Luxury Travel, Europe, Greece, Everyday

Ikos Aria Hotel Review: All-inclusive family-friendly luxury in Kos, Greece

September 3, 2025

I’m on a mission to find the very best family-friendly luxury hotels in the world – places that are perfect for our two children but also pleasing to us parents with high standards! And I think we’re getting a bit addicted to one brand in particular…

The Concept of Ikos Resorts

If you ask any luxury family travel enthusiast (or ask Google or ChatGPT) what is the best luxury all-inclusive family hotel in Europe, the name Ikos Resorts will come up again and again… Now Ikos is actually a hotel group with five hotels in Greece (and a new one coming next year) and two hotels in Spain and has become firmly established as the name in all-inclusive. Ikos live by a concept of ‘Unconditional luxury’ whereby what’s included is limitless – that is your accommodation, all food and drink (including a la carte restaurants and drinks) there’s no supplements for more premium ingredients or drinks, kids club for children age 4 plus and activities and entertainment. We loved our stay at Ikos Porto Petro in Mallorca two years ago and it was time to try the concept again, this time we booked Ikos Aria in Kos, Greece.

Ikos Aria in Kos perfectly blends stylish design, a refined atmosphere and adults-only areas with an abundance of family-friendly facilities. Located on the island of Kos the hotel is found on 47 acres of beach with views of the Aegean Sea, plenty of lush gardens and billowing palm trees. Something I loved is that the hotel is only 15 minutes from the airport so there’s no dragging transfer when you arrive and no car sick child!

The Deluxe Collection

At the Ikos Resorts you can opt to elevate your stay even more, as we did, and stay in the Deluxe Collection. The Deluxe Collection offers signature suites in the best locations around the hotel. Booking a deluxe collection suite gives access to to the deluxe areas of the hotel. At Ikos Aria there was a dedicated Deluxe lobby with a separate concierge that also included Seasons restaurant for breakfast and lunch (other guests can dine there for dinner) and the Deluxe bar.

The was a large Deluxe pool with cabana and a dedicated area on the beach! You can see the extra deluxe offerings at a glance on the hotel website and I’ll be referring back to them in this review. For me the benefits of going to deluxe was the added level of privacy and exclusivity plus the service was better as the staff are serving a smaller portion of guests. I was blown away by the deluxe concierge and the what’s app service as they always replied straight away.

Hotel Design and Our Room

Ikos hotels have a signature look but with each tailored to the unique location. We loved the minimalist design that is infused with Mediterranean charms. The feel is white, bright and airy all made with natural materials and with a seamless connection between indoor and outdoor and there’s even historical touches with ancient preserved ruins that have been roped off linked to the history of Kos as the birthplace of Hippocrates. While ratten pieces, egg chairs and natural wood give the hotel it’s beachy, boho feel, touches of gold and marble serve to remind you that this is a luxury five star hotel.

However Ikos still a place that invites adventure for children. Sort of like a stylish playground for the whole family.

One criticism I would make is that there wasn’t much to distinguish the restaurants from each other and they looked very much the same which apart from varying views and slightly different chairs it gave the feeling of dining in the same restaurant and not leaving the hotel.

I will also say don’t come here if you like a small hotel, this hotel is vast! I found it really confusing at first but you do get your bearings after a few days!

I liked the fact that the exterior architecture was quite low-rise without the tower block feel and the gardens were lush and fringed with mountains.

Our room was a deluxe one bedroom suite and on arrival we were put in a room with it’s own garden. Though the garden room was lovely, the room was the other end of the hotel from the deluxe lobby and pool. Major first world problems I know but I’d been under the impression that all the deluxe rooms had easy access to the deluxe facilities as they had at Porto Petro. However, the deluxe concierge arranged a very smooth transition into another room, this one was on the 1st floor and had a balcony instead of a garden but I preferred it as the crickets in the garden had been very loud at night. This one was right by deluxe pool.

Our room was really spacious with lots of storage which is honestly the main thing I look for nowadays! We had a cot in the room for Noah as well as kids toileteries but the hotel can happily provide anything you need for your baby or toddler.

