Nomad Mykonos

In one suite at Nomad Mykonos the pool has come indoors. It is set into a raised ledge of white plaster rimmed with grey stone, a step from a daybed in grey linen, and a round plaster bath stands in the corner in case the room was short of water. Every one of the fourteen suites has a pool or a hot tub of its own. Outside, the pools lie between walls of rough stone, under pergolas roofed in reed that lets the sun through in stripes, and in the two kinds of Nomad Suite the yard is the bigger room: 90 to 110 square metres of it, against 60 to 80 inside. The whitewashed blocks stand low against a bare, rocky hill, and from some terraces the view runs down over white roofs to the sea, with boats at anchor in the bay.

Recommended for couples who want Mykonos without the south coast's beach clubs, at a hotel that takes nobody under 13. The beach needs no planning: the sand at Kalo Livadi is 200 metres on foot, and the clifftop path carries on from there to the quieter cove at Loulos. Mykonos Town is about twenty minutes by car, near enough for the windmills and Little Venice and far enough to leave them there. The one restaurant cooks Mediterranean and Myconian dishes, and the chef gives lessons in the traditional ones. After dark the cocktails move to the fire by the shared pool, among the hammocks. There is a cinema with antique theatre seats for old films, and a gym whose equipment is made of wood and uses no electricity, which leaves the guests to supply the power.