The 10 best things to do in Santorini
Santorini might be renowned for sultry sunsets but there's a lot more to this madly picturesque island which has been a magnet for tourists since the 1970s. Often mooted as a possible inspiration for the mythic sunken city of Atlantis, the volcanic windswept southern tip is home to some of the island's most striking black- and red-sand beaches, while the centre has quirky museums, tiny hamlets and family-run wineries. Santorini's better-known northern half is home to striking white villages perched on the crater's black flanks that descend in a sheer swoop to the deep blue Aegean Sea: a visual feast.
All our recommendations below have been hand selected and tested by our resident destination expert to help you discover the best things to do in Santorini. Find out more below, or for more Santorini inspiration, see our guides to the island's best hotels restaurants, bars, and beaches.
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Best free things to do
Watch the sunset at Oia
Seek out the best view
The most popular spot amongst the crumbled remains of Oia's Venetian castle high above the caldera gets busy, especially in summer, so get there at least two hours ahead of time if you want a spot to see the sun set in a blaze of glory over the caldera, rather than a forest of selfie sticks.
Insider tip: For sunsets that are just as spectacular but without the jostling crowds, make a beeline for the neighbouring village of Imerovigli, sometimes called the 'balcony of the Aegean' because it sits at the caldera rim's highest point.
Kalderimi hiking trail
Loop along the caldera's rim
Eschew buses, cars and donkeys fighting for a place along Oia's narrow roads and follow the kalderimi hiking trail. Not for the faint of heart, this cobbled path loops along the caldera's rim for some 10km (6 miles) from Theotokopoulos square behind the Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral in Fira, to Oia's Profitis Elias church, via the high flung hamlets of Firostefani and Imerovigli.
Insider tip: The path is uneven and steep in places so allow four or five hours if you want to hike the entire route, take plenty of water, and beat the crowds by heading out at dawn or in the late afternoon.
Skaros Rock
Hike to the top of Imerovigli
Incredibly, this wind-worn rock near Imerovigli was once a settlement of 200 homes along with a mediaeval castle, but the dwellings were abandoned over the centuries and now there's nothing left. It's a stiff hike to reach this rocky spur jutting out over the caldera's edge beneath Imerovigli but it's worth it for dizzy views over the crater to sister island Thirassia beyond.
Insider's tip: The blue-domed chapel of Panagia Theoskepasti seemingly hovering in thin air above the deep blue Aegean Sea is the one that stars in all those flying dress Instagram photoshoots.
Best for families
Caldera boat cruise
Explore the volcanic crater
Views of the caldera from above may be spectacular, but taking a boat into the centre of the world's only sunken volcanic crater is equally awe inspiring. The half-day cruise – which includes stop-offs to swim in hot springs and a visit to Palea Kameni, the volcano's blackened heart – ends with a glass of bubbly and sunset views from Ammoudi's taverna-lined bay.
Insider tip: For a more authentic trip join local fishermen as they set out at sunset to haul up their nets and set their lobster pots. This fascinating three-hour tour ends with a brine-fresh fish supper prepared from the day's catch (fishingtoursantorini.gr)
Santorini's beaches
Discover coves and crystal-clear water
After a long day's sightseeing, Santorini's beaches are the perfect place to cool off. Backed by Mesa Vouno, the island's highest mountain, Perissa and neighbouring Perivolos share a 7km stretch of black-sand beach. For something more secluded seek out White Beach whose coves lined with chalk-coloured pebbles and peacock-blue waters are best reached by boat.
Insider tip: Although it's tempting to dive into Red Beach's ochre pebble-strewn strand, landslides are frequent here. Err on the side of caution and swim elsewhere.
Best for culture
The Museum of Prehistoric Thera
Discover the island's history
Plunge deep into the history of this volcanic island that was formed by one of the world's most powerful volcanic explosions known to date. Best visited before a trip to the archaeological site of Akrotiri, the Museum of Prehistoric Thera houses those vivid Minoan frescoes, while the smaller archaeological museum showcases a hotchpotch of ancient artefacts ranging from Cycladic statues to ceramics.
Insider tip: In the cool gloom of a 19th-century cave house, the Ligonis Folklore museum's quirky collection of antique furnishings and family heirlooms offer a deep dive into more modern times; as do sea-themed exhibits at Greek artist Giorgos Kypris' Mati Gallery close by.
The Bronze Age settlement of Akrotiri
Turn back the clock
Although no bodies were found buried under the lava and ash, the Cycladic Bronze Age settlement of Akrotiri, which was destroyed by a mega-earthquake in c.1600 BC, is widely known as 'the Greek Pompeii'.
