Indulge / Cyclades, Greece
Santorini Without the Crush
Santorini · 7 min read
Santorini in August is a queue with a view. In April, May or late October it becomes what it was always supposed to be: a volcanic rim with whitewashed villages on top and very good wine growing in the ash.
The island rewards travellers who invert the standard schedule.
Where to stay
Oia has the famous sunset and the highest prices. Imerovigli is quieter, has the same caldera view and is a fifteen minute walk from Fira. Pyrgos, inland and high, has almost no crowds and a completely different, older character.
A cave hotel with a plunge pool on the caldera edge is the classic indulgence, and in shoulder season it can cost half what it does in August.
Timing the day
Cruise ships arrive around nine and leave by six. Walk the caldera path from Fira to Oia at seven in the morning and you will meet almost nobody on a three hour route with continuous views.
Watch the sunset from Imerovigli or from a winery terrace rather than from the crowd in Oia castle. It is the same sun.
Wine, food and the other coast
Assyrtiko vines are grown in low woven baskets to survive the wind, and the wines are mineral, dry and unlike anything else in Greece. Several wineries run tastings with caldera views and no crowds at all.
The east coast beaches are black sand and unglamorous, but Vlychada with its wind carved cliffs is genuinely strange and beautiful. Ancient Akrotiri, a Bronze Age town buried by the eruption, deserves an hour.
Why it feels like a gift
The caldera view from a private terrace at breakfast is a genuinely rare thing, and in shoulder season it is affordable.
Go in May. Bring a jumper for the evenings and thank yourself later.
