I stayed at Canaves Epitome before Travel + Leisure handed it the crown. The verdict, the one dark room, my drink and tour with the owner, and which Canaves you should actually book.

Travel + Leisure has just named Canaves Epitome the #1 hotel in Greece and the #5 hotel in Europe.

I stayed there before the crown landed, which is the optimal time to judge a hotel, before the award changes what everyone expects to see. The short version: the ranking very much holds and is deserved. The longer version has a disclosure, a dark room, and a piece of advice about this island that nobody in the glossies will give you.

The disclosure first, because you subscribe to me for the truth and the truth includes my seat at the table. I know the owners. I had an intimate tour and drinks with one of the family during my stay.

Then I sat facing the water in air that had somehow forgotten how to have a temperature. Dinner itself ran a little precious for my taste, a few notches past (and higher than?) what I’d order on my own, but stopped well short of the eight-course, tweezer-plated, foam-and-guesswork thing some places call elevated dining now.

The service I received was the optimized, lavish-attention version. Weigh that as you read. Then weigh this: access buys warmth, but it cannot relocate or redesign a room, flatten a hillside, or make a view appear where there isn’t one. The things I’m about to praise are architecture, and architecture doesn’t know who you had drinks with.

I stayed in one of the private villas — two bedrooms, a private pool, the sea laid out past the edge of it. Lunch happened outside under the pergola, in shade the Cyclades make you earn, and the pool is secluded enough that I swam in nothing at all. I mention this less as confession than as data. On an island where every terrace is in the sightline of forty other terraces, that is the actual measure of privacy, and Epitome passes it.

Now the flaw, because there is one and I’d rather you hear it from me than discover it at check-in: the downstairs bedroom runs dark. Upstairs gets the light and the view; downstairs gets neither in the same measure. If you’re two couples splitting a villa, someone is drawing the short straw.

Here is the advice part, and it’s the reason Epitome won my loyalty and not just my approval. Nobody writes about the fact that Oia in Santorini is – essentially – vertical. Oia is a staircase with boutiques, gorgeous and merciless, and if anyone in your party moves carefully — a parent, one with a bad knee, a companion who has simply had enough of steps by day three — most of this island becomes a negotiation.

Epitome doesn’t. It sits apart from the crowds, quieter, and blessedly light on stairs and hills. If that describes anyone you travel with, this single fact matters more than every award on the press release, and no ranking methodology has a column for it.

So which Canaves is yours? I’ve walked every corridor of Oia Suites, the #2 on that same list, and it is a Bond set — elevators hidden inside the cliff face, dinner beside the pool with the caldera performing below. There’s also Canaves Ena, the original 18-suite cliffside property offering minimalist whitewashed aesthetics and panoramic caldera views. And Canaves Sunday, which is an intimate collection of eight boho-chic suites with alabaster walls and expansive sea vistas. I’m here to guide you to your perfect fit.

If you want the Santorini of your screensaver, the whitewash and the blue domes and the sunset crowd murmuring on cue, Canaves Oia Suites is your booking. It does the fantasy at the highest level on the island. Epitome is for those who like quiet, space, and a more horizontal experience in a city that is otherwise vertical, and an area apart from the island, where it is elbow-to-elbow.

Both belong to the Chaidemenos family, four decades on Santorini and acquainted with everyone worth knowing on it, which — as I wrote when the awards came out — is the part no magazine can measure and the real reason the crown fits.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Canaves Epitome really the best hotel in Greece?
Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards named it #1 in Greece and #5 in Europe. Cassandra stayed there before the award was announced and confirms the ranking holds up against a firsthand, unhyped visit.

Should I book Canaves Epitome or Canaves Oia Suites?
Both are Chaidemenos family properties. Oia Suites delivers the classic Santorini screensaver look — whitewash, blue domes, sunset crowds, dramatic cliffside elevators. Epitome trades that scene for quiet, space, and privacy, and sits apart from the busiest parts of the island.

Is Canaves Epitome good for guests who have trouble with stairs?
Yes. Santorini, and Oia especially, is built on steep, stepped terrain that’s difficult for anyone with mobility limitations. Epitome sits apart from the crowds and is notably lighter on stairs and hills than much of the island, which the piece flags as a real practical advantage.

What should I know about the villas at Canaves Epitome?
The private villas have two bedrooms, a private pool, and a secluded outdoor lunch area. The one drawback: the downstairs bedroom gets noticeably less light and view than the upstairs bedroom, worth deciding in advance if two couples are sharing.

Does the writer have a personal connection to Canaves Epitome?
Yes — the piece discloses that Cassandra knows the owners and had dinner with a family member during her stay, which likely meant elevated service. She notes this doesn’t change the hotel’s physical architecture, privacy, or layout, which are judged independently.