Holiday News: St Nicolas Bay Crete - Eastern Crete’s luxury boutique hotel reopens on Friday 22nd April 2022

Holiday News: St Nicolas Bay Crete - Eastern Crete’s luxury boutique hotel reopens on Friday 22nd April 2022

St Nicolas Bay Resort Hotel & Villas is excited to be welcoming holiday guests for the 2022 season on Friday 22nd April. Located within walking distance of the stylish town of Aghios Nikolaos, in Eastern Crete, the exclusive family-friendly holiday resort is ideally situated in a secluded beachfront location, with uninterrupted views of the Mirabello Gulf.

What’s new at St Nicolas Bay?

This year will mark the first of many new initiatives and renovation work throughout the whole hotel. Starting this summer season, the following news has just been announced:

• New suites and villas - The hotel’s suites & villas have all been renovated for the summer season. Local architecture has been given a modern twist, resulting in stunningly chic interiors with their own heated seawater pools.

• Brand new accommodation - four new classic studios with private pools and 8 classic suites with 2 bedrooms with private pools and sea views will be ready in time for the summer season.

• New children’s offering - there will be a brand new 500m2 children’s nature area and outdoor playground with huts among the lemon and olive trees. There will also be a new teenagers club with PlayStation, a music bar, video wall, billiards room and table tennis, alongside the large Kids Club including a games rooms and cinema.

• Fitness and sports offerings - the hotel is in the process of creating a host of new sports experiences, with a newly renovated sports centre and a host of open-air facilities including a new outdoor gym, yoga pavilion and new scenic jogging route around the hotel’s new green zone and coastal paths.

• New gastronomy experiences – this summer guests can learn how to make sweet and savoury local Greek dishes under the watchful eye of the hotel’s leading culinary chefs. Brand new menus are also being introduced, all with organically and locally sourced produce from the hotel’s new bio farm, which will grow a wide variety of vegetables and herbs.

• Wine tasting evenings – throughout the 2022 season, the hotel will host a number of wine tasting evenings in the new wine cellar, led by the hotel’s very own experienced sommelier.
• New wellness treatments – using pioneering ELEMIS BIOTEC technology, there will be a host of invigorating new facial treatments introduced this year, as well as new oriental style massages using CINQ MONDES at the newly renovated Poseidon Spa. There is also a newly renovated hammam and sauna units, two new treatment suites and new chromatherapy showers.

 

Spa and Wellness at St Nicholas Bay

 A highlight at St Nicolas Bay is the state-of-the-art wellness centre, Poseidon Spa, which offers guests world class high-tech treatments. Within the grounds are Turkish steam baths and saunas, indoor and outdoor heated pools, luxurious treatment rooms with seawater Thalassotherapy pools next to the sea, and private verandas overlooking the Mirabello Bay. A variation of yoga sessions with the Resident Yoga Teacher for all levels are also on offer.

There is also a high spec gym with Cybex and Techno equipment as well as indoor and outdoor daily yoga classes in the new outdoor yoga pavilion. Water sports are also available to guests with some of the island’s most experienced instructors, including water skiing, windsurfing, canoeing and jet skiing.

 

Foodie Travel: Culinary offerings  at St Nicholas Bay

St. Nicolas Bay only works with local companies and farms; all food served in the hotel is sourced from local suppliers based on seasonal harvesting and it has its own garden that grows herbs and vegetables for the hotel’s restaurants.

There are five restaurants and two bars at St Nicolas Bay, all accompanied by live music.

Every Wednesday, the hotel hosts a morning visit to the local food Market, with an accompanying cooking Class. Guests can learn to cook famous local dishes of their choice from recipes passed down through generations.

At Labyrinthos, guests can choose their own 5-course meal, whilst watching the sun set over the pool and fishing bay of Aghios Nikolaos. The menu features delicious traditional Greek cuisine, with a modern twist.

Minotaure restaurant offers an intimate candle-lit dinner by the pool, offering a mix of Asian and International cuisine, with live piano music every night. Guests can choose from a huge variety of wines from the hotel’s very own new wine cellar.

The outdoor BBQ Kitchen, Greek Kafenion, offers a variety of local Cretan dishes, with locally sourced ingredients, with the fresh seafood being sourced from the Mirabello Bay itself.

The Blue Bay serves Mediterranean and Asian dishes, whilst guests overlook the Bay, at the all-day beach restaurant and bar. In the evening, Blue Bay, and its jetty music-bar extension at the water’s edge, is transformed into a vibrant cocktail bar.

 

Excursions on foot and by boat around Crete

St Nicolas Bay is the perfect base to explore the island by foot, with walking routes ranging from easy to very challenging. There are beautiful nature trails, breath-taking gorges and a selection of quint little Cretan villages to explore. St Nicolas Bay can arrange private walking trips, to lesser-known trails all over the island of Crete, including the following:

• A round-tour to Southern and Eastern Crete: a comprehensive tour of Lerapetra in Southern Crete; the Monastery of Toplou, combined with a tour of the town of Sitia.
• A hike to the Lasithi Plateau and the Cave of Zeus: the cave stands at 1025m above sea level, and it covers an area of more than 2200 metres. A comfortable staircase leads you down inside the cave. The hiking path to the cave takes about 30 minutes to complete.
• Historic trail – a tour of Spinalonga Island by foot: a small island in the Gulf of Elounda was used to isolate people affected with leprosy from 1903 to 1957. In 1901, the Cretan government passed a decree for the isolation of people affected by leprosy and established Spinalonga as the location for the colony. St Nicolas Bay’s very own guide will take you on walk around the island to learn all about the fascinating history behind this island.

 

For those looking to discover more of the island and its offerings, the hotel hosts a range of alternative tours, which involve:

• A sunset sailing boat tour: Guests can enjoy a BBQ and a Private Party in the comfort of their own privacy, whilst watching the sun set over the ocean,
• Wine Tour: Enjoy a visit to the Boutari Winery in Skalani Village, Heraklion, for an authentic local wine experience

 

Rates

Rates vary within season and occupancy. Guests are able to experience the resort starting from around from £220 per night.

Tour operator package:

Sovereign (sovereign.com) offers a seven-night half-board stay at St Nicolas Bay & Villas including flights and private transfers from £1560 per person. The rate is based on 31 May departures and two people sharing.

British Airways Holidays offers a seven-night stay, at St Nicolas Bay Resort Hotel & Villas, from £1459pp. Includes economy (Euro Traveller) return flights from London Heathrow Airport, 23kg luggage allowance and accommodation on Half Board board basis.