Strolling through this beautifully conserved site and its alleys lined with near-intact two-storey houses, workshops and walls covered in colourful frescoes is like stepping back in time.
Insider tip: Sweet-toothed travellers should stop off at the Family Bakery in Megalochori on the way to Akrotiri to buy melitinia (sweet cheese pie) and kopania (raisin rolls) to enjoy – along with breathtaking views – at Akrotiri's clifftop 19th-century lighthouse.
Best for local lifestyle
Santorini Wine Tour
Visit the local vineyards
Grown close to the ground in a nest-like kouloura (named for Thessaloniki's famed koulouri bread rings), Santorini's grapes have been used to produce the island's unique wines since Minoan times. From Venetsanos' cliff-perched winery to the cool cave cellars of Gavalas, the island's oldest producer, sip the syrupy-sweet dessert wine vinsanto and more along the island's way-marked wine route.
Insider tip: To avoid drinking and driving, local experts at the Santorini Wine Tour lead half-day guided excursions along the winding vine-fringed, hamlet-studded wine route, with tips from an expert sommelier, a wine pairing session and visits to three different producers.
Visit Thirassia
Travel back in time on Santorini's sister island
Locals will tell you that Thirassia is like Santorini 50 years ago. Make the 10-minute boat taxi hop from Ammoudi bay to Riva's tiny port where you can judge for yourself as you lounge on near-deserted beaches, climb to Manolas – the island's high flung capital (which is like a miniature version of Fira) – or visit villages strewn with abandoned cave houses.
Insider tip: Learn more about the history of Santorini's sister island on a guided hiking tour with local company Santorini Experts.
Visit local villages
Venture beyond the tourist trail
If you're keen to soak up a slice of authentic local life, turn your back on the island's crowded caldera and seek out the smaller villages inland. Steep-streeted Pyrgos village is favoured by foodies, who flock here to enjoy mezedes in dozens of tavernas lining the hamlet's car-free cobbled paths, while Messaria's ancient cave houses and mansions are a magnet for history lovers.
Insider tip: Visit ancient Greek music lovers Argie and Giannis at Symposium, a workshop in an old kanaves cave winery where Giannis makes ancient Greek instruments and plays them in live shows.
How we choose
Every attraction and activity in this curated list has been tried and tested by our destination expert, to provide you with their insider perspective. We cover a range of budgets and styles, from world-class museums to family-friendly theme parks – to best suit every type of traveller. We update this list regularly to keep up with the latest openings and provide up to date recommendations.
About our expert
Based in Greece for more than a decade, Heidi Fuller-Love is Telegraph Travel's Santorini expert. Endlessly wowed by those captivating caldera views, she loves visiting in winter when she has the famed volcanic island all to herself.
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- Times
This untapped Greek island is a stylish alternative to Santorini
The luggage said it all. Into Santorini airport arrivals swept a sculpted troupe of New Yorkers, fresh-faced off the connecting flight from JFK, 'priority' luggage tags bobbing upon stainless steel suitcases that were wheeled to blacked-out Mercedes SUVs. Each couple were separately whizzed off to a luxury hotel, likely with nightly room rates in the house-deposit price range. Meanwhile, as they were checking in, we had made it to Santorini's tiny port, our scruffy luggage looking like a dog's dinner on the concrete as we unglamorously removed socks and trainers from puffed-up plane feet before boarding our no-shoes boat. We weren't staying on Santorini. Instead, we were leaving instantly and sailing to Folegandros. This tiny Cycladic island has no airport or cruise ship terminal, and there's only one daily hour-long ferry from Santorini, which we had missed. We had to jump on a little local taxi vessel instead. Luckily, we kept our luggage light. But that's exactly what we wanted. While Santorini is dealing with overtourism, Folegandros is rarely visited. You'll know other small Cycladic islands have recently found fame too — Sifnos, Milos and Tinos among them — all of which are beautifully untouched and 'as lovely as Santorini 25 years ago'. However, a new hotel on Folegandros, Gundari, wants to offer the serenity of those secret Cyclades islands as well as stylish digs you would expect to find on Santorini. There's a reason Folegandros lags in the Greek-island tourism race. Take apart the Greek names 'Fole-gandros' or 'Gun-dari' and both derive from the idea of rocky places, or hard land. That was certainly evident as we bumped along the stony track to Gundari, eliciting glances from nonplussed mountain goats and lone donkeys. (Later in the trip we couldn't find a taxi driver who would agree to take on this track, so be sure to hire a 4×4 or use Gundari's private transfer buses to get around; more on those later.) Folegandros has only one road and no car mechanic or hospital, so the lack of development, having just come from hyper-stylised Santorini, was marked. As we jolted along, Gundari emerged on the horizon, as if in a desert heat haze. That's because the hotel — all 27 