Santorini

Overview:

The Jew­el of the Aegean Sea – and one of the true gems of the Greek Islands, the half cres­cent moon island of San­tori­ni which sits atop its impos­ing caldera, is com­posed not only of wild and untamed vol­canic scenery, tow­er­ing cliffs and beau­ti­ful mul­ti-sand beach­es, but set against the incred­i­ble deep blue waters of the Aegean sea, the island fea­tures some of the best of cyclidic archi­tec­ture — with the famed blue domes and chalk white cube hous­es for one of the mast famed and roman­tic panoram­ic sights on the plan­et – and a night­ly sun­set spec­ta­cle which makes the island come alive and helps to make the island of San­tori­ni one of the true won­ders of the world.

Sat atop a still active caldera – of which half remains sub­merged, giv­ing San­tori­ni the unique hon­our of being the only sunken caldera in the world — the island is believed to have tak­en its cur­rent moon like shape some­time near 1,650 BC fol­low­ing a vol­canic erup­tion, and then been dev­as­tat­ed again in the 16th Cen­tu­ry BC – which saw the ancient towns of Thera and Akrotiri, believed to be the real Atlantis, wiped out.

An island rich with vol­canic beau­ty – includ­ing an array of almost oth­er­world­ly black and red sand beach­es, the last erup­tion took place in 1956 and thanks to the advances in seis­mol­o­gy the caldera and its accom­pa­ny­ing islets can be ful­ly explored by boat and for the dar­ing even climbed, giv­ing explor­ers the chance to stand atop an active vol­cano – where the full beau­ty of the island lays out before you.

It’s from this van­tage point – and from oth­ers found across the island and on the tow­er­ing cliffs of San­tori­ni that you can admire and cap­ture the famed and icon­ic shot of San­tori­ni, the great beau­ty of the white chalk hous­es and blue domes found with­in the islands vil­lages – that rep­re­sent the absolute best of cyclidic archi­tec­ture and this stun­ning island such a roman­tic and beau­ti­ful spot.

While you’ll find incred­i­ble archi­tec­ture and beau­ty across San­tori­ni – the vil­lages of Oia and Fiori – which sit against tow­er­ing vol­canic cliffs and a back­drop of the deep blue waters of the Aegean Sea — are where you’ll find those icon­ic land­scapes and famed pho­tos of San­tori­ni in all their glo­ry, with a walk along the cliffs of San­tori­ni being one of the most roman­tic and spe­cial expe­ri­ences on the island and allow­ing you to soak up the full beau­ty of these incred­i­ble vil­lages.

The quaint and charm­ing beau­ty of the vil­lages along­side the mighty caldera and beau­ti­ful sparkling deep blue waters of the Aegean Sea also pro­vide the set­ting and back­drop for the evening sun­set. Where from a series of view tops includ­ing the cas­tle of Oia, the fortress of Skaros Rock, from one of the many taste bud tin­gling har­bour Greek restau­rants or even through a heart shaped heart carved into the rocks of San­tori­ni you can wit­ness one of the most beau­ti­ful and roman­tic sun­sets on the plan­et – as the descend­ing sun lights up the warm waters in a kalei­do­scope of bright orange to cre­ate a tru­ly spe­cial moment.

A tru­ly spe­cial island full of warmth and beau­ty, the vast panora­mas over nat­ur­al vol­canic land­scapes com­bined with the famed beau­ty of the cyclidic archi­tec­ture and one of the most roman­tic and stun­ning sun­sets on the plan­et set against a tow­er­ing caldera and the blue waters of the Aegean Sea makes the charm­ing island of San­tori­ni not only one of the most beau­ti­ful and roman­tic islands on the plan­et but a tru­ly spe­cial won­der of the world.

Where:

Found on the south of the Aegean Sea, San­tori­ni is one of Greece’s Cyclades islands, and you’ll find it rough­ly halfway between the cap­i­tal of Athens and the leisure island of Crete.

Getting there:

Despite being an island in the mid­dle of the Aegean Sea – San­tori­ni is incred­i­bly acces­si­ble hav­ing it’s one inter­na­tion­al air­port known as Thi­ra – con­ve­nient­ly locat­ed near the vil­lage of Thi­ra.

You’ll find direct flights into San­tori­ni from across Europe for as lit­tle as €20 one-way mak­ing fly­ing incred­i­ble afford­able – for those trav­el­ling from out­side Europe by flight, we’d advise to fly into Athens (and take some to enjoy the won­ders of the Greek Cap­i­tal) before hop­ping on a direct flight from Athens to the island.

Along­side fly­ing you also have the option of arriv­ing by Sea – in the clas­sic tra­di­tion­al way of reach­ing the island, but of course in more com­fort. To arrive by fer­ry you’ll find the island ser­viced b cruise ships and fer­ries from Greece’s main­land and neigh­bor­ing islands – with the cruise ships and fer­ries both arriv­ing into a port found just 10 kilo­me­tres away from Fiori – where tav­erns and the beau­ty of a San­tori­ni vil­lage awaits you.

Once on the island, you’ll also have a cou­ple of options when it comes to get­ting around – with the island ser­viced by bus­es which oper­ate out of the cen­tral bus sta­tion based on Fira and fre­quent the main spots of the island. You’ll also the roads in good con­di­tion – with the option of hir­ing a car or jump­ing in an uber avail­able across most of the island.

For a more enjoy­able and scenic route we’d also real­ly rec­om­mend tak­ing time to explore the vil­lages on foot – with the hike from Fira to Oia being par­tic­u­lar spe­cial – as you wind your way over the cliffs of San­tori­ni for per­fect views of the Aegean Sea and the icon­ic shots of the beau­ty of Santorini’s vil­lages – for one of the best and most enjoy­able expe­ri­ences on the island.

Best time to Visit:

A pop­u­lar island that wel­comes almost 2 mil­lion vis­i­tors a year – you’ll find peak sea­son at San­tori­ni is in the sum­mer months between July and August, where the sum­mer school break in par­tic­u­lar see’s fam­i­lies flock to the island to enjoy the peak of the warm weath­er, cool waters, and stun­ning scenery of the island.

This is also the time when you’ll find prices and crowds at their high­est, and while the hus­tle and bus­tle adds to the atmos­phere on the island and in the tav­erns for those who want to explore San­tori­ni with min­i­mal crowds – includ­ing expe­ri­enc­ing the full beau­ty of the famed

and roman­tic sun­sets – and do so at a more real­is­tic cost, we’d advise tim­ing your vis­it for either June or Sep­tem­ber.

Arriv­ing in either June or Sep­tem­ber will give you the best of both worlds – as the price hikes for sum­mer and sum­mer itslef will have either not peaked or be on the decline – and you’ll still get to enjoy San­tori­ni as it should be enjoyed, with warm weath­er and cool waters giv­ing you the absolute best expe­ri­ence on this beau­ti­ful won­der of the world.

