Hi everyone!
This is the Santorini Dave guide to where to stay in Santorini.
We’re going to show you the caldera towns, the island’s best beaches, and places to
stay.
Let’s get right into it.
Most visitors to Santorini stay in the four scenic caldera villages of Fira, Oia, Imerovigli,
and Firostefani.
In this video, we’ll give a brief introduction to each of these areas, plus other parts of
the island popular with visitors.
These 4 towns are most famous because they line the edge along the crescent cliff of
the island, facing into the caldera, Santorini’s signature view.
On Santorini, the word ‘caldera’ is used to describe both the steep cliffside and the
area of ocean created when the original volcano blew it’s top.
Now everything featured in this video is explained in greater depth at SantoriniDave.com, plus
you’ll find links to our other detailed videos about all things Santorini in the description
below.
Fira First we’ll start with Fira, the island’s
largest town and one of the most picturesque spots in all of Greece.
It’s perched on the steep caldera cliff and has amazing views of the volcano.
Fira is Santorini’s busiest town with the greatest concentration of hotels, restaurants,
nightlife. and shops.
Sitting in any one of the myriad cafes with views out over the caldera is just spectacular.
If you like action, shopping, lots of choice for where to eat, and dance clubs then this
is where you’ll want to be.
If you want peace and solitude then you’ll likely find Fira busy, hectic, and touristy.
That said, if you’re just a little off the main street it’s pretty quiet until you
step into the fray.
Fira has many hotels with wonderful caldera views but also a large number that are back
from the cliff and without a view, which means they’re cheaper and makes Fira a good choice
for travelers on a budget.
As can be expected of the commercial and geographic center of the island, it’s the hub of Santorini’s
bus network so you can get pretty much anywhere on the island with just one bus ride.
it takes roughly 30 minutes to get between Fira and Oia.
The closest beach to Fira is in Kamari, about 15 minutes away by bus and explored later
on in this video.
Athina Luxury Suites enjoys a great location on the Fira caldera, overlooking the volcano,
with jaw dropping views.
Katikies Garden is family friendly, and set in an 11th-century Venetian monastery.
It’s the only 5-star hotel in Fira.
Most of the hotel faces east toward the sunrise, though there are caldera views from the shared
pool.
Celestia Grand is a glamorous collection of luxury villas, all with kitchenettes, spacious
terraces, private heated pools, and direct sunset views.
Aria is the best luxury hotel in Fira for families.
It’s a handful of large suites, and one of the few luxury hotels on Santorini that
allows young children largely because it sits back from the caldera’s edge.
Oia Oia is Santorini’s fanciest town, and the
second most popular destination with many of the island’s best hotels.
Located at the northern tip of the island, it’s famous for its fabulous sunset views.
There’s lots of high-end shopping, many great restaurants, and plenty of spots to
enjoy a meal or sit and sip a cold drink.
The town is busy through the day up until sunset, when it’s packed in high season,
but then gets quiet quickly as many tourists return to other parts of the island after
the sun is down.
Much of the main area for visitors to Oia is pedestrian only, along a central marble
promenade with lots of small lanes that descend between hotels on the caldera side and between
shops and restaurants throughout the village.
Most of Oia’s best hotels face the caldera, which in Oia is facing south, not west, the
direction of the sunset.
This means that the hotel’s that do face the sunset, do not look into the caldera.
The vast majority of Oia hotels have a view of the sunset OR caldera, but not both.
The walk from Oia to Fira is beautiful but takes several hours so for the most part,
Oia is a taxi or bus ride away from the hub of the island.
Here are some of our favorite hotels in Oia:
Canaves Oia is a beautiful hotel with picturesque white washed cave suites.
The pool, restaurant, and bar overlook the caldera.
Canaves Suites is one of the few Oia hotels with an elevator.
Perivolas is a cave hotel with minimalist design, an incredible infinity pool, beautifully
landscaped, with great views.
Andronis Arcadia is a quiet, family-friendly, luxury hotel with beautiful gardens.
It faces the sunset, not the caldera.
Food is quite impressive here, as are the amazing pool and spa.
Saint is a new luxury hotel on the caldera in Oia’s quieter eastern edge, with stunning
modern architecture, and a fabulous pool and restaurant.
Imerovigli Imerovigli is Santorini’s quietest town
along the caldera and has the island’s best sunset views as the orientation is toward
the west.
The cliff is higher here and the view of the sunset is unimpeded by any neighboring islands
– which isn’t the case in Fira and Firostefani.
Imerovigli is also home to some of the islands best resorts with sheer drop offs down the
cliffside below the hotel rooms and patios covering the hillside.
Imerovigli is a 20 to 30-minute walk from Fira along the beautiful walking path, or
a short bus or taxi ride.
Imerovigli doesn’t have a lot of restaurants, but the ones that are here are all excellent.
There are a few bars but very limited nightlife in Imerovigli.
Astra is one of the top hotels in Greece, with 30 suites cascading down the hillside.
The infinity pool and restaurant look out into the caldera and sunset views are among
the best on the island.
