Almost every honeymoon enquiry we get mentions Santorini. That is fair: the view from the caldera rim is one of the great sights of the Mediterranean, and no photograph quite prepares you for it.
What photos also don’t show is Oia’s main lane at sunset in August, or the queue of cruise passengers at the cable car. Some couples love Santorini anyway. Others come home feeling they saw it rather than spent time there.
If you do go
- Stay in Imerovigli or Firostefani for the view and the quiet, not in Oia.
- Go in late May, June or late September rather than August.
- Watch one sunset from a boat, or from your own terrace, rather than in the crowd.
- Two or three nights is usually enough. Then take a ferry somewhere slower.
Where we send couples instead (or next)
Milos for beaches you reach by boat and evenings in Plaka. Folegandros for a cliff-top Chora with almost nothing to do. Sifnos if food is the point. All three are a ferry ride from Santorini or from Piraeus. See them all in our Cyclades guide, or try the island matcher.