Explore:

A jew­el with­in the sparkling blue waters of the Aegean Sea, San­tori­ni right­ly earns its rep­u­ta­tion as being both one of the most beau­ti­ful Greek Islands and one of the most stun­ning and gor­geous islands in the world. Famed for both the idyl­lic Cycladic archi­tec­ture, idyl­lic quaint stone pave streets and icon­ic blue domes found with­in its vil­lages – and the daz­zling and breath-tak­ing sea views – that light up at night for one of the most breath-tak­ing and roman­tic sun­sets on the plan­et.

Along­side a series of incred­i­ble beach­es, hikes – includ­ing the chance to scale a vol­cano – and a chance to vis­it the ‘real Atlantis,’ all of which can be topped off with some of the finest wine on earth –beau­ti­ful San­tori­ni is tru­ly a dream island, and to make your explo­ration of this incred­i­ble par­adise as easy and enjoy­able as pos­si­ble, we’ve picked out our top high­lights on the true won­der of the world that is the incred­i­ble island of San­tori­ni:

Caldera Villages:

The icon of San­tori­ni – and the post­card image of the stun­ning island, the vil­lages of San­tori­ni are undoubt­ed­ly the high­light, with a series of quaint vil­lages with charm­ing nar­row streets, stone cov­ered alley­ways, tow­er­ing blue domes and the absolute best of Cycladic archi­tec­ture found perch­es along the vol­canic cliffs of the islands.

With views sweep­ing out over the Aegean Sea – and on a clear day across oth­er vol­canic formed islands – along with some of the best mes­meris­ing sun­sets and roman­tic sun­sets on the plan­et, these Caldera Vil­lages are the absolute best of San­tori­ni and are tru­ly not to be missed, with the below being our top 6 – 3 clas­sic and 3 tra­di­tion­al vil­lages to explore:

Oia village:

Begin­ning with the most scenic and famous of the vil­lages, the charm­ing Oia vil­lage is where you’ll find the clas­sic post­card image of San­tori­ni – with is incred­i­ble white Cycladic, includ­ing white cubed hous­es, soft wind­mills and the famous blue dome church­es of Anas­tasi and Agios Spiri­don set against the back­drop of the blue Aegean Sea and the San­tori­ni

Vol­cano – the site of the world’s biggest Caldera pro­vid­ing a stun­ning scenery to both pho­to­graph and explore.

Arguably the most pho­tographed vil­lage on the plan­et, you’ll have to get up ear­ly and pick your spot to snap that dream pho­to of Oia, and it’s here as well where some of the best views of a Greek Sun­set can be found, with views from the Agios Niko­laos Cas­tle – also known as the Kas­tro – and ter­races of the hous­es being a great place to watch as the evening sun lights up the vil­lage and the Aegean sea in a dis­play of deep rouge and bright red for a tru­ly glo­ri­ous sun­set.

Across the vil­lage as well you’ll also find call-backs to the his­to­ry of Oia – with the vil­lages tra­di­tion­al wind­mill mak­ing for an inter­est­ing spot and pic­turesque pho­to spot – and for a tru­ly spe­cial spot we’d advise head­ing down to the Har­bor of Ammou­di, a quaint har­bour which once served as the main port of call into the town and which now hosts a series of mouth-water­ing fresh seafood restau­rants – which makes for a great place to enjoy tru­ly spe­cial food, against the back­drop of one of the pret­ti­est vil­lages in the world and some mes­meris­ing sun­set views – as you enjoy the full beau­ty of Oia.

Fira village:

The offi­cial cap­i­tal of San­tori­ni – the vil­lage of Fira mix­es its tra­di­tion­al vil­lage charm with the perks of moder­ni­ty – with the cob­bled streets, tra­di­tion­al cubed hous­es and warm sea views of this small vil­lage mixed with a series of bustling cof­fee shops – includ­ing the always pop­u­lar Gali­ni Cafe, restau­rants and when the sun­sets pound­ing night clubs – for a true mix of Santorini’s past and present.

Offer­ing great views over the sea and of course of daz­zling Cycladic archi­tec­ture once more, the vil­lage of Fira is also home to the pre­his­toric muse­um of Thera – which offers a fas­ci­nat­ing insight into the his­to­ry of San­tori­ni and includes incred­i­ble arti­facts from Akrotiri exca­va­tions (see below) – as well as being the spot of three incred­i­ble pic­turesque church – the three bells church, the Agios Stylianos and the Saint John The­ol­o­gos Church and cathe­dral – which make not only for great reminders of the reli­gious impor­tance and past of San­tori­ni – but also a series of stun­ning pho­to spots as you cap­ture the true best of Cycladic archi­tec­ture.

Imerovigli village:

The Seat of Aegean – the charm­ing vil­lage of Imerovigli is also about the stun­ning views of the Aegean Sea, the San­tori­ni Vol­cano views – and the daz­zling sun­set, with the sun­set views being a par­tic­u­lar hotspot for roman­tics and pro­pos­als.

Among the stun­ning sun­set view spots – which include a range of Cycladic bal­conies, seafront restau­rants and idyl­lic cave spots – you’ll find a stun­ning trail that leads to the mighty Skaros rock a par­tic­u­lar­ly charm­ing spot – with great views over the blue sea and into the hori­zon where the vol­cano awaits you, for those plan­ning a spe­cial moment, be sure to get there a lit­tle ear­ly as once the spot is tak­en it’s gone. Along­side Skaros – you can also fol­low the hik­ing trail down to the Theoskepasti chapel – anoth­er roman­tic and charm­ing spot with stun­ning archi­tec­ture and equal­ly stun­ning views.

Along­side the sun­set views, you’ll find pic­turesque Cycladic hous­es lined through­out the vil­lage, and the famed blue dome of the Anas­taseos church – one of the most gor­geous and bright spots across the island, which com­bined with the daz­zling sun­sets makes the vil­lage of Imerovigli a tru­ly won­der­ful spot in San­tori­ni and one not to be missed.

Traditional Villages:

Along­side the mod­ern and main­stream vil­lages and their incred­i­ble Cycladic archi­tec­ture and sun­set views – we’d also rec­om­mend get­ting off the beat­en track and explor­ing some of Santorini’s more tra­di­tion­al vil­lages – that offer both pic­turesque set­ting and a true way to con­nect with the real and his­to­ry of San­tori­ni.

Emporio Village:

First up among these vil­lages is the charm­ing vil­lage of Empo­rio – where you’ll find unique medieval archi­tec­ture, with the small vil­lage awash with Viking era wood­en doors and arch­es that are nav­i­gat­ed by criss cross­ing through a series of peb­ble cov­ered alley­ways and steep stairs – that lead you not only past tav­erns and bars but also to some fas­ci­nat­ing stone con­struct­ed hotels and forts – in what is both a charm­ing and pic­turesque vil­lage.

Megalochori Village:

We’d also rec­om­mend check­ing out the vil­lage of Mega­lo­chori – which is one of the most pic­turesque tra­di­tion­al vil­lages on San­tori­ni – and with incred­i­ble blue domes, tow­ers and even cave hous­es ‑which make for a unique place to spend a night, it’s a great spot to get in some pho­tog­ra­phy of clas­sic San­tori­ni – with the vil­lage of Mega­lo­chori also often found with­out the crowds of the more estab­lished Oia and Fira.

