the Aria was even more incredible than our Dassia experience in 2018! We were unlucky to have our Thomas Cook flights cancelled and our tour operator was being extremely unhelpful in the task of finding us another deal, so we had almost resigned ourselves to the fact we may not be able to visit the place we had waited 10 months for. The reservations team at Aria were absolutely amazing & were able to match the original room price we had paid our travel agent (special offer under the extreme circumstances), even with only 3 weeks notice! They really didn’t have to do that, most hotels would take advantage of the misfortune but they did the opposite, even accommodated for the fact we had to move our booking on by a few days and they ensured we still had our sea view room.  We were collected by the hotel provided transfer which was a lovely start to the luxury experience, chilled water and a super comfy air conditioned Mercedes van with a cheerful driver. The view from the room is one of the best we have seen, next time we will be booking for 10 days instead of 7!  The food and wine in every restaurant could not be faulted, amazing fresh flavours and so much choice! The a La Carte at Kos restaurant had fantastic food & excellent service, Fresco was another we loved at lunchtimes. Highly recommend the Thai beef red curry at Anaya (so tender & one of the best curries we have ever eaten - so good we had it twice!!) and the Steak at Seasons restaurant is out of this world!! The choice of pools is fantastic, and a beautifully landscaped resort to walk around. IKOS resorts really are the highest quality in everything they do - food, drinks, rooms, variety, pools, staff service, entertainment, facilities, beautiful design of the entire hotel. We could not fault a single thing in any category!  Tip: Make restaurant reservations in advance of your trip via email. Visit the Spa for a perfect relaxation experience ! Use the pedalos and paddle boards, so much fun! Aria even had a nightclub with a DJ which we had some fun nights in! The first night we arrived the White Party was on the beach - great music and a fantastic chilled party vibe! The Theatre is a must!! The best entertainment, incredible singers and dancers - we spent most evenings there! A really high quality show, definitely not your usual naff hotel entertainment! Members of staff that made our trip: Aghis at the main pool, great charisma, fun and perfect observation of when people needed drinks next. Effie the hotel manager really made our trip that extra bit special, she gifted us a romantic beach dinner for our special 30th celebrations, organised a beautiful tray of macarons with champagne to the room and also came to meet us in person to say happy birthday & asked how our trip had been on our departure too. For us this was the best IKOS so far and we look forward to visiting again soon with friends!