Santorini Travel Guide — Luxury Hotels, Beautiful Cafés and Hidden Gems
Whitewashed cliffs, cycladic architecture and the Aegean at its most convincingly blue — an editor's guide to the island that photographs best in the world.
By Elena Marinaki · July 22, 2026 · 11 min read
Santorini is a place that has been photographed to the point of cliché — the blue domes of Oia, the caldera at sunset, the whitewashed steps tumbling toward the sea — and yet the reality, in person, is quietly extraordinary. The light is different than anywhere else in the Mediterranean: harder, cleaner, almost surgical. The Aegean is the deepest blue in Europe. The wind smells of jasmine and salt.
The trick to Santorini is to accept, first, that you are not alone here — and then to work around it. Stay in the quieter villages. Eat lunch at the popular addresses and dinner in the ones you find on foot. Watch sunset from somewhere other than Oia. Rent a car, or better, a small boat.
Come in May, early June, or September. Never in high August. Bring flat shoes for the stone paths and a jacket for the evening wind — the caldera is famously windy after dark.
Oia
Oia is the postcard, and it earns it. The village sits at the northern tip of the caldera, an ordered cascade of whitewashed cubes, blue-domed churches and windmills falling toward the sea. In the late afternoon, when the sun softens, the entire village turns pink.
Walk the main marble-paved path (Nikolaou Nomikou) from end to end at least once, then abandon it and take the narrow lanes downhill toward Ammoudi Bay. The photographs everyone recognises — the three blue domes, the windmill silhouette against the sunset — are all within a few hundred metres of each other, marked, if unofficially, by the small crowds that gather at the best angles.
Sunset in Oia is the most famous ritual on the island, and the most crowded. Go early — the sun begins its descent an hour before it drops behind the caldera. Better still, sail: a small catamaran cruise from Ammoudi Bay is the coast's finest sunset view, and there is no crowd.
Fira
Fira is the island's capital and, unfairly, its most dismissed village. Yes, it takes cruise-ship traffic; yes, its main streets are crowded. But wake early, before the ships dock, and Fira in the morning is one of the most beautiful places in the Cyclades — its whitewashed churches spilling down the caldera cliff, the archaeological museum quietly excellent, the shopping some of the best on the island.
For the museum, allow an hour: the finds from the Akrotiri excavation (the coast's Bronze-Age Pompeii) are extraordinary. For lunch, walk to Argo, on the caldera edge — sea-bass carpaccio and a bottle of Assyrtiko. For shopping, MATI Art Gallery for handmade jewellery, Anemi for linen, and the family-run leather-sandal makers along Ipapantis street.
Imerovigli
If you can, stay in Imerovigli. It is the highest village on the caldera — three hundred metres above the sea — and quieter than either Oia or Fira, without giving up an inch of view. The paved coastal path connects it to Fira in about half an hour on foot; Oia is a longer, breathtaking walk of about two hours, and one of the most beautiful hikes in the Cyclades — walked with a guide at sunrise, it is the single best morning on the island.
Imerovigli's landmark is Skaros Rock — a dramatic promontory jutting into the caldera, once the site of a medieval fortress and now a short, moderately strenuous walk from the village. Go at sunrise, when you will almost certainly have it to yourself. Take a coffee in a thermos.
Read our companion piece: European Summer Beauty Rituals — nowhere teaches the value of tinted SPF, a wide-brim straw hat and a single coral cream blush more efficiently than a week on Santorini.
The best sunset locations
Sunset in Santorini is the day's set piece. Beyond the obvious Oia castle, these are the quieter, better options.
- Skaros Rock, Imerovigli — the most dramatic viewpoint on the island, and almost never crowded.
- Santo Wines, Pyrgos — a working winery with a long west-facing terrace and a hundred wines to try. Reservations essential; a sunset wine tour of the island's vineyards is the easiest way in.
- A private catamaran from Ammoudi Bay — five hours on the water, sunset from the caldera side, dinner on board. Book the sunset departure, not the morning one.
- Franco's Bar, Fira — the classic, since 1978. Classical music, one negroni, the sunset framed by the caldera cliffs.
- Prophet Elias monastery, Pyrgos — the highest point on the island; the whole caldera visible below.
Experiences worth booking
Beyond the viewpoints and the tavernas, Santorini is best understood from the water and with a local guide. A morning catamaran cruise around the caldera, a wine-tasting through the island's volcanic vineyards, or a guided walk through the ruins of Akrotiri can turn a beautiful trip into a memorable one. Book early in summer, and choose small-group experiences whenever possible — the island feels different when the group is intimate.
Luxury hotels
Santorini's cave-hotels — carved into the volcanic cliff, with private plunge pools and uninterrupted caldera views — are the reason many travellers come. Book six months to a year in advance for the best rooms.
- Canaves Oia Epitome — the island's most refined design, private villas above the sea.
- Grace Hotel Santorini, Imerovigli — architectural, minimalist, with the best infinity pool on the island.
- Katikies, Oia — the classic Santorini hotel, all whitewashed curves and cascading terraces.
- Mystique, Oia — a Luxury Collection property, quiet and contemplative, with a candlelit cave wine bar.
