Santorini Travel Guide: Best Beaches, Restaurants & Luxury Villas

In late September, something quietly extraordinary happens to Santorini. The cruise ships thin out. The queues at Oia’s famous sunset viewpoint shorten to something almost civilised. The light turns from the high, bleaching white of August into something richer – amber and syrupy in the evenings, impossibly clear in the mornings. The Aegean, still warm enough to swim in, goes still. The caldera glows like a copper bowl. If you’ve only ever seen Santorini in the height of summer – surrounded by selfie sticks and sunburnt strangers, queuing for a taxi you booked an hour ago – September and early October will make you feel you’ve been let in on a secret the island has been keeping.

Santorini is, of course, one of the most photographed places on earth. The blue domes, the white-washed walls, the sunsets. You know the images before you’ve ever booked a flight. But what the photographs don’t tell you – what they can’t tell you – is how different the experience becomes when you strip away the crowds and find the island underneath. That’s what this guide is for. Santorini works magnificently for couples marking something significant: an anniversary, a honeymoon, a milestone birthday that requires an appropriate backdrop. It works equally well for groups of friends who want long lunches, excellent wine and a private pool to argue lazily beside. Families seeking space and genuine privacy – rather than a hotel corridor and a shared buffet – find in Santorini’s private villas a rare combination of seclusion and natural spectacle. And increasingly, wellness-focused travellers are discovering that few places on earth are better designed for doing very little extremely well. Even remote workers, laptop-toting and Zoom-weary, find that a villa with a reliable connection and a caldera view does wonders for creative thinking. What they tend not to do, once they’ve arrived, is very much work.

Getting to the Edge of the World (It’s Easier Than You’d Think)

Santorini’s main airport – Thira International Airport, officially Santorini Airport – is small in the way that most things on Greek islands are small: manageable and slightly charming, until July and August, when it is neither. It sits on the east side of the island, about five kilometres from Fira, and receives direct flights from a surprisingly wide number of European cities. British travellers can fly direct from London Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Edinburgh during the summer season, with carriers including British Airways, easyJet and Jet2. Flight time from the UK is around three and a half hours. From elsewhere in Europe, direct connections operate from Athens (Olympic Air and Aegean run multiple daily flights, taking about 45 minutes), as well as from Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt and a growing list of other hubs.

If you’re flying long-haul, Athens is your gateway. A connection to Santorini from Athens International Airport (Eleftherios Venizelos) takes less time than the security queue you just left. Alternatively, the high-speed ferry from Piraeus – Athens’ port – takes around five hours on a conventional ferry, or four and a half on the faster catamaran. Sitting on deck with coffee as the Cyclades emerge from the sea is, it should be said, a rather good way to begin a holiday.

Once on the island, getting around is more straightforward than Santorini’s reputation for traffic might suggest – if you’re staying in a private villa with a concierge to arrange transfers, that is. Car hire is available and practical outside peak season. In summer, taxis are in short supply and require the patience of a seasoned diplomat. For villa guests, a pre-arranged driver or ATV hire covers the island’s main points with relative ease. The island is not large – Fira to Oia takes about 25 minutes by car – but it is steep, winding and, in August, very busy. Plan accordingly.

What to Eat in Santorini: From Michelin Terraces to Market Tomatoes

Fine Dining

Santorini’s fine dining scene punches well above the weight you might expect from an island of 15,000 permanent residents. The volcanic soil, the mineral-rich produce, the proximity to exceptional seafood – all of it finds expression on plates that, at the top end, are genuinely world-class.

The Athenian House in Imerovigli is where the island’s culinary ambition is most keenly felt. Overlooking Skaros Rock and the caldera, its dim-lit, domed interior – white linen, crystal glass, the faint suggestion that something special is about to happen – sets the scene for Michelin-starred chef Dimitris Skarmoutsos’s tasting menus. The ‘Grand’, ‘Discovery’, ‘Pescatarian’ and ‘Gluten Free’ menus each offer a different lens on elevated Greek cooking, rooted in classical technique but never reverential to the point of dullness. The TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Award for 2024 and the Luxury Lifestyle Award for Best Luxury Restaurant in Greece in 2022 are well earned. The terrace at sunset is, frankly, not something you will easily forget.

