A Greek Odyssey: Experience Ikos Oceania in Halkidiki

An experience of a lifetime: experiencing the Greek hospitality through an all-inclusive holiday.

My hubby and I have been married for a long time, but instead of going on an expensive honeymoon we decided to buy a house instead. In all these years we’ve never been on a beach holiday together let alone do an all-inclusive. We finally decided that it is now or never. We bit the bullet and booked the holiday of a lifetime at Ikos Oceania. We didn’t leave ourselves with much time – a little less than a month – to prepare for this holiday. We had no idea what to pack!

Flight and transport

We caught the very first flight out of Heathrow to Thessaloniki. Due to the distance to travel to the airport, we decided not to go to bed the night before as we had to be up by 1am to leave for the airport. We’ve never caught the first flight out so we were interested to see which shops would be open on airside and if we at least would get a coffee before we took off. With us being on the plane just after 5am so we didn’t manage a coffee in the end. The flight wasn’t too long – around 3.5 hours – which meant that there were no complimentary drinks or snacks for the duration. We decided not to buy anything and rather use the time to have a nap.

Upon our arrival at the airport in Thessaloniki, we were so surprised at how small the terminal was. We got through customs at lightning speed and our suitcases arrived quickly on the smallest carousel I’ve ever seen. The arrivals lounge at Thessaloniki reminded me of a tube ticket hall in London. It was small and compact with only one exit.

We knew that we will struggle with the Greek language and decided that to make things a little easier we would arrange for airport transport. We were greeted by our very friendly driver that somehow knew that we would be parched when stepping out in the blazing Greek sun as, much to our surprise, he presented us each with an ice cold bottle of water.

As we sped down the motorway we were in awe of the environment around us. Having never been to Greece, I wasn’t too surprised to see that the landscape was very dry, but I was surprised to see that it is rather poverty-stricken in comparison to the UK. Cars driving by are old and uncared for but the one we were travelling in was shiny and brand new. Then, suddenly, the once free-flowing motorway came to a halt. The driver expertly takes us down a side road, which became a great cross-country adventure! We travelled down dirt roads, single track lanes, through little run-down towns and past beautiful olive groves. Although longer than initially expected, the scenic route was so much better!

Arrival at Ikos

We arrived at Ikos at 10am UK time which is 12pm Greek time. We were warmly welcomed and asked to sit in what we would later know as the Adults only Bar. We were given pink champagne whilst we were waiting to be checked in. We were admiring the stunning sea view and just still in disbelief that we had finally managed to go on a proper beach holiday! As we were welcomed to Ikos, the hotel manager mentioned something about it being our honeymoon. I didn’t really pay much attention to it as I thought they were mistaken us for someone else.

I have a lot of allergies and prior to our arrival, my husband took it upon himself to write to the hotel asking which restaurants will be best in catering for me with my allergies. They assured him that all of their restaurants were allergen-friendly and that they will make a note of this. Unbeknownst to me, they also asked him if this was a special celebratory holiday and he mentioned to them that we have never been on a beach holiday together, nor have we been on honeymoon at the time so he wanted this holiday to be special to me. As he hadn’t heard anything back from them, he didn’t think much more of it. Cue the comment upon our arrival.

As we couldn’t check into our room yet until 3pm, we were set up with a Whatsapp conversation with the concierge that will let us know when the room will be ready. We could then meet at reception to be handed our keys etc. For the moment, we were free to explore the resort and have a meal. We did exactly that. Famished, we went to Flavours, the buffet restaurant, and marvelled over the view whilst sampling some delicious olives, fruit and cheese. We walked around, exploring the swimming pools and before we knew it we had the call to say that we should go to reception.

The staff at Ikos were incredible. I will tell you more about this in my next post – Ikos Oceania: A Resort Experience – as it is way too much for just one post.

Our room and amenities

All this time we were wondering about our luggage as we hadn’t seen it since the airport carousel. We were just told that it has been taken care of. And it really was.

We arrived at reception to be introduced to our porter. He guided us to a waiting golf cart outside and said he will be taking us to our room. With the wind welcomely blowing in our hair, we were swiftly racing to our room, beeping quietly at other holiday makers to make them aware of the moving vehicle. Once we arrived at our room and our keys have been handed over, we saw that our suitcases had been waiting for our arrival. The most beautiful sight greeted us: towels made into hearts on the bed, rose petals strewn everywhere, a bottle of champagne on ice with fruit looking invitingly delicious on the table. A letter addressed to us stating wishing us a pleasant stay and a most memorable honeymoon holiday was the best surprise.

The side sea view was gorgeous and the room was full of surprises. The minibar was stocked to the brim, a coffee machine for early morning coffees on the balcony and the most wonderful smelling soap and hand lotion in the bathroom.

I had to laugh when I saw the telephone near the toilet. It reminded me of a scene from Friends when Joey moved into his new apartment and he proudly showed his friends his toilet phone. Monica made him promise never to call her from that phone!

There were a few surprises: you know, the usual bathrobes and slippers. But then there was a pillow menu where you can request different pillows each night and, perhaps the biggest surprise of them all, a weighing scale. I don’t think I want to be reminded of the weight that I was putting on during this holiday!

Every evening we had a turn down service and the mini bar will be restocked for the night.

One evening we wanted to settle in to watch a movie and decided to get room service: popcorn. That was the fastest room service we’ve ever had! The popcorn was delicious too.

Restaurants and bars

On the resort there had been a great variety of restaurants and bars. We were required to book the first few evening meals before our arrival and the remainder was booked upon arrival. This was the only downside for me. The remaining evenings was booked for us, however, we were not really able to change this easily as they were so fully booked. This meant that those restaurants we wanted to visit more often or those we didn’t want to go to again was not in our hands.

This also was our problem, we dined at a restaurant that was not particularly to our taste, but we had been booked in to go there twice during our stay. It took some negotiation to get this changed, but luckily we managed it as we agreed to visit the restaurant we preferred at a much earlier sitting.

We spent an embarrassing amount of time in the lobby bar. We absolutely loved the cocktails and bar snacks and the vibe was just so chilled. We just loved watching the people go by, or taking a break from doing nothing.

I will do some follow-up posts about each of our restaurant experiences as it is just too much for one post.

Verdict

This was an experience of a lifetime. We often dream of going back to an Ikos, but at the moment we have a puppy and, to be honest, it took us ten years to feel comfortable enough to splash out on this. It isn’t cheap, but you absolutely get more than what you pay for. If we could, we would go back tomorrow and stay for longer!

Have you been on a lavish holiday before? Let me know in the comments.

Disclosure

This was not in any way sponsored. We paid for the entire holiday ourselves.

Do you want to see other European holidays? Then read some of these posts: