Location: Santorini
Top Things to do in Santorini
10 Things to do Good for Big Groups in Santorini That You Shouldn't Miss
Even if you’ve never been to this Cyclades island in the Aegean Sea, you’d still recognize it immediately – candy-colored houses carved into cliffs, sapphire waters, gleaming white buildings topped with half-spheres the color of a stormy sky. Here you’ll find peace as you roam the black sand beaches or the streets of a provincial village like Imerovigli. Beautiful Oia is world famous for its sunsets, which seem tinted with every shade of an artist’s palette.
Restaurants in Santorini
1. Hiking Trail Fira - Oia
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 3,221 reviews
This is the most obvious hike you can make on the island of Santorini and it will lead you - if you have not discovered them by now - through the sister villages of Fira, Firostefani and Imerovigli, going higher up all the time above the caldera. It then continues through the expanding housing in northern direction and it finally goes to Oia via a really magnificent path. This hike offers many changing views on the volcano, the sea and the caldera. This hike takes two hours and a half (actual walking time), but the total time can reach 4 or 5 hours. It is ideal to leave Firà at about 10am and in this way you will arrive in Oia already between 1 and 2pm. You can then eat in Oia in one of the many bars. In the afternoon you can descend to the little harbour of Ammoudi in Oia. From the bus square in Fira (when you get to Fira by bus) you have to continue to the very busy square of Theotokopoulou. This is the modern centre of Fira with a lot of travel agencies, banks and bars. In the corner, in between the George's Snack Corner and the Pelican travel agency you go left, in the direction of the caldera. You can then take one of the three streets off the right, they all lead towards the higher part of Fira. Once at the Archaeological Museum higher up (this museum is open till 3pm, but not on Mondays), take a left, past the upper station of the cable car. You then go right above the caldera, until the red-brown building higher up that dominates this neighbourhood of Firostefani: it is the P.M. Nomikos Conference Centre, where a lot of exhibitions take place – on the extending corner in front of this building many people take pictures of the marvellous panoramic view. On the left of the Centre you follow the tiled road and stairs, while you enjoy the view – in front of you you can see the even higher situated village of Imerovigli.
Reviewed By SharonR227 - Wayzata, United States
We took the bus from Oia towards Fira and asked the bus driver to let us off in Imerovigli. The nearby tourist office told us where to find the cliff walk trail. It was great to begin in Imerovigli, because then you are walking downhill to Fira. The views are fabulous, and there was a nice cooling breeze. We had good walking shoes and enjoyed seeing Skaros rock in the distance, the Mylos windmill, and the gorgeous blue domed church and 3 bell tower just beyond the Mama Thira Taverna. There are so many picturesque white washed dwellings, wildflowers, and stunning caldera views that it is a photographer's dream. We took the bus from Fira back to Oia. It was a great morning walk!
2. Ancient Thera
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 2,292 reviews
This 11th century BC Dorian settlement includes remains from Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods.
Reviewed By 335kimberleyp - Grimsby, United Kingdom
Ancient Thera is at the top of a mountain and well worth a visit for anyone enjoying archeology . Just a word of warning it is worth the 10euro fare for a mini bus up and down the winding road then to access the site it is a tiring uphill climb to the summit , the stunning views alone are superb and the bus allows two hours visit which is ample time to inspect the remains of the ancient Hellenistic city .
3. Museum of Prehistoric Thira
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1,871 reviews
Using finds from various excavations, this museum traces the course of prehistoric Thira from the late Neolithic to the late Cycladic I period.
