Travelling in pandemic times is sometimes a difficult undertaking, but what can you do if you need a break from your daily work routine or home office to recharge your batteries and escape from your “four walls” after a long time.
At the moment, it is already difficult to choose a holiday destination, because the much-praised highlights in one’s own country – in Germany, for example, the Baltic or North Sea coast, the Black Forest or the mountains in the south – are largely booked up or wildly overpriced. Long-distance travel, for example to Latin America or Africa, on the other hand, carries a high risk, on the one hand because of the many contacts from all over the world during the flights, and on the other hand because of the often-high incidences on site.
All these considerations kept us busy in autumn 2021 and ultimately tipped the scales in favour of our decision to have the holiday take place within Europe. As we had already taken many Accor hotels to our hearts due to our good experiences, the idea of choosing a holiday destination that combines sun, sea, culinary highlights and appealing accommodation was obvious.
Our choice fell on the Angsana Corfu – a five-star hotel of the well-known and popular Banyan Tree hotel brand founded in Thailand in 1994 and currently based in Singapore. The pictures of the hotel appealed to us at first sight and when our contact was answered in a friendly manner, the die was cast. What we didn’t know at the time, but what became clear during our stay, was that the Angsana Corfu had just been (almost) completed and was still in the ramp-up phase.
The new flagship hotel of Greece has literally replaced the Hotel San Stefano that was there before, whereby the “passing of the baton” probably took longer than expected. The planners of the Angsana Corfu knew about the great location, directly on the slope of a mountain with a wide view of the opposite coast and of the coastal town of Benitses with its small harbour, which you don’t find too often in the Mediterranean any more.
From the main road that runs along the coastline, a newly asphalted road winds up the slope to the turnpike of the hotel’s main entrance. Leaving the turnpike behind, a hotel road leads past the guest villas up to the modern forecourt of the main building with the entrance to the reception.
In the afternoon of our arrival, Corfu had, let’s say, not its best day. A storm raged like it hadn’t for decades and many of the access roads were completely under water. Our plane was one of the first to land on Corfu – thank goodness, because many of the previous planes were diverted to Athens or Thessaloniki, which can spoil your holiday.
Due to the weather and its aftermath, we had to wait a good two hours at the airport before a hotel shuttle picked us up and took us to our accommodation. As this was a really exceptional situation, we naturally understood the delay, although “Zeus” could of course have put us in an airport lounge – if there was one at the CFU – we had at least heard rumours of a lounge called “Nausica Lounge”.
When we arrived at the hotel, we took a seat in the lobby in front of the reception desk, in order to arrive mentally first. As Diamond Members, we assumed that check-in would take place in the room as usual after the welcome cocktail. Unfortunately, the Angsana group only does this for their villa guests, which is a pity, because especially after the long waiting time at the airport, this would have been very convenient for us.
Due to the disaster-like weather, the entire welcome procedure was understandably affected – so that both the welcome drink and the usual refreshing towels were missing.
Well, after the journey and the adversities, we were more focused on the room, shower and bed, which is why we were pleased when we were promptly directed towards the suite.
The upgrade to the Seaview Suite was promptly implemented, as known from other Accor hotels. We now had a room with a small hallway, a dining and living room area with its own TV and a bedroom, also with a TV and directly connected bathroom. The bathroom had a double vanity, a bathtub, a separate shower and a toilet.
The suite also included a large balcony, which was accessible from both the living room and the bedroom. On it was a small sitting area with a table and a mighty chaise longue – I’ve rarely seen such a heavy piece of furniture – nice and sturdy, great for chilling, but almost impossible to move on your own. But first we cooled down and then it was time for bed.
In the morning of the following day, the sun peeked in through the window for the first time and gently woke us up.
Restaurants & more
The Angsana Corfu has four different restaurants, and we were particularly taken with Sofrito’s interpretation of traditional Greek recipes, especially those from Corfu.
The name Sofrito (Sofrito, source: Wikipedia) refers to a dish that can basically be experienced all over the world – it can be found in Portuguese, Spanish, Latin American, but also in Greek cuisine.
If you look at it closely, it can even be found in German cuisine, because no matter what it is called, all variants have something in common: it is mainly diced vegetables/root vegetables that are sautéed with garlic and often tomato to bring along sufficient roasting aromas and then to cook the meat of choice very slowly until it is butter-tender.
