Santorini tips?

[Santorinidreams]

Any advice on how to "do" Santorini?

Is it better to stay in Fira, or Oia, or somewhere else?
If not staying in one of those two, is it easy to pick up a bus or taxi for day trips?
If taking a bus to Kamari or Perissa for the beaches, do the buses run regularly to come back?
Do restaurants with views of the sunset need pre-booking?
What day trips off the island are good to do?
Any other advice I might need to know?

F

Following 🙂

Wanted to add - hiring a car isn't an option, we won't be driving, hence the bus questions.

We stayed in kamari beach and then got the bus to Fira
easy and quick journey - can’t remember how late it ran until
we did a day trip to Oia and to see the sunset
it’s a beautiful island

Even though we went for only 8 days, we split the time between each which was great. We did a wine tour on a bus one day that hotel booked which was fab. Another day got a cab to here akrotiri-museum.com/ which was amazing - better than Pompeii I reckon.

It's worth doing a boat from Oia for sunset but see if there is a day with no cruise ships otherwise takes hours to get off.

Oh and yes pre-book restaurants with views! We actually started here in Fira but it also has an amazing restaurant vbs.gr/ and went here www.andronis.com/hotels/andronis-luxury-suites/restaurants/lycabettus-restaurant/ in Oia. Both splurge restaurants (people getting engaged next to us in both) but amazing views and food.

My daughter got a bus from Fira to Oia, by herself. Very easy. Pretty sure we found the bus timetable online beforehand.

her only ' problem ' was despite being back at the bus stop 10 mins before the bus was due, there were already loads of people waiting for it and she didn't get on - which is fine she had to wait for the next bus.
But she was/is staff on a cruise ship and still had to get on the cable car and little boat transfer back to the ship !
Cruise ships do not wait for late staff, I don't believe they wait for late guests either, so it was nerve racking but she made it !

Oia was/is one of the highlights of all the places she has visited in 3 summers of working on cruise ships.

Oia is beautiful and she found a lovely place to have lunch and lots of lovely photos of the views.

I found Oia too crowded and touristy. We stayed Imerglovi and we could walk along the cliffs to Fira and hiked to Oia. Got a taxi to the beach one day too.

We stayed in Pyrgos, and loved it. Way less touristy than Oia and Fira but easy to access those places by bus.

Pyrgos was a lovely hilltop village, with great tavernas. We didn't visit any beaches but we did go on a boat trip, so the coast must have been accessible!

Thanks for these suggestions! The Akotiri museum/archeological site is definitely somewhere we want to go! There is also a Museum of Prehistoric Thera which I believe is a separate place but has similar things in.

We want to see Oia definitely but I'm thinking we may need to stay in Thira town to have easy access to the buses. We wouldn't be able to hike along the coastline, well, I could if it wasn't too hot but the other one is physically less able so we are relying on the buses to get around.

Hoping to book accommodation with a nice pool and a view so we can alternate days sightseeing with relaxing by the pool.

This is a bucket list trip for us!

Any other "must see" places/sights/experiences?

Locals' fury as Santorini council tells them to stay at home so 'tourists can wander free' mol.im/a/13681257 via https://dailym.ai/android

We stayed in Imerovigli and it was lovely - we walked to Fira and took buses elsewhere.
We did eat out a couple of times but our hotel overlooked the caldera and had a great restaurant so the rest of the time we ate there as we could enjoy the sunset without the crowds

@OlderGlaswegianLivingInDevon I'm curious to know, if a cruise ship employee misses the departure, what happens? Do they lose their job and head home or are they expected to make their own way to the next stop?

I wouldn't stay on Santorini it's far too touristy. We went there for a day from Naxos and did Akrotiri
If you've already booked you could do the reverse and go to Naxos. Another day you could go to Ios.

We stay there for a couple of nights either end of our trips to Naxos.

We stay in a lovely family run hotel in Akrotiri which is soooooo much quieter. We've done Oia for the day and Fira (which is almost exactly the same) and the Akrotiri excavation which is amazing. We watch the sunset from Akrotiri.

I wouldn't do Oia or Fira again - they're beautiful but once is enough. I certainly wouldn't stay in either.

The buses are brilliant.

(Please don't ride the donkeys!)

We’ve just come back from staying in Kamari. Great resort with a nice beach and lots of restaurants. Got the bus to Fira a couple of times, during the day, and for a meal in the evening to see the sun set. Very busy resort. Probably because of the cruise ships.

Those of you who went to watch the sunset/have dinner, were you able to get a bus back easily then, after the sun had set?

I will definitely not be riding a poor donkey! I can't believe that hasn't been banned yet.

p.s. thanks for all of the tips, really appreciate it!

If you are wanting something to do all day and have some nightlife then definitely Fira. We stayed 5 mins walk from the centre and it was great as we could get to shops and restaurants easily. Also numerous bars and clubs. Buzzing until the early hours.
All buses depart from the bus station to the whole island but in August they were packed.
Taxis are so expensive so buses are essential.
Kartederos is easy to walk to from Fira and has numerous restaurants for a change to Fira.
Oia was worth the trip but very busy.
Catamaran trip is expensive but worth it. Got a better deal booking in Oia than Fira and still got collected from the hotel.
Triana Taverna on right near top of Main Street is great value compared to lots of other restaurants.

We went in May and it was beyond rammed with tourists. It was a very dissapointing holiday over all. Probably one of the least "Greek" islands I've visited.

Go in Feb would be my tip.
Bars and restaurants charge more during sunset and need prebooking.
You'll need to queue behind Instagrammers doing full photo shoots for a pretty photo with the blue domes in.

We stayed in Perrisa because we wanted to be near a beach. It is black sand. Kia took about an hour by taxi to get to. We got there at 9 in the morning and it was fairly empty. The taxi picked us up at 2 (it was his recommendation. Busy busy then.) Oh my word you couldn't move at that point. The amount of ships docking and letting people off!! Oia is absolutely stunning and I'm so glad we visited what my son called ' the beautiful blue domes' ( he wasn't very interested). But half a day was enough to really see it all. We had a coffee and an ice cream but headed back to our hotel for lunch. It's not cheap to eat or drink there. Enjoy!

Having been on a day trip, I definitely would not stay on the island (and yes, I realise I am/was part of the problem). It was insanely, uncomfortably busy. You had to shuffle to move along the streets and the most beautiful views were taken up with young women doing multiple poses for their boyfriends to photograph. I could not do a week of that, I'd be murderous. Having said that, I went for the day from Crete, and think it would be nice to do as an overnight stay (if you could book dinner and a hotel) then get off again early the following day. Restaurants were incredibly expensive, so budget accordingly.

I would recommend skiathos. Probably the most gorgeous Greek island we have been too.

Yes, the instagrammers are definitely out in force and are quite happy to stand for ages in a sought after spot to take their photos. It was highly amusing watching loads of young people photograph themselves. They weren't really taking in the views just looking through a camera lens. That's why Santorini is so busy it's plastered over instagram and TikTok.

Just push in front of the Instagrammers. Don't wait for them, they are ridiculous.
And yes to staying on Naxos, not santorini