Santorini Holidays

Santorini is a volcano you can book a room on, villages balanced three hundred metres up the cliff edge, the black and red sand, the unique volcanic wine, and the sunsets people fly from all over the world to photograph.

Highlights of your Santorini Holidays 2026 / 2027

• Beaches with character - No standard white sand here. Perissa and Kamari are long stretches of black volcanic grit, Red Beach sits under rust-coloured cliffs, and Vlychada looks like a moonscape carved by wind. Not the softest sand in Greece but far more interesting to look at.

• Wine you cannot buy at home - Santorini's vineyards are tiny, ancient and grown in volcanic ash, with vines trained into low baskets to survive the wind. Assyrtiko is the white they make from them: bone dry, mineral and unlike anything else in Greece. Most of the wineries do tastings with a caldera view.

• The sunset, and the walk to it - Oia's sunset is the most famous in Greece and it earns the crowd. If you would rather not share it with four hundred people, walk the caldera path from Fira to Oia in the late afternoon: ten kilometres along the crater rim, a couple of hours at a steady pace, and the view the whole way.

• Cave hotels built into the cliff - Rooms carved into volcanic rock with plunge pools hanging over a thousand-foot drop. It is the reason a lot of people pick this island over any other, and there is nowhere else in the Mediterranean that does it.

Good to know for your Holiday to Santorini

☀️ Weather - Santorini runs from late March to late October. July and August sit around 29°C.

💶 Money - Euros, and Santorini is not the cheapest of the Greek islands. A beer runs €4 to €6, and a cocktail in a sunset bar €10 to €18.

🏛 Fun fact - The eruption that made this shape, around 1600 BC, was one of the largest in human history and it flattened the Minoan town at Akrotiri, which was buried in ash and preserved. You can walk through the excavated streets today: two-storey houses, drainage, frescoes. It is why people keep suggesting Santorini was the original Atlantis.

Santorini is perfect for you if...

• You want the holiday to feel special, and you are willing to walk up a hill (and lots of steps) for it

• You would rather have breath-taking sunsets and extraordinary clifftop views than five miles of golden sand

• You like wine, and the idea of drinking a grape that grows nowhere else appeals to you

• You are happy eating out every night, in elegant clifftop restaurants

• You have always fancied a room carved into a cliff, with a private pool and a clifftop view

Best Areas to Stay on your Santorini holidays

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Where should families stay in Santorini?

• Kamari - Black sand beach, beach bars, family-friendly hotels, and a laid-back seaside vibe. The best base for families who want easy beach days.

• Perissa - Similar vibe to Kamari with black sand, water sports, and budget-friendly stays. A bit more relaxed and great value.

• Monolithos - Gentle waves and shallow water on a quieter stretch of coast. Brilliant for families with little ones.

💑 Where should couples stay in Santorini?

• Oia - The postcard. Blue domes, cliffside sunsets, cave hotels, and the most romantic views on the island. Peak Santorini.

• Firostefani - Caldera views without the Oia crowds. Peaceful, pretty, and a short stroll from Fira's restaurants and bars.

• Imerovigli - The highest point on the caldera with quiet clifftop luxury. Boutique hotels and honeymoon energy for days.

🎉 Where should groups stay in Santorini?

• Fira - The island's capital and buzzing hub. Caldera views, bars, nightlife, museums, and the best transport links to everywhere else.

• Perivolos - Beach clubs, cocktail bars, and cabanas. The social scene of Santorini's south coast - perfect for groups who want sun-lounger vibes by day and cocktails by night.

Other places to stay in Santorini:

Emporio - Karterados - Megalochori - Messaria - Monolithos - Paradisos - Pyrgos - Santorini Town - Vlychada - Vourvoulos

What are the best beaches to visit on your holidays to Santorini?

Santorini's beaches come in colours nobody else's do. This is a volcano, so instead of the same pale sand you get everywhere else in the Med, you get long sweeps of jet black, coves the colour of rust, and cliffs that look like they were carved by a sculptor in a hurry. Whether you're planning ahead for your Summer holidays, looking to bag your next budget-friendly break or scoping out one of our last-minute holidays, these stunners will be ready whenever you are:

• Perissa - the big one. A long stretch of black volcanic sand with a Blue Flag, water sports running all summer and a beach road behind it packed with places to eat and drink. As easy a beach day as the island offers.

• Kamari - Perissa's neighbour on the other side of the Mesa Vouno headland, and just as long. Sunbeds, a promenade of tavernas and bars, and an open-air cinema for the evening. The busiest beach base on the island for a reason.

• Red Beach - the famous one, tucked under towering rust-red cliffs near Akrotiri and reached on foot around the headland. Small, dramatic, and the picture everyone comes home with.

• Perivolos - the social one. Black sand again, but this end is beach clubs, cabanas, cocktails and DJ sets, running from lunchtime into the evening.

