A Holiday Guide to The Greek Island Of Santorini.

Welcome to our Santorini Travel and Holiday Guides, Walks and Photographs.

We went on holiday to the Greek Island of Santorini during the last two weeks of May 2008 and any prices and information on ferries, timetables, buses etc. obviously can only reflect that period and should be used as guidance - things do change especially prices these days.

The Greek Island of Santorini (also known as Thera or Thira) lies within the South Aegean Sea, is part of the Cyclades Island Group and covers an area of around 28 square miles. Originally a much larger island today's Santorini was created as a result of a massive volcanic explosion in the 13th century leaving it now with a huge and extremely deep central lagoon - which is surrounded by 980 foot high cliffs. These multi-coloured cliffs create a quite unique and spectacular sight - especially when seen when travelling into the island via cruise ship or ferry. Santorini's modern capital is Fira with the houses and buildings layered across the top of the cliffs overlooking the lagoon - way below. The island's main ferry port is situated down a really steep 4km road which zig-zags it's way down to the lagoon.

The island is very much on the cruise ship itinerary and even in early May there were always two or three of these huge boats laying up close to the cliffs. The area around Santorini is still actively volcanic - there have been several eruptions during the 20th century - the last being in 1950 - and there was also a severe earthquake in 1956.

Various ways of travelling to Santorini. Many people especially from northern Europe will arrive by air - for instance flight time from Gatwick in England is about 3.5 hours and it's only a 3 hours flight from Moscow. Santorini's airport is fairly small but seemed very efficient in "processing" us travellers - at least it did when we arrived with a quick passport check and also our cases were quickly onto the belts. When you leave the island the first thing that happens is that you have to put your suitcases through scanners. As the airport is small this does mean you have to queue up outside and if several coaches arrive at the same time these queues do grow somewhat (there are only 2 scanners). However the authorities have provided overhead shading to keep the sun off whilst you wait your turn. Again on the subject of departure - once you have put your cases through etc. you can leave the airport and use one of two quite large cafe/tavernas which are situated by the airport if you wish. Alternatively there is a small seating area at the departure gates and also a larger area higher up where you can buy snacks, drinks and even have a cigarette if you wish whilst watching the planes come and go. When we were leaving there were just 2 toilets for male and female available and one each of these was out of commission (and pretty smelly with the hand-washing facility i.e. taps not working either.)

Another popular way to get to the island is by using the extensive and frequent Greek Ferry systems - many ferries have Santorini on their schedules with car ferries arriving all the time from Naxos, Paros and the mainland as well as from islands further afield. The ferry port has little in the way of facilities with one rather overpriced cafe/taverna and also a more "fast-food" type facility. The toilets available are pretty limited / poor as well. A bus does meet most inbound ferries and this will take you up into Thira - however this bus does get full very quickly as people rush to try and get onto it and if you have suitcases you may well have little chance of getting on. Taxis are also in extremely short supply down at the port - you do really need to try and pre-book a taxi if possible. As a cost guide in May 2008 we had to pay 18 Euros to go from Perissa to the Ferry Port and on our return from Sikinos several days later we were charged 20 Euros from the Port back to Perissa - same distance but 2 Euros more...
One other tip about using the ferries - we used Nell Lines to get to Sikinos - the ferry was really dirty due to the muck coming out of the twin funnels - there was diesel exhaust sludge everywhere including on the top deck seats - you could not use these seats at all. This sludge was all over the deck as well and where people were walking around also made the lower deck and cafe area carpets streaked with oily stains. To sit up top it is worth taking a large carrier bag or similar to sit on.

As mentioned the island is very popular on the boats doing the Mediterranean Cruises - these ships look really spectacular as they are moored right up against the high cliffs with Thira high above. On arrival these ships disgorge their passengers onto the shore and then these people are all shipped out on dozens of coaches for round the island trips etc. and also taken up to Thira for the views.

