Review: Cali, Mykonos – salute the sun in Greece

To understand Mykonos, what this Greek island in the Cyclades is all about, you have to let it get under your skin. You have to set your mood to its frequency, because Mykonos is all about the vibe. And if you don’t know how to do that, just listen to the pulsing electronic music the DJ is playing at Scorpios, an achingly chic club-meets-bar-meets-restaurant affair on a spit of land jutting out into the Aegean. Then, let yourself go.

As the sun starts to dip towards the horizon, the torches are lit and the young, the beautiful and the simply successful breeze in – slashed white dresses wrapped around bronzed bodies, the gold earrings and necklaces flashing in the firelight. This is Gucci land, after all, but we don’t really talk about that.

The music gets turned up and the cocktails flow, while the superyachts nod along at anchor in the bay. Dig your toes into the sand and raise your hands in the air. It is all part of the “sunset ritual”.

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Before you know it, sunset turns to sunrise on this party island between the Greek mainland and Turkey. There is a slightly unreal, dreamlike quality to a night on Mykonos.

But when you do awaken, you will want to retreat to the more “authentic”, south-eastern side of the island. Here you will find Cali, but you will have to look carefully. That’s because Cali is a pocket-sized five-star resort that blends into the rustic hills.

An immaculate Greek village

The 38 villas and suites are in the local style, resembling a handful of soft-edged sugar cubes tumbling down the hillside. Each cube has been turned purposefully to face the sea.

Starting from the top of the hill, where a lone cube stands (the resort’s reception and shortly to become the spa), the natural stone walls of the road zigzag down through the property, between the layers of cube-suites. It is at once rugged and ordered and so typical of Greece – clean lines and neat corners against a dry, scrubby Mediterranean landscape.

Not that the order ever feels imposed. Somehow it works with the landscape to complement it, the edges smoothed out with herbs and shrubs planted on the rooftops of the suites and villas. From afar, Cali looks like a typical Greek village, only impeccably maintained (it helps that it is only a few years old).

At the base of the hillside, where the resort is at its widest, comes the final flourish – a long, lazy sweep of an infinity pool. Looking down on it from the top of the resort, it resembles a single lick of Greek blue.

A taste of Greece and Japan

Given how wonderful all of this looks, you might wonder why so few people choose to sit in front of the pool.

The answer is to be found in the villas and suites. Almost every one has its own private pool. It is very hard to tear yourself away when you are reclining on your own sunlit pool terrace, with a book in one hand and a cold glass of wine in the other – perhaps wondering why on the facing hillside there is a goat staring at you.

This is the authentic side of Mykonos, remember. Otherwise, the suites are wonderfully private with thought clearly having gone into peeping sight-lines.

But tear yourself away you must, because there is much to explore, starting with the cosy, little nook of a beach at the foot of the hill. The resort also has a pair of Axopar 37 motorboats ready to whisk you off to one of the neighbouring islands, such as Tinos, Delos and Paros.

Getting there, with the throttle forward and the music blaring, is half the fun – there’s that party vibe again.

On the more relaxed side of things to do, there is, of course, Cali’s main restaurant, which is well worth trying for the lemony seafood risotto, as is the Pool Bar for lunch – I recommend the lamb souvlaki.

And there is the Lounge restaurant and bar, which, to me, resembles an ancient Greek temple from the outside, clad in the same stone excavated from the hill, so it blends in with the rest of the resort. I’m told it wasn’t designed with that in mind.

Perhaps one of the happy hazards of a trip to Greece is that you start seeing temples everywhere. Anyway, the speciality here is sushi, which makes for a lovely, refreshing change from the Greek fare, not that I don’t love tzatziki.

Wherever you decide to eat, be sure to stop here for a cocktail beforehand on the terrace. The views over the sea, especially in the early evening light, are stunning and it’s just the backdrop you need for your own, private sunset ritual. On Mykonos, after all, you can never have too many.

Chris was a guest of Cali. The resort reopens in April. Rates from €950, including breakfast, visit calimykonos.com