Review: Domes of Corfu – a luxe family-friendly resort (Marriott Bonvoy)

This is my review of the Domes of Corfu resort, which is part of Marriott Bonvoy’s Autograph Collection.

It is my second Domes Resorts review in two weeks, following my review of Domes Aulus Zante which is also an Autograph Collection property. I visited both resorts in the same week as the guest of Domes Resorts.

The first thing I need to explain is that this was not my first visit to Domes of Corfu. Last year I spent a week at the resort with my family and loved it (cash booking, no links to HfP whatsoever). In fact, I raved about it so much that three separate friends booked stays on my recommendation. I found it very good value, loved the location and it was perfect for a stay with a baby.

But going back to a hotel you really liked is always a bit tricky. Had I built the hotel up in my memory and would actually find it disappointing? Was it still going to be suitable for a toddler rather than baby? And to add further pressure, instead of a quiet early-season visit like last year, this time I visited in half-term so I was nervous it would be a resort overrun with feral children and stressed adults.

I travelled with my husband and daughter so this review very much has a family-focused slant.

Many thanks again to Marina and all the team at Domes for arranging the stay.

The resort website is here.

Arrival at Domes of Corfu

Domes of Corfu is located on the west coast of Corfu, almost directly west of Corfu Town and the airport. It takes about 30 minutes to drive from the airport up into the hills and back down a steep meandering road to the resort.

Located at the end of Glyfada beach, often said to be one of the best beaches in Corfu, the resort is in a tranquil part of the island. There are a few cafes and shops on the beach, but the nearest village of any size is the postcard-pretty Pelekas, situated on the cliff top above. It’s not walkable, unless you are a hiker with strong shoes and an appetite for an hour long climb up, but Pelekas is worth a visit if you get the time.

The entrance to the resort is very on-brand, with a domed structure leading to an airy reception area. Check-in was well done – we were lead to comfortable sofas behind reception and given a cocktail whilst we filled out paperwork.

A warm and helpful concierge then showed us to the room and offered to do a full hotel tour, which I feel is the sort of hands-on check-in experience that sets apart good hotels (and before I get any comments about special treatment as a reviewer, this also happened when I stayed last year).

Rooms and suites at Domes of Corfu

I stayed in a Sapphire Sublime suite with swim up pool. These rooms are located on the ground floor of the hotel, with a long pool that extends across the front of all the suites.

This means, of course, that it is effectively a shared pool, but you have your own terrace area, sunloungers and steps into the pool.

The suites are all quite long and narrow, with a bedroom area that is separated from the sitting area by heavy curtains. The seating area had a sofa that could be extended into a sofa bed, along with a small table and armchair. This area in turn leads onto the terrace and pool.

The bed was very comfortable, and one is provided with a pillow menu which can be useful. There are two sizeable cavities under the bed for luggage storage.

Bedside tables are neat and uncluttered and there are USB-A and USB-C sockets along with a 2-pin European socket above the table making it easy to charge your phone. Two adjustable reading lights were handy, in addition to side lights.

There are cupboards at the entrance to the room. Although they aren’t huge, they are well structured with lots of shelves plus an area to hang clothes, so it was fine for a family of three.

In one cupboard there was a safe, slippers, hairdryer and iron and ironing board.

In the middle of the bedroom there is also a shelving unit, and although this is largely decorative rather than functional, it houses the tea and coffee making facilities. There is a standard Nespresso machine with four pods provided, which were replenished daily and a selection of teas. A kettle was tucked away in a drawer below.

The rooms are not big, but they are well designed and space is used efficiently. It was interesting that despite staying in a more expensive suite than the standard ‘Sapphire Sea View’ room I had last year, the rooms felt fairly similar in size.

The main difference was the terrace and swim-up pool in the suite of course, which justified the cost, but seemingly the inside space is fairly similar throughout the hotel. I think if we had been staying with two children the room would feel a bit tight, but with good luggage storage, it felt ok for our family of three.