In Oia, within the remarkable Canaves Oia Epitome property, Elements operates with a quiet confidence that matches its surroundings. Chef Tasos Stefatos offers two eleven-course tasting menus – ‘World’ and ‘Nature’ – served on a volcanic-rock terrace above Ammoudi Bay. The architecture is sleek and considered: honeyed wood, candlelight, the dark geometry of volcanic stone. The wine list navigates Greek and international labels with intelligence, and the cooking, which draws on both Greek tradition and global technique, rewards attention. This is a restaurant where you eat slowly and talk more than you meant to.

Selene, in the village of Pyrgos, occupies a different register entirely. Founded by Yiorgos Hatziyannakis in 1986 – which, in food terms, makes it something of an elder statesman – it has spent over three decades championing the produce of Santorini’s farmland and vineyards. The volcanic capers, the cherry tomatoes, the fava – all of it sourced locally, all of it treated with the seriousness it deserves. An à la carte menu operates nightly through the tourist season, and Selene’s consistent recognition as one of the best restaurants in Greece is entirely merited. It is also, usefully, in Pyrgos, which means it is slightly less crowded than its counterparts in Oia.

Lycabettus, perched on a hillside in Imerovigli with views across the Aegean, is the work of executive chef Pavlos Kiriakis, who trained in Spondi, Azurmendi and Benu – a CV that should tell you something about the level of ambition in the kitchen. The menu is an ode to Greek and Mediterranean flavours, weighted towards fresh seafood, and the setting – watching the sun drop into the sea while the caldera glows below – is the kind of thing that makes you suspicious of every restaurant you eat in afterwards. How do they expect us to concentrate, with all of that going on?

In Oia, Red Bicycle occupies a 19th-century mansion on the cliffside and offers an upscale take on European classics that surprises in the best way. Stuffed oxtail with bulgur wheat and egg-lemon truffle is a dish that rewards the decision to order it. It is one of the finer restaurants on the island and it rewards a long, unhurried dinner.

Where the Locals Eat

The locals, sensibly, eat in Pyrgos and Megalochori – away from the caldera-facing restaurants where the price of a view is added silently to the bill. The tavernas in these inland villages offer exactly what you want from Greek island cooking: grilled octopus still warm from the charcoal, plates of fava made from the island’s own split peas, tomato fritters (tomatokeftedes) that taste inexplicably better here than anywhere else in Greece, partly because the volcanic soil produces tomatoes of extraordinary intensity. The village of Messaria also rewards exploration, particularly for those who want to understand why Santorini’s wine – made from Assyrtiko grapes that are trained low and circular to survive the famous winds – is unlike anything produced elsewhere in the Aegean.

The wine culture here is not incidental. It is central. Santo Wines, perched above Fira with caldera views that are almost unfairly cinematic, offers tastings that combine serious viticulture with scenery designed to make you order another glass. Domaine Sigalas, in the north of the island near Oia, is more production-focused but no less worthwhile. The indigenous varieties – Assyrtiko, Athiri, Aidani – are best understood with a glass in hand and a local to explain why the volcanic mineral notes are features, not faults.

Hidden Gems Worth Seeking Out

The fish tavernas at Ammoudi Bay – the tiny fishing harbour directly below Oia, reached by a long staircase or a donkey ride that only looks comfortable from a distance – are among the most satisfying dining experiences on the island. Tables set directly at the water’s edge, boats bobbing a few feet away, octopus drying on lines in the late afternoon sun. The cooking is simple because the ingredients don’t need much help. The experience is the opposite of the theatrical fine dining above: no tasting menus, no crystalware. Just excellent fish and the sound of the sea. Go for lunch. Stay longer than you planned.

The Beaches: What No One Tells You About Santorini’s Coastline

Santorini is, first and most dramatically, a volcanic island – and its beaches reflect this geological biography in ways that will either delight or unsettle you, depending on your attachment to white sand. The famous beaches here are black and red, formed from volcanic ash and lava, and they hold heat with a commitment that makes mid-afternoon barefoot crossings a test of character. Pack water shoes. This is not a suggestion.

