Imerovigli Santorini – Village Guide

Imerovigli Santorini: The Highest Point on the Caldera

Imerovigli Santorini sits at around 300 metres, the highest village on the caldera rim, roughly halfway between Fira and Oia. It has the best all-round view on the island, a fraction of Oia’s crowds, and almost no through traffic – the main road passes above it and the village itself is largely pedestrian.

The name means “day watch”. It was the lookout: from here the whole western approach to the island is visible, and warning of pirate ships could be passed inland to the fortified villages. That function is why it exists and why it sits exactly where it does.

Below the village stands Skaros, a volcanic promontory that carried Santorini’s medieval capital and its Venetian castle. What is left is a rock, a path and a small chapel, and the walk out to it is the best short hike on the island.

Where it is

Thirty minutes’ walk north from Fira along the paved caldera path, or five minutes by car. Fifteen minutes from Oia, fifteen from the airport, twenty-five from Athinios port.

Why people choose it

Imerovigli Santorini is the quiet caldera village. It has the view that people book Oia for, at a lower price, without the coach traffic and without the sunset crush. It is why it has become the island’s honeymoon village.

Skaros Rock

The single most rewarding thing to do in Imerovigli Santorini, and it is free.

Skaros is a promontory of volcanic rock jutting into the caldera below the village. From the thirteenth century it carried the island’s capital – a fortified settlement with a Venetian castle, La Rocca, built by Marco Sanudo’s Duchy of Naxos. It was the seat of government and the refuge of the population against pirates for some five hundred years.

Earthquakes did for it. Successive tremors through the eighteenth century, and finally the collapse of large sections into the caldera, made it uninhabitable. The population moved up to what is now Imerovigli Santorini and out to Fira. By the nineteenth century Skaros was abandoned.

The walk. A stepped path drops from the village and crosses to the rock. Twenty minutes out, twenty back, with a scramble at the far end. Proper shoes matter and it is exposed with no shade.

What is there. Almost nothing built – the ruins are fragmentary. What you go for is the position: standing on the rock in the middle of the crater with the cliffs curving away on both sides, and the small chapel of Theoskepasti on the seaward side.

When. Early morning or the last two hours of light. Not midday in July.

Almost every visitor to Imerovigli Santorini photographs Skaros from the village. Far fewer walk out onto it, and it is a genuinely different experience.

Things to Do in Imerovigli Santorini

The caldera path

Imerovigli sits on the paved rim path. South it is thirty minutes to Fira through Firostefani, flat and easy. North it becomes dirt and runs ten kilometres to Oia, three hours, and is the best walk in the Cyclades.

Panagia Theoskepasti

The small blue-domed chapel perched on the seaward edge below the village, and one of the most photographed churches on the island after the Oia domes. It is reached on the Skaros path.

Agios Ioannis Theologos

A monastery church in the village with a carved iconostasis, quietly worth stepping into.

The sunset

Imerovigli Santorini has, in our view, the best sunset on the island. Higher than Oia, with the sun dropping into open sea rather than behind Thirasia, room to stand, and somewhere to sit down. This is what we recommend to guests who ask where to watch it.

Simply sitting

Genuinely the main activity. Imerovigli has no museum, no castle you can enter, no shopping street to speak of. It has terraces, a path, a rock and the crater. That is the point of the village and the reason people who have been to Santorini several times end up staying here.

Staying in Imerovigli Santorini

Imerovigli has become the island’s honeymoon village, and the reasons are practical rather than sentimental.

The view. Higher than Oia and Fira, looking straight down onto Skaros with the crater opening out beyond it. Cave suites cut into the rim, most with private plunge pools and terraces over a 300-metre drop.

The quiet. No coach traffic, no cruise passengers, no nightlife. Imerovigli Santorini at ten at night is silent, which is the single biggest difference from Fira.

The price. Below Oia for equivalent standard, above Fira. Not cheap in absolute terms.

What to check before booking. Steps, and there are many. Most properties sit below the road on the cliff face and are reached down flights of stone stairs with no vehicle access – sometimes a hundred or more. Ask the property how many and whether they carry luggage. This catches more people out in Imerovigli Santorini than anywhere else on the island.

Who it suits. Couples, honeymooners, repeat visitors, and anyone who wants the caldera without the crowd.

Who it does not. Families with young children, because of the steps and the unfenced drops. Travellers without a car who want to be near the bus station – though the walk to Fira is only half an hour. Anyone who wants somewhere to go in the evening.

