Santorini
Travel Guide Europe Greece South Aegean Cyclades Santorini
Introduction
Santorini is a stunningly beautiful group of islands (the southernmost of the Cyclades group) in the Aegean Sea, south of mainland Greece and west of Turkey. The archipelago enjoys a superb climate, making it a favourite in summer, when tourists flock to the island's main towns to enjoy the vibrant nightlife and gorgeous scenery.
Islands
- Thera
- Thirasia
- Nea Kameni (uninhabited)
- Palea Kameni (uninhabited)
- Aspronisi (uninhabited)
Villages
There are several villages on the main island, Thera.
- Akrotiri
- Thira is the main picturesque town perched on the cliff.
- Kamari
- Oia is the place to go to see a good sunset.
- Fira - the capital
- Pyrgos
- Perisa
- Megalochori
- Mesaria
- Monolithos
- Vlichada
The town of Thirasia can be found on the nearby island of same name.
Events and Festivals
Weather
Santorini has a Mediterranean climate with warm, dry and sunny summes and mild but somewhat wetter winters. Summers from June to September see daytime temperatures between 26 °C and 30 °C and nights of 20 °C or a little more. December to February is wintertime with temperatures usually around the 15 °C mark and nights about 5 °C cooler. Most of the rain falls from November to February, summers are almost completely dry.
Getting There
By Plane
Santorini (Thira) National Airport (JTR) offers a range of flights. Thomas Cook Airlines and Thomson Airways fly to/from London, Manchester, Newcastle and Birmingham, while Easyjet flies to/from London as well. Air Berlin flies to/from Nuremberg and several other airlines serve Brussels, Oslo, Athens, Thessaloniki, Rhodes, Crete, Mykonos, Milan, Vienna, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich and Stuttgart. Note that some of the charter and lowcost airlines only fly during the summerperiod (April-October).
By Train
By Car
By Bus
By Boat
There are at least four boats daily to Naxos (three hours), Paros (three to four hours), Ios (1¼ hours) and Piraeus (nine hours) and two boats a week to Tinos (five hours), Kythnos (eight hours) and Folegandros (1½ to 2½ hours). Change at Naxos for Amorgos. Seven boats weekly go to Anafi (one hour), Sifnos (7¾ hours), Sikinos (2½ hours), Heraklion on Crete (4½ hours) and Skiathos (18½ hours).
There are two weekly ferries running to Mykonos (six hours), Milos (four hours), Kimolos (3½ hours), Syros (5¼ hours), Serifos (nine hours) and Thessaloniki (25 hours).
Check the Greek Travel Pages for an impression about companies, schedules and prices, as the choice is very wide. Or check the Greek Ferries website or another one about Ferries between islands in Greece.
To add, there are also fast boat and catamaran services, being more expensive though:
Daily services run to and from Ios (30 minutes), Naxos (1½ hours), Paros (2¼ hours), Mykonos (three to four hours), Folegandros (45 minutes), Sifnos (1¾ hours), Heraklion on Crete (1¾ hours) and Piraeus (5¼ hours).
Eat
Drink
Sleep
Budget
Mid-Range
Upscale
Work
Learn
Keep Connected
Internet
Phone
See also International Telephone Calls
Post
Hellenic Post is the Greek postal service. On their website you find more information about options to send letters, postcards and parcels and there is a search function regarding post offices and post boxes. It also has information on services like paying bills, transferring money, financial products etc. Greek post codes are five digits long and are usually written as follows; 123 45.
The first three digits are used to identify the city, municipality or prefecture, for example the digits between 100 and 180 relate to the city of Athens. The last two digits identify a street or part of a street. Most post offices are open Monday to Friday from 07:30-14:00, although the largers ones usually have longer opening hours.
On Travellerspoint
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Santorini Travel Helpers
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This is version 19. Last edited at 16:21 on Feb 3, 12 by Utrecht (+1018). 12 articles link to this page.
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