Santorini Itinerary- How to spend 3 days in this paradise

Reaching santorini – Flight Details

We reached Santorini via Athens. From Delhi we took Indigo flight via Istanbul.
Delhi to Istanbul(6E 015) —>6.5 hrs flight
Layover at Istanbul –>4 hours
Istanbul to Athens (TK 1850)—>1.05 hrs flight. We stayed one night one day in Athens.

Check things to do in Athens here
From Athens we took 45 mins Olympic air flight for Santorini.

Stay at Santorini

We chose to stay in Firostefani ,as being the center of city, everything was within the reach.In firostefani we stayed at Sunset Hotel, the experience of staying over the caldera is once a lifetime for sure.Location wise it is the best place to stay within budget.

Rooms were decent with heavy complementary breakfast ,daily room service and hot bath tub inside bathroom .You can also enjoy hot Jacuzzi outside with a perfect sunset view. During our visit it was covered but on request they opened it for us.

Room cost was 114 Euro per day in mid November which further reduced to 92 Euros in late November.
Complementary breakfast included sweet chocolate pie,bread toast, juice, boiled egg, tea/coffee was chargeable. One thing interesting here is that if you leave any cloth outside on bed, during room service they will create some interesting art with it.

Transport from airport to and fro

Once you exit from airport, you can find taxi booths. We booked with company Choose Yafy https://chooseyafy.com/about-us/
For Firostefani, they charge 10 Euro per person in sharing. The travelers were really cool black in color and very much comfortable.
You can also call them and book a ride from your hotel to Airport.

From Hotel to Airport they charged us 15 Euros per person as it was a private ride. For 4 people they charge 10 Euro per person.

Day 1 : Firostefani to Fira on foot

Since we visited in November,weather was quite unpredictable. So the day we reached, it was raining heavily and weather turned out to be pretty cold.
We took our raincoats and decided to explore Fira on foot. Walk from Firostefani to Fira was about 2kms. Due to heavy wind ,weather turned out to be really cold. It was hard to find vegetarian food in Fira, only thing we could had in budget was Pizza and soft drink.

Places to visit in Fira:
Museum of prehistoric Thera
Three bells of Fira ***Iconic ***

Apart from these you can just simply explore the city , its markets and neighborhood. Check the sovienor shops, for 1 Euro you can get the fridge stickers. One interesting thing you can buy from here is Mugs with the Greece painting on it and wall hangings. Museum of prehistoric Thera was closed in the evening so for rest of the time I explored Fira on foot and believe me that”s an great experience all together.

Compact houses with colorful doors and graffiti all over will definitely make your day. Keep your cameras ready, you would not want to miss
even a single shot here.

Day 2 : Fira to Oia Hike

Distance From Fira –> 10 kms
Time —>2.5 hrs
Level –Easy

Oia has world’s best sunsets so the plan for day was to hike Fira to Oia. Entire hike is of approx 10 kms and takes upto 2.5 to 3 hours. Its advisable to start early as by 10 am because you can avoid mid afternoon heat. November was the best time to hike because weather was favourable compared to Hot summers of Sanotrini. Don’t forget you camera , some of the most scenic landscapes and seascapes will stretch before you .

Hiking Trail from Fira to Oia—->
1.Fira to Firostefani
2.Firostefani to Imerovigli
3. Imerovigli to Oia

Stock your bag with plenty of water and snacks.Also don’t forget your hat,sunglasses and full hand gloves.If you are travelling in off season
such as post October then carry raincoat and windcheaters as weather is quite unpredictable.

Walk could be tiring at some point so don’t try to rush,soak yourself into the view and enjoy the walk .
Hiking path is well marked with sign boards, just keep a check and do not get deviated from the route.

Main Attractions in Oia—>
1.Blue white domes
2.Atlantis book store
3.White marble street OIA

White marble road of Oia is the best road I ever walked upon. Entire pathway is surrounded with cute little cafes, with the amazing view of Aegean sea.

Day 3: Akrotiri

Akrotiri Castle

Distance from Firostefani -11 km approx
Time to spend – 1 hour
Castle of Akrotiri is also known as Castle Akrotiri, Goulas or La Ponta. It is well preserved castle in the historic Akrotiri village.The castle was built approx in 13th century by Republic of Venice. During off season hardly few tourists were seen in the castle and most of the shops were closed. Few cafes and souvenir shops were opened during our visit in November.

Akrotiri Light houses

Distance from Akrotiri castle-4.8 km
Entrance cost -Free
It is considered one of the best light house in the entire Cyclades of Islands. The white stand alone building is located on the edge of high cliff above the sea.

According to historical data,light house was built in 1892. Best time to visit is at the time of sunset, view of red molten ball dipping in Aegean sea will steal your heart for sure. Surrounding area of light house gives panoramic view of Aegean sea and is an ideal place to spend an hour.

Akrotiri archeological site

DIstance from light house–6.9 km
Entrance cost- 4 Euro each
Archeological site of Akrotiri is one of the most significant site in Greece. Today the site is covered with bioclimatic roof and walkaways are suspended above archeological site making a pathway for visitors to walk among the two and three storey building

The settlement has a number of notable features ,it had an elaborated drainage system and was made up of multi storey building.It was one of the major cities and ports of the Aegean during Middle and late bronze age. It was crowded city of 20 acres with remarkable social structre , public roads ,sanitary engineering and multi storey building

Red beach

Distance from akrotiri archelogical site- 1.4 kms
Red beach is volcanic sand beach on the Aegen Island of santorini.It is one of the most beautiful beaches in santorini known for its red and black rocks.Small beach area makes the place much crowded during peak seasons.

Avoid going down to the beach as there are warning signs
all over for falling rocks. You can admire the beauty of this unique landscape from the headland.

Black Beach

Most of the beaches of santorini are made of volcanic black sand but only this one is known as Black beach. The sand is closer to jet black than pencil grey.During November month beach was too silent and all beach activities were shut down.

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