Santorini

Marc

Marc

TPer Emeritus
Suspended / Banned
Messages
34,670
Edit My Images
Yes
We are looking at booking a holiday to a Greek island this year and would have liked t go back to Kefalonia. Unfortunately prices have shot up and it's looking a bit out of our reach. I've noticed that Santorini seems quite a bit cheaper but looks lovely.

The thing is, we are not ones for lying on a beach or by a pool so we always hire a car for the full two weeks and go off and do our own thing, So the big question: Is there enough to keep us occupied for all that time in Santorini as I don't want to have seen everything after a few days and spend the next week and a half looking forward to the flight home. If there is anyone who has been and could answer that question, that would be fab! :thumbs:
 
Sorry, I've never been to Santorini before, but it's one of the destinations in my wish list for travelling. It must be one of the most photogenic of the Greek islands, and I've read somewhere that it's the most photographed sunset in the world, due to the whole beauty of the island, being a volcanic crater. I am sure that you'll definitely keep yourselves occupied for a week there, but you can always travel around the Cyclades by boat or ferry. You could always take a day trip to a nearby island, all the islands around are quite beautiful, and there's always something to visit. Ios, Paros, Naxos, Amorgos, Milos. All beautiful islands with lots of history and easy ferry routes. But I think you'll love Santorini, all of my friends that visited they always visit again!
 
Hey, I went to Santorini with my girlfriend in May/June 2007 and loved it, its a beautiful Island and provides tonnes of opportunities for the archetypal greek photograph - Blue roofs, white buildings and clear blue skies.

We went for two weeks and I have to admit did do quite a bit of lounging around because it was bloody hot! I'm not the lying around sort either and didn't get bored at any point. To be fair, its a volcanic island so the beaches are black and quite gravelly anyway - not exactly welcoming to lie around on.

So, what was there to do - well, an abundance of orthodox churches and little villages to go and visit, the village of Oia is a beautiful place, albeit a bit expensive and seeing a sunset there is an absolute must, but get there early because it gets crowded. You can pay for an excursion whereby you can see this from the deck of a yacht, we didn't do that though. This would be the most photographed sunset stylgeo is talking about.

You can go and visit the active bit of the volcano in the middle of the caldera (Nea Kameni), interesting - lots of vents and sulphur in the air and almost no cover so take plenty of water and sunscreen. As part of that excursion they let you go and swim in the warm water pools created by the volcano.

We stayed in kamari, on the east of the Island not far from the airport (to be fair, NOTHING is far from the airport on such a small Island! We also visited ancient Fira (or Thira) which is basically a bunc of rocks at the top of a mountain, although you can still make out where the buildings were. Worth it for the view of the Island. If you go to Fira proper, lock up your credit card, the place is known for its jewellery and some of it is exquisite, might be quite pricey now that the exchange rate has plummeted though. I had to restrain the girlfriend on several occasions.

There are other things too - the red beach, which is odd to be sure and some excavations of a town that was preserved when the volcan went of proper big style - apparently reminiscent of Pompeii but without the people. It was closed when we were there.

Bottom line is that we loved it, its no party capital and you may find that you do run out of things to do over two weeks if you're not prepared to lounge at all but we loved the Island, the people are fantastic and its on our list to go again. From a photography point of view, I would suggestv taking your kit. You'll regret it if you don't, loads of opportunity there.

Wow, rambled a bit there! This is by no means complete, but I hope it gives you a flavour of what we experienced. We rarely re-visit a place becasue there are so many other we want to see, but Santorini is on our small but exlusive list which breaks that rule.

Happy to answer any specific questions too (with less rambling, promise!) :thumbs:
 
Hi Fabs we went to Santorini last year in September stayed at Marillia Village Apartments & Suites Perivolos had a fantastic time lovely family run hotel defiantly recommend it, we met up with TP member Kelac Kelly if you look at posts started by her she put some images on also theres alink in one of my post to TP member Dimmitri check out his photos stunning

Fira and Oia Clicky Linky

Doors of Santorini Clicky Linky

Arthur and Marthas Adventures in Santorini Clicky Linky Part2 Clicky linky A bit Of Good Fun

TP member Dimmitri check out his photos

Dave
 
Last edited:
Only visited for a day there on our cruise last year, but we will be going back, both Santorini and Rhodes were fantastic places. (For history and things to do I suspect Rhodes has the slight edge for me though).
 
Guys, these ar fantastic replies and great photos on those links, I'm really grateful for the time you've taken to reply. One more question if I may, although we have a car for the duration we always like to eat locally to the hotel in the evening. On Kefalonia, we were very lucky in that there were loads of tavernas close by, which do you think would be the best town/village on Santorini for this?
 
