Is Santorini expensive? Yes on the caldera rim in August, and no everywhere else for the rest of the year. A view room starts at 350 euros a night in high season; the same standard inland is 60 to 120. The premium is for the cliff, not the island.
Luxury vacations in Santorini
There is Greece and there are Santorini and Mykonos! These islands have evolved into two globally recognizable brands. Santorini is a citizen of the world. A life dream destination. And one of the first to apply what we call stay experience.
Its ideal location, its unique morphology, the uniqueness of gastronomy, the strong character of its hotels as well as the right and professional use of all the above from the businessmen, have turned Santorini into a trendsetter of luxury tourism worldwide.
Meet the uniqueness of Santorini by Santorini Tours!
Guided tour of the enchanting Santorini with the background of the endless blue
Santorini is one of the most touristic parts of the world and not unfairly, while the view of the Caldera “takes the breath”. The imposing scenery and the cosmopolitan atmosphere, its distinctive beaches and high quality services make it the world’s top destination, without exaggerating. Wherever you are on the island, you can enjoy the summer breeze and feel moments of absolute relaxation. The whole island exudes a romantic atmosphere and it is not chosen by so many couples for its holidays for no reason.
The Caldera is of course the attraction for all the tourists, while the simple traditional cave houses attract attention and interest. The island also has great sights and archaeological sites and is also suitable for many activities. Particularly interesting are the beaches on which the volcano has also left its mark.
Glossy black pebbles and white sculptured rocks await you for a different picture than the visitors of the Aegean islands. Oia is one of the most well-preserved traditional settlements in Greece and is the region of slow rhythms, a place for lovers to fell in love again.
Santorini Tours is also a favorite part for landscape photographers from all over the world, who come to capture the beauties of the island. The sunset is of course the point of reference but also the white houses and picturesque alleys with flowered flowerpots always seem like a well designed painting in a picture.
Activities to experience in Santorini
The most fascinating way for you to acquire a complete point of view of Santorini and to get to know it’s historic side by taking place to field trips by Santorini historical private tours and sea tours which are planned by Santorinitours throughout the whole island by Santorini private transfers.
We provide a great variety of field trips around Santorini and we give the ability to admire great sights of Santorini during Santorini sightseeing private transfers, while we organize sea tours to the volcanic islands that will astonish you. You can also choose a private tour or a semi-private depending on your desires and budget.
Taste the original wine of the special vineyards of Santorini by booking a private tour if you would like some special and romantic moments for you and your other half.
See more about Santorini island:
- Beach wedding in Santorini
- Spring destinations: Why Santorini is at the top of the list?
- Orthodox Easter in Santorini
- Holidays in Santorini: Summer vacations 2018
Is Santorini Expensive? The Short Answer
Yes on the caldera rim in August, and no everywhere else for the rest of the year. Ask is santorini expensive and the honest answer is that this is two islands with one name: a view you pay a great deal for, and an ordinary Greek island behind it where the prices are ordinary Greek prices.
A caldera-view double in the first fortnight of August starts around 350 euros a night. The same standard of room at Kamari, Karterados or Megalochori in May runs 60 to 120. Dinner on the rim is 60 to 120 euros a head; dinner inland at Pyrgos is 20 to 30 and usually better. Nothing else on the island varies that much, which is why is santorini expensive has two answers rather than one.
So the answer depends on three decisions: the month, whether you sleep with a view, and whether you eat where the view is.
What a Week Actually Costs
Two people, seven nights, everything included except flights. This is the practical way to answer is santorini expensive.
Budget, May or October. Around 900 to 1,300 euros. A simple room at Karterados or Perissa, tavernas and supermarket breakfasts, buses and one hire-car day, Akrotiri, one boat trip.
Mid-range, May or October. Around 1,800 to 2,600 euros. A good hotel with a pool at Kamari or Firostefani, a mix of tavernas and two nicer dinners, a hire car for three days, Akrotiri, a wine afternoon and a catamaran.
Mid-range, August. Around 3,200 to 4,500 euros for exactly the same trip.
Caldera, August. 6,000 euros and upwards without difficulty, and there is no ceiling. At that end is santorini expensive is not really a question.
Luxury, any month. A cave suite with a private pool, private transfers, a chartered catamaran and rim restaurants every night runs 10,000 euros a week and can be doubled.
Anyone asking is santorini expensive should notice that the gap between the first and third lines is the same holiday in a different month.
Accommodation Prices
This is where most of the money goes and where any answer to is santorini expensive is decided.
Caldera-view double, August. From about 350 euros, commonly 450 to 700, and cave suites with plunge pools run into four figures.
Caldera-view double, May or October. 100 to 200 euros for the same room.
Caldera-view double, winter. 80 to 150, where anything is open.
Good hotel with a pool, off the rim. 90 to 180 in August at Kamari, Perissa or Vlychada. Half that in the shoulder months.
Simple room or apartment. 50 to 110 in season at Karterados, Vothonas, Messaria or the back streets of Perissa.
Hostel bed. Available at Perissa and Fira, from around 25 to 45 euros in season.
The structural fact. The same standard of room costs roughly three times more with a caldera view than without one, and the view is free from the public rim path fifty metres away, which is the single most useful fact about is santorini expensive.
Booking. The good caldera rooms for early August are gone by February, and the late availability is the expensive end, which is where is santorini expensive becomes self-fulfilling.
See Firostefani, Kamari and Karterados.
Is Santorini Expensive to Eat In?
Only where the view is. On food the answer to is santorini expensive is a factor of about three.
Caldera-rim restaurant. 60 to 120 euros a head with wine. You are paying for the terrace, and a good many of these kitchens are ordinary.
Village taverna inland. 20 to 30 euros a head with wine, and the food is usually better. Pyrgos, Megalochori, Emporio, Exo Gonia and Vothonas.
Beach taverna. 15 to 25 euros a head at Perissa, Perivolos or Monolithos.
Beach club at Perivolos. 30 to 60 euros a head.
Gyros or souvlaki. 4 to 6 euros, and there is a good one in every village, which nobody counts when they ask is santorini expensive.
Bakery breakfast. 3 to 6 euros for coffee and something out of the oven.
Supermarket. Ordinary Greek prices, and proper supermarkets at Fira, Karterados and Kamari. Nothing about them says is santorini expensive.
Fish at Ammoudi. Priced by the kilo and it adds up quickly. Ask what it will come to before it goes on the grill.
Anybody weighing is santorini expensive on food alone should eat one dinner on the rim, for the view, and every other dinner inland. That single habit takes about 400 euros off a week for two people.
Drinks, Bars and Coffee
Coffee. 3 to 5 euros for a freddo espresso, which is what the whole country drinks in summer.
Beer. 4 to 7 euros in a taverna, more on the rim.
House wine. 12 to 20 euros for half a litre in a village taverna.
A bottle of good Assyrtiko. 25 to 45 euros in a restaurant, 12 to 25 at a winery or supermarket.
Cocktail on the caldera. 12 to 20 euros, and the sunset is included whether you order one or not.
Beach club sunbeds. 15 to 40 euros a pair, frequently waived if you eat there.
Water. Under a euro a bottle in a supermarket, three times that on the rim.
Drinks are where the caldera premium is most obvious, and where is santorini expensive is most easily answered no. Buy a bottle of wine at a winery in the afternoon and drink it on your own terrace.
Transport Costs
Bus. Around 2 euros a journey, every route through Fira. Cheap and slow, and no part of why is santorini expensive.
Hire car. 35 to 70 euros a day in August, 25 to 45 in the shoulder months, plus fuel. Parking is free everywhere except Fira and Oia, where there is effectively none.
ATV or scooter. 35 to 60 euros a day, and the commonest cause of holiday injuries here.
Taxi. Around thirty on the whole island, and priced accordingly when you find one.
Airport transfer. From about 40 euros per vehicle, which for four people is less than two taxis would be if two taxis existed.
Private full-day tour. From around 340 euros for the vehicle rather than per person.
Cable car. A few euros each way.
Ferry to Mykonos or Naxos. 60 to 90 euros a head on a fast boat.