The terrace is walled on two sides, giving a bit of privacy, although they do face towards the resort’s main pool so it’s not super discrete.

As a fretful over-thinker, I very much appreciated the child safety gate that could be used to block the entrance from the room onto the terrace and swim-up pool.

The bathroom was compact with a single sink and double shower, but very functional, with plenty of usable surface space and a storage shelf below the sink.

Toiletries are by Olive Era, a Greek wellness brand that focuses on the use of olive oil as the main ingredient. They smelt great and I was happy to use them. The hotel also provided some mini bottles of children’s body wash for our daughter.

Throughout the bedroom and bathroom, the design choices continually impressed me. Black tiles in the bathroom gave a luxurious contrast to all the warm neutral colours, the ceiling fan was made of wood rather than metal or plastic and the full length mirror in the sitting area had hidden cosmetics shelf behind it. All these touches gave an impression of quiet luxury.

Eating and drink at Domes of Corfu

Domes of Corfu has four restaurants.

The main buffet restaurant is Agora which hosts the breakfast and dinner for those on half board. It has a pretty balcony facing the sea, an large indoor section and further courtyard at the back.

The courtyard very much was the defacto kids area as there was a dried out fountain installation that was an instant play area. If you want a quiet adult-friendly meal do not sit here. If you have a child under 7 years old, do – they all entertained each other and I managed to have at least two conversations with my husband as a result.

At dinner, I always found Agora very well stocked with a large range of food. Salads were always the highlight for me, full of fresh vegetables and a range of dressings and additions.

There was a large selection of hot foods, including grilled meats, freshly cooked pasta dishes, stews, and baked vegetables. The selection changed every day which was good, but they had a kids section with regular children’s crowd-pleasers such as spaghetti bolognese, chicken pieces, chips and so on too. For hotel buffet food, I think the quality was very good.

The dessert section was always a surprise with different cakes, desserts and treats every day, although thankfully the resort’s excellent baklava was a frequent feature.

Breakfast was equally varied and catered to a variety of tastes

Hot foods included bacon, hash browns, eggs and such like, along with fresh French toast and pancakes.

Cereals and toast were in good supply and I really enjoyed the range of fresh fruit and yoghurts.

Service at Agora was generally good and the staff were helpful and friendly. However there were a few meals where ordering drinks was difficult and they took a while to arrive. I got the distinct feeling the waiting team were understaffed so hopefully this will be rectified as the season continues.

Fourio is a “fine dining restaurant that showcases the Italian influence in Corfiot cuisine”, and can be booked for a surcharge for anyone on half-board. Unfortunately, I arrived at Domes of Corfu in the middle of half-term and was unable to get a table during our stay as other guests had been far more organised than I.

Whilst I cannot attest to the food, I stuck my head in several times during dinner service and it had a lovely calm ambience.

Topos is the resort’s seafood restaurant, located away from the main hotel building and overlooking the beach. It is a really beautiful location, but again I failed to secure a reservation for this one too! I think the lesson here is that if you are visiting during a busy time, get those dinner reservations in early.

I did eat at Topos last year and it was excellent. I did ask another guest about it this year who raved about Topos and said it was by far the best restaurant in the resort.

Spianada is a ‘hub’ in the centre of the resort between the hotel and the beach. It is a shaded area where you can get an ice-cream at the gelato bar, grab a pizza for lunch, or order from the ‘3 in 1 street food truck with cevicheria, susheria, and savory pokeria’. That said, I may have missed it, but don’t think I saw the food truck open, so I suspect this may be coming later in the season.

Spianada was always a pleasantly cool place to escape the daytime heat and I enjoyed their lunch food, particularly the pizzas.

There are two main bars in the resort. The beach bar ‘Ammos’ was pretty standard and is largely used by guests ordering drinks by the pool, although there’s some pleasant seating nearby. The staff serving drinks were pretty efficient I found.