Reviewed By Tripmonkey00 - Horsham, United Kingdom
Visited here while on our last day in santorini a great museum with amazing artefacts and wall paintings a must while on santorini i recommend visiting Akrotiri first to get a sense of the way of life of ancient people and to see the original setting of the wall paintings displayed
4. Nea Kameni
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 419 reviews
Reviewed By duhoz - Beroun, Czech Republic
Nea Kameni used to by part of Santorini, the caldera was formed by multiplied eruptions . Many people alike me come on the organized tour which means you spend around 90 minutes there together with your guide. This is sufficient time to discover and wander around the volcano and climb up to he 130-meter-high volcanic top to enjoy the panoramic views and while walking the trails you see couple of actives holes emitting fumes and also smell it. The volcano is monitored closely by scientists. It is better to have a proper shoes rather then flip-flops. The tour does not include the petty entrance fee (2 or 3 Euro).
5. Santo Winery
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 3,949 reviews
Reviewed By 642mariannec
Whilst driving around Santorini, we stumbled across this cool winery, with an amazing view of the caldera, we had a 10 sample wine flight of beautiful Greek wines, alongside some local cheeses, a perfect mix, our waiter Dennis was very informative and friendly. Definitely worth a visit, you will not be disappointed, we had a great day! Thank you ????
6. Amoudi Bay
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 3,828 reviews
Reviewed By stardust2newyorkcity - New York City, United States
Ammoudi Bay feels like a quintessential Greek island experience to me. You can walk a rustic path from the town of Oia down to the bay...smelling donkey doo-doo then entire way and chatting with fellow travelers and locals along the way. Once down at the water's edge there is a path for walking around the rocky coast and exploring a bit...you can watch the famous Santorini sunset from here...AND you can have an amazing lunch at the Sunset Ammoudi Tavern--here you can gobble sun-dried octopus, grilled squid, fried red mullet, fried sardines and anchovies, and grilled whole scorpion fish--absolutely wonderful! We love Ammoudi Bay and the restaurants down here...be sure to come down here if you visit Santorini, it has the best views and best dining on the island.
7. The Castle of St Nicholas
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 570 reviews
Reviewed By R6874UWjoshuap - Wilmette, United States
This place is absolutely amazing! This is the spot from where people take pictures of the famous Oia windmills, although many people know this and take advantage of this making it a very popular destination for tourists during sunset. Best time to go here would be after dark. You'll have the place to yourself and get the gift of seeing the beauty of Santorini being bathed in ambient light!
8. Perissa Black Sand Beach
9. Lignos Folklore Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 102 reviews
The folk tradition is kept alive in Santorini Fira Condohori in cave that was built half a century or so ago. Where today houses the Folklore Museum, worth visiting the traveler. The Folk Museum was founded by Emmanuel A. Hardy, lawyer, journalist and director of the newspaper "New Theraic". The house, which is set, left untouched by the earthquakes of 1956, restored in 1973 and since then placed this antique furniture, family heirlooms, the position does belong. In 1993 the Museum was built wing housing the Gallery and laboratories, and the church of St. Constantine, in memory of the owner of the property Constanti Emm Lignou, uncle of the founder.
10. Domaine Sigalas
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 656 reviews
An award winning winery and restaurant of Santorini that offers Wine Tasting, Menu Degustation, and Private Tours. Domaine Sigalas was included in the 2016, 2018 and 2020 Top 100 Wineries in the World by Wine & Spirits magazine (US).
Reviewed By RyanBJ - Birmingham, United Kingdom
Highly recommend visiting this winery. We chose the €50 tour and tasting, the tour consisted of about 20mins walking through the vineyards talking about the history of the winemaking on the island and of Domaine Sigalas - our guide Pablos, was superb and answered any question I threw at him, really fantastic knowledge. The wine tasting consisted of 8 wines - 6 whites, 1 rose, 1 red and 1 dessert wine. A real great introduction to Santorini wine, providing a broad range and showing the differences achievable with Assyrtiko wine (the main produce of Santorini). At the end we decided we would buy the dessert wine to take home but ended up buying the more expensive one after our host kindly offered us a tasting when we were deciding which to buy (it’s a 4.3 on Vivino and simply glorious). Overall strongly recommend this tour and tasting and give a huge commendation to Pablos for making the whole experience.
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