Why e-book?
Because it’s simply far sufficient off-grid to make it really feel such as you earned it—and shut sufficient (two hours by ferry) to maintain a protracted weekend in play. Serifos is Cycladic minimalism at its most unscripted: wind-carved cliffs, shuttered mining relics, and simply sufficient infrastructure to assist your longing for actual espresso and a working rental automobile. It lacks a marquee resort scene or the influencer procession of Milos or Mykonos, which is strictly why you’re coming right here. With simply 5 suites (every with a personal pool and unobstructed Aegean sightlines), Perma provides the intimacy of a villa stick with a featherweight hospitality footprint.
From the perch close to Vagia seashore, you may hike barefoot to the sand, or steer your e-bike quarter-hour to Livadi port for dawn galaktoboureko and freddo espresso. Back on property, sightlines between villas are calculated to protect the choice of invisibility. That, in Manassakis’s phrases, is “the true luxury”: The freedom to fade, with out ever feeling alone.
Set the scene
The gravel highway from Livadi ought to’ve been my first clue. Winding and a bit of furry for those who haven’t mastered the Cycladic brake-and-pray maneuver, it’s the sort of unmarked path that makes rental automobile firms remorse providing full protection. You’re not greeted with a grand reveal, only a dry-stacked stone wall that appears prefer it’s been there because the Mycenaeans. Then all of a sudden, you are inside it. Check-in doesn’t occur at a desk. It occurs wherever you land, if it’s the courtyard, pool deck, even mid-sip of the welcome drink to quell the post-ferry nerves.
The complete property of related residences, lower into the hillside appears excavated from the land with its chamfered concrete, rough-hewn stone, and frameless glass doorways that erased the excellence between inside and outdoors. The infinity pool wasn’t heated (not essentially a flaw if chilly plunges are a part of your wellness routine), however felt constructed for first-light laps with the Aegean yawning under. Of word, that is an especially windy a part of the island within the late summer time, after I arrive. Some days it’s light. Others, it’s fierce sufficient to strand ferries and cancel plans. Whether you’re marooned bodily or spiritually, not less than you’re in the very best room on the island.
The backstory
The frog-shaped Cycladic island of Serifos is the place Michalis Manassakis determined to change into an atypical hotelier—which is sensible, on condition that his day job includes transferring items across the Mediterranean. Not precisely the standard CV for somebody opening a design-conscious retreat. But the Cretan delivery exec has a second act: He’s an government coach with a Master’s within the Psychology of Coaching who deploys phrases like “human flourishing” with no trace of irony. That’s what drew Manassakis and his husband, Elle Greece’s style director Christos Alexandropoulos, to plant Perma right here as a high-design, ultra-low-density retreat.
Perma’s premise cuts by the standard wellness BS: Give overachievers a spot to decompress with out crystals, gong baths, or life coaches named River. The PERMA model manifests as monosyllabic structure right here. Frameless doorways fully disappear, forcing you to note you’re floating within the Aegean, not drowning in your inbox. The calculated sight strains between suites imply you may acknowledge different people exist—or not. The possibility to fade for 3 days straight? That’s the actual luxurious. Michalis’s take: “Perma was born from this journey, a place where outer leadership and inner transformation could coexist meaningfully, in nature.” It appears like off-site retreat mumbo jumbo till you’re floating in your non-public pool at 3 a.m., eyes darting to catch taking pictures stars.
The rooms
Five lodging, full cease, so it by no means feels crowded. The two junior suites run about 250 sq. ft inside, then open onto greater than triple that footprint of terrace and backyard, as a result of in Greece summer time life occurs alfresco. Each one-bedroom residence provides about 500 sq. ft of mixed indoor/outside dwelling for as much as 4—although two is the candy spot. The crown jewel is the two-bedroom: a personal realm with an expansive outside area, superb for an intimate {couples}’ journey or large id disaster. I got here with three teams, every posted up in their very own place, which meant privateness on demand and loads of room to converge for pre-dinner fittings and post-bar gyros on the patio. Light and publicity differ by unit; some sun-kissed all day, others cooled by deep shade. Every one has a personal pool and outside kitchen.
Materials are intentionally uncooked, composed in and out of reclaimed stone, sincere concrete, and sustainably sourced wooden. “We wanted Perma to feel rooted, not replicated,” Manassakis informed me. “Instead of the ubiquitous white cube, we opted for earth-toned materials like local stone that blend with the landscape.” Call it excavated minimalism, just like the hillside was hollowed with care, then furnished with design IQ blessed by Zara Home. Beds face east for dawn, whereas the baths are basically concrete grottos with rain showers. Watching daybreak from mattress is the second that sticks.
