Santorini shopping is worth doing for four things: wine, food, jewellery and art. Assyrtiko and Vinsanto at the winery, capers and fava from a grocer, and ceramics or prints from a village workshop. Everything else on the main streets of Fira and Oia is imported souvenir stock at a caldera markup.
September in Santorini Tours is the favorite time not only of locals, but also of eclectic vacationers. The hot summer is over, the sea is warmer than ever and the sky is blue all day, while the afternoons are cool. September sunsets paint Oia gold and the deep blue of the Caldera becomes more intense these days.
September is the right month to visit the island. Take a walk to the shops, enjoy your coffee in a cafe-bar with a view of the magical sunset or your food in a luxurious restaurant.
If you are in a romantic mood, all you have to do is visit the preserved settlement of Imerovigli. Here you will see the ruins of the Venetian castle of Skaros and you will walk on the path that leads to the small church of Theoskepasti, built on the edge of a rock, with a unique view of the volcanic islands of Palia and Nea Kameni.
You can enjoy your coffee combined with the fantastic view that the island offers. In the famous Oia, beloved by tourists, you can enjoy the sweetest and most romantic sunset of September with your loved one by your side, you can take advantage of the atmosphere for a marriage proposal. In this setting, we don’t think they will refuse you.
Fira in September
Built 260 meters above sea level, Fira (Santorini’s capital), dressed in typical Cycladic colors, looks like it has perched on the edge of a cliff. The blinding white of the houses in combination with the volcanic vertical rocks that emerge from the seabed evoke the admiration of those who see Santorini from the sea for the first time. As for the view from the settlement towards Nea and Palia Kameni, what can one say? The privileged position of Fira in the Caldera lends itself to endless hours of relaxation.
Oia in September
The most photographed preserved settlement of Santorini, famous around the world for the enchanting sunset at the Castle. Oia with its picturesque alleys, impressive captain’s houses and many churches with painted domes will steal your heart. It is about 40 minutes from Fira by car. It is considered more quiet than the bustling Fira with its intense nightlife and an ideal destination for romantic escapes from everyday life! Here you will find very good restaurants and an interesting market for art, antiques and ethnic items.
If you plan to visit Santorini in spring or autumn, dare to get to know it on foot. Wear comfortable shoes and follow the old path that joins its settlements on the rim of the Caldera. The images you will see will reward you for any fatigue you may feel in your body. From Fira to Firostefani and Imerovigli and from there continue to Oia just before sunset. You won’t regret it.
Sunset in Santorini in September
If you don’t experience it up close, you cannot understand why it has come to be considered an attraction of the island. And while the sunset in Oia is one of the most famous, the truth is that wherever you enjoy it, just being in Santorini and getting lost in the colors of the sunset is enough in itself.
In Fira you can enjoy this magical time of day on the roof of a bar on the eyebrow of the caldera while drinking a cocktail. In Oia, the golden hour lovers run to the ruins of the castle to capture the moments on their cameras. In Imerovigli, the terraces of the luxury hotels offer the ideal combination of relaxation and enjoyment away from the crowds.
In the summer months, Santorini is flooded with crowds. If you want to avoid the hordes of tourists rushing to get a seat for the natural spectacle that has made it famous in the world, we have the solution for you. Two more wonderful spots to enjoy the sunset on the Aegean horizon are from Skaros of Imerovigli or from the lighthouse of Akrotiri. You can take a tour of Santorini!
The beaches of Santorini in September
Black beach, red beach, organized beaches or secluded bays, with sand, pebbles or shores surrounded by steep, white cliffs. One thing is certain. The beaches of Santorini have a special, wild beauty.
At Red Beach with its imposing red and black rocks (the result of volcanic activity) you will swim in dark blue crystal waters with underwater hot springs and sunbathe on red sand, alternating with black pebbles. Continuing to Aspri Paralia you will enjoy your swim with a view of the impressive white rocks that surround it.
Choose the organized beach of Perissa and lie on very fine black pebbles. You will find a similar landscape, but without the same infrastructure with fine black sand and dark pebbles on the beach of Vlychada. In Perivolos and Kamari you will find the most popular beach bars of Santorini, while in Ammoudi (port of Oia) after your dives you will eat fresh fish in the fish taverns operating by the sea.
Read more about Santorini Tours:
- Santorini Sightseeing Private Tour
- Exclusive Shore Santorini Private Tour
- Impressive Caldera Santorini Private Tour
- South Part Santorini Private Tour
- North Part Santorini Private Tour
- Santorini Historical Private Tour
- Santorini Sunset Private Tour
Santorini Shopping: The Short Answer
Santorini shopping is worth doing for four things: wine, food, jewellery and art. Everything else on the main streets of Fira and Oia is imported souvenir stock sold at a caldera markup, and you can buy the same magnet in any port in Greece.
The wine is the obvious santorini shopping answer. Assyrtiko, Nykteri and Vinsanto come from ungrafted vines grown nowhere else, and buying at the winery costs roughly half the restaurant price. The food is the second: capers, caper leaves, fava, white aubergine, dried cherry tomatoes and tomato paste, all of them genuinely from here.
For everything else in santorini shopping, walk one street back. The lanes behind the main drag in Fira, and the villages of Pyrgos, Megalochori and Emporio, hold the workshops where the good jewellery, ceramics and prints are actually made.
What Is Actually Made Here
Wine. The one santorini shopping purchase with no equivalent anywhere else. Buy at the winery, ask them to pack it for the hold, and take Vinsanto if you can only take one bottle.
Capers and caper leaves. Preserved in salt or vinegar, a staple of the island’s cooking and impossible to buy at this quality at home.
Fava. Split yellow peas grown in volcanic ash, with a PDO of their own, and the best thing to bring back for anybody who cooks.
Cherry tomato products. Sun-dried tomatoes, tomato paste and tomatokeftedes mixes, all from the small intense tomatoes the island is known for.
Jewellery. The other santorini shopping category worth the money: several serious workshops make pieces here rather than importing them. Ask where it was made and expect a straight answer in the good shops.
Ceramics and prints. Small studios in Pyrgos, Megalochori, Oia and Emporio, where the work is signed and the prices are reasonable.
Volcanic stone and lava jewellery. A local speciality, and it is genuinely local when it is not a stall.
Every worthwhile santorini shopping list starts with those and stops well before the fridge magnets.
Where to Shop
Fira main street. The largest concentration of santorini shopping on the island, ranging from serious jewellers to pure souvenir stock. Busy between eleven and five and pleasant in the evening.
The lanes behind Fira. One street back from the rim, where the rents are lower and the goods are better.
Oia. The best art galleries, the best bookshop in the Cyclades and the highest prices on the island. Beautiful, and santorini shopping here costs a premium for the address.
Pyrgos. The best village for santorini shopping: small workshops in the lanes below the castle, and the most rewarding place on the island to browse.
Megalochori and Emporio. Quiet, local, and where several ceramicists actually work.
The wineries. The only sensible santorini shopping stop for wine, at half the restaurant price.
The supermarkets. Underrated santorini shopping for food souvenirs: the same capers and fava at a third of what the gift shops charge.
A Shopping Afternoon That Works
One afternoon covers everything worth buying, and this is the order we would do it in.
16:00, a winery. Taste first, buy afterwards, and let them pack the bottles. This is the half of santorini shopping that nowhere else can sell you.
17:30, Pyrgos. The workshops in the lanes below the castle, where the ceramics and prints are made rather than imported.
18:30, a supermarket or a village grocer. Capers, fava, dried tomatoes and tomato paste at a third of gift-shop prices.
19:30, Fira. The main street once the ships have gone, for jewellery and the one or two shops worth the rim rent.
21:00, dinner inland. Because the day should not end in a shop.
Four stops, three hours, and a santorini shopping haul that is entirely from this island rather than from a container.
Packing It All Home
Wine. Hold luggage only, wrapped at the winery, and two bottles per bag is the sensible limit unless you have a wine case.
Food. Capers in brine count as a liquid; salted capers and dried fava do not. Buy the dry versions if you have hand luggage only.
Ceramics. Ask the studio to wrap them properly, and carry them rather than checking them.
Weight. A serious santorini shopping trip adds five or six kilos to a suitcase, which matters on a low-cost airline.
Shipping. A few of the larger wineries and galleries will ship, which is worth asking about for anything heavy or fragile.
What to Avoid
Anything in santorini shopping with a donkey on it. The trade it advertises is the one we ask visitors not to support.
Mass-produced “handmade” ceramics. If the same piece is in four shops, it was not thrown on this island.
Evil eyes and magnets. Made in bulk, sold everywhere in Greece, and the least interesting result of any santorini shopping trip.
Wine bought on the caldera rim. Double the winery price for the same bottle.
Fur and leather “bargains”. Neither is local and neither is a bargain.
Duty-free at the airport. Small, expensive and short of anything actually from the island.
Anything you have to carry down eighty steps. Think about the hotel before you buy the ceramic bowl.
Prices and Practicalities
Wine, the santorini shopping staple. 12 to 25 euros a bottle at the winery for good Assyrtiko, 25 to 45 for Vinsanto, and roughly double either in a rim restaurant.
Capers and fava. 4 to 9 euros a jar or bag, and cheaper in the supermarket than in the gift shops.
Jewellery. Anything from 40 euros for small silver work to several thousand for the serious pieces.
Ceramics. 15 to 60 for a good small piece from a studio.
Santorini shopping opening hours. Roughly 10:00 to 22:00 in season, with many shops closing for a few hours in the afternoon and most shutting entirely from November to March.
Payment. Cards almost everywhere, and cash is welcome in the villages.
Bargaining. Not the custom here. Ask politely about a discount on multiple bottles and expect a fair answer.
Tax free. Available for non-EU visitors in the larger jewellery shops; ask before paying.
Flying home. Wine goes in the hold, wrapped by the winery. Liquids over 100ml will not pass security.
When and How to Do It
The best hours for santorini shopping. Before eleven in the morning or after seven in the evening, for exactly the same reason as everything else on this island: between those hours Fira and Oia belong to the cruise crowds.
The best day. Any day without three or more ships in the caldera. The schedule is published.
Combine it with something. A winery afternoon covers most of the food and drink half of any santorini shopping list in one stop, with a tasting attached. See the wine tour.
With a car. Easy, and it removes the problem of carrying bottles. Parking in Fira and Oia is the only difficulty. See car hire.
Santorini shopping on a cruise day. Buy food, not glass. Everything has to go up the cable car and back down again in a queue.
Santorini shopping in winter. Most shops close from November to March, and what stays open is in Fira.
Santorini Shopping: Frequently Asked Questions
What should you buy on a santorini shopping trip? Wine, capers, fava, dried cherry tomatoes, locally made jewellery, and ceramics or prints from a village studio.
Where is the best santorini shopping? Fira for range, Oia for galleries, and Pyrgos, Megalochori and Emporio for workshops and honest prices.
Is santorini shopping expensive? On the caldera rim, yes. One street back and inland, prices are ordinary.
Can you buy wine to take home? Yes. Buy at the winery, ask them to pack it for the hold, and expect 12 to 25 euros for a good Assyrtiko.
What is the most local thing to bring back? Vinsanto, or a bag of fava with a PDO label.
Are the shops open on Sundays? In season, yes, most of them.
What are the opening hours? Roughly 10:00 to 22:00 in summer, with an afternoon break in many places and near-total closure between November and March.
Should you bargain? No, it is not the custom. A discount on several bottles is a reasonable ask.
Is there tax free shopping? Yes for non-EU visitors in the larger shops, if you ask before you pay.
What should you not buy? Anything advertising the donkeys, mass-produced ceramics and wine bought on the rim.
We Will Drive the Bottles Back for You
We are a local operator running private tours and transfers in our own vehicles, and a winery afternoon is the best santorini shopping trip on the island: three estates from four o’clock, tastings on terraces above the vineyards, and the boot of the vehicle for whatever you buy.
Tell us your dates and we will build the day around the light and the cruise schedule: Akrotiri before the coaches, the wineries after four, the village workshops when the ships have gone, and Oia in the evening when the main street is walkable again.
Prices are per vehicle rather than per person, hotel pickup anywhere on the island is included, we guide in twelve languages, and an 80 EUR deposit confirms a date.
See the personalised tour, the food experience, or contact us.
Every Village and Site on the Island
Any of these can be built into a private day. Each has its own page with what to see and how long to allow.
Caldera villages: Fira · Firostefani · Imerovigli · Oia · Finikia · Baxedes
Inland villages: Pyrgos · Megalochori · Emporio · Mesaria · Karterados · Vothonas · Vourvoulos · Exo Gonia · Mesa Gonia · Pigadia
Beaches: Perissa · Perivolos · Kamari · Vlychada · Monolithos · Red Beach · White Beach · Agios Georgios · Agia Paraskevi
Sites and landmarks: Akrotiri · Ancient Thira · Akrotiri Lighthouse · Nea Kameni · Palia Kameni · Thirasia · Athinios Port
All our tours: All Santorini tours · Full day tour · Sightseeing tour · Personalised tour · North part tour · Horse riding · South part tour · Sunset tour · Shore excursion · Caldera tour · Food experience · Wine tour · Historical tour · Small group tour
Planning and services: Famous sights tour · Private transfers · Transfers to Oia and Finikia · Transfers to other villages · Villages of Santorini · History of Santorini · Tours near you · Languages we guide in · Food and fun tours · Gay friendly tours · Our tour buses · Daily tours · Day tours · FAQ · Gallery · Tour photo gallery · About us · Contact · Blog