Tell us the property when you book a transfer and we agree the nearest vehicle point in advance, because arriving in Imerovigli Santorini at midnight with luggage and no plan is a genuinely bad start.

Eating in Imerovigli Santorini

There are perhaps a dozen restaurants, most attached to hotels, most with a caldera view, and most expensive. This is not a village with a taverna scene.

What to expect. Careful, modern Greek cooking at caldera prices – 50€ to 100€ a head with wine at the better places. Two or three more casual options.

Book ahead. Small dining rooms and limited terrace seating. In July and August the sunset tables in Imerovigli Santorini go weeks in advance.

What to order. The island’s own dishes are usually the best things on these menus: tomatokeftedes from Santorini’s PDO cherry tomatoes, fava, white aubergine, caper leaves, chloro cheese, and Assyrtiko to drink.

Cheaper. Walk thirty minutes to Firostefani or Fira, where the range is far wider and the prices lower. Or eat inland – Pyrgos, Megalochori and Emporio are half the price and better, which is why our food tour goes there rather than to the rim.

Supplies. There is a small shop or two. The proper supermarkets are in Fira.

Getting to Imerovigli Santorini

On foot from Fira. Thirty minutes along the paved caldera path through Firostefani. Level, easy and the nicest approach.

By bus. The Fira–Oia route stops on the main road above Imerovigli Santorini. From the stop it is a walk down into the village, and then more steps to most hotels.

By car. Five minutes from Fira, fifteen from Oia. Parking is limited and the village lanes are pedestrian – you park above and walk down.

By taxi. The island’s fleet is small and hard to find at peak times.

By transfer. Our private transfers run from the airport and both ports from 40€ per vehicle, with flights and ferries monitored. For Imerovigli specifically, agreeing the drop-off point in advance matters more than usual.

Getting around from here

Imerovigli Santorini is central: fifteen minutes to the airport, fifteen to Oia, twenty to Pyrgos, twenty-five to Akrotiri and the black sand beaches. Every tour we run includes pickup from the village.

When to Visit Imerovigli Santorini

April and May. The best window. Green slopes, wildflowers on the Skaros path, comfortable walking, everything open by late April.

June. Busy but manageable, and the longest evenings of the year.

July and August. Hot and exposed – there is no shade anywhere on the rim path or the Skaros walk. The village itself stays far quieter than Fira or Oia even in peak season, which is its great advantage.

September and October. The other best window. Warm sea, thinning crowds, and the finest light of the year on the caldera in the late afternoon.

November to March. Most hotels and restaurants close. The wind on this exposed ridge is serious. Imerovigli Santorini in winter is beautiful and almost entirely shut.

Whatever the month, the village is best in the two hours before sunset and in the first hour after dawn, when the light comes across the crater and Skaros throws a shadow.

The History of Imerovigli Santorini

The village’s story is the story of Skaros, and of people gradually deciding it was safe to come down off the rock.

Antiquity. The caldera rim was not settled in any serious way. The island’s ancient city, Ancient Thera, sat inland on the ridge of Mesa Vouno, far from the sea and from raiders.

1204 onward. After the Fourth Crusade the Cyclades passed to Venetian control under the Duchy of Naxos. Skaros, the rock below present-day Imerovigli Santorini, was fortified as La Rocca and became the island’s capital – a defensible position with sheer drops on three sides and a single approach.

The watch. Imerovigli itself grew as the lookout above the castle. From this height the entire western sea approach is visible, and signals could be passed inland to Pyrgos and Emporio. The name records the job.

Decline of Skaros. Earthquakes through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries progressively destroyed the settlement, with major collapses into the caldera. By around 1800 it was effectively abandoned and the population had moved up to Imerovigli Santorini and along the rim to Fira, which became the new capital.

1956. The Amorgos earthquake damaged the village as it damaged the whole rim, and emigration followed.

Today. A few hundred residents and a village that has been rebuilt almost entirely around high-end tourism since the 1990s. What Imerovigli Santorini sells now is the same thing it was founded for: the view of everything approaching.

The Caldera From Imerovigli

The view is the whole product, so it is worth knowing what you are looking at.

Around 1600 BC the volcano erupted in one of the largest events in recorded human history. The magma chamber emptied, the centre of the island collapsed, and the sea flooded in. You are standing on the rim of that crater at its highest point.

The cliffs below Imerovigli Santorini drop roughly 300 metres to the water and a further 400 beneath. The pale bands are pumice and ash from that eruption; the darker rock below is older lava. Skaros itself is a plug of harder volcanic rock that resisted the collapse.

In the middle of the crater sit Nea Kameni and Palia Kameni, built by eruptions continuing into the twentieth century. Thirasia is the far wall. The volcano is dormant, not extinct, and is monitored continuously.

Because Imerovigli is higher and further north than Fira, you see more of the ring from here than from anywhere else on the rim – and unlike Oia, you are looking down the length of the caldera rather than out of the end of it. That is the technical reason the view is better, and why photographers use this stretch.

If the geology and archaeology interest you, our historical tour covers Akrotiri and Ancient Thera with a licensed archaeologist.

Imerovigli Compared With the Other Villages

Against Oia. Oia is more spectacular as a village and far more crowded. Imerovigli Santorini has the better view, a fraction of the people, and lower prices. If you want the caldera without the crush, this is the answer – and it is fifteen minutes away, so you can still visit Oia. More on Oia.

Against Fira. Fira has the museums, the buses, the restaurants at every price and the nightlife. Imerovigli has none of those and is thirty minutes’ walk away. Stay in Fira for convenience, here for quiet. More on Fira.

Against Firostefani. The closest comparison – both quiet, both on the rim, both residential. Firostefani is lower, closer to Fira and slightly cheaper; Imerovigli Santorini is higher with the Skaros view. More on Firostefani.

Against Pyrgos. Inland, higher still, a Venetian castle village with the whole island in view and almost no visitors. Different kind of place entirely and a good second base. More on Pyrgos.

Against Kamari and Perissa. Beaches, flat promenades, family-friendly, much cheaper, no caldera. Kamari · Perissa.

Our position, said plainly: if you can only stay in one caldera village and you are not travelling with young children, Imerovigli Santorini is the one we would pick.

Practical Notes for Imerovigli Santorini

Steps. The defining practical fact. The village is built down the cliff face and almost everything involves stairs. Not suitable for wheelchairs, difficult with a pushchair, and hard work with heavy luggage.

Shoes. Grip, always. The Skaros path is loose stone with a scramble at the end.

Shade. None on the rim path or the Skaros walk. Hat and sunscreen from April.

Water. Carry it. There is nothing to buy between the village and Skaros.

Drops. Many terraces and viewpoints are unfenced. Watch children continuously.

Wind. This is the most exposed point on the rim. The meltemi in July and August is strong here, which makes the heat bearable and the hats unwearable.

Shops and services. Minimal. Fira, thirty minutes’ walk, has everything including the island’s health centre.

Noise. Almost none, which is the reason to come.

Parking. Limited, above the village.

The Sunset From Imerovigli Santorini

We are asked where to watch the sunset more often than any other question, and this is our answer.

Why here rather than Oia. Three reasons. Imerovigli Santorini is higher, at around 300 metres against Oia’s 150, so you see more of the crater. The sun sets into open sea rather than dropping behind Thirasia, which gives a longer, cleaner descent. And there is room – you can sit on a terrace with a drink instead of standing in a crowd at a castle.

Where exactly. Anywhere along the rim path, the terraces of the hotels and bars, or out on the Skaros path where you are level with the rock and looking back at the village going gold.

Timing. Sunset runs from about 18:30 in late March to 20:45 in June, back to 18:45 in October. Arrive an hour before – the light on the village in that hour is better than the sunset itself.

Stay after. Blue hour on this rim is exceptional. The whitewash holds the last light, the hotel lamps come on down the cliff, and Imerovigli Santorini becomes a string of lights hanging over a black crater. Almost everyone leaves immediately and misses it entirely.

If you still want Oia. Go, once, and get there ninety minutes early. Then watch every other sunset from Imerovigli Santorini. Our sunset tour is timed backwards from the actual sunset and takes you to whichever viewpoint is genuinely best that evening.

Photographing Imerovigli Santorini

This stretch of rim is where a great many of the “Santorini” images that are not of Oia are actually taken.

Skaros from the village. The signature Imerovigli shot – the rock in the middle distance with the caldera behind. Best in late afternoon when the rock is lit and the water is dark.

Panagia Theoskepasti. The blue-domed chapel on the seaward edge below the village, reached on the Skaros path. Photographs best from slightly above with the sea beyond.

The village from Skaros. Walk out onto the rock and turn around. White buildings stacked down a cliff face with nothing above them. Almost nobody takes this angle because almost nobody walks out.

The rim path north. Between Imerovigli Santorini and the start of the Oia trail there is an open stretch with the crater on one side and nothing on the other. Sunrise here is exceptional and completely empty.

Blue hour. Twenty to thirty minutes after sunset, from the path.

Technical. Wide for the caldera, longer for Skaros. Midday light blows out the whitewash – expose for the walls. Drones are restricted; check current rules rather than assuming.

Courtesy. Most terraces belong to hotels and homes. Shoot from the public path, of which there is plenty in Imerovigli Santorini.

Honeymoons, Weddings and Proposals

Imerovigli Santorini has become the island’s honeymoon village, and unlike most such labels this one is earned by the practicalities.

Why couples choose it. Private plunge pools with a caldera view, near silence at night, no coach traffic, and no crowd at sunset. It offers what people imagine Oia offers.

Proposals. We arrange these regularly. The best spots are on the rim path north of the village at the last light, or out on Skaros. Both are quiet on any evening of the year, which cannot be said of the Oia castle. Tell us in advance on a personalised tour and the guide is briefed and stays out of the way.

Weddings. Several venues on this stretch of rim. Guests almost always need moving around the island, and a private vehicle for the group is far simpler than a dozen taxis that do not exist.

Photography sessions. Early morning rather than sunset. Imerovigli Santorini at seven has the light and nobody in it.

Practical honesty. The steps are a real consideration for a wedding party in formal dress and for older guests. Ask the venue exactly where vehicles can reach.

Day Trips From Imerovigli Santorini

Being halfway along the rim makes this a good base for the whole island.

The caldera walk to Oia. The section from Imerovigli north is the wildest and best part of the ten-kilometre path. Three hours to Oia; start early and arrange a lift back.

Fira. Thirty minutes’ walk south for the museums, the buses and dinner at half the price.

Akrotiri. Twenty-five minutes by car to the Bronze Age town preserved under ash. More on Akrotiri.

The volcano. Boats to Nea Kameni and the hot springs run from the old port below Fira.

The wine country. Twenty minutes inland to the estates around Pyrgos and Megalochori. Do not drive after tasting – our wine tour covers three estates with all tastings included.

The black sand beaches. Twenty-five minutes to Kamari, Perissa and Perivolos.

Thirasia. The island you look at from every terrace in Imerovigli Santorini. Boats from Amoudi below Oia. More on Thirasia.

Most of these are covered by our full day tour, with pickup from your Imerovigli hotel.

Frequently Asked Questions About Imerovigli Santorini

How do you pronounce Imerovigli? Roughly “ee-me-ro-VEE-glee”. It means “day watch”.

Where is it? On the caldera rim between Fira and Oia, at the highest point of the rim, about 300 metres above the sea.

How far is Imerovigli from Fira? Thirty minutes on foot along the paved caldera path, five minutes by car.

How far from Oia? Fifteen minutes by car; three hours on foot along the rim path.

Is Imerovigli Santorini worth staying in? If you want the caldera view without crowds, it is the best choice on the island. Expect steps and expect to travel for dinner variety.

Is the sunset better than Oia? In our view yes – higher, into open sea, and with room to sit. Oia is more famous.

What is Skaros? The volcanic rock below the village that held Santorini’s medieval capital and Venetian castle until earthquakes destroyed it.

Can you walk out to Skaros? Yes, twenty minutes each way on a stepped and then rough path, with a scramble at the end. Proper shoes.

Are there beaches? No. The village is on a cliff. Kamari and Perissa are twenty-five minutes away.

Is it good for families? Less so than elsewhere – steps everywhere and unfenced drops. Kamari or Perissa are easier with young children.

Is it accessible? Largely not. The rim path itself is walkable but most hotels and viewpoints involve many steps with no alternative.

Is there nightlife? No, and that is the point. Fira is thirty minutes’ walk.

How many restaurants? Around a dozen, mostly hotel-attached and expensive. Book ahead in season.

Is there a bus? Yes, on the main road above the village, on the Fira–Oia route.

How many people live there? A few hundred permanent residents.

When is Imerovigli Santorini quietest? November to March, when most of it is closed, and at any time of year before nine in the morning.

Common Mistakes in Imerovigli Santorini

Booking without asking about steps. The single biggest one. Some properties are a hundred or more stairs below the road with no vehicle access and no porter.

Attempting Skaros in the middle of the day in July. No shade, loose rock, and a scramble at the end.

Leaving immediately after sunset. Blue hour here is the best twenty minutes of the day.

Expecting a village centre. There is no square, no shopping street, no museum. Imerovigli Santorini is a rim path with hotels on it.

Expecting cheap food. Walk to Firostefani, or eat inland.

Underestimating the wind. This is the most exposed point on the caldera.

Only photographing Skaros from the village. Walk out on it and turn around.

Assuming you must go to Oia for sunset. You do not, and the one you already have is better.

Visiting Imerovigli Santorini With a Guide

Imerovigli is easy to reach on your own – it is thirty minutes’ walk from Fira on a paved path. What a guide adds is the Skaros story, the reading of the caldera in front of you, and the timing that puts you on the rim when the light is right rather than when the bus arrived.

We are a licensed local operator. The guides live on the island, the vehicles are ours, prices are per vehicle rather than per person, and pickup is included from anywhere including both ports.

North part tour – five hours from 280€, covering Firostefani, Imerovigli Santorini, Oia and the Prophet Elias monastery.

Sunset tour – four hours from 240€, timed backwards from the actual sunset, and Imerovigli is where we most often finish it.

Full day tour – eight hours from 460€, the whole island.

Famous sights tour – four hours from 220€ for visitors with half a day.

Personalised tour – from 220€, built around whatever you want, including proposals.

Every itinerary and all prices are on the santorini tours page. Send your dates and party size and you will get a reply from someone on the island, usually the same day.

Imerovigli Santorini Month by Month

January and February. Almost everything closed. The wind on this exposed ridge is serious and the caldera path can be genuinely unpleasant. A handful of properties stay open. Imerovigli Santorini in deep winter is beautiful and empty and not for a first visit.

March. Reopening begins late in the month. Slopes green, wildflowers appearing along the Skaros path.

April. Everything open by mid-month. Comfortable temperatures, clean light, the walk out to Skaros at its best. One of the two finest months.

May. Warm without heat, long evenings, and the rim path pleasant at any hour.

June. Busy and hot from mid-month, with the longest days of the year – sunset near 20:45.

July and August. Peak season, though Imerovigli Santorini stays markedly quieter than Fira and Oia because no coaches come and no cruise passengers walk this far. The meltemi blows hard, which helps. Avoid Skaros in the middle of the day.

September. Sea at its warmest, crowds thinning, and excellent light. Many regulars think this is the month.

October. The other best window. Quieter every week, and the late-afternoon light across the crater is the finest of the year.

November and December. Closing down. Short days, strong wind, and the village handed back to its residents.

What Imerovigli Santorini Costs

More than Fira, less than Oia, and with fewer options at every level.

Coffee. 4–7€ on a caldera terrace. There is no cheaper alternative in the village.

Wine by the glass. 6–12€.

Dinner. 50–100€ a head with wine at the caldera restaurants; a little less at the two or three more casual places.

Hotel, shoulder season. From around 180€ for a modest room to 400€+ for a cave suite with a plunge pool.

Hotel, August. Frequently double, and the best-known suites run well into four figures.

Bus to Fira or Oia. A couple of euro from the main road above the village.

Transfer from the airport. 40€ per vehicle for one or two people.

A private tour. From 220€ for the whole vehicle for four hours, with pickup from Imerovigli Santorini included.

Skaros and the rim path. Free, and the best two things here.

The saving available in Imerovigli is simple: walk thirty minutes to Firostefani or Fira for dinner, or take a tour that ends inland where a taverna meal costs a third of a caldera one.

A Final Word on Imerovigli Santorini

Imerovigli is the village we recommend most often to people who have read about Oia and are worried about the crowds. It has the same caldera, a better angle on it, a fraction of the visitors, and a rock in the middle of the crater that most people photograph and almost nobody walks out onto.

What it does not have is a village centre, cheap food, nightlife, a beach, or an easy time of it with luggage and steps. Those are real trade-offs and worth knowing before you book rather than after.

If you take one piece of advice from this page: walk out to Skaros in the last two hours of light, and stay on the rim for twenty minutes after the sun has gone. That hour is the best thing Imerovigli Santorini has, it costs nothing, and hardly anybody does it.

We are a licensed operator with guides who live here year round. Every itinerary includes pickup from anywhere on the island, prices are per vehicle rather than per person, and an 80€ deposit confirms any date with the balance paid on the day. Send your dates and party size and we will give you an honest answer about what fits – including when the answer is that the rim path is free and you do not need us.

Who Imerovigli Santorini Is For

Couples and honeymooners. The core audience and the reason the village looks the way it does now. Private terraces, plunge pools, silence at night, and the best sunset on the island without standing in a crowd for it.

Repeat visitors. People who did Oia on their first trip and want the caldera without the traffic almost always end up in Imerovigli Santorini on the second.

Walkers. The rim path runs through the village, Skaros is twenty minutes away, and the ten-kilometre trail to Oia starts just north. No other village on the island is as well placed for walking.

Photographers. Higher, better angled, and empty at the hours that matter.

Anyone who wants an early night. There is no nightlife, no traffic and nothing open late.

Less suited to families with young children – the steps and unfenced drops are a genuine consideration – to travellers on a tight budget, since there is no cheap food in the village, and to anyone without a car who wants variety in the evening, though Fira is a thirty-minute walk along a flat path.

If you are choosing between the caldera villages and none of those exclusions apply to you, Imerovigli Santorini is the one we would pick.

Arriving in Imerovigli Santorini

Arrival is the one genuinely awkward thing about this village, and it is easily solved with a little planning.

The problem. Most hotels sit below the road on the cliff face, reached down flights of stone steps with no vehicle access. Some have a hundred or more. Some send a porter with a trolley; some do not. Nobody enjoys discovering this at midnight with two suitcases.

The fix. Ask your property two questions before you travel: how many steps from the nearest vehicle point, and do they carry luggage. Then tell us the answer when you book a transfer, and the driver stops at the right place.

From the airport. Fifteen minutes. From Athinios port. Twenty-five minutes up the switchbacks. From the old port. Cruise tenders only, and no road – you come up to Fira by cable car and travel from there.

Our private transfers cover the airport and both ports from 40€ per vehicle with flights and ferries monitored, so a delay costs nothing. For Imerovigli Santorini in particular, that agreed drop-off point is worth more than the price of the transfer.

The Skaros Walk, Step by Step

The best free hour on the island, and worth describing properly because the path is not obvious from the village.

Finding the start. From the main rim path in Imerovigli Santorini, look for the stepped descent below the church of Agios Georgios toward the rock. It drops steeply from the village edge.

The descent. Around ten minutes of stone steps, uneven and in places without a handrail. This is the part that puts people off, and it is also the part you have to climb on the way back.

The saddle. The path levels and crosses to the base of the rock, with the caldera opening on your left and the village rising behind you. This is the best photograph of Imerovigli Santorini there is, and almost nobody takes it because almost nobody looks back.

The climb onto the rock. A rough scramble up the eastern flank. Not technical but genuinely uneven. Anyone unsure on loose ground should stop at the saddle, which is already worth the walk.

The summit. Fragmentary ruins of the Venetian castle, and a view straight down the length of the caldera with cliffs curving away on both sides.

Theoskepasti. A separate branch of the path leads round the seaward side to the small blue-domed chapel clinging to the rock face. It is usually locked, and the setting is the point.

Timing. Allow an hour for the round trip at a comfortable pace, more if you stop. Go in the first two hours after sunrise or the last two before sunset. Carry water. Wear proper shoes. There is no shade anywhere on this walk and no facilities of any kind between the village and the rock.

Safety and Comfort in Imerovigli Santorini

Unfenced drops. The rim path and many terraces have low walls or none at all, above a 300-metre fall. Watch children continuously and take care in the dark.

Steps in the dark. Hotel stairways are often unlit or poorly lit. A phone torch is worth having.

The Skaros scramble. Loose rock and no railings. Turn back at the saddle if you are unsure – you will have seen the best of it anyway.

Heat and exposure. No shade on the rim path. Between June and September the middle of the day is genuinely punishing here.

Wind. The most exposed village on the caldera. Hats blow off, and light furniture on terraces moves.

Medical. The island’s health centre is in Fira, ten minutes by car. Serious cases go to Athens or Crete.

Getting home after dinner. Taxis are scarce. If you eat in Fira, arrange the return before you sit down or plan to walk the thirty minutes back along the path, which is lit for most of its length.

None of this should discourage anyone. Imerovigli Santorini is a safe and extremely pleasant place to stay, and every item here is avoidable with a small amount of planning.

Everywhere the Santorini Imerovigli Santorini Can Reach

Any of these can be built into a private itinerary. 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 · 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