If you’ve been following our Ikos journey, you’ll know that Aria was our seventh Ikos holiday and the last resort to tick off on our Ikos Resorts bingo card. To say I was excited, is a bit of an understatement. 

The joy of Aria is that it’s just 15 minutes from the airport, the shortest transfer of all of the Ikos resorts. The Ikos meet and greet desk was on the right after leaving the baggage hall and we were whisked away. As we booked direct, the transfer was complimentary but it wouldn’t cost much in a taxi. 

Butterflies in my belly, we pulled up outside the stunning white rendered building and stepped on to the white marble steps up to reception. The hot sun reflected off all the white. You’ll definitely need your sunglasses! As soon as we stepped out of the Mercedes we were greeted personally by the Duty Manager, Ioannis, who thanked us for our loyalty and ushered us inside to check in. 

I love the Ikos check in process! The delicious smell, the cool towel and a chilled glass of champagne whilst being introduced to the resort. Now is the time to add the WhatsApp concierge, book any remaining à la carte restaurants, wine tasting, sunset cruise and cocktail making class. 

Whilst sitting and checking in, Ioannis came over again to properly introduce himself and tell us that in recognition of our loyalty we had been upgraded to a junior suite with private garden. I was floored! We usually just book promo rooms or maybe a superior, we’ve only booked a suite once before (at Oceania) so to be upgraded to a suite at Aria was a lovely surprise. We were whisked away to room 2007 where a chilled bottle of Ikos private cellar cava waiting for us. You can see a walkthrough video of the room on Facebook. 

Whilst sitting in the lobby checking in, the WhatsApp team responded within minutes to our extra restaurant reservations, and that set the tone of the service throughout our stay at Aria. They didn’t just respond to acknowledge the request, but an actual confirmation that it was done. I’ve never experienced anything like it, it was like having my own EA to manage my life. I accidentally gave the wrong date for the sunset cruise – changed almost immediately. It blew my mind how fast they were. 

After unpacking, we headed to the lobby bar for a pre-dinner drink and caught the eyes of two familiar faces. That’s the thing with Ikos; that cult following means it doesn’t take long until you cross paths with guests from Ikos’s past!

Our first dinner was at Ouzo and I doubled down on seafood with steamed mussels for starter and grilled swordfish for main. I could smell the octopus from a few tables away and regretted not ordering it! The other half kept it lighter with grilled halloumi with aubergine although the spinach and lemon risotto was huge! The food was great and enjoyed a shot of Skinos as a digestive. 

We didn’t eat at Ouzo many times as aside from dinner, the restaurant is pretty much buffet only. It says in the app that Ouzo is buffet and à la carte at breakfast and lunch but the à la carte menu at breakfast is just eggs and lunch is just a BBQ buffet. Dont get me wrong, the buffets are decent. I would have preferred more cut fruits on the breakfast buffet but the sweet selection and the range of different juices on offer was excellent. Definitely try the cherry pie and cherry juice! I was less enamoured with the BBQ lunch and felt the range of meats was a bit limited. 

After dinner at Ouzo, we headed back to the lobby bar. Sitting at the bar were the two familiar faces from earlier. I’d already said to the other half that I was sure I’d met these ladies before, and as our eyes met across the bar, it was clear they were thinking the same. We’re not particularly extroverted, but popped over to ask if we’d met before and turns out, we were at Ikos Andalusia at the same time earlier in the year! The Ikos world really is a small world!

Whilst chilling at the adults pool on our second day, Ioannis popped by to check on how our stay was going and very kindly offered us Deluxe access for the rest of our stay. We’d been chatting to other couples that had been offered the same, so I think it’s one of those little gestures to recognise loyal guests and give them a treat. I’m still not sure how they’re making Deluxe guests feel extra special, when so much is already includes and it would be nice to see a formalisation of loyalty recognition, but the efforts made at Aria were very much appreciated. Ioannis had also arranged a bottle of chilled Tattinger champagne to be in our room after we got back from dinner, that night, which was another lovely touch. 

I don’t know if it was the hotel being full, the type of guests or how the resort is laid out, but the pool scene felt different at Aria to other resorts. 

The main pool is directly outside the main building and overlooked by Fresco and Oliva restaurants. It’s split in to three sections with a toddler splash pad on the right, kids pool in the middle and adult zone on the left. The beach pool is bigger and has the Gelateria but always felt really hectic when we walked by, so we avoided that and stuck to the adults only pool!

The adults only pool is right next to the Deluxe restaurant, Seasons, so a little hack to experience some of the deluxe menu is to go to the adults only pool. I’m not certain, but I think the adults pool would have originally been the Deluxe pool until they built the separate Deluxe area. The adults pool is quite small, and some of the beds are overlooked by people eating in the restaurant, which I hate, but we always managed to find a spot. 

There’s a huge number of sunbeds around the Deluxe pool and it felt like there wasn’t a lot of space between them. The adults section is quite small but there’s 2 beds at the back of the section which feel very private and are bordered by some wonderfully fragrant hedges. The Bali beds looked comfy, but we didn’t use them. 

The beach areas are quite nice, some of the better across Ikos properties, but we’re not beachy people so didn’t spend much time there other than checking out of the ruins of an ancient basilica. We also loved seeing the unearthed ruins around the resort – Aria definitely wins the award for being the most beautiful Ikos resort. Every area of the fragrant, manicured gardens are a pleasure to walk around and there’s spectacular views everywhere you look!

Our Ikos tradition is to have a massage in the spa at the end of day two which forces us into relaxation mode. The spa facilities are excellent although the atmosphere was somewhat ruined by a gaggle of women screaming as they went through the cold water treatment and had to be asked to be quiet by the staff. I also managed to make time to use the gym and burn off some of the indulgence midway through the holiday, which made me feel pretty smug! 

