Belvedere Hotel

Class: First

Style: Modern design

Rooms: 39

High on a hill above Mykonos town and the scenic harbor, the Belvedere makes the most of its visual environment — a look around at the cascade of blocky whitewashed buildings and the deep blue Aegean beyond and it’s immediately clear exactly where you are. The Belvedere is among the cream of the new crop of Mykonos hotels, hotels that are helping this island shake the shadow of its mid-century peak and stake a claim as a 21st-century holiday destination.

This is a new-style boutique, to be sure, but an elegantly restrained one, more quietly contemporary than boldly modern. The complex clusters around the pool like a small village, buildings connected by winding walkways and plenty of places to get lost. Rooms, no surprise, are bright and airy, all-white, and packed with comforts both high-tech (DVD players and flat-screen televisions) and low (balconies, terraces, some with sun decks or outdoor lounges).

Elegant and restrained though it may be, the Belvedere certainly isn’t stuffy. The well-heeled clientele comprises those who value the privacy of a small-scale hotel over the encyclopedic activities lists at the beachfront properties. This is the sort of place where you may not be able to take a windsurfing lesson, but you can sit down for sushi at the hotel’s Matsuhisa Mykonos restaurant (as in Nobu — yes, that Matsuhisa).