Ikos Aria, Kos
A Fantastic Family Holiday
The title says it all; it was the most fantastic family holiday. It was our first holiday abroad as a family and we decided on Ikos Aria in Kos (voted the best all inclusive resort 2022 by Tripadvisor). I hadn’t taken Ida on a plane since she was one and I wasn’t really sure how she was going to handle it. The boys who fly a lot were so well behaved and Noah made sure we all knew how the plane worked and what plane it was. The 4 hour flight was a dream even with one switch being accidently left at home, we had enough gadgets to keep everyone occupied.
We flew with Jet2 as we booked one of their indulgent escapes holidays, all the way back in February 2021 this definitely had its perks and I will not hesitate to do this again but I will go into that more in the coming weeks; lets get back to the fabulous holiday. We landed 4:30pm local time and from that moment we were treated like royalty and my god did we deserve it. A private transfer from the airport straight to the hotel, which was around 15 to 20 minutes, and upon arrival we were greeted with huge smiles and ushered into the beautiful lobby to meet our private concierge while our bags were loaded onto a buggy.
We were handed a glass of wine, the kids had some juice while we went through the paperwork once that was done it was off to our beachfront bungalow. The kids were honestly blown away but we had to quickly get changed as we had a table booked at the Italian a la carte Fresco and were starving after our day of travelling. The food was just on another level definitely not your usual all-inclusive hotel. We wanted to kick start our holiday early the following morning so we pre ordered our breakfast to the room for 8am.
Obviously everyone was up at the crack of dawn because who isn’t when on holiday, our breakfast arrived on time and we got to eat it in our private garden looking out over the ocean which was a perfect start to the day. The kids wanted to get straight to the pool, we obviously said yes and it was very much a YES type of holiday. The beach pool was located just behind our bungalow. We spent most of the morning at the pool where we all treated to a continuous supply of drinks. For lunch I wanted to explore the other side of the resort so we went to Ouzo for the BBQ lunch. We had a fabulous table with a fabulous view, again the food was exceptional. After lunch we took a stroll on the beach and explored the Greek ruins. We decided to chill on the beach outside our room for a while with drinks obviously before getting ready for dinner.
Wednesday’s evening meal was at the Japanese a la carte Anya which was something different to what the kids were use to, but they tried a small amount so we cant complain. All the restaurants had a kid’s menu and Ida’s dietary requirement was always taken care of without any issues. It was also the night of The White party on the beach, which we were all dressed to attend and ready for a little boogie.
Thursday was a calm day next to the deluxe pool with the best service I’ve ever seen. We were so well looked after by Achilles and Anastasia who’s motto was ‘If you have a problem or issue, I will fix straight away’. We had lunch by the pool and the kids had plenty of ice cream, Achilles made sure that Ida’s every want and need was catered for. After a long morning at the pool we took a stroll to the beach and slowly made our way back to our room. John and myself had a romantic beach dinner booked and a babysitter for the kids, which they were super excited about. They were taken to Flavours and were able to basically do what they want. The babysitter Christina was absolutely lovely and we both felt so at ease with her, we were able to be in constant contact with her through whatsapp.
I got all dressed up and ready for the most wonderful dinner with the most wonderful man. It was such a beautiful setting, with the island of Kastri in the backdrop and impeccable food that was to die for. We both ordered the Ikos Sky Fall cocktail, I am not sure what was in it but it was a drink we wanted for the rest of the holiday it was that delicious. After dinner we had time for one more drink in the adults only bar and then it was off back to our beach front room. We came back to what we thought were sleeping children but as soon as Christina left they were bouncing around wanting to tell us of all the fun things they did with her.
Friday we had the complimentary mini booked for our day out around Kos. We were given some lunch boxes and handed the keys. Driving in a different country puts the fear of god in me, so I left that to John who struggled to start, as it was an automatic. Now if you know me by now I do a tonne of research before going anywhere – thankfully I had instagram and the Ikos Aria facebook group to help me out. So our first stop was the hillside village of Zia, it was a quaint little place with lovely little shops and authentic Greek taverns we made our way through the little streets to a church.
It was time for lunch and it was the first time I was ever disappointed with Ikos, the lunches provided were just not great for a family who just needed some ham or cheese sandwiches. We were given from what I could see a vegetable sandwich, now you can imagine what the kids thought; luckily there was plenty of fruit and a sweet treat so they were happy with that. We wandered for a bit longer until I got to the point where I needed some food before I passed out. We sat in a lovely little tavern next to the church and enjoyed taking in the views with a beer and some chips.