villas, main building and outposts — is built entirely with the island's rust-coloured stone. No white Cubist angles or Cycladic blue domes here. It's a pleasing effect, with the additional use of woven willow canopies, olive trees and wooden screens making Gundari look as if it has grown naturally out of the rock. • 16 of the best quiet Greek islands The hotel isn't on the shore but on a clifftop with screensaver Aegean views; on this side of the island guests are more protected from the Meltemi, a strong northerly wind that blows through the Greek islands in summer. It may sound a hardship to be without both beach and buzz on a Med holiday, but Gundari has a spectacular infinity swimming pool to compensate, and every room has its own private pool too. As for buzz, there is Orizon for dinner under the stars within a pretty walled garden, overseen by Lefteris Lazarou and Nikos Michailidis. The rockfish soup and squid with basil pesto were so good I ordered the same dishes on consecutive nights. Over the next 24 months, Gundari will convert a derelict farm building into a small sundowner bar and open a beach-club style restaurant on the port. But Gundari isn't really about buzz. Of the couples staying there — we were the only guests with children — few banded together to socialise, and bedtime was early. Which, if I'm not making myself clear, was a good thing. 'Our lot tends to avoid Santorini like the plague,' the owner Ricardo Larriera told me. 'Folegandros visitors are real loyalists; they've been coming here for years for peace and quiet, so we're not changing the island. We're just giving them somewhere new to stay.' Unusually for the owner of a five-star resort, Larriera lives on site throughout the season (May to October). The Australian is passionate about Folegandros, which became clear when he heard that a German guest loved Greek honey and promptly drove off to buy her a jar direct from the source ('You'll love it! If you don't try it, it'd be like me visiting Germany and drinking Japanese beer all week!'). • 28 of the best holiday villas in Greece Larriera's business partner is Eleftherios 'Terry' Seremetis, whose family hails from Folegandros. Ask to see a copy of The Island of Folegandros, a short printed history edited by Seremetis. In his foreword, he recounts the extraordinary story of his great-grandfather Eleftherios, who drowned in the waters off Folegandros when a rescue mission went horribly wrong. That was more than a century ago and this Gundari project marks Seremetis's return to the island. Gundari is obviously a labour of love rather than the first property in an empire. This was proven by Larriera, who was forever urging guests to get out and see the island, when he could have just as easily encouraged them to stay put and rack up a big hotel bill. On our first day we took the hotel minibus to Agali Beach (two trips daily; £8pp each way), a shingle cove with a handful of tavernas and B&Bs built into the steep hillsides overlooking the bay. It was absurdly idyllic for almost June — just two families playing in the shallows — and with a Mythos beer and Greek salad for £10. But it was basic too, with no shade (hikers walk over the cliff to Agios Nikolaos for shade under its pines) and an unkempt shoreline that's no match for a Balearic beach. The real pull is the peace; it was mind-boggling to compare this hushed scene with the crowds on Santorini, only 50 minutes away. On another evening, we took the Gundari transfer to Chora, the island's pedestrianised old town. This truly is Cycladic fantasy made real, with a fortified 12th-century castle to explore, tiny white-domed churches on every square, and cats posing beside bougainvillea as if they've had social-media training. Chora is also thriving, which is welcome compared with the remoteness of Gundari and the rawness of Agali Beach. Local businesses have agreed on a matching paint palette of greys, greens and Mediterranean blues, and each is marked by hand-painted wooden signs. Restaurants use only timber chairs and tables — no plastic stackables in Chora, thank you very much — and planters froth over with lavender and jasmine, the result being a postcard-perfect village that demands Mamma Mia 3 be made, if only because this would provide the dream location. 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You can book a tour with her through Gundari (from £34pp; As we lurched along the track back to Gundari, Gkiouri still telling tales of hardship — stranded shepherds and, more recently, water shortages — I realised that was the island's attraction for travellers. You have to work hard to reach Folegandros; you have to work hard to get around the island; and you have to work hard if you want to access the best beach. But the rewards are worth it: no crowds, no noise, no traffic, no selfie sticks, no dress code, no queues, no need for restaurant reservations. When I thought back to the swarms of international arrivals at Santorini airport, there to see and be seen — and that the island welcomes 40 visitors for every single one who alights on Folegandros — it made me appreciate that such tranquillity is priceless. And with no airport, no cruise ship terminal and only one road, that doesn't look like changing on Folegandros any time soon, even with a new luxury hotel. 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