Santorini is the stop where a ministry couple stops taking notes. There is no site to study and no passage to trace; there is a caldera, a white town on a cliff and an evening that goes gold. After a fortnight of significance, an island whose only demand is that you look at it is not a lesser day.
The cruise crowds arrive mid-morning and leave by six. If you can be there outside those hours — an overnight, or a stay either side of a Greek Isles sailing — you get a genuinely quiet island rather than a queue for the cable car.
Highlights
- The caldera view from Oia and Fira
- Black-sand beaches at Perissa and Kamari
- A common Greek Isles cruise stop
- Sunsets that justify the reputation
Best time to go: May–June and September–October for good weather with thinner crowds.
