Sani Asterias Suites by Liat Joshi

Forty-five minutes from Greece’s fashionable second city of Thessaloniki, the Sani Asterias is the most exclusive of four hotels at the privately-owned Sani Resort on the Halkidiki Peninsula.

Fifty-plus years ago this was largely undeveloped swampland, under the ownership of the monks of nearby Mount Athos. Step in one Greek entrepreneur named Anastasios Andreadis, a good deal of investment and a few decades and here now lies a super-yacht lined marina dotted with bars, restaurants and boutiques, hotels from reasonable four star to swanky five, and plenty of distractions from your sun-lounger including two spas, watersports, bike hire, and a tennis school.

The Asterias Suites is the most exclusive of the four properties (although the other five star one, Porto Sani Village, is undergoing refurbishment and will give it a good run for its money from 2008). With just fifty rooms, the Asterias certainly brings that boutique hotel feel of intimacy – it’s the kind of place where the staff quickly learn your names and your little preferences such as whether you prefer a shady or sunny table at breakfast.

The bar area is nothing short of gorgeous with expansive cream outdoor sofas overlooking the marina and chill-out music in the background. The hotel’s Water Restaurant provides acceptably good breakfasts and lunches but excels at dinner, with perfectly-executed modern European dishes.

Apart from senior management, most of the floor staff are young seasonal workers (the hotels are only open from May to October) mainly from Eastern Europe. They seem hardworking, friendly and polite but some lack the polish and slickness of professional five star staff.

Although everywhere else in the resort is open to all Sani guests, those staying at the other hotels aren’t allowed into the Asterias unless they have booked a table for dinner. This means the pool area and bar feel relatively quiet even at full occupancy and Asterias guests and those of the Porto Sani Village get a stretch of the resort’s 7km of glorious blue flag beaches to themselves (although there is nothing to stop others wandering along – they are asked discretely to move on if they plonk themselves on the loungers).

This is where you’ll find the ‘Babewatch on the Beach’ service - this involves a babysitter who keeps small children and babies entertained for short periods whilst their parents lounge on the beach taking a very welcome break. The first half hour is free, after which there is a small charge – there is a full crèche and children’s club on the resort for those wanting more formal childcare.

The Asterias goes out of its way to be child-friendly – especially at the baby and toddler end of the age range – there’s a rather gourmet baby puree menu (you don’t get many infants having grilled sea bass fillet for dinner elsewhere) in the restaurant and cute scaled-down bathrobes and small tubes of children’s suncream in the rooms.

Unsurprisingly then, young families feature large here. Safety in numbers and staff who seem to all love kids, means those with tantruming toddlers are unlikely to receive the disapproving looks they might at some other five star resorts. On the other hand, if you’re after pure romance and don’t much like children toddling round as you sip your early evening cocktails, you might want to look elsewhere.

If by labelling itself a boutique hotel, the Asterias means ‘small and intimate’ then yes it certainly delivers but those who interpret the term to be synonymous with leading-edge interior design might be disappointed. The standard suites are spacious and practical for families but probably the least inspiring of the room types. Bland decorations - filigree stencilling and a palette of cream, cream and more cream (ok so maybe there was a dash of taupe too) - look dated given the rest of the boutique hotel industry’s new love affair with opulence and rich colours. And some of the features you’d expect to see in a hotel of this calibre like duvets rather than bedspreads and flatscreen TVs rather than chunky black boxes weren’t in evidence, although we understand these are planned soon.

Watch out for noise from rooms above in those which are downstairs in the two storey areas – if this is going to bother you ask for a room in the one level sections.

Junior Suites are no more bang-up-to-date in decoration but they are pleasantly done and their light, airy feel compensates to an extent. The show-stealers though are the deluxe suites – more fashionably kitted out and at a huge 85 to 90 sq m, they seem worth the extra versus the standard suites if you can afford it.

If you want to pretend you’re in the Caribbean, go for a beach rather than marina front room– with their little gates opening directly onto the sands, you can step straight out onto the beach and watch the sun go down over Mount Olympus.

Whichever room type you choose, bathrooms come with stacks of fluffy towels and robes, a generous selection of Anne Semonin toiletries, separate showers and jacuzzi baths.

Room 22 – a corner suite is said to be pick of the deluxes with views of the beach on one side and the marina on the other.