Because we were at the spa, we went for lunch as early as we could and Flavors buffet opens at 1230. I prefer not to use the buffets at Ikos when there’s delicious à la carte restaurants to try, and I didn’t think it was one of the most impressive buffets I’ve had at an Ikos. Whilst I enjoyed the lovely chicken drumsticks, the lamb kofta was gristly. The giant chocolate Roche and strawberry shortcake desserts made up for it!

The USP of à la carte all-inclusive is what keeps us going back to Ikos. The food is consistently excellent and any dishes I didn’t enjoy were because of personal taste rather than there being anything wrong with the dish. 

Some of our standout meals were the melt in your mouth beef and lamb in Provence, and we loved the sense of theatre when serving the onion soup starter and profiterole dessert. The satay at Anaya was excellent and the salmon was cooked to perfection. I loved, loved, loved the sake with strawberries and just the smallest hint of heat! 

My favourite meal has to be at Oliva. The prawns were cooked in an amazing garlic and chilli sauce that had the slightest hint of heat and tons of flavour. The octopus was less good but the fillet steak was absolutely perfect (thanks, Dimitrios, for the recommendation!) and I was glad to pair it with roasted roots – the parsnip purée was delicious! Our waiter suggested the perfect wine which went just as well with the other half’s pasta as it did my steak. 

Dinner in Kos was fine. I enjoyed the meal but felt that the sea food starter could have been more flavourful. The main of Katimeria was over seasoned for my taste and just tasted herby. I loved the baklava dessert though, that was awesome. The other half’s gyros was huge in comparison to my main so I was glad I ordered the potatoes with goats cheese as a side. I’d say his orange cake was as good as the one we had at Oceania a few years ago. 

Non-Deluxe guests can book Seasons for dinner and we ate there on our last night, we were presented with a special burrata pizza as a last meal gift which was a lovely surprise (not that we needed anymore food!). The tuna tartar had a delicious heat running through it which paired perfectly with the pork kimchi. The mash tasted a bit smashy but I still enjoyed it! 

As we had been gifted Deluxe privileges, we tried out breakfast and lunch at Seasons and I’m glad we had the extra choice of restaurants, as if there’s one thing that compares unfavourably at Aria to some of the other resorts, it’s the lack of à la carte restaurants for breakfast and lunch. Only Fresco is à la carte all day. The à la carte breakfast menus in Ouzo (basically just eggs) and Kos felt limited (to our tastes). The lack of à la carte is one of the main factors in us not wanting to rush back to Odisia and it does take the edge off what Ikos is all about. 

One thing we do love about Ikos is the included activities. We always do the wine tasting and Christoforos was so knowledgeable about the history of wine and how it had changed over the centuries. I did feel for him as a group of ladies turned up late and then chatted amongst themselves which seemed to throw him off his stride a bit. I liked that he brought a selection of Ikos Private Cellar wines which I suspect aren’t the most expensive in their collection but are all, nonetheless. delicious. We also got smashed learned a lot about the history of cocktails at the cocktail making class, ran by Lefteris, who made the best espresso martini I’ve ever tasted! 

The sunset cruise was…interesting in that you’re not on the right side of the island to see the sunset, so it was basically a bit of a booze cruise along the coast for an hour, but who am I to grumble! The great thing for us is being able to meet other guests at these activities, swap travel stories and experiences and get to know people. There’s only so many words we can say to each other when it’s just the two of us all week, so it’s nice to chat to someone else! Neither of us are extroverts so having a shared experience to talk about helps start conversations. 

We love our Ikos holidays and until Kissamos opens in Crete next year, we’ve now stayed at all 7 resorts. Aria has made an extra special impression on our hearts. 

I always try to remain objective in my reviews and I’m cautious to review service as service is so subjective; my excellent could be your average. Service delivered by humans is rarely perfect (whatever perfect is!) but it would be remiss of me to not mention service at Ikos Aria. 

From the moment we arrived and were personally greeted out of the Ikos branded Mercedes by Ioannis, the Duty Manager, to being waved out of the resort on our way home, there was a level of consistency I’ve so rarely experienced anywhere, never mind at another Ikos. 

Every interaction was happy and smiley, not in a superficial sense but the staff seemed genuinely…happy. We saw the General Manager, Dimitrios, everywhere. Every meal. Walking around the grounds, chatting to guests, he seemed always in sight. I got the impression his ever presence and never knowing where he’ll pop up keeps staff on their toes and the service exceptional. I also got the impression that the staff are enjoying their work, not begrudgingly delivering great service out of fear of the boss or the guest. They genuinely seemed to care. 

Speaking to other guests, I know there were some issues with service (there always is), but our every drink order, every meal, every question was a masterclass in faultless hospitality. 

There are elements of other resorts that we prefer (like the range of à la carte restaurants of Dassia or Andalusia), but Aria blew us away. Speaking to Ioannis shortly before we checked out, I was a little choked to be leaving and driving out of the gates to the airport, I felt a sadness at going home that I’d not felt before. On balance, I don’t think there’s any question that Ikos Aria is my favourite Ikos Resort and I cannot wait to return.

With special thanks to Ann, Rose, Nick & Elisa for your company and laughs during our stay at Aria – you added so much joy to an already wonderful holiday and we hope that our paths cross at Ikos in the future. Safe travels! 

Date of trip: September 2025

Price paid: €1530 per person for 6 nights on all inclusive basis (booked on a Promo Room initially, with complimentary upgrade to the junior suite with private garden). Excluding flights.

Points earned: None as used my MBNA Horizon credit card which charges 0% foreign exchange fee and pays 0.5% cash back.