Nival Boutique Hotel — Hotel in Municipality of Sifnos

This is a well-designed boutique hotel overlooking central Sifnos, within easy walking access into Apollonia village. The staff are incredibly hard-working and try their best to help you make the most of your time in Sifnos. The deluxe family room where we stayed was spacious and comfortable for us and our teenaged son, with nice beds and a powerful shower for sandy beach days. The only reason I do not give it higher marks are the following issues:|-Given the price, the amenities were very basic. Shower gel came in half-full, unsealed bottles and smelled like dish soap. There were no notepads or other basic amenities you'd expect at a fairly pricey hotel. There was no full sized mirror in our room, no broom to sweep up sand, and when I asked for an iron I was told it 'wasn't available'. |-The pool is only open from 11am to 7pm. Given that this was during a heat wave, these hours seemed especially stingy. I understand local residences are nearby, but Apollonia is a late night village with many families only leaving to have dinner at 9 or later, and noise coming from open restaurants and bars well after 10. With temperatures over 40 in the middle of the day, morning and evening are prime times to swim and enjoy the pool. I can't imagine why they don't allow longer pool hours, except for the fact that they are understaffed.|-On that note: there is no hotel staff on site overnight. A fuse in our electrical fusebox started clicking alarmingly in the middle of the night, and when we tried to call the front desk, we were met with a recording stating to call back after 9. This is worrisome, especially if the electrical problem had been anything dangerous necessitating evacuation. As it was we had to put in earplugs and hope for the best.|-When we tried to ask staff for help booking local activities, we found their suggestions to be overpriced and unsuitable compared to what we were able to find independently. This left me with the impression that the management or owners have agreements with friends or partner vendors and are taking a cut, meaning we are not being offered the best experiences available, but are being upsold for their profit. ||Again, I cannot stress enough that the staff are lovely, and NONE of these issues are their fault. They all did their best to accommodate us in any way possible, and were always friendly and polite. We ate at the restaurant one night, and the food was delicious. All in all, this could be a really special hotel that is not yet living up to its potential due to owner under-investment. It's the small touches that make a hotel truly special, and it wouldn't take much to push Nival Boutique Hotel to that level; instead, at the current price point and with the amenities and services available, it is simply a good (not great) hotel on a...

The hotel literally just opened a few days before our stay, we were the happy first guests in our room! In general, we loved that there is so much attention to details and quality of products, such as the bathroom amenities, the variety and quality of breakfast, and the inspiring interior design. We found the staff utterly friendly and treating us as genuine guests and not “customers”, it makes a real difference! For instance, we were greeted with a delicious welcome drink 🍹.

THE LOCATION: super convenient (in the main city hub of Sifnos) so we could easily trail or catch a bus to explore the island. The hotel is a little bit outside the Apollonia center, so the real plus here was the silence we could enjoy while sleeping (the rooms are also soundproof) or being at the pool. We arrived in Kamares (the harbor town of Sifnos), and reached the hotel by public bus. The hotel also offers a pick-up service with a minivan on request.

THE ROOMS: just amazing…. Perfect size for us, with a balcony oriented for sunset. The bathroom is a dream, with modern design and super fluffy towels. The hotel also provides with a pair of sleepers, bathrobe and a proper hairdryer. The mattress is really comfortable and the bedsheets/pillows have just the right amount of softness in our opinion. We had a Nespresso machine and a fresh bottle of water waiting for us in the fridge!

THE DINNER: we had dinner one night at the hotel, the staff was so kind that they set up a table next to the swimming pool overlooking the valley for sunset, so a very unique and dreamy set up! We indulged ourselves with a very well prepared cocktail, and tried a few of the chef’s recommended dishes: sea bass filet and ceviche. All dishes were served with strong attention to plating, in line with the more upscale service level we have experienced in general.

THE STAFF: needless to highlight at this point that a big part of our positive experience was driven by the genuine kindness and friendliness of the staff, from the reception at check-in/check-out, and from breakfast to dinner. They were always approachable, eager to help in any way without being intrusive, all the while checking kindly on us to make sure we had the best stay possible. Because some of them are true locals from Sifnos, we got good tips for trails and must-see point of interests (actually not mentioned in our guide).

In a nutshell, we would recommend to stay at Nival 100%! In fact, we loved our stay so much that we decided to extend 2...

We stayed at this beautiful boutique hotel for three nights in June 2024, and it was a fantastic experience. The hotel is new, featuring a minimalistic Mediterranean design that feels both modern and inviting. Our room had a spacious bathroom with plenty of hot water, and the complimentary Apivita shampoo and bath gel smelled amazing. We also enjoyed a lovely balcony overlooking the town—a perfect spot to relax.||The team running the hotel is exceptionally friendly and genuinely cares about their guests. They went above and beyond to help us: making dinner reservations, calling taxis, assisting with our luggage, and always greeting us with warm smiles and helpful recommendations.||Although the hotel is located on a main road, we couldn’t hear any traffic from our room or the pool area, which made it very peaceful. The hotel is conveniently close to the walking path of Apollonia (ask the staff for directions). There’s even a dirt path you can take to avoid walking along the street.||The pool area is beautiful, with plenty of sun umbrellas and lounge chairs available at any time. At night, the view of the city from the pool is stunning.||The buffet breakfast was great, offering a wide variety of fresh fruit, cheeses, and eggs every morning.||We split our time on the island between two hotels—Nival, which was perfect for exploring the town, small shops, and great restaurants via the walking path, and another hotel on the beach. This combination was the best way to fully...