Hotel category: 2 stars
Location: Adamas
Number of rooms: 38
Santa Maria has a prime location, open and quiet. Sitting in our pool area with a refreshment, enjoying a breathtaking view of the beautiful gulf of Milos, it is hard to imagine that Adamas and the nearest beach are right at your feet.
Santa Maria Village is located in Adamas, the port town of the beautiful island of Milos. Milos is known all over the world as the island of Venus and Corsairs, of love and colour. Rising warmly out of the sea in the south-west corner of the Cycladic islands, Milos has always sheltered ships from strong winds and offered refuge and rest to travellers. Its natural harbour, deep and sheltered from the north winds, is one of the largest in the Mediterranean.
Santa Maria Village consists of seven buildings of traditional architecture with modern facilities. The hotel offers bungalows, suites and maisonettes, each with a view of our lush garden, the pool or the sea. The Village is spread over an area of 12,000 square metres. The many trees and plants in our well-kept garden give a real sense of relaxation and privacy.
Adamas is the harbour town of Milos, and one hotel stands on open ground above the water at the edge of the settlement. This page describes Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos in plain terms, from its seven buildings to its pool and its view. The English pages of milosadvisor.gr cover the rest of the island, its villages and its shores.
The hotel stands in Adamas, the port town. The text below follows six subjects: the position of Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos above the gulf, the seven buildings and their architecture, the rooms, the pool and the view, the story of Venus and the corsairs, and the days out from Adamas. A closing section answers the questions that visitors ask about the property.
Where does Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos stand on the island of Milos?
Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos stands in Adamas, the harbour town of Milos, on open and quiet ground above the gulf. The town centre and the nearest beach lie close to the buildings, and the pool area looks straight down over the water.
The town of Adamas, or Adamantas, is the harbour town of Milos and the main port of the island. Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos sits at the edge of the settlement, on ground that rises a little above the water. The address belongs to the harbour town, so arrivals by sea and arrivals by air both finish in the same place. The buildings face the gulf, and the town centre stays within a short walk of the gate. The road from the port passes the foot of the property.
Milos is the south-western island of the Cyclades, and Adamas lies on the north-eastern shore of its gulf. The gulf cuts deep into the land, and the shape of the island forms a large horseshoe around the water. The hotel therefore looks across the bay rather than out to open sea, and the opposite shore of the gulf stays in view from the pool. The height is small, yet it is enough to put the water below the eye and the town beyond the garden.
The natural harbour shelters ships from the north winds, and the deep water has drawn sailors to the bay for centuries. Adamas is the port of the island, and the settlement grew from Cretan refugees. Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos borrows from that harbour character, because almost every view from the property ends in water or in a boat. The history of the town is set out on the pages about Adamantas, and the streets keep the working port on one side and the shops on the other.
The position also decides the distance to the beach. The nearest beach lies beside the town, below the rise on which the buildings stand, so a swim needs no car. The harbour itself holds a fair depth close to the quay, and the shore curves away towards the wider bay. Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos keeps both the town centre and the nearest beach within easy reach of the door. The arrangement suits a stay that mixes town afternoons with mornings on the sand.
- Town: Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos stands in Adamas, the harbour town and main port of Milos.
- Gulf: The buildings look across the gulf rather than out to the open sea.
- Height: The ground rises a little above the water of the bay.
- Nearby: The hotel keeps the town centre and the nearest beach within a short walk.
- Arrival: The sea route and the air route both finish in Adamas.
So the setting of Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos comes down to three things: the harbour town, the rising ground and the water beyond. Adamas supplies the shops and the quay, the slope supplies the view, and the bay supplies the calm. The next section turns from the position to the seven buildings and the style in which they are built. The account stays with the property and leaves the rest of the island to the pages that follow.
How are the seven buildings of Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos built?
Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos is made up of seven buildings in the traditional architecture of the island, each with modern facilities inside. The blocks stand apart on the ground, and the garden between them gives the property the air of a small village.
The seven buildings of Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos follow the building habit of the Cyclades, where houses stand as separate blocks rather than as one long front. Each block holds its own rooms, and the ground between the blocks belongs to the garden. The property covers twelve thousand square metres, so the layout has room to spread. Trees and plants fill the ground between the blocks, and the planting gives each stay a corner of shade. The blocks stand low, so no wall cuts the light from its neighbour.
