Santorini
Santorini is the flooded crater of a volcano that blew itself apart in the Bronze Age, with the white villages standing 300 metres up on the rim and the black beaches on the far side. Three nights on the caldera or a third of the price on the coast, the rim walked from Fira to Oia, the sunset watched from somewhere other than the castle walls, and May or September rather than the summer.
Santorini in a nutshell
Santorini: what to expect
157,000+ stops in Greece have been planned on Stippl. Here is what they say about Santorini.
Three nights on Santorini, the rim walked and the sunset watched from anywhere but the castle. The Fira to Oia caldera walk is ten kilometres along the rim and the most recommended thing on the island, the Oia sunset draws 800 people to the castle walls and is better from Imerovigli or a boat, Akrotiri is a Bronze Age town buried by the eruption with its houses standing under a roof, the caldera boat lands you on the still-active cone, the estates pour Assyrtiko from basket-trained vines, and Ammoudi Bay is the fish dinner 300 steps below Oia. Most travellers give Santorini 3 nights on Stippl.
Santorini is the island that gets the longest stay in the Cyclades, and the pair with Mykonos. 49.21% of Santorini stops on Stippl run three nights or more and only 20.03% are a single night, and Mykonos appears 2.43 times as often as expected on the trips that carry Santorini, because the two islands are the standard first Cyclades pair.
So take the caldera if the budget stretches and Perissa or Kamari if it does not, walk the rim in the morning, book Akrotiri and the boat for the middle days, and come in May or September. Skip the castle walls at sunset unless you are there ninety minutes early, skip the donkeys at Ammoudi, skip the church roofs, and skip July and August on a tight budget, when the rooms cost four times the shoulder rate.
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First-timers to Greece
The island everyone has already seen in photographs, and the one that draws the longest stay: 49.21% of Stippl stops run three nights or more.
Couples
Scenic and romantic is what the island is priced and built around, and the caldera suites are the reason.
Volcano and Bronze Age people
The caldera and Akrotiri are both first-rank and both under-visited relative to the sunset.
Wine drinkers
Assyrtiko is a serious wine, Vinsanto is the sweet one, and the estates take visitors.
Walkers
The rim path from Fira to Oia is ten kilometres of the best coastal walking in the Cyclades.
Cyclades pairers
Mykonos appears 2.43 times as often as expected on Santorini trips on Stippl, and the pair is the standard first Greek fortnight.
Maybe not for you: a beach holiday, because the beaches are black volcanic sand on the far side of the island and the caldera has none; and a tight budget in July or August, when the rooms cost four times their shoulder price.
The best time to visit Santorini
Shoulder
Late April to early June, mid-September to mid-October
Warm, open and before or after the price spike, with the sea swimmable in the autumn half and the wildflowers in the spring half.
Peak
Late June to early September
The crowds, the four-times prices and the meltemi, when the island is at its least pleasant and its most photographed.
Closed
November to March
Much of the island shuts, the ferries thin out and turn weather-dependent, and the Cyclades are effectively closed.
- Most travellers give Santorini 3 nights on Stippl, and 49.21% of stops run three or more. Three covers the caldera walk, Akrotiri and a sunset, and the fourth is the boat and the wine.
- The cruise ships set the mood in Fira. Arrivals are capped at 8,000 passengers a day, and on a full day the cable car queue and the Fira lanes belong to them until the tenders leave.
- Orthodox Easter fills the island. It moves each year, the rooms go months ahead and the lamb on the spit is the reason to be there.
- The caldera rooms are booked far ahead for May and September. The shoulder is the window everyone names, so the plunge-pool suites in Oia and Imerovigli sell out first.
- The meltemi blows hardest in July and August. The fast ferries are pulled first, so a conventional boat on the day before a flight is the safe version.
- Only 20.03% of Santorini stops on Stippl are a single night. The lowest in the Cyclades, because a single night here is the sunset and nothing else.
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Things to do in Santorini
The Fira to Oia caldera walk
About ten kilometres along the rim past Firostefani and Imerovigli, three to four hours, unfenced in places and the most recommended thing on the island.
Sunset, done right
Around 800 people crowd the Oia castle walls, so arrive ninety minutes early or watch from Imerovigli, the Kastro or a boat on the water.
Ancient Akrotiri
A Bronze Age town buried by the eruption and excavated under a roof, with the streets and the three-storey houses standing.
The caldera boat to the volcano
Walking on the still-active cone in the middle of the flooded crater, with the hot springs on the way back.
A wine estate tasting
Assyrtiko and Vinsanto, with the basket-trained vines to look at and the caldera behind the terrace.
Ammoudi Bay
The fishing harbour 300 steps below Oia, for a fish dinner on the water and a swim off the rocks.
The villages of Santorini
Oia
The postcard
The white village at the northern tip with the caldera view, the sunset and the walk down to Ammoudi, at the highest prices on the island. For the view.
The view everyone comes for, at the dearest rates and the densest sunset crowd.
Fira
The capital
The town on the rim with the shops, the bars, the cable car to the old port and the bus station to everywhere. For central access.
Buses to everywhere and the only real nightlife, but the cruise crowds by day.
Imerovigli
The quiet rim
The stretch between Fira and Oia at the highest point of the caldera, for a caldera view you can hear yourself in. For couples.
The best view on the island without the Oia crowd, and nothing to walk to at night.
Firostefani
The compromise
Between Fira and Imerovigli, walkable to both and cheaper than either, with the same view. For value on the rim.
The same view for less, and a ten-minute walk to anything open at night.
Perissa
The budget beach
Black sand and tavernas on the south-east coast with no caldera view and the cheapest beds on the island. For budgets.
The cheapest beds and a beach you can use, though the caldera is a bus away.
