For the place
Hotel Du Lac
Ioannina · Epirus
A grand hotel on the shore of Pamvotida, with the old town of Ioannina a walk away along the water and Mount Mitsikeli rising on the far bank.
Most Greek luxury looks out to sea. This one looks at a lake, and is the better for it. Du Lac stands on the green edge of Pamvotida, gardens running down to the water, an arcaded outdoor pool at its heart, the little island with its monasteries floating just offshore. The building leans contemporary-colonial, classic bones dressed in present-day comfort, and the rooms worth asking for are the ones that face the lake, a handful of them with a private pool of their own. After dark the whole facade lights up and doubles in the still water, which is the picture the hotel is happy to be known by.
Epirus eats well and quietly, and the hotel keeps several rooms for it. Du Sel is the proper restaurant, Myrtali and Monastiriako carry the events and the bigger nights, and the Café Bistrot La Buvette is where the day starts, with a breakfast that has won its Greek-breakfast badge honestly. In summer the Pool-Bar-44 takes over by the water. The pantry is mountain country, pies, lake fish, slow Epirot cooking, and the setting does the rest.
Ioannina is the most underrated city in Greece, a lakefront old town under a castle, an hour from Zagori and the Vikos gorge. Du Lac owns the best of its waterfront, runs a serious kitchen and a real spa, and gives you Epirus from a balcony over the water. It is a large hotel that also hosts congresses, and we will not pretend otherwise. Take a lake-view room, keep to the garden side, and it becomes something quieter than its size.