Getting Around.  There is an apparently frequent bus service running on the island - by our second week there were quite a few buses scheduled out of Perissa and Kamari into Thira (these are two very popular locations for tour company destinations on the island) - the problem is quite often the buses were late running or sometimes did not run. It was also not that cheap a way to travel - for instance if two of you wanted to go from Perissa to Kamari you would pay 4.5 Euros to get to Thira and then another 4 Euros to continue to Kamari - should you want to return by bus it would be another 8.5 Euros. An alternative especially in early season is of course hiring a car instead. There are loads of car-hire companies around and with things being fairly quiet they are quite keen to "do a deal". We hired a small car for two days for 34 Euros which included full insurance - we stuck 10 Euros worth of petrol in it and got around everywhere for that. In May the roads were pretty quiet - the main thing to worry about avoiding were the increasingly popular quad bikes which especially the younger people hired out and often were driving too fast.
The other "getting around" was by taking advantage of some of the nice moni-paths and donkey and mule paths which are available to walk on the island. There were quite a few of these to use - we have several pages on walks we did on these paths which may be of interest.

General costs whilst on the Island.
Tavernas - food and drink. Apart from Thira itself the price for a nice meal in one of the island's tavernas was pretty reasonable - you could get perhaps a starter and a main course plus some wine etc. for around 10 to 12 Euros each - the menus were quite varied and extensive although sadly nearly everything came with the dreaded chips. Up in Thira the tavernas charged quite a bit more of course mainly because they had the cruise ship visitors always turning up for one off meals. We found the house red to be very drinkable - typical cost in a "normal" taverna was around 7 Euros a litre. (perhaps less since habitually we were given a big top up of wine -on the house-.)
Car-Hire - already mentioned - we paid 17 Euros a day including insurance but subject to having to pay the first 200 Euros should a claim against us arise after an accident. It did pay to shop around since we were offered a variation of quotes from the 17 we took up to one place wanting 23 Euros a day plus a 350 Euro on any claim.
Sunbeds and chairs - varied between 5 and 6 Euros per set. In some cases these were being offered free if you used the relevant taverna for a meal or drinks that day.

Worth mentioning again that these above prices were as of the end of May 2008 and you have to sort of expect that these all might increase in price once the holiday season reaches July and August.

Santorini's Beaches. We were quite unimpressed with the beaches on Santorini - we have used black sand beaches on other places we have visited so it was not that - just that for some reason the sand where it did exist was very course and often interspersed with much heavier pebbles. We thought Perisa had the best of the beaches to be on with Kamari a bit behind that. Santorini's famous Red Beach did look very spectacular but somehow we did not think we wanted to be crashed out half asleep on a sunbed there. The cliffs are suffering from heavy erosion and in fact they are slowly becoming white cliffs instead as the next layer appears - and the whole cliff area looked like it was ready for another heavy collapse.
There are beaches marked on Santorini maps from Cape Mavropetra going clockwise round the island to Karterradhos - actually these are generally narrow, are heavily shingle with sometimes huge pebbles and often lined with washed up seaweed - not particularly attractive to spend the day on to say the least.
You do need to take some "jellies" with you to protect your feet whilst using Santorini's beaches - the pebbles and rock shelves become extremely hot very quickly.

Thira or Fira: : Santorini's capital - the way the city has been built and therefore sprawls across the very high cliffs is an incredible site. Needless to say Fira is always packed with tourists - and this is of course why prices here for anything are really expensive. The various alleys and streets are full of jewellery shops plus other bric-a-back outlets plus there are quite a few expensive tavernas and cafes. The views across to Volcano and all around the cliffs etc. are really something else - nearly everybody enjoying the views seemed to be taking photo after photo of the scenery.

Pirghos. The town is one of the oldest settlements on the island, is located up on a hilltop and surrounded by vineyards in fields way below. Pirghos has some Byzantine walls, quite a few really nice churches and also just about the ruins of a Venetian castle where you can enjoy views from the battlements. Quite a few Island Tour coaches stop off at the town - understandably as the alleys and buildings are really nice to wander around.