Perissa and Perivolos, on the island’s southeastern coast, are the longest and most accessible of the black-sand beaches. Perivolos in particular has evolved into something genuinely sophisticated – a stretch of beach clubs, loungers and well-executed food that manages to be both relaxed and stylish. The black sand extends for several kilometres, the water is clear and deep-blue, and the profile of Mesa Vouno rises dramatically behind. It’s busy in peak season, but with the right beach club reservation, it functions beautifully as a day base.

Kamari, just north of Perissa, is the island’s most developed beach resort – more family-oriented, better equipped with facilities, and backed by a long promenade of restaurants and shops. It lacks the drama of the southern beaches but compensates with pragmatism. If you have children who need shade structures, toilets and ice cream within thirty seconds of requesting them, Kamari understands.

Vlychada, on the southern coast, is where things get properly interesting. The beach is framed by dramatic white cliffs – eroded pumice formations that look vaguely lunar – and is considerably quieter than its better-known cousins. The Santorini Yacht Club operates from the nearby marina, which is the starting point for most of the island’s sailing and catamaran excursions. Worth the detour.

Red Beach, near the ancient site of Akrotiri, is the one that appears on every travel mood board. The red volcanic cliffs, the dark pebbled shore, the astonishing colour contrast – it is genuinely arresting. It is also small, and in July and August it is extremely crowded. Visit early morning or at the very end of the afternoon. You will have a fundamentally different experience from the version visited at noon in August, and your photographs will be considerably better.

For those staying in caldera-facing villas – which, architecturally speaking, means most of the island’s best properties – the caldera itself is swimmable at specific access points. Amoudi Bay, Armeni and the platforms below certain villas and hotels allow direct entry into the caldera water. The swimming here is cold, clear and dramatically deep, with the crater walls falling away beneath you in a manner that is either exhilarating or best not thought about.

Things to Do in Santorini: Beyond the Sunset Photographs

The received wisdom about Santorini is that the island is primarily decorative – something to be looked at and photographed rather than experienced. This is both understandable and incorrect. There is more to do here than the tourist trail suggests, and finding it is largely a question of looking slightly further than the obvious.

The ancient site of Akrotiri is perhaps the island’s most underestimated attraction. Buried by the volcanic eruption of approximately 1,600 BC – the same eruption that is thought by some scholars to have inspired the Atlantis legend – the Minoan settlement here was preserved beneath layers of ash in a manner not unlike Pompeii. The excavated remains are housed under a modern roof structure, and the level of preservation is extraordinary: multi-storey buildings, sophisticated drainage systems, and vivid frescoes that now reside in Athens’ National Archaeological Museum. Allow two hours, visit early, and wear something you’re prepared to get dusty. The site tells a remarkable story about a civilisation that was highly sophisticated long before we were.

Sailing the caldera is not just a pleasant afternoon – it is one of the genuinely essential Santorini experiences, and one that rewards doing properly. A private catamaran charter, departing from Vlychada or Ammoudi, takes you around the caldera’s edge, to the volcanic islets of Nea Kameni (where you can climb to an active crater and smell the sulphur that confirms the island’s geological temperament), and to the hot springs at Palea Kameni, where the water turns an extraordinary rust-orange. Sunset from the water, with the caldera walls turning pink and the lights of Oia beginning to appear above, is the kind of thing that makes you understand, briefly and entirely, why people keep coming back.

The donkey controversy is worth acknowledging here. The donkeys of Santorini – traditionally used to ferry goods and tourists up the steep caldera steps between Fira’s old port and the town – are a complex subject. Animal welfare concerns have been well-documented, and the island’s authorities have taken steps to regulate their use. If you are arriving by ferry into the old port, the cable car is the recommended option. It takes about two minutes. It also offers one of the most dramatic ascents in European travel.

Wine touring is, as noted, essentially mandatory. But it is worth combining with a broader tour of the island’s interior – the villages of Pyrgos, Megalochori and Emporio, which preserve the island’s Venetian-era architecture, are not on most tourists’ radar and are substantially more interesting than the caldera villages for understanding what Santorini actually is beneath the Instagram surface. Emporio in particular, with its medieval fortification and labyrinthine alleys, repays a late afternoon wander.

Helicopter transfers from Athens – or scenic island-hopping by private aircraft – are increasingly popular among guests who prefer their arrivals to be as memorable as the destination itself. Helipad-equipped villa rentals exist for those whose commitment to efficiency is matched by their budget. For the majority of visitors, the ferry or scheduled flight are perfectly adequate. It depends on your feelings about boat hair.