Cavo Tagoo is a stylish, luxury hotel with a hip trendy vibe, incredible sunset views,
and one of the best pools along the caldera.
Plus amazing food and drinks in a festive atmosphere with live DJs.
Iconic is a boutique luxury hotel offering astounding caldera views throughout the property
with a variety of suite types.
Perched on one of the highest points on the caldera, EYE-NOWN is a serene hideaway with
expansive views of the caldera sunset AND the Aegean sunrise from it’s small collection
of exclusive villas.
Firostefani Firostefani is a short 10-minute walk along
the footpath from Fira.
If you want to be close to the action of Fira but don’t want the crowds then Firostefani
is a great choice.
Caldera views here are equally dramatic and wonderful.
There are 10 to 12 restaurants in the area, a bakery, shops and a couple of markets but
not the nightlife of close by Fira.
If visiting or staying near the beach appeals to you, or you have a longer stay on the island,
you’ll want to check out some of Santorini’s towns away from the caldera which include
Kamari, Perissa, Perivolos, Pyrgos, Akrotiri, and Megalochori.
It is possible to spend a few nights on the caldera, and a few nights elsewhere for variety.
Here’s more about Santorini’s best villages not on the caldera.
Kamari Kamari, on the other side of the island has
a wonderful family-friendly atmosphere, a pedestrian beach-front walkway, and plenty
of good restaurants if not the great ones found in the most popular areas of Santorini.
Kamari has a pebble beach, and the swimming is cool, refreshing, and wonderful with crystal
clear waters.
There is also the lovely Kamari open air cinema, one of the best outdoor cinemas in Europe
showing English language movies nightly and serving cocktails and snacks in a charming
atmosphere.
It’s a 15-minute bus ride to Fira from Kamari, making day trips to the caldera easy.
Perissa Beach Perissa Beach has nicer sand than Kamari,
but it’s farther from Fira than Kamari, which makes visiting the caldera a bit more
time-consuming.
A few new luxury hotels and upscale restaurants have opened here, though there are still plenty
of great, affordable hotels and low-key restaurants and bars all along the pedestrian-friendly
beach road.
Perissa offers a nice alternative to the crowded caldera villages with sunrise sea views and
direct access to the water.
Perivolos Beach Perivolos is an extension of Perissa Beach.
There’s no defining border between the two towns (Perissa is the northern busier section,
Perivolos is the southern quieter section) and the name Perissa is often used for the
whole strip of coast.
Perivolos has a few new luxury hotels opening up, as well as some fine dining restaurants
and upscale beach clubs, especially at the south end of the beach strip, Agios Georgios
Beach.
Perivolos is emerging as the most luxurious beachfront area in Santorini.
It takes about 30 minutes to get to Fira from here by bus.
Pyrgos Pyrgos is the most charming of Santorini’s
traditional villages.
From its mountaintop perch at the highest point on the island, it offers panoramic sunset
views over the whole of Santorini.
This is an ideal place to stay in for living like a local in an area that’s not the caldera
or the beach.
Most of Pyrgos is pedestrian-only with its maze-like footpaths dotted with restaurants,
local boutiques, picturesque churches, and the ruins of a Venetian castle.
The foothills surrounding the village are full of vineyards and wineries, many offering
tours and tasting rooms.
From the main square, it’s about a 10-minute bus ride into Fira, for more dining, nightlife,
and shopping.
Akrotiri Akrotiri is a catchall name for the village,
ruins, and southern peninsula of Santorini.
The village itself is quite small, with just a few restaurants, chapels, and castle ruins.
From the village and the main bus stop, it’s only a 15-minute walk to the excavation site
of the Prehistoric Town of Akrotiri, believed to have inspired the legend of Atlantis.
The ruins are a UNESCO World Heritage site and the main attraction in this part of the
island.
The Akrotiri Peninsula is also home to several of Santorini’s best beaches, including Red
Beach, White Beach, Vleehada Beach, and Caldera Beach and great views of the rest of the island
looking north.
At its western tip is a lighthouse which is the quietest and most romantic sunset viewpoint
on the island.
A car is strongly recommended to stay in this area, as most hotels, restaurants, beaches,
and attractions are fairly spread out over the peninsula.
Megalochori Megalochori is a charming labyrinth of winding
alleys, traditional houses, and churches with ornate bell towers and a good number of trees.
The central plaza is full of charming sidewalk cafes and tavernas.
A handful of boutique hotels offer views of the sea and vineyards in the surrounding hills
that ring the village.
And Megalochori is home to the oldest and one of our favorite vineyards on the whole
island, the 5th generation family run Gavalas Winery.
While most first time visitors to the island choose hotels in the 4 main towns along the
caldera, returning visitors or those with enough time to stay in multiple locations
may enjoy some of the other areas we’ve discussed.
Check out our Santorini travel guide for more detailed information, including where to eat,
what to do, ferry port information, the best beaches, wineries, and tours.
We've also got lots of other great travel guides to Greece and Beyond at santorinidave.com
and across this YouTube channel.
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Thanks for watching.