There were two rooms with a main bedroom and a living area which could be closed off and a sofa bed added. Something I find so important is separate sleeping space while on holiday. In terms of design the room was minimalist, light and bright with organic materials and nature inspired motifs.

The bathroom was generous in size with a double sink and Ann Semonin products. Staying in the deluxe collection afforded us extras such as a bottle of Taittinger champagne, welcome gifts, a premium beach bag and upgraded room service menu and mini bar. They also offer a packing and unpacking service which we didn’t make use of this time but we loved when we stayed at Porto Petro.

Our gorgeous balcony had a sea view and was right above the deluxe pool. We had these comfortable sofas and we were also provided with sun loungers on request.

Experiences and Activities

There are five pools at Ikos Aria so you really are spoilt for choice. Let’s start with the main pool which was by some of the hotel restaurants and accessible from the lobby. It also included the splash pad which the children loved, especially Noah. There’s also a shallow baby swimming pool.

The Beach Pool as it’s known was closer to beach and was served by the hotel’s gelaterie.

Don’t quote me on this but I believe the deluxe pool was the biggest and as it’s the most exclusive pool there was always sun loungers available and we had a cabana a few times, something I find much easier for keeping Noah in the shade. There’s also a baby pool in the deluxe area.

Finally the adult only pool (Mr S’s favourite) which was adjacent to the deluxe area.

This pool was calm and tranquil and usually pretty empty. Each of these pools was served by a bar and you can also order food by the pool. The deluxe pool has an elevated pool side menu with extra options, though I will say we were really disappointed by the poolside food.

Finally there is a heated indoor pool in the spa which had family swim time as well as adult only.

While the beaches had been somewhat token at Porto Petro, Aria has a ‘proper beach’ with options for cabanas or loungers and adults only areas. There is also a separate deluxe area. There’s even a beach nanny available.

In terms of activities there are lots, many of which are included in the package. One of the signature experiences is borrowing a TESLA for day and exploring the local area, though I will admit we didn’t do this in either of Ikos stays.

Oscar loved the water sports (crazy couch and the pedalo) there’s also canoeing, windsurfing, volleyball, basketball, football, tennis, fitness in the gym, pilates … obviously I did none of these myself. But I did try the hotel spa partly because the deluxe collection booking includes as 25 minute massage which they extended for us to 50 minutes.

The spa is by Anne Semonin and includes a thermal suite, pool, fitness studio and salon treatments include facials, body wraps, and other rejuvenating treatments. I loved my relaxing spa treatment, even if I did have to leave five mins early to collect Noah from creche!

The highlight of our stay was chartering a boat for the day which the hotel completely organised for us as well as packing with food and drink! Oscar and our friend’s kids loved jumping off the boat and swimming the sea whilst I preferred keeping my hair dry and sipping champagne!

There’s a complimentary group sunset cruise but we didn’t do that as we already had our private charter.

Other activities available at an extra cost are the football academy taught by world class footballers… we didn’t book into this but we bumped into the footballer who was leading it and of course Mr S had to tell me who he was (if it’s not David Beckham I don’t know them!) who had played for his beloved Tottenham and for England too.

Entertainment-wise there is live music in the hotel restaurants and bars on several nights of the week. The main shabang is at the hotel’s Teatro – their outdoor theatre. There’s a kids disco but the slightly awkward timing meant we never made it! We did go to the main show several times (get there early to get a seat) and enjoyed live dance and music shows.

One night was the hotel’s white night on the beach donned white attire and partied the night away!

Childcare / Kids Club

One thing Ikos is renowned for is childcare and there’s no shortage of help for parents if you need to recharge your battery. The Heroes creche for 6 month – 4 years is for tiniest tots and Noah went there for an hour maybe five days of our stay whilst he cried when I left, I was reassured that he was fine after five minutes. Oscar loved the Heroes Kids Club for age 4 – 12 years, which had a tailored programme of sports, arts and crafts, and events. We usually have the morning swimming, lunch together and then Oscar has some time in the kids club out of the sun. He loved going in with our friend’s daughter.

The creche is an extra cost but the kids club is included in the package and there are various sessions which are bookable.