Mega­lo­chori is also home to two fas­ci­nat­ing muse­ums, first­ly the Sym­po­sion – a rich cul­tur­al cen­tre that offers a fas­ci­nat­ing insight into the past, present and future of San­tori­ni and our per­son­al favourite the lost Atlantis Expe­ri­ence – that offers an in-depth analy­sis of the last city of Atlantis and which makes for a great place to vis­it before head­ing out to Akrotiri lat­er on your jour­ney through San­tori­ni.

It’s also with­in Mega­lo­chori that you’ll find two of the most death defy­ing and ver­ti­go induc­ing church­es on the plan­et with the church­es of Agios Niko­las and Plakas both perched on cliff edges – which again makes for a stun­ning pho­to shot – as does the famed heart of San­tori­ni, a heart shaped hole that offers incred­i­ble views out over the Aegean Sea – which if you catch just right at sun­set makes for one of the most roman­tic and beau­ti­ful spots across the whole of San­tori­ni – and a stun­ning way to top off your vis­it to Mega­lo­chori.

Pyrgos village:

Once the cap­i­tal of San­tori­ni – the great hill perched vil­lage of Pyr­gos is tru­ly wine coun­try – with the famed and sweet wine of San­tori­ni – includ­ing the deli­cious Assyr­tiko, Aidani and Athiri wines — being made in the many beau­ti­ful vine­yards and the famed San­to Win­tery that lie with­in this charm­ing vil­lage.

Con­sid­ered an off the beat­en track vil­lage – Pygros is not on every explor­ers list when it comes to sights in San­tori­ni – which helps add not only to the charm but also means less crowds so if your time your vis­it right you are like­ly to have the vil­lage and the wine to your­self. For those who do ven­ture too Pyr­gos and take a moment away from the vine­yards, you’ll find a vil­lage ooz­ing with charm – with white stone cov­ered hous­es, the great Venet­ian cas­tle of Kasteli and a par­ituclar spe­cial spot at the bal­cony of the Zan­nos Melathron Hotel – where from atop the high­est vil­lage in all of San­tori­ni you can enjoy a glass of wine and take in a daz­zling Greek sun­set.

Journey to the Volcano:

The vol­canic icon of San­tori­ni – the 1,204 foot sleep­ing giant of Santorini’s moon-shaped caldera occu­pies not only a promi­nent posi­tion off the islands hori­zon – but thanks to its many erup­tions it is the lava, ash and vol­canic activ­i­ty that from this caldera that has not only shaped the land of San­tori­ni and the Greek islands, but bought life, death and defined the his­to­ry of San­tori­ni.

Set deep with­in the Aegan Sea, the Volcano’s crater is believed to stretch down some 400 metres, and it’s the sand and soil found deep with­in the caldera that has helped form and shape the won­der­ful white Cycladic archi­tec­ture found across the islands many incred­i­ble and pic­turesque vil­lages and pro­vid­ed soil to farm­ers which for so long has fed the islands pop­u­la­tion and which today helps keep the vine­yards respon­si­ble for the Assyr­tiko wine healthy.

Hav­ing last erupt­ed in 1950, the caldera is con­sid­ered rel­a­tive­ly safe, and you have the option of tak­ing a guid­ed trip out on a boat to the island of Nea Kameni, where you can sail in the deep blue waters and admire not only the stun­ning cliffs of this vol­cano and enjoy great views back towards Oia and over the Aegean sea – but for those who dare it you can also explore the ashen land with its unique black and red lava stones, bathe in the vol­ca­noes’ hot springs – where tem­per­a­tures reach a bub­bling 35c – and for the true adven­tur­ers sum­mit to the top of the vol­cano.

A trek to be tak­en on only by those who feel phys­i­cal­ly up for it, the chance to sum­mit a vol­cano is tru­ly unique – and you can expect a tough ascent as you head upwards along the ash of the vol­cano up towards the 1,204-foot sum­mit. A trek that can take a cou­ple of hours, we’d advise com­ing pre­pared with plen­ty of water, sun­screen and a good hat, but for those who man­age to sum­mit the caldera – you can expect tru­ly breath-tak­ing views from your ele­vat­ed posi­tion out over the won­der of the Aegean sea and a full panoram­ic view of the won­der of the island of San­tori­ni.

Enjoy Santorini’s Idyllic Beaches:

Thanks to the tow­er­ing San­tori­ni Vol­cano – the beach­es found cross the island are both diverse and stun­ning — with the flow of ash and set­tling lava cre­at­ing a mul­ti­tude of option for you to soak in the great Greek sun and take a dip in the Aegean Sea.

With the beach­es dif­fer­ing from the tra­di­tion­al gold­en sand shore beach­es asso­ci­at­ed with Greek Island Get­aways – and sat against the beau­ty of Santorini’s stun­ning vil­lages, and lying in the shad­ow of the tow­er­ing Vol­cano – the beach­es’ of San­tori­ni are tru­ly spe­cial – so with your tow­el and sun­screen in hand, and mak­ing sure you arrive ear­ly to avoid the crowds, these are the top five beach­es we’d rec­om­mend you make time for to tru­ly soak in the best of Santorini’s beach­es and the gold­en Greek sun:

Red Beach:

Start­ing with the most pop­u­lar – and arguably the most stun­ning – there’s no prizes for guess­ing what to expect at Red Beach, with the red sands, which are set against rouge cliffs lead­ing down into the Aegean Sea cre­at­ing a unique spot and a great place to cap­ture and enjoy one of the high­lights of San­tori­ni.

We’d advise vis­it­ing the Red Beach not for a tra­di­tion­al beach expe­ri­ence, but instead as a beau­ty spot – as while the Red Sand and deep blue water cre­ate a pic­turesque spot, you’ll find the sand coarse and rough – and the waters unpre­dictable and bumpy mean­ing, that in terms of a tra­di­tion­al beach expe­ri­ence the Red Beach­es enjoy­ment fac­tor is in stark con­trast to its pic­turesque beau­ty.

For those who do fan­cy ven­tur­ing on its shores, you’ll find that the Red Beach is also tough to access, with explor­ers – who do not arrive to the beach over a cliff path­way as part of a hike – still required to scram­ble across unpaved roads, and even for those who make it onto the sand there are increas­ing­ly grow­ing parts of the beach which are being cor­nered off due to the threat of land­slides from the Cliffs Above.

Still the un-beach like con­di­tions and expe­ri­ences doesn’t detract from the sheer beau­ty of the Red Beach – and whichev­er way you choose to explore this beach you’re guar­an­teed to expe­ri­ence one of the most unique and stun­ning beach­es not only on San­tori­ni but on the plan­et – although for our part we’d rec­om­mend enjoy­ing its red sands from the clifftops with a cool drink at a local café.

Perissa & Perivolos Beach:

Two beach­es for the price of one ! – the twin beach­es of Peris­sa & Periv­o­los fade into one oth­er and are two of the most icon­ic beach­es in Greece, with the crys­tal sparkling black sand beach­es that lie in the shad­ow of the won­der of Thera and its ancient vil­lage being one of the most pho­tographed and beau­ti­ful spots across San­tori­ni.

