The best hotel in Lefkada?
What’s it like flying in Covid?
So, we arrived at Gatwick for our first belated trip of the year due to Covid. brimming with excitement and some slight nerves at traveling during a pandemic. Nerves were probably the wrong word actually, perhaps more thoughts about whether it was right to travel in these times. There’ll be a post to reflect on this shortly so stay tuned!
Gatwick seemed relatively busy but a complete contrast to the usual manicness of August travels. A moment to reflect again on all those that lost jobs and opportunities due to the pandemic. Masks on, it all seemed organised and we were through security in no time.
Unfortunately, due to Covid most of the restaurants were shut so we took a limited breakfast at Pret, with a small cheeky bottle of wine to celebrate the break! The flight was highly organised and actually more civil than normal. The majority of passengers wore masks and I only witnessed the stewardness having to remind a couple of the younger ones to keep their masks on.
On landing it was more civil than normal as every row had to disembark before the row behind could leave, none of the usual chaos! We had to fill in a Covid form prior to departure which was checked extensively before we got through passport control.
Exiting we were greeted by lovely, warm Greek sunshine and we were whisked off in our taxi to take us to Crystal Waters.
Crystal Waters Lefkada
Crystal Waters first opened its luxurious doors back in 2018 with the aim of creating a comfortable, contemporary resort in the traditional town of Nikiana.
It’s recognised as one of the best hotels In Lefkada as any of the leading travel sites will show you.
We arrived to be shown to our suite with its own private pool. There are 146 luxury suites each with its own unique layout, original decoration and hand-picked selection of top-quality materials.
Our suite was designed over 2 floors with 2 bedrooms both with partial views of the sea and mountains behind. The private pool was a great for a private dip but for those that don’t opt for it there are 3 amazing pools at the hotel – one with with a swim up pool bar where we sampled some amazing cocktails and another with luxury beds all around. We found each to be a serene experience.
The rooms offer all your usual amenities, wifi, smart TV, safebox, mini bars, tea, coffee and air con etc.
As we arrived late, we went to one of the 2 hotels restaurants – note one was shut due to the Covid situation – the Emerald restaurant which offers a wide range of Mediterranean specialities in a charming atmosphere. We sampled a lot of the menu across the week all served in a simple but stylish and eloquent way!
This restaurant also offers great breakfasts using traditional and international hot and cold cuisine.
Their great chefs prepare with meraki. What’s meraki I hear you ask?! Well it’s the secret ingredient of love and soul of course!
Walking around the grounds is like being in a Greek village! The grounds are carefully rendered and the gardens are full of ancient Olive trees.
We ate at the restaurant on several occasions through the week. We had some really nice local wine and the staff were knowledge and friendly and course, with the new normal under Covid – there was hand sanitiser all around the hotel and of course the staff wore masks even in the blistering heat.
Floating breakfasts/lunches
We’d witnessed a few romantic couples having a floating breakfast or lunch in one of the main pools so we opted to have the same experience in our private pool. We ordered the lunch the day before and had it bought us the following afternoon. The tray was enormous and took two people to carry it! It is a cute way to dine and is absolutely perfect for those Instagram or Tik Tok videos!
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CEg2StnAWsc/
Crystal Waters location
Lying 10 mins walk from the charming Nikiana old town and beach and a short 10 minute drive from Nydri, Crystal Waters is the perfect spot to see the rest of the island. The hotel can help you plan your actives and, as you’d expect, there are a range of water sports available from water skiing, scuba diving, windsurfing to paragliding. For those mysterious non-water lovers you can explore the island on land through horse riding, cycling etc
I will go onto talk about Nikiana and the rest of Lefkada in a future post but Nikiana is small but lovely! There’s a port at the harbour at the end of the town and a lovely natural beach. There are your typical Greek tavernas and we frequented one right on the beach. Watching the sea lapping up with the gentle breeze blowing around you as you devour another gorgeous plate of sea food with a local beer is my heaven!
And that simple heaven is how I will conclude! I will be back both at Crystal Waters and Lefkada, I love the Greek hospitality and way of life and this is the perfect way to sample it.