Your Santorini Questions Answered!

Frequently asked questions on Santorini

1. What time of the year should someone travel to Santorini?

Santorini island has one of the longest seasons of any other greek island in Greece. The season starts at the beginning of April and ends in the middle of November. We highly recommend traveling in the spring and fall avoiding the months of July & August due to high temperatures. In addition, the temperatures are more comfortable and the hotel rates more moderate during spring and fall.

2. How many nights should someone stay on the island?

As US, Canadian, South American travellers may have shorter vacations and wish to include more than one Greek Island in their itinerary we recommend a minimum of 4 -5 nights. Santorini has many things to do and see if vacation time is longer.

3. Is Santorini children friendly?

Santorini is known for the ultimate couples’ destination. In the last 10 years, Santorini has become a wonderful destination for families with children of all ages. As the caldera hotels (clifftops) do not accept young children under certain ages, the Canaves Oia Epitome was created 3 years ago to accept children of all ages. Children will enjoy many activities on Santorini including: catamaran cruises - sea toys, horseback riding, cooking classes designed especially for children, biking tours etc.

4. Is Santorini a destination for people with mobility issues?

Santorini’s uniqueness does cause difficulties for people with mobility issues, especially with all the steps involved. It is important to know that if staff’s assistance is needed, waiting times will be longer. In addition, we should highlight that the majority of the island’s restaurants involve steps and highlights of the island such as catamaran cruises will be more difficult to access. With all these said, no one should miss visiting this spectacular island and our hotel staff will make it happen! If you had to select one of our hotels, we highly recommend Canaves Oia Epitome which has no steps!

5. Why should someone go to Santorini vs Mykonos?

Both islands are in the Cycladic Circle of the Aegean and so uniquely different, we recommend doing both. If you have to make a choice: Santorini is known for its views & its magnificent sights. It offers the most marvelous sunsets, you can watch the sky turn fifty shades of colours including purples, pinks and oranges. Mykonos offers great beaches, however Santorini with a catamaran offers the seas of the Aegean in a unique way.

6. How is the best way to get to the island?

We are fortunate that Santorini has an airport and great high speed service between Athens and other Greek Islands. We are blessed with having options based on timing/pricing/connections. If you ask us, we recommend taking a flight from Athens to Santorini, (35 minutes duration) and doing high speeds between nearby islands. In addition, there are numerous direct international flights from many European countries(such as London, Paris, Rome, Munich, Frankfurt etc.) to Santorini every day.

7. What other islands does Santorini combine well with?

The list is endless, Mykonos, Paros, Naxos, Crete are great combinations as well as other more off beaten track islands such as Sifnos, Milos and Ios.

8. What is there to do on the island?

The island offers a vast amount of options for all tastes! Highlights include daily sailing cruises either private or semi private and either morning or sunset inside Caldera. We also recommend wine tours, as Santorini is very famous for its white wines, authentic village tours, tour of the ancient site of Akrotiri, hiking tours, horseback riding, biking tours and of course wonderful cooking classes. All can be arranged with our concierge team.

9. Is Santorini safe?

Santorini, like all of Greece, is a safe travel destination. Always keep your valuables safe, like any busy place.

10. I hear Santorini is expensive? Is this true?

We can definitely say that it depends on the experience one wishes to have. It’s truly an individual choice. Santorini offers top quality hotels, restaurants and shops. Hotels in Santorini come in various price ranges, as do restaurants and local shopping. TheCaldera offers the best views on the island and Oia is known for being the most elegant village in Santorini. The hotel product in Oia tends to be more expensive than other parts of the island due to its iconic beauty, picturesque background and its gastronomic restaurants.

11. Why is Santorini so popular?

Santorini is the Venice of Greece. Its unique landscape, phenomenal views not seen anywhere in the world makes Santorini a must visit, lifetime experience when one comes to Greece. There are many reasons why the small Greek island of Santorini is so popular as a holiday destination. You can easily fall in love with the island’s vibe, view sand atmosphere. It offers romantic settings surrounded by rich culture and the most spectacular sunsets in the world.

12. We hear the taxi situation in Santorini is difficult. Should our guests rent a car, a motorbike or ATV?

Yes, taxis are very limited in Santorini, however private taxis are numerous! Our concierge team, 24/7 available, is always willing to assist all our guests with booking their transfers. If someone needs to rent private transportation in Santorini and their budget does not allow for a car and driver we only recommend renting a car or a motorbike. Please notify our concierge team weeks in advance in order to arrange it accordingly. For safety reasons, we do not recommend renting ATV’s.

13. We hear the cruise ship market makes Santorini too touristy and overcrowded. Is this true?

It's true when it comes to the main town of Fira where all cruise ships dock. Oia, located a minimum of 30 minutes from Fira, is less visited by cruise ship clients. Our concierge team knows exactly when cruise ships are on the island and will recommend alternate itineraries to our in-house guests to avoid the cruise ship travellers.