As participants in the hotel’s own Cooking Masterclass, we were able to not only see but also taste how this should look in perfection – it was a real treat, but see for yourself -> Sofrito at its best.
Ruen Romsai is the hotel’s breakfast restaurant. From 7:30 to 11:00 am, there is plenty of time to enjoy the breakfast buffet or the delicious delicacies on the à la carte menu.
Special mention should be made here of the barista Andreas, who conjures up the most delicious coffee variations with heart and soul on an international level.
In the evening, Ruen Romsai offers mainly international and Mediterranean dishes, depending on the season also in the form of extensive buffets.
The third restaurant, the Koh, is an Asian fusion cuisine restaurant that only opens its doors in the evening and serves a wide variety of dishes.
From our point of view, the Koh had a clear Japanese focus, i.e., sushi & teriyaki variations ruled the menu here – here we would have liked to be spoiled with Thai classics as well.
Last but not least, let’s not forget the “hotel’s own” Botrini’s. Some of you may have heard the name before – this is an offshoot of Botrini’s, the Michelin-starred restaurant that Ettore Botrini runs both on Corfu and in Athens.
Here we tried the so-called Travelling Menu – you can find a few impressions here.
On our next visit to Corfu, we hope to meet Ettore in person at Etrusco, the “only true Botrini family restaurant” – of course we’ll bring some of the black garlic with us, I promise.
In addition to the restaurants, the hotel naturally also offers snacks, small meals, drinks, cocktails and nibbles by the pool and in the six different bar & lounge locations of the Angsana Corfu. Care is taken to ensure that each of these locations offers dishes and drinks that make that place unique – so the culinary-minded hotel guest is “bound” to have visited all of them at least once.
The Team
When you enter the Angsana Corfu, you are greeted with a greeting that you rarely get to see. As a half-Asian hotel, so to speak, the question arose at some point as to what gesture should be used to welcome the guests.
In Asia, the staff of the Banyan Tree & Angsana Hotels usually do this with the “whai” that is customary in Thailand, but for Corfu – for a hotel in Greece – a unique gesture was needed. So, the staff of the Angsana Corfu put their hand on their heart in greeting and rest assured, they mean it.
Greeks are proud people and rightly so, because the turbulent history of this country has not only promoted democracy worldwide, but has also brought important values such as free thinking, the family as the linchpin, genuine hospitality and morality out into the world.
Unlike the Italians, who wear their hearts on their tongues, the Greek heart must first be conquered, i.e., opened up, then one feels the deeply rooted genes of hospitality & cordiality like hardly anywhere else.
Day by day we unlocked the hearts of the Greek staff further and by the time we left we had made more than a handful of new friends.
Since our stay in autumn 2021, according to the bush radio, a lot has changed in the team of the Angsana, among others a new GM, Kostas Biblis, has recently taken the helm – we are excited and looking forward to the new wind!
The Pools
The Angsana has several pools. On the one hand, there is the huge infinity pool, which is unparalleled anywhere else in the world. It is almost semi-circular in shape and, at 185 cm tall, reached just to my shoulders at the deepest point. The centre of the pool is divided into two thirds by a wooden superstructure on which there are loungers and seating options.
An area to let your gaze wander over the sea and to linger – this pool invites you to chill out with a delicious cocktail. The pool also has a whirlpool area, which for us, however, should have been designed much more lovingly and functionally. In our experience, the biggest drawback of the infinity pool – especially during off-peak hours – is that it apparently cannot be heated.
If the weather does not invite you to swim in the infinity pool, there is an additional indoor pool right next to the fitness area. This is a little deeper, but also smaller – but was closed almost all the time during our stay because of the pandemic.
Then there is a very small children’s pool (not sure if it can be heated, but would certainly make sense – keyword “blue lips”), covered and right in front of the Rangers Club – the childcare of Angsana Corfu. Ideally, the little ones can learn to swim here. Unfortunately, this offer was not available during our stay – a great pity.
Last but not least, there are small pools in each of the villas, a handful of which can probably be heated.
Spa, Wellness & Beauty
The hotel’s own spa & wellness area at Angsana Corfu need fear no comparison with Asian temples of well-being. On the contrary, despite the fact that the hotel opened just a year ago, it is already legendary.
It is the largest and most luxurious spa in Greece – there is probably hardly anything comparable anywhere in Europe at the moment – a visit here is a MUST, which many people looking for relaxation throughout the country have already recognised and therefore come to Corfu.
