Good Golly Miss Dolli,You're Gorgeous! Postcard From the Best Boutique Hotel in Athens Right Now
The views of the Acropolis are possibly the most spectacular of any hotel in the Greek capital
The boutique hotel revolution in Athens continues, but be careful: many fall short. One that doesn’t is The Dolli. Partly that is due to pedigree. The property’s 46 guestrooms — make that 46 “luxurious bedrooms, pied-à-terres and apartments privés” — are tucked into a sumptuously refurbished 1925 neoclassical mansion on Mitropoleos Street in the heart of downtown Athens.
This used to be a fancy fabric showroom and the building had become very dilapidated. Now it is no exaggeration to say that it’s resplendent: a beacon of luxe in the teeming Athenian core where modern goings-on meet the edge of the touristy but picture-perfect Plaka.
The hotel belongs to the Grecotel group, of which I have been a longtime fan. Local. Not corporate, sub-branded hooey (oh look, there’s another Marriott-autograph-thingee, use up them points, guys…s.m.h & no thanks, pass!) but the real McCoy of Grecian hospitality and you let me tell you kids, you’re going to feel it. You’re going to see it. Hell, you’re even going to smell it.
I did. The fragrance hit me like an Arcadian bloom in the elevator. Remember your high school locker room? Okay, so the elevator at The Dolli is the opposite of that, you’ll wish in vain that some of that scent could rub off on you but do not ask anybody what it is, because it might break the charm.
The scent of design success! The lobby is both ravishing and inviting, bathed in light, awash in beautiful fabrics adorning a beautiful array of puffy blanc de blanc sofas and chaises. The lobby is that rarity among boutique hotels these days: high-ceilinged and large, with unanticipated pops of color and treats of both the visual and edible variety strategically placed by someone who has clearly understood what a downtown hotel lobby is really meant to be: a showstopper. Programmed not only to welcome, but to receive.
Understand that the Dolli is sort of a hotel for tourists, but also sort of isn’t.
Good.
For many, of course, the pièce de résistance will be the rooftop restaurant, with its certifiably spectacular, unobstructed view of the Acropolis. Actually, you can see the whole south side of the Parthenon, the Areopagus, much of the ancient Agora, and in the distance the contours of the storied island of Salamina. And like the Persians who rowed there in 480 BC you will be defeated, in this case not by able Greek warriors but by that killer view.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Note: The Dolli is currently in “soft” opening mode. This is a developing story.
