Santorini easily became our favorite desitnation the minute we were there. My husband and I traveled there in September of 2017 and it was actually the first time, my husband had ever been to Europe. We decided to head to Athens and stay there for 2 nights and then fly over to Santorini so we didn’t waste a large portion of the day on a ferry. We stayed in Oia, Santorini for 4 nights so we wanted as much time on the island as we could get.
While we plan our vacations well ahead of time and do a ton of research on where we are traveling, we also like to go with the flow. Too many scheduled plans winds up being way more tiring than enjoyable for us. We knew there were a few things we wanted to do but one of the main things we aimed to do was just find good restaurants to eat at and enjoy the views. Santorini can be a very luxurious place to vacation, but we personally didn’t need that. We enjoyed wandering and finding our way, stumbling on quiet, hidden places, and taking in the endless, breathtaking views.
As mentioned before, we stayed in the heart of Oia. We personally felt it was the best place to stay. We visited the other popular towns and the capital of Santorini, Fira actually seemed more crowded to us than Oia did. While the towns get crowded during the day because of the cruise ships, we were still able to find quiet pathways when wandering around Oia. It was nice to kind of go against the ‘must do’ lists that you see everywhere or kind of tweak them to make it your own. While I don’t want to give away our secrets that made us have one of the best vacations ever, it is important to know that the island offers a lot more than what’s usually talked about…plus it doesn’t have to be expensive. So here are some gems we found:
Our Hotel
I like to find hotels that include breakfast for your stay so I was lucky enough to find one that had it and was still in the heart of Oia. We chose to stay at Aethrio Hotel and were extremely happy we did so. They have a nice pool and the all of the staff was so pleasant. Eventhough it was in the heart of busy Oia, our hotel actually had some beautiful, quiet paths just outside of the entrance gate that made it a hidden gem all on its own. Our room had a window that over looked a patio with chairs all to ourselves and all the doors and windows had the quintessential Greek island blue color. The hotel even had it’s own rooftop for sunset viewing and the whole main hotel area felt like it’s own little village.
Food & Drinks
Restaurants were one thing that we didn’t really plan at all. In Athens we kinda just plopped where it looked good/wasn’t too expensive and every meal was great (hello Greek and European food!). I mainly use Tripadvisor for reviews so we did quickly look up some places but we utimately just did what we were feeling at the time.
1. The morning we arrived to the island we wanted to get some food and after checking in we went to wander around the town. We stumbled upon Meteor Cafe and got a quick bite and we instantly knew this island was something special. The views of this place were out of this world and the music the cafe played solidified that we were meant to be there.
2. Ammoudi Bay is famous and with that, the restaurants are some of the most sought after to dine at. I knew this was popular but I didn’t realize the extent that some people go to to get reservations. Looking back, it was actually a miracle we were ever even able to eat there and have a perfect seat WITHOUT a reservation. We walked down the steps (these steps are honestly no joke and longgg) around 4 or 4:30ish. We figured if we got there earlier than the peak dinner rush we could at least eat there and knew we would probably be finished before the sunset. There are differents restaurants all in a row lining Ammoudi Bay and I remember it beging difficult to really know what was what. We chose the first resaurant, Sunset Ammoudi, on our left when coming off the steps….not sure how but we were seated right away. We were sat when the sun was still up but ready to set and wer enjoyed our entire meal as the sun continued to set. We watched a perfect Santorini sunset from start to finish without a reservation and it was magical. So timing is everything and if you do make a reservation, make it around 4:30 or 5 if you are there in the September.
3. It seems like wineries on the island don’t get enough discussion but we knew we wanted to enjoy wine tasting one of the days. I researched wineries and we decided to give Santo Wines Winery a go. Now I tell everyone to go there. The views are insane and the wine was great. (PS- we don’t have wine knowledge but know the kind of wine we like and don’t. We loved this wine.) We took the bus to the winery in Pyrgos from Oia and didn’t make any reservation. I don’t exactly remember the way the menu was set up but we were allowed to choose where we wanted to sit outdoors and we got a tray of 6 glasses of different wines, breadsticks, olives, and cheese. A recurring feeling on this trip was magical (which I usually only feel in Disney World) and it’s no exaggeration that drinking wine over looking the entire island and caldera was like something out of a fairytale.
To Do
1. A day of sailing was also on our list of things that would be cool to do. We didn’t want to go crazy and spend a ton of money but we also didn’t want it to feel overly touristy. This was another thing that happened that shouldn’t have and we don’t know how we got lucky. We were walking along one of the main busy paths in Oia where there are stores and excursion companies. There are a ton of sailing companies that all have brochures of what they offer. We took a few and mulled it over but wasn’t sure if we wanted to spend $100-$200pp for it. We talked with our hotel front desk if they knew of any that are better than others and we looked up what they recommended. (I honestly couldn’t tell you what company we went with but we did look back at our credit card statement to figure it out!) We chose a semi-private morning sail with Barca Sailing, booking the night before. It was a bit more expensive than the other popular boat excursions you constantly see being advertised but we quickly figured out why. I believe the max of the semi-private sail was around 10 people. We got to the dock with the car they hired to pick us up and we found out we were the ONLY ones who booked a trip for the morning sail. So we paid semi-private price for essentialy a private sail. It was just the two of us, the captain, and one crew member. The two of them were beyond great company but also let us keep to ourselves if we wanted as well. They have areas they always go to but because it was just us they also asked us where we wanted to go. They cooked a fresh lunch for us which was one of the best meals we had, swam in multiple spots, and just relaxed out on the water. We passed other boats that were the cheaper options with 100+ people on the boats. We once again stumbled on a hidden gem and recommend to anyone going.
2. Watch the sunset is an obvious ‘do’ in Santorini and especially in Oia but the secret here is to watch it in a different location every night. You don’t have to pack in with all the other people to get a special view. We only watched from Oia but went to different spots every time, one time being during dinner at Ammoudi Bay, and one time from ‘the castle’ as they refer to it. The castle is crazy crowded and not necessary if crowds are not your thing. Watching from Ammoudi Bay is 100% worth it. Watching from a random path with no one around is also 100% worth it.
We spent 4 night but we still feel like we could have stayed longer! We got to experience a lot of what Santorini offers but still just scraped the surface. It is a place we will for sure be going back to sooner rather than later and we now highly suggest it to anyone looking for a new destination to visit. If you’ve visited Greece and Santorini, I’d love to hear some of your favorite must do’s and favorites!
Don’t forget to save this post for future tips during your Santorini vacation! Save this to your pinterest to remember all the hidden gems and tricks!