NKALERI is a large bar in the main hotel building, opposite the Agora restaurant which meant that guests naturally headed there after their meal. It had a great range of cocktails and a relaxed vibe, with a large indoor space and a long balcony for sunset drinks. There was regular live music but nothing too imposing or offensive.

The Haute Living Room

Haute Living is a Domes concept that offer additional privileges to suite guests, primarily with access to the ‘Haute Living Room’.

This is a private lounge with a pleasant outdoor courtyard space that offers snacks and drinks, including alcoholic drinks, throughout the day and into the evening.

The food is quite decent; small sandwiches, cakes and mini salads, and over lunch there’s hot snacks like chicken skewers and courgette fritters. There were several wines and beers to pick from, along with a few premium spirits too in the evening. There are also plenty of soft drinks.

This can be good value. A suite with Haute Living access can be as little as £100 per night more expensive than a standard room (obviously, this depends on dates and time of year). If you have booked a suite for your family, the Haute Living benefit comes into it’s own. It’s a regular source of snacks for hungry kids (and we used it as a lunch replacement) as well as an open bar for both soft drinks for kids, and harder drinks for those attempting to parent said kids.

Pools, gym and spa at Domes of Corfu

There are two swimming pools at Domes of Corfu – a general swimming pool plus an adults-only pool next to the spa. There is also a very small paddling pool for small kids.

The main pool could get quite busy, but it was never unpleasant and was always quite well organised and tidy. I’ve seen comments in the past about guests struggling to get pool towels, which I was surprised about as we had no issues with finding towels at various times of the day.

The beach is directly in front of the pool area. If the pool was ever looking too crowed we headed down to the sea, where you could always find a lounger and plenty of space.

The adults-only pool was always quieter (Domes of Corfu is very much a family hotel), but as it has limited seating, you could struggle to get a lounger or chair.

The spa and gym are tucked away behind the adult pool in a stylish oxidised steel building. The gym isn’t massive but serves well with three treadmills, bikes and a weights rack. The machines were really decent pieces of kit – higher end tech than you find in many gyms.

The Soma spa has a very good range of treatments and uses Elemis products. There’s a small shop next to the spa that sells trinkets and swimwear.

Children’s facilities at Domes of Corfu

There is a free kids’ club for those aged 4-11, and a creche for smaller kids aged 1-4 that costs €25 per morning or afternoon. The ladies I met working at the kids’ club were lovely and seemed very confident with all ages. I also liked that there was a separate room for the under twos, so they couldn’t get under the feet of the bigger kids.

If, like us, your child refuses to go to the creche, you can still use the space and toys between 1pm and 3pm. We found this really useful, particularly as it has air conditioning.

There’s also a small shaded playground.

Conclusion

One of the main reasons I was so enchanted with Domes of Corfu when I stayed last year was that it was my first experience of a mid-luxe family hotel done well. Baby baths and children’s cutlery are available on request, the kids’ pool is shaded and, crucially, most other guests also have a child that is just a breadstick away from full meltdown.

Although they aren’t huge, the layout of the rooms appears to be have been well thought-through for families. For example, the heavy drapes between the bed and sitting areas of the suite meant we could put our daughter down in one section, draw the curtains and use the other section. She wasn’t disturbed by lights and us moving around in the other space.

What I particularly like is that Domes of Corfu is chic enough that I didn’t feel I had to compromise on style or comfort just because I had a pint-sized dictator in tow. It is a hotel that looks really good, and this matters in the world of five star hotels. Even the kid’s safety gate, something that I’ve only previously seen as a clunky, ugly necessity, was a chic glass unit that didn’t impact on the aesthetics of the suite.

Service is good, if needing a few more waiters in the Agora restaurant. The food was both suitable for kids and good enough for adults, and the beach is stunning. I also feel it is, at certain times of the year, very good value for the standard of service and facilities.

Rates at Domes of Corfu start at €180 per night B&B only, or 58,000 Marriott Bonvoy points.

The link to the Domes of Corfu website is here.

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