Kamari
The family beach
The other black-sand resort, more organised than Perissa, under the Mesa Vouno rock, with an open-air cinema and the airport close by. For families.
The promenade, the cinema and the airport, and none of the postcard.
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Where to stay in Santorini
Caldera or coast, and the price difference is the whole decision: Oia, Imerovigli, Firostefani and Fira are the rim, and Perissa and Kamari are the beaches at roughly a third of the price with the buses connecting them. Most travellers give Santorini 3 nights on Stippl.
Oia
€150–600
Cave suites and plunge-pool hotels on the caldera, €250 to €700 a night.
Fira
€90–350
Hotels and guesthouses on and behind the rim, €80 to €300 a night.
Imerovigli
€130–500
Caldera-view suites at the quiet end, €200 to €600 a night.
Firostefani
€100–350
Rooms with the same view for less, €100 to €250 a night.
Perissa
€50–150
Hostels and beach rooms on the black sand, €30 to €90 a night.
Kamari
€60–180
Family hotels and apartments on the promenade, €50 to €130 a night.
What to eat in Santorini
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Santorini customs and what not to do
The villages are homes
Oia and Imerovigli are lived-in settlements with lanes running past front doors, and the residents ask visitors to remember it.
Cover up in churches
The blue-domed churches are working ones and several are private, so the shoulders are covered and the door is not pushed.
Stay off the church roofs
The domes are photographed from paths that run above them, and standing on them is the recurring complaint of the island.
Meals are late
As everywhere in Greece, and the sunset crowd eats after the sunset, so the tables at eight are empty and the ones at ten are not.
The donkeys are weight-limited
A rider maximum is enforced on the Ammoudi steps, and the older advice to walk them instead still stands.
Tipping is light
Rounding up or a few euros at a taverna, as nationally, and nothing expected on the boat or the bus.
Do
- Walk the rim in the morning, with water and proper shoes
- Watch the sunset from Imerovigli, the Kastro or a boat
- Take the bus from Fira; it goes everywhere and it is cheap
- See Akrotiri, which most of the island skips
Don't
- Ride the donkeys at Ammoudi; walk the 300 steps
- Stand on the church domes for the photograph
- Rent a quad without the licence and the helmet
What a Santorini trip costs
Budget
€70–110
A Perissa or Kamari room or hostel bed, taverna meals, the buses and Akrotiri.
Mid-range
€150–300
A Firostefani or Fira room, restaurants, a boat trip and a wine tasting.
High-end
€400+
A caldera-view suite in Oia or Imerovigli with a plunge pool and a private boat.
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Fun facts about Santorini
The Minoan eruption of Santorini expelled roughly 60 cubic kilometres of rock. And sent tsunamis as far as Egypt and Canaan, some 3,600 years ago.
Santorini's Assyrtiko vines are trained into low baskets called kouloura. So the grapes ripen inside them, out of the meltemi and close to the ground.
The tomatoes of Santorini grow in volcanic pumice with no irrigation at all. Which is why they are small and intense enough to be made into fritters.
Ancient Akrotiri and the caldera of Santorini have the same birthday. The town was buried and preserved by the same eruption that hollowed out the island.
Santorini caps cruise arrivals at 8,000 passengers a day. One of the first Mediterranean islands to set a hard daily number.
Mykonos appears 2.43 times as often as expected on Santorini trips on Stippl. The pair is the standard first Cyclades fortnight, and Athens sits between them on the ferry.
Local tips for Santorini
Fira is the bus hub
The buses run from it to Oia, Perissa, Kamari, Akrotiri and the airport, and they are the cheap way around the island.
Ships set the cable car queue
The old port is where the cruise tenders land, so the wait for the €10 ride up depends on how many ships are in that day.
Quads own the roads
Quad bikes and scooters are the island's default rental and the roads are narrow, steep and busy in season, so the helmet and the licence are not optional.
The rim path is a cliff path
The Fira to Oia walk is unfenced in places, with loose footing and midday heat, so it is a morning walk in real shoes.
The earthquake swarm is over
The undersea quakes that emptied the island one winter stopped within months, and activity has been normal since; the volcano is why the island looks the way it does.
Three nights, or three plus one
Most travellers give Santorini 3 nights on Stippl, and only 2.53% of stops are no night at all, which is the cruise-ship day.
Santorini questions, answered
Three, and the plans agree: most travellers give Santorini 3 nights on Stippl, which covers the caldera walk, Akrotiri and a sunset, and 49.21% of stops run three or more. The fourth night is the boat and the wine, and nobody regrets it.
Yes, because the crowds are concentrated: Oia at sunset and Fira when the ships are in. The rest of the island is quiet at the same hour, and the rim path at eight in the morning is nearly empty. Put the walk and Akrotiri into Stippl for the morning, then ask people in subreddits like r/GreeceTravel where they watched the sunset.
Yes. The undersea swarm that emptied the island one winter stopped within months and activity returned to normal, and the island sits on an active volcanic system, which is why it looks the way it does.
Only by staying off the caldera. Perissa and Kamari are roughly a third of the rim price and the buses connect them to Fira, and the rim walk, the beaches and the sunset cost nothing. Only 20.03% of Santorini stops on Stippl are a single night, so the beach room is a three-night saving.
Most people do: Mykonos appears 2.43 times as often as expected on the trips that carry Santorini, of everyone who plans it on Stippl, and the ferry between them runs several times a day in summer. Paros or Naxos is the quieter alternative pairing, and the better one for beaches.
Not from the Oia castle walls unless you arrive ninety minutes early. Imerovigli has the same view with room to stand, the Kastro is the quieter Oia option, and a boat on the caldera puts the village above you.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
Plan Santorini in Stippl
Day-by-day planning, stays and budget in one app, with every place from this guide already on the map.
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