Traditional island architecture on Milos favours low, compact forms, thick walls and small openings that keep the summer heat outside. White surfaces, rounded corners, flat roofs and wooden doors and shutters belong to the same family of shapes. Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos keeps those proportions, so the buildings sit easily under the skyline of the slope. Modern facilities stand inside the walls, which leaves the outside in the village manner. The result is a group of blocks that belongs to the island rather than to a city street.
The garden is not an afterthought. Planting runs between the buildings, along the paths and around the pool, and the growth gives the ground a settled look. Shade, scent and the rustle of leaves fill the walk between the gate and the room. The hotel uses that green cover to soften the outline of the blocks, so the property reads as a small settlement rather than one large house. The planting also cools the air between the walls on a hot afternoon, and it keeps the paths in shade.
The arrangement of the blocks also decides how the rooms sit in relation to each other. A stay looks over the garden, the pool or the water, so the outlook changes from block to block and from floor to floor. Ground-floor rooms stand close to the planting, while rooms at the upper level clear the trees and take in the bay. Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos spreads its buildings to keep those three outlooks open across the property. A path links the blocks across the garden.
- Seven: Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos is made up of seven separate buildings.
- Style: The buildings follow traditional island architecture and hold modern facilities inside.
- Ground: The property covers twelve thousand square metres of garden and building.
- Shape: Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos keeps low, compact blocks with white surfaces.
- Planting: Trees and plants fill the ground between the blocks and around the pool.
Seven separate blocks, a wide garden and a traditional shape tie Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos to the ground it stands on. The planting holds the blocks apart, and the sea air moves between them. Modern facilities stay inside the walls, so the outside keeps the manner of the island. The layout rewards a slow walk, because each block opens on its own corner of the garden, and the garden links the parts of the property together.
Which rooms does Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos offer to visitors?
Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos holds bungalows, suites and maisonettes, and every room looks over the garden, the pool or the sea. The property keeps thirty-eight rooms across its blocks, so the scale stays small and the grounds stay open and quiet.
The buildings of Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos hold three kinds of accommodation: bungalows, suites and maisonettes. A bungalow is a low house of one storey, with its own entrance and a piece of ground at the door. A suite adds a living or sitting area apart from the bedroom, and dining, office and kitchen facilities can join that area. A maisonette spreads over more than one level, so a stair separates the sleeping rooms from the living rooms. Those three shapes answer three different ways of using a room.
The number of rooms comes to thirty-eight. That figure keeps the scale of the property small, and the blocks stay low. A short walk links every room to the pool, the garden and the gate, so the grounds feel open. A stay finds its own pace here, because the property holds a village of blocks rather than one long corridor of doors. The arrangement suits families, couples and friends who want the town near and the crowd away, and the gate stays a short step from any door.
Every room looks over the garden, the pool or the sea, and the outlook belongs to the room rather than to a shared balcony. The choice of bungalow, suite or maisonette therefore decides both the space inside and the view outside. Ground-level rooms open towards the planting, while rooms that face the water catch the light off the bay. Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos gives each stay one of those three outlooks, and the suites in Milos show how a living area and a terrace change a stay.
The garden carries the same role inside the stay as outside it. Trees and plants around the blocks give a sense of relaxation and privacy, and the planting screens one room from the next. A guest can sit at the door with the green in front and the town behind, and the two settings stay apart. Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos keeps that balance between the garden, the pool and the sea. The rooms stay simple in shape, and the space around them does the rest of the work.
- Bungalows: Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos offers low houses of one storey with a door to the garden.
- Suites: A suite adds a living area apart from the bedroom.
- Maisonettes: A maisonette runs over two levels joined by an internal stair.
- Rooms: Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos holds thirty-eight rooms across its blocks.
- Outlook: Every room looks over the garden, the pool or the sea.
Bungalows, suites and maisonettes divide the thirty-eight rooms of Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos, and the garden, the pool and the sea decide the outlook of each one. The property keeps a small scale, so every room stands close to the water and the town. A bungalow answers the wish for a door on the garden, and a maisonette answers the wish for two levels. The next section turns to the pool and the gulf.
What does the pool of Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos look out over?
The pool of Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos looks straight over the gulf of Milos, a deep natural harbour that ranks among the largest of the Mediterranean. Water, boats and the opposite shore of the bay fill the view from the terrace beside the water.