- Andronis Boutique Hotel, Oia — small, beautifully designed, with the island's warmest hospitality.
Getting around: is it worth renting a car?
Santorini is small — you can cross it in half an hour — but almost everything worth seeing is spread across it: the black-sand beaches on the south coast, the wineries around Pyrgos and Megalochori, the archaeological site at Akrotiri, the medieval kasteli of Emporio, the sunset in Oia. The local buses cover the main routes but run on their own schedule, and taxis are famously scarce in high season.
A small rental car is the quiet luxury of a Santorini week. It lets you drive up to Prophet Elias for the sunrise, spend a slow morning at a winery, swim at Vlychada in the afternoon and be back in Imerovigli for the caldera light — a day that would be impossible to piece together any other way. It also means dinner in Pyrgos or Exo Gonia stops being a logistical calculation and becomes simply the plan for the evening.
A compact is more than enough — the island's roads are narrow and its village lanes are pedestrian only. Reserve in advance for June through September, when supply tightens sharply, and expect to park at the edge of Oia and Fira and walk in. Comfort and freedom, not speed — that is the reason to have a car here.
Beautiful cafés
Santorini's café culture is understated but excellent — the island grows some of the best coffee in Greece, and its bakeries make the flakiest bougatsa in the Cyclades. These are our editors' favourites.
- Melitini, Oia — small, hidden, with the best breakfast pastries on the island. Get there before ten.
- Passaggio Café, Imerovigli — a caldera-edge café with the finest morning view of Skaros Rock.
- Meraki, Pyrgos — a courtyard café in the inland village of Pyrgos, blissfully away from the caldera crowds.
- Argo, Fira — the caldera-edge address for a long lunch of sea bass and Assyrtiko.
- Vanilia Café, Firostefani — a quiet spot on the caldera path, halfway between Fira and Imerovigli.
Boutique shopping
Skip the mainland-style souvenir shops of Fira's main street; the island's real boutiques are quieter and considerably better.
- Atlantis Books, Oia — one of the most beautiful bookshops in the world, run by a small collective in a whitewashed cellar.
- MATI Art Gallery, Fira — jewellery, ceramics and sculpture by contemporary Greek artists.
- Anemi, Fira — linen dresses and Greek-made kaftans in perfectly cut shapes.
- Peryali, Oia — hand-woven cotton throws and beach cover-ups.
- Ilias Lalaounis, Fira — the most celebrated jeweller in Greece; the hammered-gold earrings are a keepsake.
The beaches worth visiting
Santorini's beaches are volcanic — dark red, black, occasionally white sand — and unlike anywhere else in the Mediterranean. Rent a small car for the day and see three of them, or reach the most dramatic stretches the way the locals do, on a boat trip along the volcanic south coast with swim stops at Red and White Beach.
- Red Beach, Akrotiri — dramatic red cliffs sheltering a small cove; go at dawn for the light.
- Perissa Beach — a long stretch of black sand on the island's south coast; the beach clubs here are the coast's most stylish.
- Vlychada Beach — sculptural white-cliff formations, near-deserted at either end.
- Amoudi Bay — the tiny fishing harbour below Oia; not a beach but a swimming spot, with a rock to jump from and tavernas for lunch.
Hidden photo locations
The three-domes shot in Oia is beautiful and photographed a thousand times a day. These are the quieter frames.
- Skaros Rock at sunrise — the whole caldera lit from the east, no crowd.
- Pyrgos village at dusk — the highest inland village on the island; its narrow lanes glow at blue hour.
- Prophet Elias monastery courtyard — whitewashed arches and a bell tower against the Aegean sky.
- Emporio's kasteli — a fortified medieval village few tourists reach, with picture-perfect narrow lanes.
- Finikia, just outside Oia — a tiny cluster of pastel-coloured cave houses; five minutes' walk from Oia castle but ninety-nine per cent quieter.
Romantic restaurants
Santorini's dining, in the best restaurants, is a match for anywhere in Greece — modern Cycladic cooking, an exceptional Assyrtiko wine list, and the caldera as a permanent view. A short list of the addresses worth planning around.
- Selene, Pyrgos — the island's most acclaimed restaurant, in an old Cycladic mansion. Book the tasting menu.
- Metaxi Mas, Exo Gonia — a taverna beloved by locals; go for the seafood and stay for the wine.
- Lauda at Andronis, Oia — one Michelin star, caldera-edge dining, and one of the most refined tasting menus in Greece.
- Argo, Fira — the classic for a long, unhurried caldera-view lunch.
- 1800 Floga, Oia — a converted sea captain's mansion, warm and candlelit; the most romantic room on the island.
Santorini is not, in the end, about seeing everything. The island is small; the villages repeat themselves; the sunset happens every night. What makes it extraordinary is the light, the wind, the particular blue of the Aegean at five in the afternoon — the small, slow pleasures the guidebooks cannot capture.
Book the hotel with the pool. Take the boat you were told not to bother with — a day on the Aegean is the memory that lasts longest. Skip the crowded viewpoint and walk the extra fifteen minutes to the quiet one. The island rewards patience, and it rewards early risers most of all.
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