• Monolithos - shallow, gently shelving and calm, on a quieter stretch of the east coast. The one to head for with small children.

What are the top hotels in Santorini?

Digs in Santorini are all the rage. Think chic cave rooms, swanky private pools, adults-only retreats and packed-out family resorts - it's got it all. Whoever you're taking, check out some of our fave hotels below:

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Which hotels in Santorini are best for families?

• Afroditi Venus (Kamari) - Right by the black sand beach with a choice of pools including a kids' one, a chilled beach bar, spa, and Maisonette rooms that sleep up to 4.

• Epavlis Hotel (Kamari) - Traditional Greek breakfast every morning, pool with views, and a relaxed family-friendly vibe. Good value for Santorini.

• Notos Therme & Spa (Vlychada) - Indoor and outdoor pools, a kids' swim area, water sports galore, and some rooms with private pools. Near the lunar-landscape cliffs of Vlychada beach.

💑 Which hotels in Santorini are best for couples?

• Splendour Resort (Firostefani) - Five-star with caldera views that are properly jaw-dropping, a pool terrace, spa, and water sports. Prime honeymoon territory.

• SMY Mediterranean White - Adults Only (Kamari) - Boutique adults-only with Windmill Suites, poolside cocktails, and beachfront views. Stylish and peaceful.

• Radisson Blu Zaffron - Adults Only (Kamari) - Luxury adults-only with beachside dining, a wellness centre, and gorgeous Greek food. A step above the rest for couples who want to treat themselves.

✨ Which are the best luxury hotels in Santorini?

• Santo Pure Oia Suites & Villas (Oia) - Private heated jacuzzis, private swimming pools, butler service in the villas, an en-suite sauna, and sunset views over the Aegean from the bar and restaurant. This is peak Santorini luxury.

• San Antonio Luxury Hotel (Imerovigli) - Cave spa carved into the rock, caldera views, couples' massage packages, and the kind of cliffside setting that makes you never want to leave. Proper five-star honeymoon material.

💰 Which are the best value hotels in Santorini?

• Smy Orizontes Santorini (Pyrgos) - Modern rooms, a pool terrace, and a restaurant serving all-day dining. Solid base in a quieter village with lower prices than the caldera towns.

• Epavlis Hotel (Kamari) - One of the best budget-friendly picks on the island. Pool, breakfast, and beach access without the caldera price tag.

👉 See all Santorini hotels

Cheap holidays to Santorini

Santorini has a reputation for being the expensive Greek island, and to be fair it's easy to see why, BUT that reputation is really about the caldera rim, where you pay for the view out of the window and the table at dinner. Move fifteen minutes east and Santorini is one of the better-value islands in Greece, with the same volcano, the same sunsets and the same wine.

That is the whole trick to doing Santorini cheaply. Kamari, Perissa and Perivolos sit on the flat east coast with black sand beaches, a full run of tavernas and bars, and room rates a long way below Oia and Imerovigli. The bus network is cheap and runs to Fira from everywhere, so you can still spend your evenings on the caldera. You are giving up the view from the balcony, not the island.

April, May and October stretch the budget furthest. The island runs from late March to the end of October, and at either end of that you get warm days, an open island and lower prices in the same week.

Which are the cheapest hotels in Santorini?

• Marianna Hotel - usually the lowest price on the island, and a genuinely good one at it. Three hundred metres back from Perissa's black sand, with balconied rooms, an outdoor pool with its own snack bar and a breakfast buffet included. Catamaran trips and bike hire run from the door.

• Sellada Apartments - family-run, right in the middle of Kamari and a few steps from the beach. Apartments rather than hotel rooms, so you get a kitchen, which is the other big saving on an island where dinner is the expensive part.

Which cheap hotels in Santorini are best for families?

• Meltemi Village - apartments and suites at Perissa with a children's play area, a bar and a restaurant on site. Flat, walkable, close to the sand, and about as easy as Santorini gets with children in tow.

• Iliada Odysseas Resort - two minutes' walk from the black sand at Perivolos, with an outdoor pool and day trips to the volcano organised from reception. Small and relaxed rather than a big resort, which is what most of this island is.

Which cheap hotels in Santorini still get you the caldera view?

• Caldera View Resort - Adults Only 18+ - the value story on this page. It is at Imerovigli, the highest point on the caldera, with terrace rooms looking straight out over the Aegean, a large pool with hydro-massage and two restaurants including one built inside a volcanic-stone windmill. Caldera address, nothing like a caldera price.

• El Greco Resort - just outside Fira, so you are walking distance from the capital's bars and the bus hub without paying Fira's cliff-edge rates. A practical base if you want to be central and out most evenings.

🇬🇷 Santorini holidays 2026 / 2027 travel guide

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 What is there to do in Santorini with kids?

• Beach day at Kamari or Perissa. Both are long, flat and easy, with Blue Flag water, sunbeds to hire and water sports for older children. Kamari has the promenade of tavernas behind it if you need feeding at short notice.