There’s also a Just4Teens club which allows older children the space to meet and make new friends.

In terms of the club space, there was a large room for the older children and a smaller creche with a small soft play and ball pit. Both had a little garden space and shared a shady playground. I will say that I wasn’t blown away by the space especially given the family-focus of the Ikos resorts and it wasn’t as good as the hotel we recently stayed in, The Parklane in Cyprus and nothing compared to the mighty Sonnwies.

Food

Food is a big deal at Ikos and the hotel group are known for their quality and employing chefs with Michelin experience. Forget the tired image of all inclusive with a rubbishy buffet (with a massive queue) and one type of wine of each colour and a sugary cocktail (kind of like the experience I had when I first went to Kos aged 19…). No this is Unconditional Luxury yes there is a buffet but there’s also fine dining at a la carte restaurants. The hotel boast eight restaurants with different cuisines and located in different positions around the hotel affording different views. One of our favourites was Ouzo, serving Greek cuisine right by the beach – we also enjoyed the barbecue buffet there for lunch.

The restaurant Kos also offered local flavours with modern twists – think moussaka, but elevated and delicious koftas.

Another favourite was Oliva, we agreed the Spanish restaurant was our favourite meal, particularly the seafood paella.

We also enjoyed fine dining at the deluxe restaurant Seasons for both lunch and dinner – we also had an a la carte breakfast here nearly everyday. You could do a buffet breakfast at Ouzo.

Another favourite was Anaya with menu a created by Michelin-star chef Thiou and offering the tastes and flavours of Asia. We were impressed by the wines on the list too, there’s over 300! There’s something very relaxing about dining on all-inclusive especially when there’s no worry about splitting the bill. There’s no limitations, you can order as much you want from the menu and there’s limitless Taittenger!

We were less impressed by Fresco the Italian restaurant and Provence the French restaurant (stringy, tough tuna was very disappointing). The poolside food was also underwhelming and I often nibbled on Noah’s nuggets and chips as my salads and wraps were poor quality. We’re not buffet people so by and large we avoided Flavours, the hotel’s main buffet but I did grab a quick lunch there on the boat day and didn’t enjoy it at all.

Every restaurant is child-friendly with highchairs or booster chairs provided, children’s cutlery and plates. There’s a children’s menu in every restaurant which is varied in line with the cuisine whilst also retaining kids ‘classics’ like pasta, nuggets and burgers. There’s even a baby puree menu!

Another option offered at Ikos is Dine Around whereby you can experience local restaurants whilst still sticking to the all-inclusive programme. We did this at Porto Petro and honestly as we with two elderly people and a newborn it was just stressful. Even though this wasn’t the case at Aria we decided to give it a miss and just eat in the hotel.

Another benefit of being deluxe guests was the Dinner by the Sea which was something I loved and found very atmospheric though the food wasn’t the best either!

The hotel also has nine bars; one at every pool, in the main lobby and deluxe lobby and at the beach.

Service and other things to know

Service was a little hit and miss, I thought the deluxe staff were excellent, particularly the dedicated concierge. Buggy service can be a necessity in a large place like this as it was quick and responsive. But I found the service in the restaurants and bars a little hit and miss.

It seems the norm nowadays for a hotel brand to also have an app (I love an app) and I found this great for making bookings, knowing what was on and keeping track of what I’d already booked. Guests can book three restaurants in advance and the rest on arrival but deluxe guests can book all restaurants in advance, this is actually very handy as popular times book up quickly.

Final Thoughts

Following from our very successful stay at Ikos Porto Petro, we were keen to try the brand again. Though Ikos Aria didn’t have quite the premium feel of Porto Petro (which was brand new when we stayed) the Kos hotel had some advantages over the Mallorca one such as better beaches, outdoor theatre and the deluxe pool area was much bigger. The Ikos brand is a little bit copy and paste, for example the decor is very similar though with nods to local culture and dining concepts. But on the other hand, you know what you’re getting – the hassle free lifestyle, all inclusive everything, the good service, and the knowledge that you’re covered as a parent. While Ikos Aria may not break the mould, it truly delivers a stress-free holiday.