Mandarin Oriental, Costa Navarino

Mandarin Oriental's first Greek property opened in 2023 on the Bay of Navarino, the southwest Peloponnesian coast that has been quietly developed as Costa Navarino over the past fifteen years. The building is a piece of restrained modernism by the Greek practice K-Studio, a set of low white curves following the shoreline so that the architecture stays below the treeline and the olive groves behind it.

Accommodation is unusually generous, weighted towards suites, pool villas and multi-bedroom residences rather than standard rooms, and almost everything faces the sea. The spa is the property's calling card and has been awarded a Forbes five-star rating alongside the hotel itself, a combination that at the time of writing no other property in Greece holds; expect thermal circuits, a long treatment menu and genuine wellness programming rather than a token treatment room.

Dining leans on Messenian produce, olive oil in particular, across several restaurants. Three golf courses sit within a ten-minute drive, and the surrounding region is one of the most rewarding in Greece for anyone who wants archaeology without crowds: the Palace of Nestor, the Venetian fortresses at Methoni and Pylos, and ancient Messene are all close. Calamata airport is around 45 minutes away.