Food and drink
Breakfast lands in a basket that’s change into semi-legendary right here, whilst I arrived within the property’s second month of operation. One of Michael’s two right-hand women, Efi, rotates the lineup each day, however the anchors don’t transfer: kagianas (Greek scrambled eggs with tomato), still-warm breads with home preserves, thick yogurt with native honey, and a pie that adjustments its temper—one morning traditional spanakopita, the subsequent a sweet-potato or custard pastry triangle dusted with powdered sugar. Fresh-squeezed orange juice, clay pots sending up steam—by day three you’re timing your morning to the knock on the door. Yes, every suite has an out of doors kitchen (grill, scorching plate, even an air fryer), however Serifos, like its sister island Sifnos, is a meals island. Linda, a Serifian with a present for itineraries, will steer you to a lunch that turns into the afternoon: Stefanakos at Psili Ammos, 10 minutes up the highway, or, wilder nonetheless, Platis Gialos for Nikoulias throughout the sand. For dinner, keep low in Livadi port—Ydrolithos for Greek-Mediterranean with a twist, Blue Bamboo for surprisingly genuine Thai below a bit of jungle of palms and fairy lights—or head as much as Chora, the place cobblestone squares fill with Athenians till late.
The spa
There isn’t one, and that’s by design. The entire property works as an ambient nervous-system reset with your personal plunge pool, wind-sheltered nooks for breathwork, and a seashore roughly 300 ft down a goat path the place the Aegean handles the chilly plunge for you. If you need construction, Michalis can prepare official intervention within the type of one-on-one teaching when the existential climate rolls in, a ship day tracing the coast’s coves, a ceramics session that leaves clay below your nails, or a religious therapeutic massage and sound bathtub delivered in-room or out in your terrace. I selected the superior follow of productive idleness. Swim, learn, solar, repeat till my shoulders dropped and my telephone gathered mud.
The neighborhood/space
Five minutes down from Perma is Livadi port, the place ferries nostril in and native life comes into view. Morning fish stalls and freddo espressos at day-club canteen Chill & Co., waterfront bars that begin informal and finish fortunately chaotic. About 10 minutes uphill from there sits Chora, a photogenic Cycladic hill city poured over a ridge; go at sundown, climb the Kastro ruins, and watch the island swap to chiaroscuro. After darkish, these alleys cover a surprisingly punchy scene, with cocktails at Flirt, late bottles at Gaidaros, and sufficient music spilling into the lanes to maintain you pinned previous midnight.
The island’s greatest seashores are inside quarter-hour of Perma, together with Psili Ammos (advantageous sand, glassy shallows, two wonderful tavernas) for lengthy swims; Ganema for empty, horizon-line walks; clothing-optional Vagia virtually beneath the resort for a fast dip when the Aegean calls. Oenophiles ought to pencil in a tour on the Chrysoloras Winery between swims. The resort will fortunately prepare transfers; that end-of-the-line observe isn’t constructed for raki-fueled navigation, and parking in Chora is wishful pondering. If you’re protecting it easy, Yacht Club again within the port is the post-beach standby for clubby music.
The service
You may be social or invisible right here, totally dealt with both method, which is its personal definition of luxurious. Michalis, Efi, and Linda run Perma like a household residence the place you’re the cousin they’re genuinely excited to see. They materialize on the proper moments and in refined gestures: breakfast baskets nonetheless heat, a sundown bottle opened simply because the horizon goes pink, calm palms and a primary help equipment when a rogue gust turned a automobile door into my cheek—after which recede so you may have the island to your self. Michalis drifts by with a designer’s eye and a number’s ease, the type of proprietor who welcomes suggestions and acts on it. Plus, a shared WhatsApp thread solves all the pieces from car-rental suggestions and boat charters to last-minute dinner reservations and automobile transfers.
Eco effort
The buildings recede as a result of they’re quarried from the land itself. Meanwhile, photo voltaic panels care for scorching water; thick partitions and deep pergolas hold rooms cool with out local weather management. Even the swimming pools considerably mimic the extensions of the island’s secret bays. Manassakis calls it “honoring local traditions,” and the resort wears that precept frivolously.
Accessibility
Hillside location with stone paths and stage adjustments means this is not wheelchair accessible in any significant method. The terrain is a part of the expertise, however that have includes stairs, uneven surfaces, and the occasional scramble to succeed in the very best swimming spots. If mobility is a priority, e-book elsewhere.
Anything left to say?
The wind right here is famous. Some days it makes sitting poolside not possible, and ferries often cancel, extending your keep whether or not deliberate or not. Pack layers and put together for climate that adjustments character hourly. Wake early not less than as soon as. The dawn from these swimming pools is likely to be essentially the most photogenic second of your Greek island profession.