Your explo­ration of these beach­es will begin at Perisa beach – which is eas­i­ly accessed on the south of San­tori­ni and which stretch­es for kilo­me­tres across the bay of Thera Vil­lage, and instant­ly you’ll be stuck by the great beau­ty of the black sand that leads down into the deep blue sea, with the con­trast of colours and the view of the Vol­cano – whose vol­canic activ­i­ty is respon­si­ble for the black sand that lies across the beach – cre­at­ing a true beau­ty spot and one of the finest beach­es in Greece.

For those who begin to trek across the beach, and start to get a first-hand look at the black sand, you’ll also be able to get a look at Santorini’s most pic­turesque moun­tain range – the Mesa Vouno – with the zig zag of roads that dot this moun­tain range pro­vid­ing anoth­er beau­ty spot for you to soak in.

Along the beach, you’ll also find that the beau­ty and empti­ness of the head of the beach, gives way to clas­sic beach tourist facil­i­ties, with a range of sun­lounges and sun decks – that sit con­ve­nient­ly under­neath the cool shade of palm trees, and of course locals offer­ing cool

drinks and a range of cock­tails who are always eager to greet you – allow­ing you to com­bine the beau­ty of the black sand with the clas­sic beach expe­ri­ence.

Ven­tur­ing fur­ther along Perisa and you’ll come to the shores of Periv­o­los Beach – which is equal­ly as stun­ning and stretch­es some 8 kilo­me­tres along the shores of Thera and just like Perisa you’ll find at the start of Periv­o­los all the beach tourist facil­i­ties you require – with sunbeds, drinks and even beach bars all on offer.

But for those who want to enjoy the beau­ty of a true black sand beach in rel­a­tive soli­tude then we’d rec­om­mend head­ing for Periv­o­los and jour­ney­ing your way across the 8km of beach to fit a spot away from the crowds – where you can tru­ly relax and soak in the incred­i­ble beau­ty of this stun­ning beach.

Kamari Beach:

Head­ing north from the beach­es of Peris­sa & Periv­o­los and on the north side of Thera just a few miles from the beau­ti­ful vil­lage of Fira, lies anoth­er black sand beach – the famed beach of Kamari.

Famed for its fad­ing black sand, deep blue waters, beach facil­i­ties, the beach of Kamari sits not only against the charm­ing town of Kamari – but thanks to its 5 kilo­me­tre shore­line, the sand of Kamari enjoys stun­ning views out over not just the vol­canic land­scape of San­tori­ni, but across the charm­ing white vil­lages of Fira, Thera and the hills and moun­tains of Mesa Vouno – mak­ing for a tru­ly serene set­ting.

Despite the ter­rain lead­ing to the beach being a lit­tle rocky in places – and the black sand known to reach burn­ing tem­per­a­tures – mean­ing that as a min­i­mum trav­ellers should bring sun­screen and flip flops when head­ing to Kamari, the high heat hasn’t deterred devel­op­ment on the beach, and you’ll find a range of hotels, sun­lounges and refresh­ment stands dot­ted along the shore­line – with the bars that dot the coast­line of the beach in par­tic­u­lar­ly being a great spot to relax and enjoy not only the panoram­ic views across the beach but also one of the best spots across the island to enjoy one of Santorini’s famed sun­sets.

Exo Gialos Beach:

Final­ly for a more tra­di­tion­al Greek Beach – and one that is clos­est to the hus­tle and bus­tle of Fira we’d advise head­ing for the beach­es of Exo Gia­los – which lies just over a mile away from the cen­tre of the cap­i­tal of San­tori­ni.

Found next to the capital’s har­bour – the beach­es of Exo Gia­los lie on either side of the har­bour, and stand in stark con­trast – with one being a clas­sic San­tori­ni beach – with the left side beach fea­tur­ing black sand and peb­bles, and the one on the right fea­tur­ing lighter coloured sand – with both beach­es offer­ing nice views over vol­canic rock for­ma­tions and lead­ing into deep blue waters at their edge – with the might of the San­tori­ni Vol­cano also vis­i­ble on a clear day.

You’ll also find these beach­es cater for not just sum­mer par­ties, but for those who arrive dur­ing the day you’ll find the right beach absent of any devel­op­ment, mean­ing for those who want to enjoy a relax­ing day kick­ing back on the beach enjoy­ing the Greek sun – this is the

spot to head to, where as the left beach is full of clas­sic beach ameni­ties ‑includ­ing sun­lounges, an array of bars and fresh seafood restau­rants – which make for a great place to head to for an evening meal as you enjoy some of the fresh­est and tasti­est fish across the island mar­vel­ling at the beach­es of Exo Gia­los and the beau­ti­ful Fira har­bour.

Akrotiri:

The vil­lage that evi­dences Plato’s great of the lost city of Atlantis – Akrotiri once stood thou­sands of years ago as a bustling vil­lage on the edge of the Aegean Sea – full of hous­es, fres­cos and res­i­dents, until an esti­mat­ed 3,600 years ago a vol­canic erup­tion saw the city cov­ered in dust, vol­canic debris – and lost, until it’s redis­cov­ery in the mid-19th cen­tu­ry.

Now, along­side the city of Thera, and thanks to same care­ful exca­va­tion work and preser­va­tion – the ancient vil­lage, which was once an out­post for trade and a port, stands as a fas­ci­nat­ing insight into Santorini’s past and as a great archae­o­log­i­cal site, with explor­ers able to explore Akrotiri – and mar­vel and pon­der at the ancient set­tle­ments and arte­facts – includ­ing pot­tery, Astron­o­my charts and even bath­tubs, as well as the ancient hous­es which sit with­in a mod­ern pro­tec­tion case, as you tru­ly explore Santorini’s past.

While only one third of this lost city has been ful­ly exca­vat­ed – and there’s a notable lack of for­mer res­i­dents – which has led to the the­o­ri­sa­tion that the res­i­dents were aware of the impend­ing dis­as­ter before it hit them – you can expect a trip around Akrotiri to be tru­ly fas­ci­nat­ing, but be warned the tick­ets are a tad on the expen­sive side at 14 Euros (includ­ing access to Thera) and crowds do form dur­ing the day — so we’d advise to get there ear­ly prefer­ably at 8am for open­ing time for the best expe­ri­ence.

Thera:

The ruins of a once pros­per­ous city, the ancient vil­lage of Thera sits atop the mighty Mesa Vouna at the peak of San­tori­ni some 1204 foot above sea lev­el – and offers not just panoram­ic views over the island and the Agean Sea, but as a set­tle­ment estab­lished in the ear­ly 9th Cen­tu­ry allows trav­ellers to explore the ruins of Greek Archi­tec­ture, with many of the columns of tem­ples, mon­u­ments, and hous­es – as well as an aged Roman Amphithe­atre and even an old Gym all still stand­ing amidst the ruins of this ancient city.

