For Michelin-level food, sunset cocktails, top spa treatments and even a resident shaman, this is the luxury break to book
The Anassa is talked of as the hotel to stay in Cyprus, a four-hour flight from the UK. When you tell people you’re going, they give an admiring and secretly envious ‘oooh!’ (the ones that go up in the middle like a raised eyebrow).
Despite the promise of spotting Christina Aguilera, Paul Hollywood, Bar Rafaeli, Sophie Dahl and even Miucca Prada there (they've all been!) I’d dismissed it as a little fancy for my more low-key vibe. But when I heard that one of my favourite under-the-radar wellness brands had taken up residence in the spa and was doing facials and body treatments, I was intrigued. If the Anassa could embrace Subtle Energies and its blend of Ayurveda, aromatherapy and biotech (it was founded 30 years ago as a clinic in Australia, treating among other things cancer patients - and has a next-level face and body product range) what other wellness surprises did it have up its sleeve? I booked in for three nights to find out.
An hour’s taxi ride from Paphos airport and set in a private bay on the north-west of the island in a national park, the Anassa opened in 1998 as family-run, and is now part of the small Thanos chain in Cyprus. It’s a ‘resort hotel’ (i.e. one you don’t need to leave, a favourite for weddings) but from the moment you step in it feels boutique and simple – calming marble and non-fussy traditional island décor. At 166 rooms, it’s big but the villas and apartments are laid out like a Greek coastal village, full of twists, turns and corners, meaning you don’t often bump into other people. You can get a bit lost, but that’s part of the charm.
What is the wellness offering at the Anassa like?
The Anassa has all the spa offerings you’d expect from a five-star luxury hotel: a well-equipped and spacious gym, a beautiful Roman-style thalassotherapy suite (for a supplement) and a decently long pool. There aren’t any fitness classes, but you can have a private instructor for tennis, swimming, PT, yoga or Pilates.
It also has a few things you don’t expect. I went for a sound bath, with a curious mixture of electronic music, guided meditation and chimes of a traditional metal bowl called a tantra: a strange mash-up, especially as it took place in the rather grand ballroom, but it kind of worked. By the end, I was as floppy and squishy as the posh hotel pillows.
I also met the island’s only Shaman – not that you’d expect to find even one shaman on Cyprus, especially not a woman called Triona Martin with a background in psychotherapy and a thick Irish accent (she moved to Cyprus for the weather). Triona has a residency at the Anassa and takes guests on a Shamanic journey, a guided visualisation to meet your ‘power animals’. These are ‘helpers’ that you can call on in times of need, she explains. I didn’t do the journey – I had a date with a spa treatment – but the women in my group who did say they woke with happy tears and new friends in the form of white wolves, racoons and eagles.
You don’t need to travel to Cyrus to see Triona, she also practices in London, Dublin and online, shamanscirclecyprus.com. She can even do you a shamanic wedding.
Having met Triona, the idea of Subtle Energies setting up camp here didn’t seem quite so left field.
What are the spa treatments like?
Subtle Energies face and body treatments, wherever you have them in the world (one of the best facials in London is the Subtle Energies facial at the Peninsula Hotel), are designed to work on your physical body as well as your subtle or ‘energy’ body. A massage, a scrub or a facial will melt your tight shoulders, balance your chakras, brighten your complexion and lift your mood.
They call this combination ‘ayurveda aromatherapy’ using both traditional and modern active biotech ingredients that also work on a medicinal and emotional level. For example, there’s a lot of mogra oil (the ‘queen of jasmines’), which is great for pigmentation and collagen stimulation, as well as sleep and anxiety.
You can choose from things like the Detox and Adrenaline Journey – a two-hour wrap-scrub-massage body treatment for adrenal fatigue and ‘blood purification’ or a 24k Gold Age-Defying Facial.
I had the Restore Aromatic Massage which works on the ayurvedic marma points (a bit like acupressure points) including in the face which had me snoozing like a baby before the 90 minutes were up. At the beginning and end, you are ‘misted’ with Subtle Energies’ cult Aura Protection Body Mist, £50 which dispels any negative energy you may have brought with you and puts you in a protective bubble. It’s very popular in boardrooms for improving concentration and productivity. I’d been given a bottle previously by Subtle Energies founder Farida Irani, who told me to spray in my hotel room to clear the energy of the previous occupants. I tried it for the first time on this trip and - who knows if it’s a placebo - it did make a room feel more like home straight away and I managed to swerve ‘first night syndrome’: that wakefulness you get when you sleep somewhere new as your nervous system adjusts.
What else is on the spa menu?
If reiki and fascia release are more your thing try the Anastasia Achilleos Method face and body treatment on a water bed. Premium skincare brands Tata Harper and Augustinus Bader have face and body offerings here, so if you’ve been meaning to try them, this is a great chance to test before you commit. There’s a full range of beauty and hair salon treatments too. If you need a blow-dry to humidity-proof your hair, or your gel nails replacing, they’ve got you sorted.
What are the rooms like?
I stayed in a studio suite with a sea view, which is only one up from the most basic room (which has a garden view) and had its own double balcony overlooking the lushly planted grounds and crystal blue shallow waters of the private Chrysochou Bay.
Alternatively, the junior suite comes with its own plunge pool, which you might need if temperatures hit 40C as they did when I visited in June. The décor is traditional Cypriot (via a Parisian interior designer, of course) and calming – white sheets on giant beds, blue-and-white striped day beds, and sand-coloured marble. I loved the little cakes and inspirational quotes that appeared every afternoon.
What’s the swimming situation?
You are spoiled for loungers and day beds by the three infinity pools (one has a swim-up bar and there’s also a separate family pool) and on the private beach, all of which have waiter service.
What is the Anassa like for foodies?
There are four restaurants, most with outdoor seating and due to the higgledy-piggledy terraced layout of the hotel, they all manage to offer uninterrupted views of the sea, while still feeling quite private. You can choose from a relaxed buffet, French-Mediterranean, Asian-Mediterranean, mezze and outdoor grills, overseen by group chef David Goodridge, who has worked in no less than three triple-Michelin-star restaurants. No wonder the food – a magical rendering of local specialities such as octopus, seafood souvlaki, lamb kofta, aubergines etc – is insanely good. The Greek salad with its creamy local feta and green peppers (normally not a fan – here I loved!) is sensational. Don’t miss the homemade Magnum for dessert. The breakfast buffet is the only time that the hotel feels busy (because everyone is in the same place), but there are more types of honey, egg dishes and things to sprinkle on your Greek yoghurt than I’ve ever seen, that you only have eyes for food. Also the coffee…!
What about the cocktails?
Sundowners are not to be missed – you’ll see the signature Rose Petal Mohito all over the ‘gram. The Pink Diamond cocktail (pink champagne, rose gin, lychee liqueur, fresh lime and passion fruit - in my reel, above) is the same colour as the blood-red sunset, which you can watch from the Amorosa bar as it disappears behind the wooded hillside of the Akamas National Forest Park.
The verdict: this is a hotel which seems to absorb all sorts of people (families, couples, weddings, groups of mates) without ever appearing busy. The service is super friendly, everything is always tidy and there’s a relaxed elegance that makes you feel simultaneously elevated and at home. The spa menu is a hidden gem. It’s not a ‘by numbers’ experience. Subtle Energies by their own admission are pretty exacting as to who they work with (they insist that all therapists deliver the treatments as founder Farida designed them for maximum well-being). Just remember to drag yourself from the massage couch to the beach for your sundowner cocktail and iconic sunset selfie.
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