One of my hands down favorite Airbnb stays by far!! Villa Haritomeni II is one of those places that you selfishly don’t want to recommend because you always want it to be available for you to come back BUT I would be doing the Airbnb community and Dimitra a disservice so here I am telling anyone that will listen that they should absolutely book here! Dimitra and her space are incredibly special and I am so glad we ended up there for a week — our time in Paros would not have been the same.
Why many of us choose to stay at airbnbs over hotels (outside of value) is to have a more genuine connection to the place you’re visiting and the absolute best part of Villa Haritomeni is that you get a bit of a “home” and “local” feeling without sacrificing any of the luxury parts of a vacation — the pool, outdoor dining area, landscaping, etc, are impeccable, the beds comfortable (not always the case I’ve found in Greece), the bathrooms recently updated, the A/C and Wi-Fi both strong, and the daily housekeeping set up so you always come home to the place looking like new.
The house is fabulous (don't worry, it looks exactly like the pictures), so it's a big statement to say that the best part of our stay might have actually been the owner and manager of the property, Dimitra, who looks after you like you’re family. When we first arrived exhausted from travelling, she told us to leave our bags in the car for a second and instead ushered us to seats at the big shaded table and insisted we take a brief reprieve where we were able to take in the view as she brought out fresh made pastries, fresh cut fruit, homemade juice, wine, and cold water. It very much set the tone for our visit — rather than rushing to unpack and run to the local grocery to pick up something to eat in the morning, we instead dipped our toes in the pool and marveled at the stocked fridge she had left us with everything we needed for the next day and beyond (not that we even needed to worry about breakfast since she would drop off fresh made pastries every morning before we were up — even on the day when she knew we were leaving on a boat trip and made sure to have breakfast ready early for us). We had such an easy, relaxed, and lovely stay in large part because of Dimitra — she honestly took the majority of the stressful parts of staying at an airbnb in a foreign country away. She was like having a property manager, concierge, and your favorite aunt all accessible if and when you needed her!
A few other things to quickly note: the location is great, you are in a neighborhood away from the tourist masses but you’re only a 5-minute drive (or 25 min walk) to Parikia, an easy 15-min drive to Naousa or Lefkes, or Pounta (to catch the ferry to Antiparos for the day), and a 20-min drive from the airport. Also, if you are an animal person like me, you will love the small menagerie of cats and dogs on the property — they are incredibly entertaining guests to your morning breakfast on the patio! I particularly fell in love with Dimitra’s sister’s dog, who is genuinely one of the sweetest dogs ever — we became fast buds to the point that he would hear our car come home in the evening and run to greet us. Talk about making a place feel like home! I seriously would have taken him with me if I could have. [Also important to note: if you are not an animal person don’t worry: he also seemed incredibly smart and gave my husband who was more interested in reading and enjoying the space than petting a cute dog (weird in my book, but everyone is different!) a wide berth.]
Ok I know I’m probably missing a lot but this is already long so I’ll leave you with the mental image of waking up to coffee, fresh fruit and pastries overlooking Parikia and the ocean to help you click “book.” You won’t regret it. Just leave a week for me in the late season please! :)