Perisa: (Perissa) Perisa is located on the south west of the island and is quite well used by holiday companies. The town has one particularly scenic feature in that it is dominated by the nearbye Mesa Vouno - these 580 metre hills make a spectacular back drop in their own right quite apart from the view high up on the peak of the Profitis Ilias Monastery. We stayed at Perisa and these high hills were something of a nuisance since for some reason we had to climb up and over them four times..
There are quite a few tavernas which provided good and reasonably priced menus plus there are some drinks bars in Perisa but the area was pretty quiet in the evenings there which was good - probably not so quiet in July and August though. There are apparently two ATMs but we only found one - this was on the main road near the quite large Co-op supermarket - there is also the town's bakery located nearbye. There is a bus service into Fira but not that many buses running when we were there late May - however they were starting to increase the frequency.
The beach is well catered for with lots of sunshades and sun beds available for hire - we used them several times and were charged 6 Euros for a set. The beach does slope considerably into the sea in places and is a mix of black sand plus some shingle - also at the water's edge you do find layers of rock - definitely a case for having some Jellies for your feet.
One of the features? of Perisa is the large amount of unfinished buildings around - even by Greek island standards there was a lot of this. A shame really because the various owners of accommodation which were open have generally taken a lot of trouble to make their establishments look really nice - lots of flowers everywhere, all clean and tidy and so on.
There is a fairly large campsite in the town which is located near the northern end of the beach not too far from Perisa's nice church. There is also a youth hostel type establishment situated on the main road not far from the Co-op supermarket. One wonders just how noisy things might become in the evening etc. during the peak holiday months of July and August in the town. 

Kamari: This is also a favourite destination for holiday companies - is far bigger than it's neighbour on the other side of Mesa Vouna - and certainly did not have Perisa's glut of unfinished buildings. Kamari even in late May was quite busy - again the beach is small shingle to sandy and has all the usual amenities. There is a wide paved walkway running along the beach for some distance - this is packed with tavernas and drinks bars etc. As you wander along passing these tavernas and bars nearly every time you will invited in - they are not persistent at all but it does become a bit of pain to do a "no thank you" all the time. Prices for food were just slightly higher than those we found in Perisa but the quality and quantity was equally as good. Kamari enjoys a quite frequent bus service into Fira - with the service running every 30 to 45 minutes.

Oia: This town is at one end of the high cliffs which run north out of Fira - the town is very popular on the round the island coach tours and also gets quite packed with people bussed in from the cruise ships. It is understandable why this is - the town is excellent for wandering around and very picturesque with it's churches, alleys and white painted small houses. Because it is on the tourist coach circuit the prices in the Tavernas and so on are quite high though not as bad as those found in Fira. There is a fairly frequent bus service from Fira to Oia - however these buses get very busy and if possible when wanting to leave the town by bus it's worth getting to where the bus starts rather than wait at one of the bus stops on the way out of the town - the bus may not stop..
There is an excellent walk which is enjoyed by lots of people which goes from Fira out along the top of the cliffs using narrow streets and alleys and also walkways - through Merovighli and on via a nice path to arrive at Oia. There is more about this on our Santorini Walks page.

Ancient Thira and Akrotiri. Well firstly the site at Akrotiri is closed due to a serious accident and has been for 2 years now.
Going to take a look around Ancient Thira is quite an event - firstly unless you are prepared to walk up (which is most enjoyable - see our Santorini Walks items) then getting there involves a drive up on a severely hair pinned road to reach a saddle. Having parked here there then is a significant climb further on up the hillside to reach the actual settlement ruins. Apart from a couple of benches situated under some trees a little way up there is absolutely no shade up on this site and it does get exceedingly hot up there. It should also be noted that the area is closed on Mondays and that for all other times they close the gates promptly at 14:30 hours.

Wildlife: Although we walked many paths and moni-pati whilst on holiday on Santorini we did not see one snake or even a sign of one. There were lots of lizards around and of course being Spring plenty of sparrows, swallows and so on to be seen.

Please see our :-
Emborio-Pirghos walks for:
Emborio - Pirghos - Profitis Ilias Monastery - Profitis Ilias - Sellada - Perisa or Kamari.
Pirghos - Vothonoas - Kamari.
Beaches and Windmills walks for:
Perisa - Emborio - windmills - Vlichadha - Perisa
Red Beach - Akrotiri - Kaparies - Taxiarchis - Kambia Beach - Red Beach.

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External Resources which we consider particularly useful for visitors to Santorini:
Greek Island Postcards - Mike's views and guide on Santorini are a must read.
Santorini by Greeka - Alexis's website is also one to visit for information on the Island.

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