A Greek Odyssey

Roderick Easdale heads to the idyllic Costa Navarino to sample the destination’s impressive golf and lifestyle offering

- Roderick Easdale

In this masked era, you notice those whose smile reaches their eyes, as it does with the staff at Costa Navarino. The service is also attentive due to the high staff-to-guest ratio.

Costa Navarino was the brainchild of the late Captain Vassilis Constantakopoulos, who grew up in Messinia and made a fortune in shipping. It was conceived, in large part, to ensure the people of his home region have employment to allow them to remain in the area, and to preserve the local culture and landscape.

It had been a long-term project for the Captain, as he is universally referred to around those parts. It took him decades to buy up the parcels of land he needed to weave his tourist-tempting tapestry across his home territory. This project, which he began and his family has now taken over, is ever expanding: the two golf courses are soon to be joined by two more, with the number of hotels also doubling from the existing two.

These two new hotels are to be built at the Navarino waterfront, adjacent to the Bay course. Currently, the majority of rounds played by guests are at the Dunes. This is on the same site as the existing hotels, the Westin and the Romanos. The Westin is open 11 months of the year (so this is not the place for a Christmas or New Year stay unless you want to take exclusivity to unintended levels) and its sister hotel has a more limited season. The Bay course is approximately 15 minutes away, but a shuttle service is provided by the hotel.

A sublime setting