I had been looking forward to our time in Santorini from the second I booked the trip. Santorini is easily one of the most popular islands in all of Greece and is considered to be one of the most romantic as well so I was pretty eager to check everything out. We were in Santorini for 5 days and I easily could have stayed an extra week just to finish exploring the island!
Boat Cruise
Going on a boat cruise was one of the top suggestions I received when planning my trip to Santorini. A boat cruise sounded like the best way to spend an afternoon in Santorini. I stumbled across Sunset Oia and found they offered an afternoon boat cruise or a sunset boat cruise. The sunset boat cruise had stops at the volcanic hot springs, red beach and white beach as well as dinner and beverages while enjoying your time on the boat and even included transfers to the boat and back to your hotel.
The hot springs weren’t as warm as I thought they’d be but the day we went was a particularly windy day so the water was much rougher than usual.
I was a little skeptical about the meal provided on the boat, as I am, admittedly, a picky eater but was extremely impressed with the meal provided. All of the ingredients were super fresh and tasted absolutely delicious.
To book a boat cruise with Sunset Oia, click here.
Visit the Red Sand Beach
The red sand beach is one of the most spectacular beaches on Santorini. Its unique red sand and red rock cliff in the background make this beach one of the most popular on the island.
We visited this beach during our boat tour with Sunset Oia and were amazed by the clear blue water and the incredible views. I could easily spend an entire day hanging out on this beach.
Visit a Black Sand Beach – Kamari Beach
There is quite a few black sand beaches in Santorini but, Kamari Beach was definitely one of my favourites. There is tons of restaurants and shops situated along the boardwalk and most of the restaurants have beach chairs and umbrellas set up along the beach. Depending on the restaurant the chairs may be free with a purchase at the restaurant or a max of 10€ for 2 chairs and an umbrella.
Hike Fira to Oia
Doing the hike from Fira to Oia (or vise versa) is absolutely incredible with some of the most amazing views you will see. The hike is definitely quite the workout as it is approximately 10km+ but I’m extremely happy we decided to devote a morning to doing the hike.
For more information on the hike from Fira to Oia, click here.
Oia
If you can manage to wake up early one day I definitely recommend exploring Oia before it gets extremely busy with tourists. Take your time strolling the streets checking out all of the different shops and taking in the beautiful views that Oia has to offer.
Oia is also the perfect place for a sunset dinner. Make sure to make a reservation as it gets pretty busy there in the summer months.
Ammoudi Bay
Ammoudi Bay is actually really incredible for such a small part of Santorini. We opted to take the stairs down and my best advice is to wear good shoes (the stairs can get slippery) and bring water! It’s definitely quite the hike down but the views itself make it completely worth it.
There is about four restaurants along the port of Ammoudi Bay to check out. Each restaurant looked amazing. We decided to check out Ammoudi Fish Tavern as I had heard a lot of great reviews.
The water at Ammoudi Bay is so clear you can see right down to the bottom and is the clearest water I’ve seen in any port. After hiking down the stairs from Oia there is no better reward than taking a dip in the water. There a couple of places you can get in the water or you can walk over to where people go cliff jumping.
Open Air Cinema – Volkan on the Rocks
I had heard that open air cinemas were pretty popular in Europe but it wasn’t necessarily at the top of my list of things to do. We actually stumbled across a restaurant in Fira (during the hike) that would be showing the movie Mamma Mia! that night. We figured we’d be pretty tired after the hike and wanted to have a relaxing evening so we decided to check it out as neither of us had seen Mamma Mia! and what a better place to see it for the first time then at an open air cinema in Greece!
If I remember correctly it was 15€ each for the movie and it came with a tzatziki board for each of us. We also ordered some additional snacks and drinks of the menu that were absolutely delicious!
Akrotiri Archaeological Site
For those of you looking to learn more about the history this archaeological site is a unique site with dwellings dating back to the Minoan and Bronze Age. I think it is extremely cool to see how things were previously done and I’m always amazed by how they’ve managed to preserve these archaeological sites.
We visited an archaeological site while we were in Milos so we didn’t end up checking this particular one out but if we had more time on the island I definitely would have checked it out.
Winery
If Greece is famous for one thing, it is definitely the wine! There are a ton of wineries located in Santorini that you can check out or you can even book a wine tasting and vineyard tour depending on how much time you have.
Top 3 Wineries:
- Santo Winery – one of the most popular wineries in Santorini with tons of different wines to sample and incredible views of the caldera.
- Venetsantos – tour the winery learning about the history and tradition of wine making techniques and finish the tour with wine on the patio overlooking the caldera and Aegean Sea.
- Domaine Sigalas – tour the winery and the vineyard with a 12 glass wine tasting with an exceptional sunset view.
Santorini is such an incredible island with so many beautiful things to see and do. Exploring this island should definitely be at the top of your travel bucket list!
