Things to do in Santorini

The ring and what sits on it

Santorini is the rim of a volcano that emptied itself around 1600 BC. The bay left behind runs twelve kilometres by seven, and the water in it reaches 385 metres deep. The cliffs stand about 300 metres above that.

Villages line the top edge and face west into the drop. The outer slope tilts the other way, east and south. That is where the sand and the vines are.

• The rim. Fira, Firostefani, Imerovigli and Oia, strung along ten kilometres of cliff and linked by one footpath.
• The outer coast. Black sand at Kamari and Perissa, grey pebble at Vlychada under white ash cliffs, a red cove near Akrotiri.
• Inside the bay. Nea Kameni, which last erupted in 1950, and Palea Kameni with warm water at its shore.
• Across the water. Thirassia, a surviving slice of the same rim, farmed and almost empty.

Moving around a crescent

Everything on Santorini passes through Fira. Buses run out from its one station and back again, so a beach-to-village hop usually means changing in the middle.

Ferries land at Athinios, a switchback jetty with no town attached. Flights land beside Monolithos on the east coast, six kilometres from the capital. Neither is walkable.

What a day here is made of

Most of what sells is the water and the volcanic ground behind it.

• The caldera by boat: the crater path on Nea Kameni, a swim in the warm shallows, Thirassia, then sunset from the deck.
• A wine day inland, where Assyrtiko is coiled into low baskets on the ground so the wind passes over it.
• Akrotiri, the Bronze Age town the eruption sealed, roofed over and walked at street level.
• The inland villages, Pyrgos and Megalochori and Emporio, with shade, lanes and no view, and better food for it.

The same crossing comes as a catamaran seat, an old wooden caique or a private hull. A shared place costs roughly what dinner costs. Private runs several times that.

Practical

• Season. April to October. September brings the warmest sea and the thinnest crowd.
• Wind. The meltemi cancels caldera boats at a few hours' notice, so take yours early in the stay, not on the last day.
• Shade. There is none on the rim path and no tap along it. Carry water and a hat.
• Fresh water. The island desalinates or ships in what it drinks, and every price reflects that.
• Cruise mornings. Several thousand can come ashore at once, and nearly all head for Oia.
• Ground. Volcanic sand burns bare feet by noon.