Santorini: The Aegean Dream

Santorini is the quintessential postcard destination, with its crystal blue waters of the caldera meeting cliffsides decorated with pristine white buildings. It's a bucket list trip for many; a dream!

How Long Should You Say on Santorini?

When I visited, we stayed for 5 days, and I felt that was an ideal amount of time to see what I wanted to see and get to experience the island. For the first two days, we stayed in Fira. Fira is the ideal location, especially for first time visitors. It's walkable and lively, there are many great restaurants, lounges, hotels, boutiques, souvenir shops, and clubs. At night, the cliffside is breathtaking. The lights of the establishments make the cliffside glow.

On day three, we rented a car and left the excitement of Fira and moved to the southern tip of the island, a town called Akrotiri. There you can explore well preserved ancient ruins of a once sophisticated Bronze Age Minoan town that was destroyed by a volcanic eruption in the 16th century BC.

We had a lovely hotel right on the cliffs edge, Hotel Guillemos, with the most breathtaking water views I've seen in my life. We spent three relaxing and magical days there. I could have stayed a week!

Places to Visit

Having a car allowed us the opportunity to see various places on the island. In Akrotiri there's Red Beach, the Akrotiri Lighthouse, and the archeological ruins site. We were able to stop at random places and take amazing pictures.

One day we drove to the north of the island to visit Oia. It is the upscale part of Santorini with luxury hotels, some fine dining and high-end stores. If I'm honest, it's mostly over-priced and you can get a lot of the same or similar souvenirs in Fira for less money. It is totally worth a day trip to see Oia. The views and photograph moments along the cliffs edge are everything!