Of course, the influence of Banyan Tree is noticeable in the dignified atmosphere of the place, but also the signature of the Greek shareholder Vassilis Kertsikoff – the spa & wellness area radiates comfort and elegance, and the architecture of the individual treatment rooms is unparalleled.
Tone in tone, with lots of fine wood and inviting treatment niches, you can literally feel the fengshui in every corner. The large windows give guests the opportunity to look far out over the sea while an experienced therapist massages the stress of everyday life out of their muscles.
The spa area also has a small beauty salon, where you can have your hair done, your nails painted and have a chat with the stylist in a dignified atmosphere.
Gym & Yoga
The Angsana Corfu has a well-stocked gym. There is high-quality training equipment, free weights areas and rooms for courses or personal training. The gym leads directly to the spa, or to the sun terrace where yoga classes are held on a regular basis.
Kids Club / Rangers’ Club
The hotel’s Kids Club is located near the large infinity pool and offers all kinds of variety for the little ones. The facilities are chic and modern and there is plenty to see and do.
From coloured modelling clay, bracelet and necklace making, painting & drawing, LEGO toys, cuddly toys, children’s books to a big screen TV to watch the latest Disney movies, there is basically everything.
Attached to the Kids Club is a large sun-protected play area and directly in front of the club is a covered children’s pool. As already mentioned, the little ones can learn to swim here, as it were, in passing. And when it’s time to go potty, the hotel has extra child-friendly toilets – what more could you want?
The Kids Club certainly has a lot more to offer, but our daughter certainly knows more about that than we do.
I would especially like to mention the caring nature and warmth of the staff. In our case that of Christina. She took care of all the needs of our little “tormentor” and left a lasting impression.
Room-Service
Without the excellent room service, we would not really have mastered the 24 days at Angsana Corfu. Especially during the time when we had to realise that no restaurant was open in the area and it was not allowed to have food delivered to the hotel from outside, it was our salvation.
The good soul of the room service – Spiros – always made sure that we felt in good culinary hands at any time of the day, but especially at night. He also had a talent for cheering us up with his open and professional manner.
Here and there he pointed out culinary hotspots where it would be worthwhile to stop by – for example, Taverna Boukari Spiros Karidis – a culinary highlight of our stay.
Spiros, at least for us, saved a lot of things that should have been in the professionalism and experience of a concierge – many thanks for that!
Housekeeping
The hotel’s housekeeping did a fantastic job from our point of view – the rooms were always cleaned in no time – and thoroughly. Especially during the pandemic, but also otherwise a quality that counts. Of course, it takes time – especially in the ramp-up phase of a hotel – until all trades have settled in.
On one or two occasions, we would have wished for better and more proactive coordination with the breakfast reception regarding the respective cleaning period, but that just takes time.
In addition, all the “good souls” of the housekeeping staff that we met personally were always very cordial people. Many of the maids were from the immediate area and in turn had family members who worked in other roles in the hotel. This creates a personal atmosphere and attitude to the neighbourhood workplace and means a real win/win situation for guest, staff and hotel management.
Events & Ausstellungen
Due to the pandemic, there was unfortunately no entertainment or evening events during our stay, which of course often led to boredom during our stay of just over three weeks. The Cooking Masterclass was the only real diversion on the hotel’s own campus – we would have liked to experience more of such activities.
Fortunately, there was at least one exhibition during our stay at the hotel, namely that of the well-known Greek artist Spiros Gelekas, whose love of Tolkien and the Spiros Gelekas Fantasy Shop, among other things, have made him famous far beyond the borders of Greece, even as far as Asia.
His works can be found in many places, for example also on Etsy, and impress not only with the artistic aspects but also with the affordability of his prints and unique pieces. Spiros is an artist without airs and graces who understands and loves to pass on his knowledge to interested people in lovingly planned workshops – my personal favourite work is and remains “The Keeper”, a dream in green. If you are on Corfu, be sure to visit his gallery in Vraganiotika.
ALL Accor Partnership
As far as the partnership with Accor is concerned, I would simply like Banyan Tree, or rather the Angsana Group, to offer much more of what distinguishes a stay in a five-star hotel for Diamond Members.
The ability to let oneself go, to read wishes from the lips, the all-round carefree package for mind and soul – even if it is only the morning newspaper – although the automatic upgrade to the next higher room category naturally never loses its charm for the guest – but what comes after the suite at Angsana Corfu…?
