Santorini
A drowned volcano ringed by cliff villages, a Bronze Age town kept under the ash, vines grown low against the wind, and a runway six kilometres from Fira.
- Arrival
- Santorini (Thira) International · JTR
- To the village
- About 20 minutes to Imerovigli by car
- Private jets
- Parking permission through a licensed handler
- Best time
- May to October
The city
Caldera, ash and Assyrtiko.
Santorini is the rim of a volcano. The Minoan eruption, some 3,600 years ago, left a flooded caldera, with Fira, Imerovigli and Oia strung along its cliffs and the dark island of Nea Kameni in the middle; its last eruption ended in 1950. At Akrotiri, a Bronze Age town lies where the ash buried it, and its wall paintings survived with it.
The season runs from May to October, and from June to August it barely rains. The sea is warmest late in the summer. Lunch is a glass of Assyrtiko from vines coiled into low baskets against the wind; dinner faces the caldera as the light goes, and this autumn the MICHELIN Guide adds the island to its Greek selection.
Arriving
One runway, permission first.
Santorini International lies six kilometres south-east of Fira, near Kamari, on an airfield that is both civil and military, and it is open around the clock.
- Athens 40 min
- Istanbul 1 h 10
- Nice 2 h 35
- Kigali 5 h 50
- Johannesburg 9 h 15 long-range jet
When to go
May to October.
Dry, bright summers and wet winters. May to October is the season, with almost no rain from June to August; the rain returns in October and is heaviest from December to February.
- 14° J 114 16°
- 14° F 81 16°
- 16° M 66 16°
- 19° A 28 16°
- 22° M 14 19°
- 26° J 4 22°
- 28° J 1 23°
- 27° A 1 24°
- 25° S 13 24°
- 22° O 61 22°
- 19° N 69 19°
- 16° D 102 17°
What to see and do
Days in and around Santorini.
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Landmark
Akrotiri
A Bronze Age town preserved under volcanic ash, excavated since 1967 and known for its frescoes.
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Landmark
Nea Kameni
The young volcanic island at the centre of the caldera, first above the water in 197 BC.
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Landmark
Ancient Thera
The Dorian city on Mesa Vouno, 396 metres above the sea.
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Culture
Museum of Prehistoric Thera
Wall paintings from Akrotiri and the gold ibex figurine lead the finds from the island's excavations shown in this museum in Fira.
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Nature
Fira to Oia caldera trail
About 10.5 km along the caldera rim, the walk passes Firostefani and Imerovigli before crossing open country to Oia in three to five hours.
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Food & wine
Estate Argyros
Georgios Argyros founded the estate in 1903 at Episkopi Gonias, where vines over 150 years old are trained in the island's kouloura baskets.
Official site -
Food & wine
Domaine Sigalas
Outside Oia, the domaine runs vineyard and winery tours, tutored tastings and a restaurant pairing dishes with its Mavrotragano and Nychteri.
Official site -
Food & wine
Venetsanos Winery
Tastings at the first Santorini winery to export the island's wine take place among old winemaking tools, looking over the caldera.
Official site -
Culture
Tomato Industrial Museum D. Nomikos
Housed in a tomato paste factory at Vlychada that worked from 1945 to 1981, the museum opened in 2014 with machinery dating back to 1890.
Official site
Where to stay
On the caldera and by the black sand.
Shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these hotels.
- Istoria Hotel Two addresses in one: twelve suites on the black sand at Perivolos and nine cave suites facing the caldera at Firostefani.
- Perivolas Lifestyle Houses White houses on the hillside at Oia, wide open to the view.
- Andronis Arcadia Suites and villas of up to four bedrooms at the edge of Oia, a short stroll from the village.
- Kivotos Santorini A handful of suites and villas in the calm of Imerovigli, one of them given over to the spa.
- Katikies Garden Santorini Forty rooms and suites around a garden in the island capital, and the Katikies house made for families.
- Canaves Epitome Fifty-three suites and villas on the cliffs above Ammoudi, away from the crowds of central Oia.
- Canaves Sunday Just eight suites in the pedestrian centre of Oia.
- Katikies Santorini Two houses on the cliff at Oia, Pelagos and Gea, each with one MICHELIN Key, sharing a heated main pool and two others.
- Andronis Concept One MICHELIN Key; 28 rooms high on Imerovigli, each with an infinity-edge plunge pool, and the Kallos Spa.
- Canaves Oia Suites Suites and villas in Oia, one with its pool in a cave, and dinner at Petra above the caldera.
- Andronis Boutique Hotel Twenty-four suites cut into the rock face, with private pools or hot tubs.
- Andronis Luxury Suites Thirty-nine rooms in Oia, with a spa and a restaurant of its own.
- Santo Pure Oia Suites & Villas The former Santo Maris, five minutes on foot from Oia, now 83 suites and two villas set around six pools.
- Aigialos Fifteen residences and suites made from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century houses on the edge of Fira.
- Astarte Suites Fifteen suites on the caldera cliff near Akrotiri village, around an infinity pool.
- Magma Resort Santorini, The Unbound Collection by Hyatt Away from the caldera, 59 rooms and suites among the vineyards of the north-east coast.
- Mystique, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Santorini Forty-three suites and villas cut into the cliff at Oia since 2007, with a wine cave and two pools on the volcanic rock.
- Katikies Chromata Santorini At the highest point of Imerovigli, where Koukoumavlos is the restaurant and the private pools are kept at about 23 °C.
- Grace Hotel, Auberge Collection Twenty-one rooms and suites on the caldera, most with a heated plunge pool, and the only hotel on the island with two MICHELIN Keys.
Where to dine
Stars on the caldera.
From the MICHELIN Guide Athens, Thessaloniki and Santorini 2027, published on 23 October 2026.
- Lycabettus Two Michelin stars Contemporary Andronis Luxury Suites, Oia
- Lauda One Michelin star Greek and French Andronis Boutique Hotel, Oia
- Selene One Michelin star Greek Fira
- Botrini’s Santorini One Michelin star Greek and Italian Santorini
Elsewhere in Greece
More reasons to come.
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Athens
The Parthenon, the Plaka, and the seaside hotels of Vouliagmeni.
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Mykonos
Windmills, beach clubs, and a runway that takes private jets.
- Corfu A Venetian old town and the green coves of the Ionian.
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Elounda
Resorts on the Gulf of Mirabello, in the east of Crete.
- Rhodes The medieval town of the Knights, inside its walls.
- Costa Navarino Golf courses and resorts in the south-west of the Peloponnese.
Flying to Santorini?
Choose how you arrive.
A Business or First Class seat on a scheduled airline, or an aircraft of your own. Tell us the date and how many are travelling, and we reply with one final price, our margin included.