Next stop on our tour was Antimacheia Windmill, which is still fully functional, and it used to make the flour for all the produce they make which included some dairy free cookies. We were given a lovely tour and John even got the opportunity to rotate the roof that the kids found very entertaining.
After petting the donkey John was desperate to see a castle, the closest one was The Castle of Antimachia, which was a large ruin with two small churches within it. It was very windy as we were at the top of a hill looking down towards the coast. It was time to call it a day, you are allowed to keep the mini until 8pm but we headed back around 4:30ish as the kids wanted some pool time and dinner at our usual time of 6pm.
Saturday was another calm and chilled out morning by the deluxe pool, we were a bit later this time so didn’t get the cabana we liked but that was not a problem for Achilles, he kept an eye out and as soon as one came available he ushered us over with fresh towels. Just relaxing by the pool was just pure bliss, having quality family time away from the stresses of normal life.
After lunch at the deluxe restaurant Seasons we went to the beach to get a pedalo so we could go to the island of Kastri just opposite the resort. As always with this family it was nothing short of dramatic, Patrick suddenly lost his hat so John had to jump in and get it, then actually getting onto the island was not exactly easy as I actually ended up swimming and pulled myself up the rocks using a rope. It was worth it though the views were spectacular and the church was beautiful. Patrick got to ring the bell! Then we had the challenge of getting back to the other side in time for dinner at Seasons.
Sunday was just amazing and something that we had been planning for around 8 months. We wanted to give the kids an experience they have never had before and would remember forever, which we definitely delivered. We used the local water sports company on the beach Crazy Shark, Ikos provided food and drinks and our Captain Sotiris was just amazing.
He had so much knowledge and stories about the island of Kos and he took us to some amazing spots along the coastline. The kids even got to drive the boat, which they absolutely loved; they all had huge smiles the entire time. We stopped off at a very shallow cove where we all swam to the beach and snorkelled around the corals to see all the fish. Noah who is a very confident swimmer anyway blew me away with how well he swam to and from the boat, even Ida and Patrick did amazingly. As the sun started to set we took in the views and got in a couple of drone shots. It was time to head back for dinner at Provence the French A la carte to have a wonderful meal to end a wonderful day
Monday we decided to spend our morning at the beach snorkelling around the foot of the ruins and generally chilling out. John and myself had our complimentary massages booked for later that day and the kids were booked into kids club. The massage was just amazing and exactly what we needed after a week of busy family time it was just 30 minutes but more than enough time to unwind, we also took the opportunity to have lunch alone just at the buffet restaurant Flavours, which was a welcome change. We went to collect the kids and spent some time at the Lobby bar as they had a huge chess set the kids were desperate to play with after that we went to the beach pool before dinner at the Greek A la carte Kos for our final dinner at Ikos Aria.
Tuesday it was time to get ready to go, we had packed most of our luggage the day before so we had time to get breakfast at our favourite place Ouzo and chill out at our favourite pool in the morning. Eventually we had to leave, we got back to our room got changed and packed our remaining items. Once done our luggage was collected. Our transfer wasn’t until later in the afternoon so we had a long lunch at Flavours and hung out in the Lobby Bar until it was time to go. Everyone was so sad to be leaving knowing we all had to go back to a cold, wet and dark England.
The purpose of this holiday that we booked nearly 18 months in advance was to create some core memories with the kids, get away from some big stresses at home and leave the routines of work and school behind. We definitely accomplished all of it but we were not ready to go back to it and the temptation to ‘accidentally’ miss the flight was very high. I am very ready to book our next big memory-making holiday but until then we are going through every photo, video and drone shot from this one.
8 Comments
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carole thomas
Nice review. We’re going in September! Can’t wait!
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Monika
I enjoyed reading your post too.
We love ikos aria. Hope to be there again next year.The photos are stunning 🤩
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Karen
Thank upu for writing yhis interesting read . We ARRIVE in june for a family holiday. Grandparents, DAUGHTER and grandchildren age 2 and 10
Any yops and could uou tell me price of boat trip as daughter and family interested in this x -
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also a teacher
Hello, did you prebook the boat trip via ikos or the company themselves?
Many thanks
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emmaatkinson
The boat was booked the day before with the company on the beach and was around £450 the hotel made us lunches for the trip and included a bottle o bubbly
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Vicki Madgett
Enjoyed reading your blog as we were also there in october. It was our first visit and we’ve rebooked for september 2023. I would love to know where your lovely colourful beach kimono is from as i’d love to get one for next year!