• The volcano and hot springs boat trip. Sail out to Nea Kameni, walk up to the steaming crater, then swim in the warm sulphur springs on the way back. Half science lesson, half adventure, and the one everybody remembers.

• The Tomato Industrial Museum at Vlychada. It sounds unpromising but children love it: underground tunnels, old machinery, and the story of how a tiny tomato powered the island's economy before tourism did.

• Open-air cinema at Cine Kamari. A film under the stars in a garden, with popcorn for them and a drink for you. Sessions start after dark, so it works as a proper evening out.

• The donkey-free route up to Fira. If you are coming off a boat, take the cable car rather than the steps. Six hundred of them, and nobody enjoys it (unless you're tuning your calves)

💑 What are the best things to do in Santorini for couples?

• Sunset in Oia. The most famous sunset in Greece, and it earns the reputation. The castle ruins are the classic viewpoint and they get busy, so either arrive early or book a caldera-view table and watch it over dinner instead.

• Wine tasting at Santo Wines or Venetsanos. Assyrtiko, grown in volcanic ash, tasted on a terrace hanging over the crater. Venetsanos is the more dramatic building; Santo has the bigger range.

• The sunset catamaran cruise. Out past the volcano and Red Beach, swimming stops, dinner on deck, and the sunset from the water rather than from a crowded terrace.

• The Fira to Oia caldera walk. Ten kilometres along the crater rim, two to three hours at a steady pace, and the best free thing on the island. Go in the late afternoon and finish in Oia for the sunset.

• Dinner in Pyrgos. The old capital, inland and up high, with far fewer people and a view back across the whole island. The saving on the bill is not the point, but it is substantial.

🎉 What is there to do in Santorini for groups?

• A beach club day at Perivolos. Cabanas, cocktails, DJ sets and black sand, running from lunchtime into the evening. The social centre of the south coast.

• The caldera boat tour with a barbecue on board. Volcano, hot springs, lunch and drinks on deck. Easily the best value group day out on the island.

• A wine tour of the volcanic vineyards. More than a dozen wineries, most with tastings and a caldera view. Hire a minibus, share a driver, make a day of it.

• Bar-hopping through Fira. Start with cocktails on the caldera edge as the sun goes down, then work along to the clubs. Koo, Enigma and Tango are the names to know.

🗣️ Local Lingo

Greek is the language, and English is spoken everywhere you will be. Nobody expects you to attempt any of this, which is exactly why it lands so well when you do.

• Yia sou - YAH-soo - Hello. Use yia sas, YAH-sahs, for more than one person or to be polite.

• Kalimera - kah-lee-MEH-rah - Good morning, and good day right through until the afternoon.

• Kalispera - kah-lee-SPEH-rah - Good evening. The one you will use most, because Santorini happens after six.

• Parakalo - pah-rah-kah-LOH - Please, and also you're welcome. It does both jobs, so it is the single most useful word here.

• Efcharisto - ef-hah-ree-STOH - Thank you.

• Mia bira, parakalo - MEE-ah BEE-rah pah-rah-kah-LOH - A beer, please.

• Ena trapezi gia dyo - EH-nah trah-PEH-zee yah THEE-oh - A table for two. Worth having ready for the sunset restaurants.

• To logariasmo, parakalo - toh loh-ghah-ree-az-MOH - The bill, please.

• Yamas - YAH-mahs - Cheers. Raise the glass, catch everyone's eye, and mean it.

🏝️ Other Greece Holidays 2026 / 2027

Fancy exploring more of Greece or hopping to another island? Here are some top picks:

Other Greek Islands

• 🏛️ Rhodes — Medieval Old Town, Blue Flag beaches, and proper variety from Faliraki nightlife to Lindos clifftop charm.

• ☀️ Kos — Sandy beaches, ancient ruins, and a buzzing old town. More relaxed and affordable than Santorini.

• 🏖️ Crete — Greece's biggest island with gorge hikes, ancient palaces, and some of the best food in the Med.

• 💚 Corfu — Lush green hills, Venetian old town, and gorgeous west coast beaches. A different flavour of Greek island.

• 🎉 Zante — Shipwreck Beach, turtle-spotting boat trips, and Laganas for nightlife.

• 🌊 Kefalonia — Dramatic coastlines, Myrtos Beach, and that Captain Corelli atmosphere.

• 🏝️ Skiathos — Pine-fringed sandy beaches and a lively harbour town.

• 💃 Mykonos — Party island with windmill views, designer shopping, and beach clubs. Santorini's glamorous neighbour.

Mainland Greece

• 🏛️ Athens — The Acropolis, Plaka's winding streets, and world-class museums. Easy to combine with a Santorini trip.

• 🏖️ Halkidiki — Three peninsulas of sandy beaches and turquoise water in northern Greece.