As with Akrotiri, Thera was also dev­as­tat­ed and lost fol­low­ing a Vol­canic Erup­tion — believed to have hap­pened at the same peri­od as Akrotiri, and this once bustling city lay lost in ash and dirt until first being explored at the very end of the 19th Cen­tu­ry and com­ing to main stream knowl­edge in the mid-20th Cen­tu­ry – when word of both the beau­ty of both the ruins and the views from the hill top spread across the Island and the World.

For those who do explore Thera, we’d advise pay­ing par­tic­u­lar­ly close atten­tion to the stones used in the con­struc­tion of the ruins – with it being notice­able that the more impor­tant pub­lic build­ings – such as the amphithe­atre and tem­ples are con­struct­ed of lime­stone, where as the remains of hous­es appear to be con­struct­ed from local stones – giv­ing you an appre­ci­a­tion not just for the archi­tects behind their con­struc­tion, but also the indi­vid­u­als who faced the daunt­ing task of tak­ing the stones to the top of the Mesa Vouna peak.

Open from 8am to 3pm – you can either hop in an uber to reach the peak or for the more active and who want to enjoy more stun­ning views of the Aegean Sea, we’d advise tak­ing on the wind and long­ing road from the beach of Kamari up to the peak of Thera and explor­ing the vil­lage before head­ing back down to enjoy the daz­zling black sands and a well earned rest on the stun­ning twin beach­es of Peris­sa & Periv­o­los – where the beau­ti­ful waters of the Aegean Sea wait you.

Explore the best of Greek Food and Wine:

Along­side enjoy­ing the incred­i­ble beach­es, quaint white vil­lages, and per­fect sun­sets of San­tori­ni – the islands is also home to anoth­er incred­i­ble won­der, the absolute best of famed Greek Food and Wine – all of which you can enjoy against the back­drop of the stun­ning scenery of the Island.

Per­haps most famous among the Greek Del­i­ca­cies offered on the Island is that of the sweet wine, helped in its devel­op­ment by the abun­dance of vol­canic soil which pro­vides per­fect fer­ment­ing and grape grow­ing con­di­tions, you can find a range of winer­ies across the island – includ­ing the famed win­ery at Pyr­gos vil­lage called San­to Win­ery where the deli­cious island wines of Assyr­tiko, Aidani and Athiri wine is brewed up – with the win­ery being a great spot for a guid­ed tour around for an enjoy­able, jol­ly and in all like­li­hood tip­sy day out.

You’ll also find these wines, which are clas­sic crisp and sweet white’s, a per­fect com­pli­ment when din­ing out at any of Santorini’s ever-grow­ing fan­cy array of gourmet seafood and Grill Restau­rants, with the island’s har­bours and ports – par­tic­u­lar­ly around the vil­lages of Oia and Fira (we’d rec­om­mend the Har­bor of Ammou­di) being a par­tic­u­lar­ly spe­cial place to enjoy fresh­ly caught seafood – and the absolute best of tra­di­tion­al Greek Cui­sine and we’d real­ly rec­om­mend try­ing the fresh Octo­pus with bread and Hum­mus if you get the chance – which if you pick a Restau­rant over­look­ing the Sea makes for a deli­cious way to toast and enjoy a Sparkling Greek sun­set.

Across the island as well you’ll also find a range of tra­di­tion­al Tav­erns – serv­ing every­thing from Greek Snacks to tra­di­tion­al Ale and wine, with the tav­erns decked out in tra­di­tion­al Greek Dec­o­ra­tions and Archi­tec­ture – with the tav­ern of To Psara­ki in par­tic­u­lar­ly hav­ing build up a rep­u­ta­tion for serv­ing great food and rea­son­able places. Spread across the Island you’ll find the Tav­erns a per­fect place to enjoy a night cap or for those who fan­cy a night Tav­ern Hop­ping on the vil­lage of Fira – with the tav­erns mak­ing for a great place to enjoy a night out as you explore the best of Greek Nightlife.

Final­ly, for those who are for­tu­nate enough to enjoy a day or two explor­ing the vil­lages of Oia and Fira, we’d rec­om­mend set­ting aside some time to take a long and leisure­ly lunch at one of the many Café’s you’ll find with­in the vil­lages. While you may have to wait for a table if you arrive dur­ing the peak hours of 11 – 1am – the wait is well worth it as the gen­er­ous lunch­es of tra­di­tion­al Greek Food and in par­tic­u­lar­ly the clas­sic Coffee’s served up are some of the best across Greece and offer not just a stun­ning and tasty lunch – but give you a good dose of caf­feine and ener­gy ahead of an afternoon’s explo­ration of the beau­ti­ful island of San­tori­ni.

Trek from Fira to Oia:

A stun­ning trek across the great vil­lages of San­tori­ni, the trek from the vil­lage of Fira to Oia takes you not only to incred­i­ble van­tage points to admire and snap the white cyclidic archi­tec­ture and blue domes of these charm­ing vil­lages, but see’s you hike across half of the Vol­canic Caldera to some of the best van­tage points over the Aegean Sea, to some of the best café’s and tav­erns on the islands – for a tasty lunch – and to some of the jew­els of San­tori­ni – includ­ing lead­ing the Agios Niko­laos Cas­tle, the Skaros Rock and down to the Theoskepasti chapel – where if you time your hike just right you can enjoy a daz­zling Greek sun­set.

Begin­ning from Fira – which is the clas­sic start point for the trail, but you can of course hike the trail in reverse if you wish to start in Oia, you’ll find the start of the trail begins beside Hotel Atlantis and starts off with a small ascent up some cob­ble steps, and you can head north towards the small vil­lage of Firoste­fani – where we’d advise mak­ing a stop at the Café Gali­ni – for a tasty spot of break­fast or brunch.

From here you’ll find that there’s no defined route – and a notable lack of signs guid­ing you on the route, with the best advice being to head north along the coast. As you con­tin­ue to head North you’ll reach the vil­lage of Imerovigli – and a fork in the road. We’d advise head­ing right at the fork in the road ini­tial­ly to explore Imerovigli – and take in the the stun­ning cycladic hous­es with­in the vil­lage and the Theoskepasti chapel, before return­ing to the fork in the road and head­ing left – where you can chance upon the incred­i­ble views of the Agean Sea from the Skros Rock.

Con­tin­u­ing north the next part of the trek will take you over sweep­ing views of the sea – with some of the best views in San­tori­ni and as you con­tin­ue head­ing North you can real­ly enjoy the sweep­ing views and stun­ning land­scape of this pret­ty island as you cross the halfway path and come upon anoth­er fork in the road.

At the sec­ond fork in the road we’d encour­age you to head left again and stay on the coastal route and as you fol­low the caldera round, you’ll find your­self head­ing down­ward and treat­ed to stun­ning views of Oia from above, where you can cap­ture panoram­ic shots of this stun­ning town and all it’s white archi­tec­ture and famed blue domes in all their glo­ry – for a spe­cial and unique pho­to.

