Delfino Blu Wellness Boutique Hotel

From the bricks lining the pathways to the carved stonework over the doors, this hotel’s classic-looking features were all reclaimed when it was built in the mid 1990s.

“Welcome Home,” reads the mat on the threshold of the gates into Delfino Blu. It’s apt because after a day or two in this beautiful place, it feels like yours. 

With its pool, spa, and serviced stretch of beach, Delfino Blu is a self-contained resort with an intimate feel.  You can expect the attentive marks of a top-quality hotel – iced water brought to your sunbed, complimentary safe and laptop loan, a generous platter of fruit on arrival – with an extra dose of authentic Greek warmth. 

Owner Kostas imagined, designed, and slowly built the glamorous Delfino Blu villa on an empty dune stretching up from the Corfu shoreline (and we’re in a quiet part of the island here – an hour from bustling Corfu Town). It took him five winters, “because it is not courteous to carry out noisy building works in the summer”.  He is irrepressibly proud of the details: reclaimed stone and handmade hardwood doors; flourishing tropical gardens and a high-tech ‘rainforest’ spa shower. It’s a labour of love, and an affair that’s never faded. Kostas is an enthusiastic host who remembers and charms his guests. “One year I asked him why he was changing perfectly good furniture in the rooms,” recalls the Maitre d’. “I wasn’t expecting his answer. He explained that people come to the same room every year, and he wanted them to find something different to look at.”

Breakfast and supper are served in elegant surroundings on a terrace sprinkled with linen-dressed tables. The Ionian Sea offers 180 degrees of soft-lapping waters as a backdrop, which becomes spectacular at sunset (7.30pm in October). The food is equally fabulous. Half Board guests are treated to five courses of locally-sourced ingredients, including island fish specialities and traditional Greek stews – the creative salads are memorable. 

You’ll need to prepare yourself for breakfast, which is best not taken too early.  It’s a decadent spread of traditional bakes like Bougatsa (a Greek custard slice), fresh yoghurt, preserves and a tower of fruit; there’s a cheese and meat buffet and the obligatory cooked items (- “The British like their beans,” smiles Kostas).  Honey is sourced from the owner’s family farms on the mainland; likewise cheese and yoghurt, while another staff member makes the beeswax soap herself. Each morning there’s a new treat to sample, with a little story about its provenance. 

Once you’ve explored the fishing village or had a dip in the sea, the spa is irresistible. Built into the side of the hill, it has a cave-like atmosphere and a tempting treatment menu. Whatever they’re using in their facials, it works wonders – or maybe it’s just the Delfino Blu effect.