The pool area sits at the heart of the property, on the open ground between the blocks. A seat beside the water looks straight over the gulf of Milos, and a drink can be taken there while the bay fills the eye. The town of Adamas and the nearest beach lie below, at the foot of the slope. Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos keeps the pool and the view in one place. Water, light and the shapes of the boats make the outlook change through the day.
The gulf of Milos is a deep hollow in a volcanic island, and its water falls from a depth of about one hundred and thirty metres near the entrance to around fifty-five metres within the bay. The opening faces the north-west, so the bay cuts into the land and divides the island into two parts of nearly equal size. An isthmus of no more than 2.2 kilometres joins the two halves. The hotel stands on the north-eastern shore of that hollow.
A harbour of that size shelters ships from the north winds, and the deep, calm water ranks among the largest natural harbours of the Mediterranean. Vessels have used the bay as a refuge for a long time, and the quays of Adamas still serve the island. That shelter is the reason the port town stands where it does. Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos takes its view from the same sheltered water. The surface of the bay stays level on days when the open sea beyond the headlands runs high.
The outlook changes with the hour and the weather. Boats cross the bay towards the quay, and the far shore of the gulf holds the low line of the opposite hills. The water near the town sits in the lee of the land, so the bay keeps a calm surface in summer. The hotel places the pool above that water, and the whole breadth of the gulf stays visible from the property. The far headland closes the view on one side, and open water stays in sight beyond it.
- Pool: Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos sets its pool above the water of the bay.
- Harbour: The gulf ranks among the largest natural harbours of the Mediterranean.
- Depth: The water falls from about 130 metres near the entrance to around 55 metres inside.
- Entrance: Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos looks over a bay that opens to the north-west.
- Width: An isthmus of no more than 2.2 kilometres joins the two halves of the island.
The pool of Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos takes its value from the water in front of it. The gulf is a deep hollow of a volcanic island, it shelters ships from the north winds, and it ranks among the largest natural harbours of the Mediterranean. Two parts of Milos face each other across that bay, joined by a narrow isthmus. The next section follows the two names of the island, Venus and the corsairs.
Why is Milos called the island of Venus and the corsairs near Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos?
Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos stands on the island that people call the island of Venus and the corsairs. The name joins a marble statue found on Milos with the pirates who once used its coves as a base.
Milos carries a name that joins a marble statue with the pirates of the Aegean: the island of Venus and the corsairs. The phrase sums up two chapters of the island story, one from the age of Greek sculpture, one from the age of raiding ships. Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos stands inside it, because the bay below it sheltered the vessels of that sea. The water that made the harbour safe also made the island a point of call for passing sails, and the history of Milos follows it.
The marble figure that stands behind the name of Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos came out of the ground on this island on 8 April 1820, found by a farmer. The figure is cut from Parian marble, stands more than two metres high, and belongs to the Hellenistic period of the second century BC. Both arms are missing. The statue has stood in the Louvre in Paris since 1821. A copy of the figure is held in the archaeological museum at Plaka, and the visit takes an hour.
The corsairs gave the island the second half of its name. The small bays of the western and southern coast served as a lair for raiding crews, and the name Kleftiko on the south-western shore comes from that age of piracy. In Ottoman times the islanders carried heavy taxation, and the sea around Milos stayed a roadstead for ships of every flag. Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos keeps the bay that those vessels once used. The same water still carries boats out of the harbour each morning.
The two halves of the name meet in the harbour town. A visitor can see the copy of the marble figure in the museum at Plaka and then look at the same water that carried the raiders and the traders. The wealth of the island came from the sea and from the ground, and both left their mark on the bay. The hotel stands between the two, above a harbour that has served every age of the island.
- Phrase: Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos stands on the island of Venus and the corsairs.
- Statue: The Venus de Milo was found on Milos on 8 April 1820.
- Date: The marble figure belongs to the Hellenistic period of the second century BC.
- Cove: Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos looks towards a coast where the name Kleftiko comes from the age of piracy.
- Museum: A copy of the marble figure is held in the museum at Plaka.
The island of Venus and the corsairs holds both halves of the name in one place. The marble figure found on Milos in 1820 gave the island its fame, and the raiding crews of the Aegean gave its coves their names. Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos stands above water that carried both the traders and the raiders. The next section leaves the shore and follows the boat routes and the roads out of Adamas, where the day begins and ends.
Which days out from Adamas begin near Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos?
Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos sits in Adamas, and the town is the starting point for days out. Day cruises leave the harbour for the west coast, while a road climbs from the port to Plaka and the western half of the island.