Con­tin­u­ing down the path and you’ll find your­self slow­ly head­ing into Oia, pass­ing a series of wind­mills and as you wind round the path will take you slow­ly into the bay of Ammou­di – where you can either enjoy a well earned spot of deli­cious fresh fish at one of the bay’s restau­rants, begin explor­ing the stun­ning archi­tec­ture of Oia or depend­ing on when you set off on your hike enjoy the incred­i­ble sun set­ting over the Aegean Sea after com­plet­ing one of the best treks on the island.

A great hike – that tru­ly takes you through the best of San­tori­ni – you can expect the hike to last around 4–5 hours, depend­ing on how many stops you take, with the offi­cial length of the hike being 6 miles not account­ing for de-tours.

We’d also advise tak­ing on the hike either ear­ly morn­ing or late after­noon, so as to avoid the peak of the Greek sun, with the route along the coast being stun­ning – but offer­ing lit­tle shade to pro­tect you from the sun. For this rea­son and the fact that this is a hike that offers mul­ti­ple

incred­i­ble stops on its way, it’s best to take on the hike by your­self as opposed to a guid­ed tour – just be sure to bud­get enough mon­ey to stop off at the cafes for a spot to eat, and bring a good hat and plen­ty of sun­screen as you set off on this incred­i­ble hike to explore the absolute best of Santorini’s stun­ning coast.

Stay at a Cave House:

Along­side admir­ing the great Cycladic archi­tec­ture of San­tori­ni explor­ers also have the chance to get tru­ly immersed in the tra­di­tion­al way of San­tori­ni life – with a unique stay in a Cave House.

Perched along the shores and cliffs of San­tori­ni and look­ing out over the Aegean Sea you’ll find a series of Cave Hous­es that offer a mix of high end accom­mo­da­tion to basic min­i­mal­ist caves that were once used by the res­i­dents of the island – all of which explores can rent for the night.

While the prospect of stay­ing in a cave, par­tic­u­lar­ly one fac­ing the sea might be daunt­ing, these spe­cial caves offer not only a unique expe­ri­ence but with them fac­ing out over the west of the island they make for an incred­i­ble spot to enjoy not only sun­ning views over the island, caldera and the deep blue waters of the sea – but to enjoy your own pri­vate sun­set as you look out from you cave over the descend­ing sun as it lights up San­tori­ni and the Agean waters for a tru­ly spe­cial moment and one of the true and most pic­turesque high­lights of your stay on the island.

Sunsets:

Final­ly, no trip to San­tori­ni would be com­plete with­out tak­ing in the incred­i­ble and daz­zling sun­set from a series of van­tage points – with the descend­ing sun offer­ing a guar­an­teed night­ly roman­tic expe­ri­ence as it lights up the beau­ti­ful Greek sky against the back­ground of the Caldera, cycladic archi­tec­ture and the warm deep blue waters of the Aegean Sea.

While a view­ing of the sun­set from any van­tage point across the island is always spe­cial, there’s a cou­ple of spots that afford you those post­card per­fect mes­meris­ing views and can make you tru­ly fall in love with San­tori­ni, with the below being our top picks of the best spots to take in the sun­set around the island that will afford you the best views or expe­ri­ence and mark a fan­tas­tic con­clu­sion to your day explor­ing this beau­ti­ful island:

Skaros Rock

Start­ing with one of the most pop­u­lar spots – and one of the most noto­ri­ous for com­bined sun­set and pro­pos­als, the views from Sakros Rock out over the Aegean Sea and the cliffs of San­tori­ni are spec­tac­u­lar dur­ing the day­time, but at sun­set they are beyond beau­ti­ful as the sun lights up the sky in a kalei­do­scope of bright colours mak­ing for one of the most pic­turesque spots on the island.

Found in the vil­lage of Imerovigli and acces­si­ble over a rocky trail over the caldera, this rock once stood as a bat­tle test­ed fort, with the ruins and remains now giv­ing way to an incred­i­ble

over­look. For those plan­ning a spe­cial moment here, be sure to get there ear­ly as the rock is extreme­ly pop­u­lar – par­tic­u­lar­ly dur­ing the sum­mer months.

For those who want to take in the spe­cial views but with­out the crowds, we’d advise con­tin­u­ing on past the rock and head­ing down some the 250 steps to the church of Theoskepasti – with its bright blue dome – where you can wit­ness the sun­set from the steps of the church for a tru­ly spe­cial moment.

From a Restau­rant

Com­bin­ing the best of Greek Food and Wine with the incred­i­ble sun­set is undoubt­ed­ly one of the best expe­ri­ences across the island, as the mag­i­cal sun­set pro­vides a per­fect back­drop to enjoy some of the finest and fresh­est cui­sine on the plan­et with a glass of sparkling white wine from the San­to win­ery for a true indul­gence for the sens­es.

While there’s a range of restau­rants across San­tori­ni that offer spe­cial views over the west of the Agean Sea to wit­ness the incred­i­ble sun­set — be warned though you’ll find tables do book up well in advance such is the beau­ty and rep­u­ta­tion of this stun­ning sun­set. For an extra spe­cial expe­ri­ence we’d advise book­ing a table at a restau­rant at the Har­bor of Ammou­di for a com­bi­na­tion of great food, wine and as you watch the sparkling sun descend over the incred­i­ble Greek Island one of the best sun­sets on the plan­et.

Oia Cas­tle

From the cas­tle of Agios Niko­laos you’ll find views stretch­ing out over the Aegean Sea, the caldera and into the depths of the clear blue Greek Sky and hori­zon in front of you – and thanks to its clear views offers one of the most spe­cial spots to wit­ness the incred­i­ble sun­set – as the sky turns a deep shade of orange and rouge and reflects back over the Amou­di Bay below you – for a mes­meris­ing and sim­ply gor­geous expe­ri­ence wit­ness­ing the incred­i­ble sun­set.

A pop­u­lar spot – and one that we’d rec­om­mend get­ting too ear­ly to get a van­tage spot, the best spot across the cas­tle for the pic­ture-per­fect pho­tos is going to be on the way of the cas­tle fac­ing down into the bay, as it’s from here that you’ll get and be able to snap the full effect of the sun­set and mar­vel at the beau­ty of kalei­do­scop­ic colours that light up the beau­ti­ful Greek Sky.

Cliffs of San­tori­ni

Found on the west of the island by head­ing to the coast of Oia and fol­low­ing the road along the Caldera or by head­ing north from Fira– you’ll find these sparkling cliffs over two great fea­tures to enjoy a Greek sun­set, first­ly they are ele­vat­ed giv­ing you a birds eye view out over the sea and the island and sec­ond­ly for those want­i­ng a true moment of soli­tude to enjoy the sun­set it’s pos­si­ble to find spots along the cliffs where the crowds that are found fre­quent­ly over the island are absent – giv­ing you a tru­ly spe­cial moment and place to enjoy the sun­set that belongs to you.

Com­bin­able with the Fira to Oia walk as the epic con­clu­sion, or by sim­ply head­ing out of Oia till you find a spot that works for you, tak­ing in the sun­set from the cliffs is a tru­ly spe­cial and unique expe­ri­ence and one that lets you enjoy the absolute best of this incred­i­ble sun­set on your own terms – for what is guar­an­teed to be a tru­ly spe­cial moment.

