Normally all year except January and February

Double suite €500-950 per night (transfers and breakfast included)

En-suite bathroom (bath and/or shower)
Telephone
Television
Internet access
Complementary mini-bar
Air conditioning
Hairdryer
Safe

Outdoor swimming pool
Spa and massage
Sauna
Bar and lounge
Conference and business centre

Hios is a fascinating island well off the beaten tourist track. It is a great place to visit if you’re after a combination of good beaches and places of interest while avoiding the crowds. The Argentikon is in the area of Kambos, some kilometres south of the capital. This is one of the most fertile parts of the island, with lovely old Genoese mansions set in verdant gardens and olive, fruit and vegetable producing estates.

You can get to Hios in about six hours by fast ferry boat from Piraeus or in just half an hour by plane from Athens. The Argentikon is barely ten minutes’ drive from the airport or twenty from the port. You will be met upon arrival.

Hios is a fascinating island. Well off the beaten tourist track, it is a great destination if you’re after a combination of good beaches, places of interest and beautiful nature, while avoiding the crowds.

The island is famous for its mastiha production – the sticky, tasty resin of the mastic tree that was used as a chewing gum in ancient times (and in Greece still is today!). So you might as well start with the mastihohoria, the medieval villages in the southern part of the island, where the ‘gum’ is still produced, such as Pyrgi, Mesta, Vessa and Olymbi. They are all extremely pretty; Pyrgi, where the houses here are decorated with local-style xystra, walls scratched in white and grey geometric patterns, is perhaps the most interesting of the lot.

Also in other parts of the island there are scores of amazing villages to visit (the castle village of Anavatos in the middle of the island, picturesque Volissos in the north…), as well as impressive monasteries (notably the 11th century Nea Moni Monastery in the centre of the island).

There are also lots of beaches worth exploring. Karfas on the east coast is the best known (sandy with shallow water) and not bad for families with young children, but it has become too developed and crowded. In the south, Vroulidia is a wonderful sandy beach with turquoise water, and you should certainly go and see the black stoned Mavra Volia beach. (The stones get very hot so bring flip flops!) On the west coast you have many beaches to choose from. Most are a combination of sand and small stones. They are all blissfully quiet and even in August you can still find beaches that are practically empty.

The capital of Hios is not as interesting as the rest of the island, though the Byzantine castle, several museums and a lively street market are worth visiting. One of the greatest treasures of the island is the area of Kambos, some kilometres south of the capital. It is one of the most fertile parts of the island, with lovely old Genoese mansions set in verdant gardens and olive, fruit and vegetable producing estates. This is where the Genoese upper class lived during the heydays of the island, and later, the Greek gentry (many Greek shipping magnates still have houses here).