The DO's and DON'Ts of Santorini, Greece

...and here you'll find just another article 'top 5 things you must see in santorini'... or 'how to get the most instagrammable pictures in santorini'. I'll try not to use words like 'idyllic', but no promises.

We had a 4 day stay in Santorini for the final part of our honeymoon which was amazing; we were not disappointed at all, yet just wish we had some extra info before we arrived! and thus, here we are. We stayed in the town of Oia which is on the north west side of Santorini; it's the most 'picturesque' town, where the iconic building pictures are from. When we first arrived in Oia, Santorini we were shocked at just how busy it actually is. The town of Oia is only home to 1500 residents, yet the island of santorini receives around 2 MILLION visitors a year, which is wild. If we had known that before, we would have been a bit better prepared mentally for the human traffic jam all over.

Where to stay?

First off, where should you stay, you are asking? We initially booked a hotel which included breakfast, but then cancelled our stay (PTL for free cancellations) because it wasn't in Oia, and no other hotels were really affordable there. So we turned to the trusted air bnb and we loved it! We had a little place which was pretty central- a 5 minute walk from the main street but just far away enough that it wasn't super loud or busy! We spent about £150 ($200 USD, $260 CAD) for a small studio cave house with a sick view. The view was worth every £$€, and a cool place to stay is worth the money, as you can save in other ways. 

Where to eat?

Since we Airbnb-ed, we were able to have breakfast, lunch and dinner at our place, saving money by buying groceries and then eating out on our deck. Restaurant view, pretty good food and we didn't spend €20/plate. Major bonus. There are tonnes of cliff side, 'sunset view' restaurants around the edge of the town, which I'm sure are great but you really are paying for the view (we saw a kale salad for €23, which tbh I wouldn't even eat if you paid me €23). We chose to instead just have a greek coffee at one of them, so we got the atmosphere but just for €5 (the coffee is still extortionately priced, sadly). We recommend going to the kebab shop by the bus station for a seriously good €3/4 chicken/lamb/veggie gyro, grabbing a €1 can of beer from the store and then locking down your place by the castle for sunset. Good food, 11/10 view, and lots of saved dollaaa. 

On another note, gelato is important and was a main part of our honeymoon. Go to Lolita's gelato shop; it's near the bus station and the flavours range from pink peppercorn & rose to 'greek viagra' (honey and walnuts) (sorry mom). 

How to get the shot

The reality is, Santorini is the iconic shot on every other travel bloggers instagram feed. It's hard to not look at those pictures, get jealous, get mad they cannot be replicated and then realize they're extremely over edited/staged. Seeing the 'behind the scenes' of girls completely dolled up at 6am to do a photo shoot on top of buildings was interesting (until I tried to be cool and do the same but then got yelled at, sad).

Getting a sunset shot is for sure an essential for your time there, but we recommend getting up at sunrise (one of us was more enthusiastic about this than the other.. guess who). The streets are nearly empty making it prime time for getting those iconic pictures, without 100 other people in the background trying to do the same. Also, the lighting is way better than high noon lighting. However, if its impossible to get you out of bed at 6am (I get it), then I recommend going through the back streets around sunset time.

You can get some really unique shots, and the streets are usually empty because everyone is literally hanging off the west side of the island. Santorini is also known for some sick a$$ drone shots; we saw signs everywhere saying they're illegal though. Which we would of been sad about if we had a drone. Moral of the story: bring a flowy dress, get out of bed, take 1000 pictures, hibernate & siesta during the high sun, busy time, then reappear for sunset. Repeat. Thanks.

What other activities are there?

Well, I'm glad you asked. One of the top things to do is the oia-> fira hike (or vice-versa). We got up at 6am to do this 10.5 km hike, which tbh sounded like a series of unfortunate events for a honeymoon, but I am now glad we did it (thats what they all say though, isn't it?). The hike is beautiful, and took us about 3 hours, stopping along the way briefly for some pics.

We recommend getting up just before sunrise to do the hike because it can get really, really warm and because of the direction of the hike, you're walking into the sunrise which is really fun to be blinded by it. This means you arrive in Fira just as it gets almost too warm. It's not worth the extra hour in bed cus you'll be sweating! A lot of people we passed wore full on hiking gear but i wore a dress and sandals and

lived to tell the tale, so do what you like really. It was a very up and down hike, but probably the coolest one I've done because you're literally walking around the Island and can see all the edges of it. Unreal. Fira is a really cool town and we're glad we went. It's bigger and cheaper than Oia. The street markets there have a lot more variety, there's a sick gondola and it's where the 'three bells' are located. It was a bit of a faff to get to as there isn't really a direct route there, but go for it, if you want. We then took the bus back to Oia which cost about €2 each. 10/10 would recommend. 

Another activity in the town of Oia is to jump off the rock at Amoudi bay. Also known as 'A moody bae' by the time you're done walking down and up those stairs. Amoudi bay is situated at the bottom of the cliff, hence why it's called a bay. There are close to 300 steps which makes for a good work out on the way down, and then depending on how you feel about donkey riding, you can pay to ride a donkey back up. Anyways, We would recommend walking down at around 10/11am so you can miss the direct sunlight and still be in the shadows. You then have to turn left and walk through the restaurants, through a bunch of rocks and then you're there!

Just one other highlight of Oia; Atlantis bookstore. It's located right in the middle of all the streets on the way to the castle so you'll for sure pass by it. It's worth having a little look around.