Heart of San­tori­ni:

Rep­re­sent­ing true love – the heart shaped hole of San­tori­ni is the sym­bol of Santorini’s rep­u­ta­tion as a hon­ey­moon island and cap­tures the beau­ty of its sun­sets in one go, with the carved heart shape rock offer­ing a great place to cap­ture the sun­set as the rays of bright light seep through the heart for a spe­cial and roman­tic moment.

Found with­in the Mega­lo­chori Vil­lage – the heart shaped rock is pop­u­lar among both cou­ples and pho­tog­ra­phers and you’ll find that pho­tos of the sun­set through it work on an hon­our sys­tem – but for those who are lucky enough to get here just as the bright sparkling sun­set rays hit the heart and reflect out through it over the blue waters of the Aegean sea it’s a tru­ly spe­cial and deep moment – and one that encap­su­lates the beau­ty and romance of the won­der of San­tori­ni.

How long to stay

While the romance of San­tori­ni can cause explor­ers to get lost in the incred­i­ble beau­ty of the cyclidic archi­tec­ture in the quaint vil­lages and the night­ly stun­ning sun­sets – for those con­scious of both bud­get and tick­ing off the expe­ri­ences on this won­der, we’d rec­om­mend bud­get­ing for between 3–4 days for your trip to San­tori­ni.

While it is pos­si­ble to cov­er the high­lights in 2 days – which you’ll need as a min­i­mum to explore the high­lights of the island, giv­ing your­self a lit­tle bit of extra time will allow you to get ful­ly immersed in the beau­ty of the vil­lages and explore the beach­es and caldera in full, as well as enjoy plen­ty of exquis­ite Greek food and wine and at least two mag­i­cal sun­sets.

So we’d strong­ly advise set­ting aside between 3 – 4 days to explore the won­der of San­tori­ni.

Top Tip

San­tori­ni has a rep­u­ta­tion for being an incred­i­bly clean, safe and fam­i­ly friend­ly – so as long as you act sen­si­bly and watch your alco­hol con­sump­tion, you’ll be sure for a good and safe time.

Along­side this, we’d advise book­ing any accom­mo­da­tion in advance and tim­ing your vis­it to San­tori­ni out­side of peak sea­son and aim­ing for a few days on the island in either June or Sep­tem­ber – as dur­ing peak sea­son you’ll see prices sig­nif­i­cant­ly rise and the island awash with crowds – so as the main top tip when vis­it­ing San­tori­ni we’d advise plan­ning your vis­it out­side of peak sea­son.

Cost:

The cost of a trip to San­tori­ni is real­ly decid­ed on when you vis­it – as head to the beau­ti­ful island dur­ing peak sea­son you can expect prices in hotels, restau­rants and on excur­sions to be sig­nif­i­cant­ly high­er than off sea­son.

As a starter for get­ting to the island you can find cheap flights from across Europe to the islands main air­port Thi­ra from as lit­tle as €20 one-way if you time your flights rights and book in advance – although we’d advise bud­get­ing for at least €50 for a one-way flight to San­tori­ni. For the bud­get con­scious trav­ellers, you can also expect to save a lit­tle bit of mon­ey – par­tic­u­lar­ly dur­ing peak sea­son – by get­ting the fer­ry from via oth­er islands or from Athens and Greece’s main­land – with eh fer­ry com­ing in at €40 and even giv­ing you the option fo spend­ing a night aboard sav­ing on accom­mo­da­tion.

Upon the island, there’s a range of finan­cial options to suit all bud­gets – with hos­tels which usu­al­ly come in at around €10 a night to pre­mi­um hotels with bal­conies with views stretch­ing out over the Aegean Sea which start at €150 a night for those with a larg­er bud­get – but regard­less of the type of accom­mo­da­tion you go for we’d advise book­ing well in advance.

One area of expense you can expect on San­tori­ni is in the food depart­ment – as unless you come pre­pared to cook for your­self, you’ll find that some of the restau­rants – par­tic­u­lar­ly those on the har­bour and over­look­ing the sea are on the dear side, although the chance to expe­ri­ence the true taste of Greek food and fresh­ly caught seafood – topped off with a glass of famed San­tori­ni white wine – does make a meal in San­tori­ni a worth­while and tasty invest­ment.

You can also expect to pay to vis­it some of the islands attrac­tions – includ­ing Ancient Akrotiri and the Thi­ra muse­um – although we’d advise get­ting a dou­ble tick­et which comes in at €14 and allows you access to both to save a lit­tle mon­ey Along­side this you can expect tours – includ­ing to the wine vine­yards and out to the caldera to also vary in price based on when you arrive with tours dur­ing the off peak sea­son nor­mal­ly start­ing at around €50 and ris­ing to €75 dur­ing the sum­mer.

For those con­cerned about the cost of a trip to San­tori­ni, we’d advise arriv­ing off sea­son – where you’ll find that prices are sig­nif­i­cant­ly cheap­er and being sure to book well in advance, and you can also save a lit­tle bit more mon­ey by book­ing accom­mo­da­tion out­side of Fira or Oia and tak­ing advan­tage of the excel­lent pub­lic trans­port that runs across San­tori­ni to the main high­lights.

All in then for those arriv­ing dur­ing peak sea­son and look­ing to indulge on the island – we’d advise bud­get­ing for at least €200 euros a night, where as those arrive off sea­son and are on a more strict bud­get – it’s pos­si­ble to explore the best of San­tori­ni for as lit­tle as €30 a day – mak­ing the won­der of San­tori­ni a place where trav­ellers from all bud­gets can come to enjoy the sheer beau­ty of this island.

Fun Fact:

Clock­ing in at just under 30 square miles in land mass, the quaint vil­lages, charm­ing har­bours and tow­er­ing cliffs that you can explore on foot are just half of the won­der of the San­tori­ni caldera – with half of the caldera still sub­merged under­wa­ter – mak­ing not only for a sta­ble basis for the island, but for keen scu­ba divers a fas­ci­nat­ing place to dive along­side the incred­i­ble beau­ty of an active caldera.

In fact so strik­ing is the beau­ty of the caldera and the charm of the famed vil­lages, that its rep­u­ta­tion as a true spot of beau­ty of won­der has been cement­ed and enhanced by some of the finest artists of the 21st cen­tu­ry – with the beau­ty of the island serv­ing as inspi­ra­tion for Jules Vern in Twen­ty thou­sand leagues and pro­vid­ing the cat­a­lyst for some fo the great music from Yan­ni.

Best photo spot:

A photographer’s dream – San­tori­ni is one of the most roman­tic and beau­ti­ful spots on the plan­et, with the warm cycladic archi­tec­ture of its charm­ing vil­lages — includ­ing the famed white hous­es and tow­er­ing blue domes – com­bin­ing with panoram­ic bliss­ful views of the deep Aegean Sea and of course the bliss­ful roman­tic sun­sets to give some of the best and most icon­ic trav­el shots on the plan­et.

