Culinary collaborations: A love for coffee and socializing is intrinsic in Greek culture, as is filoxenia, or Greek hospitality. All these effortlessly come together in the island’s tiny, lively traditional Cretan kafenia (coffee shops), recreated at Kafenio at Cretan Malia Park. Hidden away in lush gardens, with stone walls, aged wooden chairs, and a soothing rustic ambiance, Kafenio has a blissfully simple coffee menu that accompanies typical Cretan meze dishes, delicious local desserts, and warming tsikoudia, or Cretan Raki – prepared and offered with Cretan love and care.
This season, Creative Consultant Chef Athinagoras Kostakos will tantalize tastebuds with food from the Levant, transporting guests to a bustling Middle Eastern medina at Cretan Malia Park’s new restaurant Mezze. Shared plates on generous trays utilize Crete’s fresh herbs and spices, nuts, beans and pulses, and healthy doses of lemon, a key ingredient in the food. The new poolside eatery comes with Mediterranean decor, comfortable lounge chairs, and a large communal table that looks onto the open kitchen.
Three times a month, from June to September, chef Kostakos brings a twist to the typical farm-to-table dinner by bringing the table to the farm. Kostakos invites acclaimed Cretan chefs to host a series of intimate chef-led vegetarian pop-up dinners at the Organic Kitchen Garden’s pavilion, making the most of the bounty from the seasonal harvest.
Every Thursday, the Cretan Soul event take place at Mouries restaurant, which is both a cooking class and gustatory lunch, focusing on traditional Cretan dishes and recipes made with fresh, locally sourced ingredients, including those hand-picked from the resort’s organic kitchen garden.
Learning Libations: Ready, set, shake! Guest Bartender Events take place twice a month from June to September, bringing world-acclaimed tastemakers to Cretan Malia Park for cocktail crafting sessions. Curated by the award-winning mixologist Aristotelis Papadopoulos, this series mines the rich vein of local, seasonal and sustainable ingredients to create innovative cocktails and updated versions of classic drinks in tandem with lively evenings with music sets by guest DJs.
Highlights of the guest bartender series includes Nikos Gynargiros on June 8, mixology expert from the Athens-based Tasters Club; Thanos Prunarous on June 18, founder of acclaimed Baba Au Rum, Athens voted one of the World’s 50 Best Bars, and July 23 with Jenifer Le Nechet, named world’s best bartender in 2016. Additional guest bartenders will be confirmed throughout the season.
Water World: Catering equally to families, couples and friends traveling together, the new swimming pool has a striking layout with a lowered-level deck dotted with sun-loungers, infinity elements and an exclusive ‘island’ deck with knitted cotton poufs primed for rest and relaxation. Stretching over a surface area of more than 3,700 square-feet and has a maximum depth of seven feet. The new Mezze restaurant is situated by the pool creating a new space for all day relaxation. Families with young children can have peace of mind in the dedicated kids’ section, where the depth is a maximum of 1.3 feet. Daily aquatic fitness activities enable guests to boost their wellness.
Sustainability: Practicing sustainability informs every decision at Cretan Malia Park. The resort is proud to support the farm-to-fork strategy and sources environmentally friendly products that minimize waste. Sustainable landscape management on site means guests experience a pesticide-free environment. By composting organic waste, Cretan Malia Park generates natural fertilizer for the 8,000-square-feet certified organic garden. The property supports staff that farm their land via the Phāea Farmers Program, creating more value and quality production for the farmers and resort’s kitchens. The new Phāea Plan Bee Program will boost bee pollination, helping plants to prosper and Cretan Malia Park is proud to be only one of 11 hotels in Greece that participates in WWF’s Hotel Kitchen: Food has Value’ initiative, which limits food waste generated by the hospitality industry. In addition, the resort works towards a Plastic-less operation, that introduces a plastic reduction roadmap for eliminating unnecessary consumption.
Wellness: Blessed with such breathtaking surroundings, Cretan Malia Park celebrates the outdoors with its wellness offerings. Tucked away among the hotel’s dense banana trees and cacti, The Cute Spa inhabits its own little slice of paradise. Rich experiences here support spiritual and physical well-being and encourage moments of reflection and connection. This summer, the resort partners with Anne Semonin for facials and treatments, and Kos Paris for body and massage products. In keeping with Cretan Malia Park’s focus on holistic wellbeing, a dedicated yoga pavilion hosts daily morning group yoga classes as well as fitness classes, stretching sessions, and Pilates groups, all of which may be taken as classes or one-on-one.
For guests seeking a deeper wellness experience, Our Retreats is a complete vacation for the body and soul. Our Retreats welcomes guests from all walks of life to invigorate their body, explore their soul, and make lasting connections with like-minded travelers. The mix of fitness activities, calisthenics workouts, yoga, meditation, and Pilates sessions coupled with the easy-going holiday vibe, stylish accommodations and memorable food provides the opportunity to press pause, to recharge, and to ultimately re-energize.
KEEPING ACTIVE: Refresh by the swimming pool of your choice (there are three at the property) or unwind at our sandy private beach, where a water sports center offers canoes, pedalos and stand-up paddle boards, and there’s even a spot for beach volleyball. Elsewhere, the resort features a basketball half-court and a floodlit tennis court with professional tennis service by Sunball Tennis Academy. Cretan Malia Park is proud to be a certified by Nattour as a bike-friendly hotel. Guests traveling with their own cycles can use the safe bike-parking spaces, while other visitors can reserve an e-bike by Bicelo through the concierge.
Ootward Bound: Regularly scheduled events encourage guests to learn about local culture and take advantage of all the resort has to offer. These include Cretan Soul, wine and olive oil tastings around Crete, and explorations of island customs through Cretan Lyra evenings, grape stomping and raki spirit distillation. This summer’s revamped evening entertainment highlights include live music, DJ sessions, movie nights at the open-air cinema, and Mamas & Papas parties.
Tags: Cretan Malia Park, Design Hotels, Nattour
