Set at an altitude of 1,200 metres amidst a pristine fir forest just two hours from Athens, MANNA unfolds across a restored heritage structure with 32 rooms and suites, a destination restaurant, and a subterranean wellness hub. But this is not a story of polished luxury grafted onto historic bones. It’s a story of recovery: of the land, the building, and perhaps even the self.

Opened in 1929, the Manna Sanatorium was named after its founder, Anna Mela, an aristocrat who devoted her life and fortune to caring for wounded soldiers and tuberculosis patients. Known affectionately as the “Soldier’s Mother” (mana means “mother” in Greek), her legacy lives on in the hotel’s name, which retains the original title with the addition of an 'N'—a wordplay on her own name: M-Anna. Even the hotel’s brand identity reflects this layering of personal and cultural memory. Designed by Athenian studio MNP Athens, the hotel’s serrated logotype may have been inspired by the setting’s invisible energy and vibrations, but in our eyes, it recalls Vera Molnár’s "Letters from My Mother" series of computer-generated prints, an apt reference, considering that the works simulate the Hungarian artist’s elderly mother’s handwriting as it faltered with illness.

The same ethos carries through to the hotel’s culinary offering. The ground-floor restaurant, helmed by chef Athinagoras Kostakos, translates the surrounding terroir into a seasonal, sensorial menu. Local cheeses, meats, handmade pasta and foraged herbs underpin dishes that are as rooted as they are refined. When the weather allows, meals often spill out onto decks and terraces, further underscoring the between sustenance and setting.

Wellness is also treated as a layered experience. In collaboration with CODAGE Paris, the Wellness Hub offers bespoke rituals and treatments alongside yoga, Pilates, and functional training. A “cave pool” with dappled skylight echoes the retreat’s subterranean spirit, while the gym swaps plastic for timber, aligning with the hotel’s sustainability ethos. Step outside, and you’ll find Elli Pangalou’s landscaped gardens inviting you to linger by the lily pond, on the star-gazing deck, or around a hilltop fireplace where time drifts easily by with the swirling smoke.