Enorme Santanna Island

Above the Cretan Sea near the fishing village of Sissi, Enorme Santanna Island is a contemporary five star retreat where three pools, swim up rooms and broad sunset terraces create an easygoing island atmosphere built around life outdoors.

Santanna Island has been conceived around the horizon. The sea remains a constant presence from its terraces and higher levels, while pools and waterways are woven between the accommodation to bring water much closer to the rooms themselves. The result is a hotel that feels open and fluid, with plenty of space to find your own corner without becoming disconnected from the atmosphere around you.

The styling takes its cues from the landscape, with stone, pale natural tones, textured fabrics and simple contemporary furniture creating a relaxed backdrop to the pools and gardens. There is a polished edge to it, but Santanna Island feels most convincing when everything becomes informal, with doors open to the terrace, music somewhere in the background and another Cretan sunset beginning across the water.

Rooms & Suites

Rooms are arranged around different relationships with the pools and sea. Double and Superior Rooms provide the simplest introduction, with sea and side sea view categories bringing the coastline into the picture, while the terraces extend the living space outdoors.

The swim up rooms change the experience completely. Double and Superior categories open directly towards the water, with the Superior Swim Up Sea View Rooms combining pool access with views towards the Cretan Sea. They are particularly appealing for guests who want to spend much of the day moving between their terrace and the water.

Superior Private Pool Rooms provide the most self contained option, giving you your own pool and terrace away from the shared swimming areas. Whichever category you choose, the interiors remain calm and uncluttered, allowing the outdoor space to do much of the talking.

Dining

Five different dining concepts give Santanna Island considerably more variety than its intimate atmosphere might suggest. Sunset Buffet Restaurant is the main stage, combining live cooking with Greek, Mediterranean and international dishes and, as its name promises, a particularly good position as evening approaches.

Elsewhere, Veggera turns towards Cretan cooking and the flavours of the island, while Trattoria Bella brings an Italian accent to the collection. Umika Asian Fusion moves things in another direction again, making it possible to change the mood of dinner from one evening to the next without leaving the hotel.

Brunch & Co is a lovely addition to the daytime rhythm, particularly after morning yoga when a fresh smoothie and a leisurely breakfast bowl feel entirely appropriate. Drinks and cocktails continue across the terraces later in the day, and an optional premium all inclusive arrangement is available for guests who prefer to leave most of the practicalities behind from the moment they arrive.

Experience

Three outdoor pools give Santanna Island plenty of room to breathe, and water remains central to the day whether you are swimming, stretching out beside it or stepping straight in from a swim up room. Boufos Beach is around 300 metres away, adding the sea whenever a change from the pools appeals.

There is a gently sociable side to the hotel too. Live music, DJ sessions and themed evenings bring some energy after dark, while morning yoga and fitness classes occupy the other end of the spectrum. Beyond the hotel, diving, snorkelling, windsurfing, cycling and horse riding provide plenty of reasons to see more of this stretch of northern Crete.

Wellness

Wellness is designed to fit easily into the day. The spa offers massages, couples treatments and a range of body therapies alongside dedicated relaxation spaces, while the fitness centre and organised classes provide a more active counterpoint.

Morning yoga is particularly well suited to Santanna Island, when the terraces are cooler and the sea is still catching the early light. Follow it with a smoothie, a long breakfast and a swim from your terrace and the day has already found a rather agreeable rhythm before most people have considered leaving the hotel.

Where

Enorme Santanna Island is close to Sissi on Crete’s north coast, with Boufos Beach approximately 300 metres away, Lake Voulismeni around 27 kilometres from the hotel and Heraklion International Airport approximately 37 kilometres away.

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