MAY 2019, UPDATED JUNE 2022
I dreamed of visiting Santorini ever since I watched The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants when I was a teenager. It seemed to be the ultimate honeymoon bucket list destination, even though I had never had a boyfriend at that time. In 2019 I was lucky enough to visit Santorini as a part of our actual honeymoon and I loved it so much that I brought my family with me to revisit it in May 2022. In this blogpost you will find an overview of activities to do on Santorini, while being based in Oia.
Where to stay in Santorini
If you are looking for the tyical Santorini experience in a whitewashed town with pink bougainvillea I would recommend to find accomodation in Fira (capital), Imerovigli or romantic Oia. There are appartments and resorts near the beach towns too, but as these locations are not well connected to the main towns, you would need to rent transportation as well. Oia is the most famous town of Santorini because you will find the most beautiful sunset in the world over here. I was looking for the quintessential Santorini experience so we decided to stay near Oia both times. Beware that Santorini is much more expensive in the high season and that you can get much better hotel deals when you stay in May or October, though the weather is a little bit more unpredictable during those times.
Gemini Caves in Finikia: During our honeymoon we stayed for three nights at Gemini caves via Airbnb and absolutely loved it. The Gemini Caves are located in Finikia, which is a little town right next to Oia. It was an easy walk into the center of Oia and the added bonus was that Finikia is much more quiet than Oia itself. You will find no photoshoots going on in front of your hotel in Finikia 😉 Santorini is really expensive and rooms at Gemini Caves go for € 300 per night in the high season, we paid € 230 per night in May. Similar rooms in Oia are much more expensive and you will not get the same service.
Finesse Suites in Oia: When we revisited Santorini we stayed in Finesse Suites in Oia, which is right in the famous view of the sunset. It was incredibly special waking up, opening our doors and being right in the middle of the view. Finesse Suites has rooms in the sunset area and near the blue domes. A room without a jacuzzi costs about € 400 per night in the high season, we paid € 220 per night in May. The rooms were very spacious, but the facilities were limited for the stellar price. You mainly stay here for the view. Finesse Suites has rooms with a jacuzzi as well, but up front you don’t know if your jacuzzi is located inside or outside which is a bit of a risk. My mother had a room with a jacuzzi, which was located inside. This was fine as we were traveling with a baby, but during my honeymoon I would have found that a real disappointment.
What we did in Oia
I especially loved wandering through Oia and enjoying the stunning views and beautifully maintained houses. We deciced to get up early, to kind of have Oia to ourselves as it gets really crowded during the day (especially at sunset). Until 10 AM it was pretty quiet in Oia, except for some other early risers who also loved taking pictures. I must say that, even though it gets really crowded in Oia, I did think that the tourists in Oia were really respectful of each other as in: waiting for each other to take a picture and being helpful in general. This is why it never got annoying that it was very crowded. Santorini is just such a beautiful place to visit, it is only logical that you have to share it with other tourists.
Sunsets: Oia is the best spot to watch the sunset. You will find people finding a spot on Oia Castle hours before sunset to watch it, a bit insane. It is possible to find a spontaneous spot and still enjoy the sunset, just not on Oia Castle. Our second time we stayed in the sunset view, so were able to take pictures from our terrace. Be sure to wait for the moment the sun actually sets, because that is the time that the water starts turning pink/reddish, which is truly spectacular! You can also do a sunset cruise, which seemed like a nice way to watch the sunset without the crowds (this costs about € 100).
Imerovigli: Another cool spot to visit is Imerovigli. Imerovigli has beautiful views as well and attracts fewer crowds. However it is much smaller than Oia, so you will see less whitewashed houses. We wanted to visit Imerovigli while doing the Oia-Fira hike, on this hike you will pass through the town, but we were too lazy (which we regretted afterwards!). Taxis are very expensive (€20 or € 30 one-way, depending on your haggling skills), while buses are cheap but run infrequent and are crowded. We enjoyed our visit to Imerovigli as you were able to see more of the volcanic origin of the island than from Oia. We stayed to watch the sunset, which I thought was less impressive than from Oia, but we were able to watch it from a restaurant during dinner, which was really relaxing.
Hike and swimming at Ammoudi Bay: If you want to go swimming near Oia, Ammoudi Bay is the place to be. This is also where the sunset cruises set sail, so you will find a little harbor with restaurants here too. It is about a 15 minute hike to Ammoudi, it is quite some stairs but I didn’t found the journey too streneous. It is also possible to hire a donkey to take you back up.
Donkey watching: Okay this is not really an activity, but it did bring me a lot of joy. It is not just in the movies, the donkeys are used for transport in real life. They are mainly used for transport of goods to restaurants, but you can ride a donkey yourself when you want to go back up to Oia from Ammoudi bay. I personally prefer not to ride the donkeys, but they seemed very healthy and well taken care off.
Food
Overall we really liked the food at Santorini, we did not have one bad meal. The restaurants did not feel super touristy and we never felt like we were being ripped off. Sometime I do intense research before having dinner at a restaurant, as you can have very bad experiences, but I did not feel that was the case at Santorini (or we were just lucky).
Lefkes: This was our absolute favorite restaurant! It was located closely to our Airbnb in Finikia and it is also worth a short walk when you stay in Oia! The restaurants serves modern varieties on classic Greek dishes and everything we had was delicious. The portions were generous and the staff was super attentive, so we went back several times. I am usually all about exploring, but when you find a gem like this you just have to stop looking. You receive delicious bread and a little soup before your meal, which adds to the experience. We especially loved the moussaka croquettes, chicken with peanot butter, goat tajine and the banoffee. I did not take a lot of pictures as I was too busy enjoying the food, but Lefkes looks really stylish as well. They have a rooftop terrace, from which you can see the sunset and a really cosy little “patio”. We spent about € 80 for two including wine and felt really spoiled. Update: in 2022 it was still this good!
Breakfast: We had breakfast in several spots in Oia. Tramonto and Three B restaurant were great for people watching and served delicious food. Just expect to pay about € 20 per person for a breakfast. If you are looking for a sweet breakfast with a great view I would recommend Vitrin Creperie, refer to pictures below to get an idea of this stunning location which overlooks the Caldera.
Blue Note Imerovigli: This restaurant has a good view of Oia and Scaros rock during the sunset. The food is traditional Greek cuisine and was not expensive (Moussaka € 10). Service was really slow, which was no problem for us as we were waiting for the sunset. I would not recommend or advise against it, it was fine.
Other things you can do in Santorini
As we only had a few days on the island we were not able to do everything Santorini has to offer, however we heard good stories about the following activities:
- Hike from Fira to Oia
- Sunset cruise at Oia
- Visit Kamari beach
- Santowines Winery