Into the Caldera: Adventure and Activity on an Active Volcano

Santorini is not, in the conventional sense, an adventure sports destination. It is not Naxos, where the winds arrive with kitesurfer-grade consistency. It is not the Alps. But the island’s geology and geography offer a surprisingly compelling range of active experiences, particularly for guests who need something more than pool time and tasting menus.

Hiking the caldera rim is the obvious start. The trail between Fira and Oia – approximately ten kilometres, mostly on a well-maintained path that traces the caldera’s edge through Firostefani and Imerovigli – is one of the great coastal walks in the Mediterranean. Allow three to four hours, start in the morning before the heat builds, bring water, and accept that you will stop to photograph the view approximately forty-seven times. The section through Imerovigli, passing Skaros Rock, is the most dramatic. The rock itself – a dramatic promontory that juts into the caldera – can be reached by a short detour down a steep path and offers views that make the effort feel considerably more heroic than it is.

Scuba diving and snorkelling around the caldera and the volcanic islets offer access to unusual submarine topography – lava formations, hot springs venting through the seafloor, and a visibility that the volcanic clarity of the water makes extraordinary. Several dive operators on the island run PADI courses for beginners as well as guided dives for experienced divers. The dive around Nea Kameni, where warm water rises through volcanic vents, is unlike anything available in most European dive sites.

Sea kayaking around the caldera and along Santorini’s less accessible coastlines is increasingly popular, particularly in shoulder season when the water is calm and the cliffs catch the early morning light with maximum effect. Half-day guided kayak tours operate from Ammoudi and the area around Oia, and allow access to sea caves and cliff formations that are simply not reachable on foot.

Cycling, while not the island’s greatest strength given the gradients and the traffic in summer, becomes significantly more appealing in September and October. E-bike hire has improved the calculus considerably – the island’s interior, with its vineyard routes and village connections, is genuinely enjoyable by electric bicycle once the thermal logic of summer has softened.

Santorini with Children: What No One Warns You About (And What Actually Works)

The honest version: Santorini is not, in its most famous configurations, especially child-friendly. The caldera villages are vertical. The cobblestones are ancient and ankle-threatening. The most celebrated viewpoints are crowded and edged with drops that will send any parent’s risk assessment into overdrive. And the island’s beach situation, while beautiful, involves black volcanic sand that absorbs heat with impressive efficiency.

That said, Santorini with children works extremely well – if you do it correctly. And ‘correctly’ means almost certainly: private villa with a pool.

Families who rent a private villa in Santorini gain something that no hotel on the island can offer: genuine space, genuine privacy, and the ability to operate on the chaotic and non-negotiable schedule that children impose without apology. A private pool – and Santorini’s best villas have them, often with direct or near-direct caldera views – means that the question of ‘what do we do today’ is largely pre-answered. The children swim. The adults sit nearby with appropriate beverages. Everyone is approximately content.

The caldera villages themselves are best treated as day-trip destinations rather than bases for families. Drive in, walk the main streets, eat well, drive back to the villa before the crowds build. Kamari and Perivolos beaches are the most family-practical – flatter, better equipped with facilities, easier to park near. Akrotiri is a genuinely excellent cultural excursion for children of primary school age and above – particularly for those who have been told anything about Pompeii and find the volcanic burial narrative appropriately dramatic.

Private boat charters designed for families are widely available and among the best family days Santorini offers. A catamaran with a sliding board into the sea, lunch on deck, a swim at the hot springs – the children will discuss it for months. Probably loudly, in restaurants.

Santorini’s History: A Civilisation That Was Here Before Greece Was Greece

The island’s full name is Thira – or Thera, depending on which transliteration you use – and its story begins with an explosion. Around 1,600 BC, the volcanic island at the centre of what is now the caldera erupted with a force that geologists estimate was among the largest in human history, obliterating most of the original landmass and reshaping the eastern Mediterranean’s cultural and climatic landscape in ways that reverberated for centuries. The circular caldera you are admiring from your villa terrace is, essentially, the interior of a collapsed volcano. It is a beautiful thing to look at. It is a slightly vertiginous thing to contemplate.