While every spot on San­tori­ni is almost guar­an­teed to leave you in awe of the beau­ty of this stun­ning Greek Island – we’ve picked out a cou­ple of van­tage points that shouldn’t be missed when it comes to mak­ing sure you go home with not just incred­i­ble mem­o­ries of this amaz­ing island, but also some of the most scenic, post­card per­fect pho­tos imag­in­able:

Villages & Sunset: Oia Cliffside

While all the vil­lages in San­tori­ni are spe­cial – Oia and Fira stand out as being par­tic­u­lar­ly beau­ti­ful – with the stun­ning white archi­tec­ture and blue domes on full dis­play in all their glo­ry here.

Thanks to the con­struc­tion of these two vil­lages on the cliffs of San­tori­ni you’ll find ele­vat­ed pic­turesque pho­to spots all across the vil­lages – how­ev­er to cap­ture that full post­card panoram­ic icon­ic image of the vil­lage we’d advise head­ing to the cliff­side of Oia.

Found on the west­ern side of the island and eas­i­ly reach­able from Oia by head­ing to the coast­line and ascend­ing – or on the beau­ti­ful trek of Fira to Oia – a perched posi­tion up on the cliffs gives you a spec­tac­u­lar shot look­ing down over the whole of the vil­lage and across the Aegean Sea where you will have the full range of the village’s bright blue and white colours laid out before you – for a sim­ply stun­ning shot that cap­tures the full beau­ty of these incred­i­ble vil­lages.

The cliffs of Oia are also an incred­i­ble place to come to enjoy the mes­meris­ing San­tori­ni sun­set – and depend­ing on the spot you pick it’s pos­si­ble to find some­where along the coast­line where you can enjoy the sun­set with­out the crowds. Offer­ing a Bird­s­eye view out

over the hori­zon, we’d advise arriv­ing at least half an hour before sun­set – and for the roman­tics among you it’s a great place to bring an out­door pic­nic and set up a feast – as you watch the descend­ing sun cre­ate a tru­ly spec­ta­cle show and bring the warmth of the Aegean Sea and the beau­ty of the Oia vil­lage below you to life in a mirage of colour – for a mag­i­cal pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty.

Villages: Kastro Oia House

One of the most quaint hotels across the island – the Kas­tro Oia House is a bright orange hotel found along the coast­line – and as well as being a great place to spend a few nights to explore San­tori­ni – it’s also a mark­er for anoth­er ele­vat­ed view over the vil­lage below – with its unique spot offer­ing you 360 degree panoram­ic views over the cliffs of Oia, the Aegean Sea below and down into the white and blue of the vil­lage below.

A pop­u­lar spot – for those who aren’t able to bag a hotel room with a bal­cony – we’d advise only head­ing here for pho­tos dur­ing the day as it sim­ply gets too crowd­ed to enjoy a sun­set view in the evening.

Villages: Anastasis Church:

Get­ting up close and per­son­al to the famed blue domes – the church of Ansta­sis is one of the most recog­nis­able and pho­tographed church­es across the world – and a close up shot of this stun­ning church should be on every explores list when vis­it­ing San­tori­ni.

Found along the Fira to Oia coastal walk near the vil­lage of Thera – the stun­ning church should be pho­tographed from both approach — where you get the icon­ic blue domes against the back­ground of the Aegean Sea for a stun­ning shot and from its entrance up close – where you get a per­fect shot of the full beau­ty of this archi­tec­tur­al won­der that rep­re­sents the best of Greek archi­tec­ture.

Villages & Sunset: Skaros Castle:

Again found along the coastal path and a few miles north of the vil­lage of Thera – Skaros Cas­tle is reached by nav­i­gat­ing your way over a rocky and slip­py path but from the top of the ruins of this for­mer fortress you can look over the hori­zon and admire the caldera, the deep blue waters of the Aegean sea and the beau­ty of Oia in the dis­tance, for one of the most stun­ning panoram­ic views across the island and a tru­ly mes­meris­ing pho­to shot.

A pop­u­lar spot – and one that also dou­ble as a great sun­set loca­tion – we’d advise arriv­ing here at mid-after­noon and then after admir­ing the beau­ty vis­i­ble from the cas­tle head­ing down­wards to the Theoskepasti Holy Ortho­dox Church to snap some more pho­tos out over the hori­zon. Before retun­ing an hour or so before dusk which will give you a jump on the crowds and allow you to pick your spot as you stare out over the hori­zon ready to wit­ness one of the most beau­ti­ful sun­sets on the plan­et – where the sky will light up in a kalei­do­scope of bright colours mak­ing for an absolute­ly stun­ning pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty.

Sunset: Oia Castle

Set on the south of the island – and offer­ing views out over the Aegan sea and down over the Amou­di Bay, the cas­tle of Oia is a spe­cial place and one of the best spots to wit­ness the incred­i­ble sun­set – as you sit perched atop the cas­tle ruins and look out over the beau­ty of the Aegean sea to the hori­zon and watch as the sun trans­forms the calm waters into an eclipse of bright rouge colours trans­form­ing the bay below it and mak­ing for a mag­i­cal pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty.

Anoth­er pop­u­lar spot and one that has earned a rep­u­ta­tion as being a pho­tog­ra­phers dream – we’d advise get­ting here at least an hour before sun­set if you want to make sure you get the per­fect angles and view­ing spots – and despite the wait for the sun to set, when the show begins you’ll be treat­ed to an absolute awe-inspir­ing sun­set and a tru­ly great chance to pho­to­graph one of the most beau­ti­ful and icon­ic sun­sets on the plan­et.

Sunset: The Heart of Santorini:

An icon of San­tori­ni – and one of the most pop­u­lar and roman­tic spots across the island, the heart shaped hole found with­in the charm­ing Mega­lo­chori Vil­lage is not only the sym­bol of true love and encap­su­lates Santorini’s rep­u­ta­tion as a hon­ey­moon island – but thanks to its posi­tion look­ing out over the west of the island and the deep blue waters of the Aegean Sea it’s an incred­i­ble place to catch the sun­set as the bright rays of sun­light seep through seep through the heart for not only a spe­cial and roman­tic moment – but for a stun­ning pho­to­graph.

A pop­u­lar spot – par­tic­u­lar­ly amongst cou­ples and new­ly­weds – pho­tos of the sun­set­ting through heart are incred­i­ble pop­u­lar and it can be a chal­lenge to get the right angles as the sun sets, so you’ll find that shots through the heart tend to work on an hon­our sys­tem – which can mean pho­tog­ra­phers only get a few chances to snap the sun set­ting through the heart hole at the right moment.

But if you wait your turn and take your chance you’ll be able to cap­ture this stun­ning phe­nom­e­non and snap a tru­ly mem­o­rable pho­to, as you cap­ture the full beau­ty of the descend­ing suns light reflect­ing off the Aegean Sun and creep­ing through the heart of San­tori­ni — for a shot that tru­ly encap­su­lates the beau­ty and romance of the true won­der of the world that is the island of San­tori­ni.