Kalesma Mykonos

Myth puts the stables of Apollo's horses at Aleomandra, on the hill facing Delos, and Makis Kousathanas had a smaller claim on the same ground: his grandparents' house. He and his friend Aby Saltiel built Kalesma there, and it opened in 2021, a Cycladic village drawn by K-Studio, its whitewash swelling into curved corners and barrel vaults, with dry-stone walls and pampas grass round the private pools. Some of the furniture inside is by Rick Owens. At the centre is a chapel to Agios Dimitrios, black inside with traces of gold, whose frieze of Holy Week finds room for the sea and the Delian lions. The private pools are heated to 23°C; the shared one is an infinity pool with the sea beyond its edge.

Recommended for couples who would rather have Mykonos Town fifteen minutes' drive away than outside the door, and for families who can manage without a kids' club: there is a children's menu and babysitting, and the Leto Villa sleeps 14 in seven bedrooms. Breakfast is à la carte at Pere Ubu, and guests rate it, short menu and all. The nearest sand, at Agios Ioannis, is a few minutes by car. The rooms look out at Delos, and the hotel arranges private guided visits, or takes guests out between Delos and Rhenia for a Sacred Sound Journey of gongs and Tibetan bowls on a stretch of water it calls an ancient energy passage, which is a great deal to ask of the sea. The Aloni Sunset Lounge looks at Delos too, and dinner is at Pere Ubu, where the chef, Costas Tsingas, refines Cycladic recipes handed down through generations. The concierge can also arrange horse riding, so Aleomandra still finds its guests a horse, if not one of Apollo's.