The Minoan settlement at Akrotiri – buried by that eruption and rediscovered in earnest from 1967 onwards – reveals a civilisation of remarkable sophistication. The Bronze Age frescoes found there, particularly the ‘Young Fisherman’ and ‘Spring Fresco’ now displayed in Athens, are among the most beautiful surviving artworks of the ancient world. Santorini’s ancient connection to the Minoan civilisation of Crete gives the island a cultural depth that is easy to overlook when you’re focused on the sunsets.

The medieval period left its own marks. The island was ruled by the Venetians for several centuries from the 13th century onwards, and their influence is visible in the fortified villages – Emporio’s kasteli, Pyrgos’s castle hill, the ruins at Skaros – that punctuate the island’s interior. The Venetian legacy explains much of Santorini’s architectural character: the narrow alleys designed for defence, the fortified central zones, the logic of settlement that differs markedly from the more open-village structures of other Cycladic islands.

Orthodox Christianity, as throughout Greece, is woven deeply into the island’s calendar. The church of Panagia Episkopi, near Mesa Gonia, is the oldest Byzantine church on the island and worth visiting for its remarkable 11th-century iconostasis. The blue-domed churches that adorn every travel feature about Santorini are, in addition to being extremely photogenic, genuinely functioning places of worship – a fact worth bearing in mind when wandering through.

The island’s wine culture, as noted, has ancient roots. Assyrtiko has been grown here for millennia, and the unique training method – the vines coiled into low basket-like shapes called ambelakia, close to the ground to escape the wind – is a direct response to conditions that have existed since the island formed. Tasting it is not just pleasure. It is, mildly but genuinely, an act of historical continuity.

Shopping in Santorini: What to Buy, Where to Buy It, and What to Ignore

The shopping in Santorini’s main tourist strips is, by and large, exactly what you’d expect: postcards, miniature blue domes, bottles of local wine boxed for airport transport, and an optimistic quantity of jewellery. Much of it can be safely ignored. Some of it cannot.

The local products are the things worth seeking out. Santorini’s volcanic capers – gathered from wild plants growing in the caldera walls – are extraordinary, and considerably better than anything you’ll find in a supermarket anywhere in Europe. They are sold in local delis and at a handful of specialist food shops in Fira and Oia, usually packed in sea salt. Take several jars. The cherry tomatoes – small, sweet, intensely flavoured from the volcanic soil – are available in dried form as well as in paste, and travel well. Fava, the yellow split pea puree that is one of the island’s signature dishes, is sold dried for home preparation.

The wine, of course, warrants serious attention. Most of the island’s serious producers – Domaine Sigalas, Argyros, Gavalas, Hatzidakis – sell directly from their wineries, and buying at source is both more satisfying and more interesting than buying from a resort shop. Take more than you think you need. The airline weight allowance is a well-known obstacle to this, but it is one worth negotiating with.

For jewellery and design, the shops along Oia’s main street and in Fira’s caldera-facing lanes offer a range of quality that varies dramatically. The gold and silver work from serious jewellers here – there are several who create pieces directly inspired by ancient Cycladic and Minoan motifs – is genuinely beautiful and considerably more considered than the generic ‘Greek island’ designs. Ask who made it. The answer tells you most of what you need to know.

Art galleries in Oia are numerous and of variable quality. A few are excellent. The island’s dramatic light and volcanic landscape have attracted serious painters and photographers for decades, and the best work sold here – particularly photography – captures something about Santorini that the photographs on your phone will not quite manage.

The Practical Stuff: What You Actually Need to Know

Greece uses the euro. Cash is still preferable at smaller tavernas, markets and churches, though card payment is now accepted almost everywhere in tourist areas. ATMs are widely available in Fira and Oia, less so in smaller villages – draw cash before venturing into the island’s interior for the day.

The standard tipping rate in Greece is around ten percent in restaurants, rounded up to the nearest appropriate figure. It is not automatically added to bills and is given directly to the server rather than left on the table. Taxi drivers and hotel staff appreciate rounding up fares and leaving a small tip for housekeeping respectively.

