MY TWO SMALL BOYS have decided that their lifetime ambition, beyond becoming James Bond, is to return to the Sani Resort in Halkidiki. Wise parents will beware following the recommendations of minors: we know child-friendly often means adult-hostile.
I started with a list of boxes to tick: a kids' club for all ages, a quality spa for a mum in need of general reconstruction, tennis coaching and decent restaurants nearby so that we could escape the little darlings in the evening and not end up eati
ng worse food than we do at home.
Halkidiki didn't charm at first glance: it's handy for the airport but otherwise it's a bit of northern Greece with nothing much in it. You can tell that because the brochure talks about bird sanctuaries, olive groves and eco reserves. The resort's main building is a big, frankly ugly, 1970s block. All is redeemed, though, because real thinking and care has gone into how the hotels and facilities work together.
It is family-run – albeit by the Andreadis family, who are big fish in the Greek hotel world. They have supplemented the main hotel with smaller, more upscale ones spread out across a large landscaped estate, so it's a good bet if you have to budget for a cheaper hotel (given the strong euro this year) but want good food and services for treats.
As well as mountain biking, diving and all the things the non-exhausted classes do in their time off, there's a lot for us loafers. A pretty marina a short walk away has some generally good and one or two very good restaurants around it. It's a pleasant evening stroll to a modern Greek dinner at Tomata, with its freshly baked breads and innovative modern seafood dishes, or a multi-course Greek blowout at the Ouzerie. A "dinearound" programme means you can swap half-board meals in the hotel for set-menu restaurants around the compound.
The main Sani Beach Hotel buffet restaurant is well stocked, and useful for lunches or giving the children early dinner. One annoying cavil: there's too much salt in the (otherwise attractive) hot food. I'm told this will be addressed so I hope they make good on that this year. I didn't think much of the supposedly upscale Veranda restaurant next door, but what would have been a shortcoming is balanced out by having a good choice of alternatives nearby.
Small ingenuities are the hallmark of Sani – such as the makeshift open-air cinema in the evening. The small ones considered this the height of sophistication, even if it does entail enduring Mr Bean with your digestif.
Too much spontaneity on holiday with under-eights makes everyone nervous, so we pursued a regime of gentle regimentation. After a good breakfast they pottered off to the mini-club. It's well run and strict on parents too, in terms of dropping off and picking up times, which I take as a good sign. Plus, they do the sort of things adults think children should do, such as following stone trails in the woods and having water fights, so you don't return to a guilty feeling that they have squandered three hours watching Spongebob.
The only strain on family time was that the kids liked the club so much they kept demanding to return in the evening for Greek cookery sessions, mini-discos and film nights, only putting up with parental bonding in between to reassure us.
For grown-up games, there's tennis and coaching. My boys were very taken with Milan, a 7ft Slovakian former junior champion and real-life Sporticus who is back this year and hotly pursued by the terrifying Russian parents trying to turn their daughters into miniature Maria Sharapovas.
Unfortunately for my backhand, the spas proved more tempting than the baseline. The posh one in the nearby Porto Sani Village hotel on the estate is run by Anne Semonin, the French skincare guru who has the spa in Claridges, London, and a celeb-heavy client list in Paris. If you need to budget more tightly, the masseur at the Sani Beach Hotel is no slouch either, so it's happy, glowing mummies all round.
One reason I liked this place more than other family resorts was that it doesn't feel like a holiday chain. Andreas Andreadis, its beady-eyed CEO, pops in now and then and asks awkward questions, such as whether the pool is clean enough "since the kids pee in it" (so true). He has also invented a festival of dance and music in August, a laudable change from your average cultural fare of 1980s karaoke.
The nearby Sani Asteria Suites, the resort's top-end hotel, is something else. I shouldn't think anyone pees in the pool here. Low-rise villas, stone, marble and wood surfaces, your own well-appointed garden or terrace, poolside dining, power showers – I won't go on, but if you can afford it en famille (or indeed, sans famille), lucky you.
Outside the serene Sani world, there are local trips to rather over-subscribed Greek villages, and proper walkers could take to the cliffs. We made one day trip to Thessaloniki for the archaeology museums, deservedly rated some of the best in Europe. But this is a holiday where you're more likely to spend time pottering between the beach, the marina and gearing up for the first chilled ouzo with a quick back massage.
Staff are unfailingly pleasant, including the waiter who cleared up toddler tray mess with a far better attitude than this mummy can muster. It's just one big fat Greek family treat, really. sm
Factfile GREECE
How to Get ThereFlights from Scotland to Thessaloniki airport start at £355 from Edinburgh and £359 from Glasgow, both with www.expedia.co.uk
WHERE TO STAYSani Resort, 630 77 Kassandra, Halkidiki, Greece (tel: 00 30 23740 99400, www.saniresort.gr). Six nights at the Sani Beach Hotel from £629 in a family room, B&B, two adults and two children.
AND THERE'S MOREAs part of the dinearound programme, half-board guests can eat at any of 16 local restaurants, including Ouzerie and Tomata.
For more information about Greece, see www.visitgreece.gr
Scotsman Reader Holidays offer various European destinations, visit www.holidays.scotsman.com
The full article contains 1051 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