We would also have appreciated restaurant & bar discounts, and at the Angsana especially those for the wonderful spa. In addition, free soft drinks in the minibar are something that makes a stay seem completely different. For the all-round feel-good factor of five-star guests, there is clearly still room for improvement here.
Fazit
This stay in Corfu was our first visit to this Greek island and the first in many years to Greece itself. Corfu itself convinced us, but not with the loud moments, not with the shopping alleys, but with those we came across by chance.
For example, when the navigation system led us astray, so to speak, and we were allowed to get to unknown corners of Corfu where hardly anyone seems to go. In the south, for example, we found places with breath-taking views – we found abandoned olive groves that nature had almost reclaimed and which were covered with the most colourful flowers that shone at us in the sun.
Thanks to the great and open-hearted staff of the Angsana – especially some chefs like Apostolis, the many service staff, Elena – the receptionist, Spiros the “hero of room service” and restaurant managers like Vassilis, we found authentic culinary highlights that almost made us forget that our 5-star hotel did not have a single grill or wood-burning oven.
The recommendations ranged from the “pizzeria around the corner”, Pizzeria Sul Posto, to Paxinos and Mr Spiros in Benitses, to the real grill highlight Giannitsis (ΓΙΑΝΝΙΤΣΗΣ). But there was also a classic taverna like The Village Taverna, a real feel-good restaurant like Avli and the burger smith Red Hot Chili Burger in Corfu Town.
Food connects – and when we were given the opportunity to prepare Thai dishes for the hotel staff, we had grown fond of, our hearts sank – a “Greek moment”, so to speak.
The culinary exchange is something that makes the quality of a stay for me – a visit without having exchanged enough with the chef, having cooked and tasted together with her or him, is only worth half the trip. Take a look at the foodadvisor section Meet the Chef – here it’s all about what counts (by the way, I still have some portraits in the pipeline, but I just don’t have the time to write them at the moment).
I brought so many different delicacies with me to Corfu to share. Be it different kinds of black garlic, black onions, black chile chipotle, black blood mandarins and limes, tonka beans, Anapurna curry from Nepal, Inca sun salt from Latin America and much, much more…and what can I say, the chef didn’t show up once in 24 days – that was really disappointing.
I enjoyed tasting a few bottles of the Australian Shiraz I had brought with me – different vintages (2005, 2010, 2012, 2013 & 2015) of The Boxer by Mollydooker – with like-minded people – these were the moments that made the stay in the hotel itself seem entertaining.
If we are completely honest, our stay was simply too long, because we had not been informed in advance that we would only encounter closed doors after half of the booked time.
Benitses was almost deserted and the rest of the interesting places on the island had also been closed prematurely – many corners looked almost like ghost towns. After a good ten days, we had toyed not once with the idea of leaving the island in favour of another holiday destination.
The season was long over and the storm and the unusually low temperatures had done the rest, so that it was over earlier than in previous years. In addition, the majority of the actual hotel facilities were simply not usable or had not been completed.
Be it the hotel’s own beach which was closed throughout, the indoor pool which was not allowed to be entered – the large outdoor pool which was not heated, the fitness centre which was sometimes open – sometimes closed, the advertised roof terrace which is simply not finished, the lack of any evening events of the hotel and the lack of creative compensation offers on the part of Angsana. Clearly more could and should have been done to entertain the guests – yes, to keep them busy is a more precise description.
This year we will visit the Angsana Corfu again, but this time only for ten days and in high season. Why, some may ask. On the one hand, the hotel management and also some of the staff let us know during our first visit that we could not really enjoy the real Angsana with all its possibilities and amenities – because that would only be possible when the hotel was really finished – we hope it is now.
On the other hand, and this is almost more important, we have taken many staff members to our hearts because of their character. Unlike in the vast majority of Asian hotels, guests and hotel staff in Europe are much more aware of each other. This doesn’t always have to be positive, one guest appreciates it, the other doesn’t – but what it often brings about is a “long-term relationship” in which guests remain loyal to a hotel for many years, sometimes even decades, without getting bored.
With this in mind, we are excited to see what awaits us in our second attempt – definitely a few good bottles of The Boxer, as we have already sent them ahead!
We hope our short and honest report was of interest to you – let’s see if we can give you an update in 2022. So, keep your fingers crossed for the weather on Corfu and the current “condition” of the Angsana – after all, we want the full 150% this time!
