Chelidonia Luxury Suites Santorini

Expect some serious architectural extravaganza next to Oia main square, right in the heart of town. With our luxury suites we tried to match a modern variation of the famous Santorini cave architecture to minimalism in interior design.

The Chelidonia suites were designed by two Santorini architects, both share our minimalist approach, but offer slightly varying interpretations. While one is purely minimalistic, the other combines that with meticulously staged historic elements as counterpoints.

Open plan rooms with marbled floors meet spectacular indoor/outdoor plunge whirlpools in our concept, preferring clear lines over everything else. All Chelidonia suites are unusually spacious, each comes with full Caldera view and – of course – the volcano in focus.

Chelidonia Villas is owned and run by the family of Triantafyllos Pitsikalis . Our clan has been settling in Chelidonia Bay for at least eight generations. We firmly believe that this charming and pristine quarter in the heart of Oia must be kept as it was over the centuries.

Most of the Chelidonia buildings once were owned by family members and relatives. After humble beginnings in 1979 we have been constantly upgrading the villas and enlarging the ensemble year after year. Latest task was the reconstruction of the house Triantafyllos’ great-grandmother had lived in.

Our main idea was always to offer real homes to our guests. All villas had been real homes before, housing then large families. From outside they have remained the same, but inside all is according to upscale standards.

THE HISTORY
From 1956 Chelidonia Bay lay deserted until we started our business here in 1979. We had to excavate the houses first. Now Chelidonia Bay should be the same again as our ancestors Nicolas Pitsikalis and Kapetan Manalis had perceived it.

Manalis was exiled for notorious smuggling in 1890, a few years later he was on a official mission smuggling money to Cretan resistance fighters against the Turks. The archives of the Catholic Church in Thira list a Nicolas Pitsikalis as a “captain on his own ship” as early as 1628.

What once was the house of Triantafyllos’ great-grandmother is now our Honeymoon Suite. The oldest sales contract we have of one of the houses was closed in 1864. The Chelidonia Bay settlement as a whole dates back to some year between 1200 and 900 B.C, when Santorini was recolonized by the Spartans.

The caves provide splendid isolation – cool in summer, warm in winter. From the terraces you can observe every ship movement all over the Caldera. During the earthquake in 1956 the large house on top of the bay collapsed like other flat roof luxury buildings.

The round arch and cave houses of the average Oians all withstood . Ironically the damage came afterwards, when rescue workers poured all the rubble down from main street.

OLIVE TREE SUITE 
Our current flagship offers an even larger space (60 sq.m) of open plan rooms with marbled floors. A private cave plunge whirlpool stretches from the living room outside to a large veranda.

Under the shadow of the perennial olive tree a private open air dining area is waiting for you, the entire Santorini archipelagos at your feet. Sunbeds and cushions invite you to relax after a Santorini sightseeing tour or a day at the beach.

HONEYMOON SUITE
Spacious open plan rooms meet marbled floors and our largest cave plunge whirlpool. Slide in from the living room, dive outside and open your eyes again on the terrace to watch the ships cruising the Santorini Caldera. The ambience is tuned to honeymoon celebration mood, with 50 square meters there is space enough to celebrate with friends.

CAPTAIN’S SUITE
With 65 square meters this is the largest Chelidonia suite with living room and bedroom. As befitting to a captain at sea we chose oak parquet from Northern Greece and a kitchenette for after hours snacks. A spacious marbled bathroom equipped with a whirl bath tub and a smaller guest bathroom next to the living room.

An open air whirlpool on the terrace with full caldera view as well as an external dining area and sun beds are waiting outside. This suite is a homage to our ancestor Nicolas Pitsikalis, registered as “Captain on his own ship” in Thira harbor 1628.

ARTIST’S SUITE
This suite is dedicated to Greek art, featuring modern Greek paintings by dіfferent artists following the flow of the four seasons. As you might have expected there are open plan rooms with marbled floors and a private indoor/outdoor plunge whirlpool as well. As with all the other suites we strictly followed the ancient floor plan of a cave home built ages ago.

ELEGANT SUITE
The Elegant Suite offers an private outdoor plunge whirlpool on the terrace. Our discrete and minimised design is matched by select antiques from the Aegean islands as a counterpoint. The Elegant Suite invites you to a dialogue with the past.

SWALLOWS’ NEST SUITE
As the name suggests, our precious Swallows’ Nest Suite is in a privileged location. The Nest is on the edge of the cliff, looking down at the sea. This location is all about panorama or rather two of these.

There are two terraces showing the Caldera from two different angles. Adding to the extravaganza is a plunge whirl pool stretching from the terrace right into the living room. And in spring the air around the Swallows’ Nest Suite is full of real swallows.

Rooms: 7

Price: from 681 EUR per night

Source: www.chelidonia.com