In Perivolos we found eating great, most of the tavernas were close 10 min leisurely stroll or a short taxi ride away although our hotel was quite on the outskirts of town, than the ones closer to town like that Kelly stayed in
 
Last edited:
Food is great anywhere in Greece I reckon, I went with friends to Santorini many years ago, it's a stunning place, I'm not sure if you can still take tours out to the active volcano but if you can it's worth it. The black sand beaches are cool and of course there's lots of olde greeky buildings to go with the spectaculat sunsets. In tavernas away from the major towns you'll not find english spoken as much so take your greek phrase book.
 
Steep said:
Food is great anywhere in Greece I reckon, I went with friends to Santorini many years ago, it's a stunning place, I'm not sure if you can still take tours out to the active volcano but if you can it's worth it. The black sand beaches are cool and of course there's lots of olde greeky buildings to go with the spectaculat sunsets. In tavernas away from the major towns you'll not find english spoken as much so take your greek phrase book.
Click to expand...

Thanks Steep. One of the things that always draws us back to Greece is the people and the food.
 
Steep said:
I'm not sure if you can still take tours out to the active volcano but if you can it's worth it. The black sand beaches are cool
Click to expand...

Yes you can, we went on a trip across last year, and the black sand most def ain't cool, it's really (and i mean really) bleddy hot!
 
WRT your food question, we found that the main strip in Kamari had plenty of choice and ate somewhere different every night. The strip is right along the beach as well, so you get the sound of waves lapping as you eat - very relaxing.

We did find a couple of restaurant we really liked - will try and find the name of them for you...

K.
 
kh_42 said:
WRT your food question, we found that the main strip in Kamari had plenty of choice and ate somewhere different every night. The strip is right along the beach as well, so you get the sound of waves lapping as you eat - very relaxing.

We did find a couple of restaurant we really liked - will try and find the name of them for you...

K.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Kamari does look good. Taverna recommendations would be extremely well received. :thumbs:
 
Marc, I can recommend Perissa for a nice quiet resort, it's in the south.

We really enjoyed Santorini and Perissa was superb. There were quite a few tavernas but places like Perivolos and Kamari were only a walk or short taxi journey away with more tavernas and restaurants.

We hired a car for 2 days and pretty much did the whole island. There were a couple of bits we missed but if our car had turned up as booked we would have had 3 days.

Our boat trip to the volcano was cancelled due to the weather - don't go with the trip that the tour rep tries to sell you - we went for a wander down the road and went to one that was being offered with a travel place and it was half the price and a choice of days.

I've pm'd you the links to mine and Dan's photos and will bring along the guide book and that palaver to the Greenwich meet next week if you want
 
Right, just a quick update. We went and booked our holiday this morning and booked......................................................Kefalonia.

I'm really grateful for all the info given here but unfortunately we were just not convinced that we would be occupied for the full two weeks in Santorini (Me possibly with the camera but I don't think Sue would be too impressed). We decided that we loved Kefalonia so much that we'd stump up the extra and go back there. Maybe one day we'll get to Santorini if we're looking at a week.

Again, thanks for all your replies and the links to the wonderful photos, hopefully I'll be able to supply some decent Greek Island pics myself later in the year (Didn't have an SLR last time we went).
 
Hello
I hope you have a great time in Kefalonia.
I went to Santorini and it’s really nice. I’d use the buses and taxis rather than hire a car.
The persevered city is great and Santorini may be the source of the Atlantis legend.
There is an open air cinema (generally English films with Greek subtitles. I saw from hell and Spiderman there), trips to the volcano and the second island beyond that which has a donkey ride to a small quite village with restaurant. The archaeological museum is very nice and rather modern. There is a small go cart track. Plenty of walking in the country side. Good shops, good restaurants, friendly people (who think of themselves as non Greek). Swimming is good early in the morning before the sand gets hot and crowded. I also went to one of the vineyards who had a good visitor centre and a traditional craft museum (where they had a great non alcoholic almond based drink). I could go on but in short you could well find stuff to do for two weeks fairly easily if you choose to go there another time.
 
EdBray said:
Yes you can, we went on a trip across last year, and the black sand most def ain't cool, it's really (and i mean really) bleddy hot!
Click to expand...

lololol I meant the ones on the other side of the island not the ones on the vocano itself!
 
ilikebowens said:
Hello
I hope you have a great time in Kefalonia.
I went to Santorini and it’s really nice. I’d use the buses and taxis rather than hire a car.
The persevered city is great and Santorini may be the source of the Atlantis legend.
There is an open air cinema (generally English films with Greek subtitles. I saw from hell and Spiderman there), trips to the volcano and the second island beyond that which has a donkey ride to a small quite village with restaurant. The archaeological museum is very nice and rather modern. There is a small go cart track. Plenty of walking in the country side. Good shops, good restaurants, friendly people (who think of themselves as non Greek). Swimming is good early in the morning before the sand gets hot and crowded. I also went to one of the vineyards who had a good visitor centre and a traditional craft museum (where they had a great non alcoholic almond based drink). I could go on but in short you could well find stuff to do for two weeks fairly easily if you choose to go there another time.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. We really like to be totally independent when we go away, hence the car hire.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top