The best time to visit Santorini, and this is genuinely worth getting right, is May to early June or September to mid-October. The shoulder seasons offer the full Santorini experience – warm temperatures, swimmable sea, open restaurants and wine tours – without the extraordinary crowds and pricing of July and August. June is increasingly busy. September is consistently excellent. October has a quiet, slightly melancholy beauty that suits certain temperaments very well indeed.

July and August are the island’s peak months, bringing temperatures above 35°C, ferry queues, road congestion, and the kind of crowd densities at Oia’s sunset viewpoint that make the whole enterprise feel more like a concert than a moment of natural contemplation. If you must visit in high summer, a private villa with a caldera-view terrace is not a luxury – it is a practical solution to a logistical problem.

The island’s strong winds – the Meltemi, a dry northerly wind that blows across the Aegean through summer – can arrive with considerable force, particularly in Oia and on the northern coast. Experienced sailors consider it a gift. Outdoor diners consider it a test. It usually moderates in the evenings.

Greek is the language, though English is spoken with confidence throughout the tourist areas. Learning a few words – kalimera (good morning), efcharisto (thank you), parakalo (please/you’re welcome) – is received with genuine warmth. Safety is not a significant concern. Santorini has extremely low levels of serious crime. The primary hazards are the cobblestones after dark and the voltage of the local wine, both of which are best approached with care.

Why a Luxury Villa Is the Only Sensible Way to Do Santorini

There is a version of Santorini that involves a hotel room with a caldera-facing window, a breakfast buffet shared with two hundred other guests, and a sunset viewing spot reached by fighting through the crowd that has read exactly the same guide you have. This version exists. Many people have it. They tend to describe it as ‘busy’.

There is another version. It involves a private terrace above the caldera, a pool that is yours alone, a sunrise watched in silence with a coffee that materialised – somehow – before you fully woke up. This is the version that luxury villas in Santorini provide, and it is a fundamentally different experience of the same island.

The practical advantages are significant. Private villas offer space that no hotel room can replicate – multiple bedrooms and bathrooms, indoor and outdoor living areas, kitchen facilities for when the thought of another restaurant is genuinely unappealing. For families, this space is not a luxury but a necessity: separate sleeping areas mean that the children’s 6am announcement does not constitute a general alarm. For groups of friends, a shared villa with a private pool and a well-stocked kitchen is both more intimate and more economical than a block of hotel rooms. For couples seeking a genuinely private retreat, a villa removes the background noise of other guests entirely.

The staff and concierge services available through the best luxury villas add another dimension. Private chefs who can source the island’s best ingredients and cook them for you on your own terrace, with the caldera glowing below and the wine already open – this is not a hotel upgrade. It is a qualitatively different thing. Villa concierge teams manage restaurant bookings, private boat charters, wine tour arrangements, and airport transfers with the kind of efficiency that turns logistics into something you don’t have to think about.

For remote workers – and the number of guests combining a Santorini stay with professional obligations has grown considerably in recent years – the better villas offer high-speed connectivity including Starlink in some locations, dedicated workspace, and the kind of calm, beautiful environment that makes the hours between calls feel genuinely restorative rather than merely tolerated. The view from the desk, it should be noted, is not compatible with concentration. This is considered by most guests to be an acceptable trade-off.

Wellness-focused guests find in Santorini’s villa offerings a near-perfect combination: outdoor pools for morning swims, space for yoga practice, access to massage therapists and spa services that can be arranged in-villa, and a pace of life that simply does not accommodate the frantic. The island’s clear air, the silence of early mornings, the physical rhythm of caldera walks and sea swims – all of it contributes to the kind of reset that is increasingly hard to find in places that have not been formed by a volcanic explosion.

Santorini’s best-positioned properties sit directly on the caldera edge, with terraces that face west and pools that appear, from the right angle, to flow directly into the sea. The island has very few genuinely flat beaches accessible from the caldera side, which makes the villa pool not just an amenity but the primary aquatic option for guests staying in Fira, Firostefani, Imerovigli and Oia. It is a hardship that most guests adapt to with considerable speed.

Excellence Luxury Villas offers an extensive collection of properties across the island, from intimate two-bedroom retreats for couples marking something significant to large multi-bedroom estates capable of accommodating extended families and groups with genuine comfort and privacy. Browse our full collection of beachfront luxury villas in Santorini and find the one that matches the version of Santorini you actually want to have.