Day cruises leave the harbour of Adamas and follow the west side of the island towards Kleftiko. The boats pass the small fishing settlements along the bay and the pale cliffs that stand above the water. A first swim comes near the western coves, and the route carries on past long beaches and a cave where the water runs deep into the rock. Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos stands a short distance from the quay where those trips begin, and the one-day cruises from Adamas set out the full route.
Kleftiko marks the far point of the western route. White cliffs and small islands stand beside three coves in a row, and boats stop there for swimming and for a look at the caves. The area takes its name from the age of piracy, when the hidden bays gave shelter to crews that did not wish to be seen. The hotel stays across the water from that coast, on the sheltered side of the island.
The road out of Adamas leads up to the plateau above the harbour, and the town of Plaka, the chief town of the island, stands on that higher ground. Another road branch turns towards the villages of the interior and the coastal places beyond them. The climb from the port to the plateau is short, and the view opens as the road rises. Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos sits at the foot of that climb, in the harbour town. The road west leaves the plateau and runs towards the coast.
The western half of the island is the wilder part, with scattered settlements, old mines and ground that belongs to a protected natural area. The land there runs to coloured rock, steep coasts and coves that boats reach more easily than cars. Walks, rides and boat trips all lead that way, and the distance from the harbour town stays manageable for a day. The hotel gives the western coast a base on the sheltered side of Milos, and the return to the harbour town is short.
- Cruises: Day cruises leave Adamas and follow the west side of the island.
- Route: The boats pass the small fishing settlements along the bay and the pale cliffs.
- Kleftiko: Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos lies across the water from the white coves of the west.
- Road: A road climbs from the harbour to the plateau and the town of Plaka.
- West: Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos gives the western coast a base on the sheltered side of the island.
Days out from Adamas spread in two directions. One line runs over the water along the west coast towards Kleftiko, and the other runs up the road to Plaka and the interior. A stay at Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos can take either line, because the harbour quay and the road up the hill both start in the town. The final section sets out the questions that readers ask about the property, the town and the water of the gulf.
What do visitors ask about Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos?
Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos raises questions about the position, the rooms, the pool and the beach, and the answers below cover those points in short form. The town of Adamas, the gulf and the boat routes from the harbour complete the picture.
Where exactly does Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos stand?
The property stands in Adamas, the harbour town and main port of Milos, on the north-eastern shore of the gulf. Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos occupies rising ground at the edge of the settlement, so the town lies below and behind it. Both the town centre and the nearest beach sit within a short walk of the buildings.
How does a traveller reach Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos?
Adamas takes both routes onto the island. Ships arrive at the main port, and the property stands in the same town, a short walk from the quay. Aircraft land at the island airport, which lies about four kilometres from the harbour, so a taxi or a bus ride covers the last part of the trip.
Which rooms does Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos offer?
The property offers bungalows, suites and maisonettes across thirty-eight rooms. A bungalow is a low house of one storey with its own door, a suite adds a living area apart from the bedroom, and a maisonette spreads over two levels. Every room at Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos looks over the garden, the pool or the sea.
Does Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos have a pool?
A pool area forms part of the property, on open ground between the buildings. Water, the gulf and the town below fill the view from that spot. A stay can sit beside the pool with the bay in front and the garden behind. Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos keeps the pool within a short walk of every room.
What is the view from Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos?
The view runs over the gulf of Milos, a deep bay that ranks among the largest natural harbours of the Mediterranean. Boats cross the water towards the quay, and the opposite shore holds the low line of the far hills. The town of Adamas and the nearest beach lie directly below the property.
How far is the nearest beach from Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos?
The nearest beach lies beside the town, at the foot of the slope on which the buildings stand. Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos therefore keeps the shore within a short walk, and a swim needs no car. The beach beside Adamas belongs to the same sheltered bay as the property, so the water there stays calm through the summer.
What can a visitor see around Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos?
Adamas holds the port, the quays and the everyday streets of the town, and the main sights of the island lie a short ride away. The museum at Plaka keeps a copy of the marble figure found on Milos. The gulf, the fishing coves and the western coast fill the rest of a day out.
Which boat trips start near Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos?
Day cruises leave the harbour of Adamas and follow the west side of the island towards Kleftiko, with swim stops and a look at the caves. Evening and longer trips also sail from the same quay. Santa Maria Village Hotel Milos stands close to the departure point, so the start of the route stays within a short walk.