Transport is not where the answer to is santorini expensive lies, with one exception: the hour you spend looking for a parking space in Fira in August has a real cost, and a driver removes it. That is the only transport line that touches is santorini expensive at all.
Sights, Tours and Activities
Akrotiri. Modest entry, with concessions and free entry for under-eighteens from the EU. Ninety minutes and the best value on the island by a distance. Nobody asks is santorini expensive after visiting it. See Akrotiri.
Ancient Thira. Similar, and often quieter. See Ancient Thira.
Museums in Fira. A few euros each.
Wine tasting. 15 to 30 euros a head at an estate, usually four to six wines.
Volcano and hot springs boat. 30 to 45 euros a head plus the Nea Kameni entry fee.
Catamaran with lunch. 100 to 180 euros a head on a shared boat.
Private charter. From several hundred euros for the boat.
Horse riding. Around 60 to 90 euros. See the horse riding tour.
Free. The rim path, every viewpoint including Oia castle, the beaches themselves, the inland villages, and the sunset from anywhere on the western half of the island. Half the island answers is santorini expensive with a no.
Flights and Ferries
Direct European flights, August. The most expensive of the year and the first to sell out, and a large part of why is santorini expensive in August.
Direct European flights, May or October. Frequently half the August fare, and sometimes a third.
Athens hop. Fifty minutes, several a day all year, often under 60 euros return outside peak.
Ferry from Piraeus. 40 to 65 euros on a conventional ferry taking seven to eight hours, 65 to 100 on a fast catamaran taking four and a half to five and a half.
Inter-island. 60 to 90 euros to Mykonos, similar to Crete.
The counterintuitive part. A cheap Athens flight frequently costs less than the fast ferry and takes a sixth of the time.
Overnight sailing. A cabin saves a hotel night, which is a small answer to is santorini expensive on the way in.
On travel alone the question is santorini expensive answers itself by month rather than by mode.
Is Santorini Expensive Compared With Other Greek Islands?
Against Mykonos. Mykonos is worse at the top end: beach clubs, restaurants and sunbeds there are the most expensive in the Cyclades. Santorini is worse for an average room. That premium is the whole of why is santorini expensive relative to its neighbours.
Against Naxos. Naxos is dramatically cheaper on everything: rooms, food, car hire and beaches. It is the value island of the Cyclades, and comparing the two is the fastest way to see why is santorini expensive.
Against Paros. Cheaper than here, dearer than Naxos, and rising.
Against Milos. Cheaper, though catching up fast.
Against Crete. Far cheaper, with a full year-round economy and proper resorts.
Against Folegandros and Sifnos. Comparable for food, cheaper for rooms.
So yes, this is one of the two dearest islands in Greece, and the reason is a view rather than a general cost of living. Buy the view once and is santorini expensive stops being true: the island then costs what Naxos costs.
Sample Budgets
Backpacker, two people, five nights, October
Hostel or simple room 250, food 300, buses and one car day 90, Akrotiri and a museum 30, a boat 90. Around 760 euros plus flights, which is not what most people expect when they ask is santorini expensive.
Mid-range, two people, five nights, May
Hotel with a pool at Kamari 600, food 500, car for three days 120, Akrotiri and Ancient Thira 40, wine afternoon 200 with a driver, catamaran 260. Around 1,720 euros plus flights.
Mid-range, two people, five nights, August
The same trip, with the room at 1,400 and everything else up ten to twenty per cent. Around 2,700 euros plus flights for the identical trip, which is the clearest illustration of is santorini expensive there is.
Caldera, two people, five nights, August
Firostefani room with a view 2,200, rim dinners 900, private transfers and a guided day 700, catamaran 400. Around 4,200 euros plus flights, and that is the modest version.
Luxury, two people, five nights, any month
Cave suite with a private pool from 5,000, private charter 2,000, private guide daily 1,700, restaurants 1,500. Around 10,000 euros plus flights and no upper limit, at which point is santorini expensive answers itself.
Those five lines are the most useful answer to is santorini expensive that anybody can give, because the island is whichever of them you choose.
Is Santorini Expensive in August?
Yes, and August is the single largest variable in is santorini expensive.
The first fortnight of August is the peak of the Greek year. Accommodation runs three to four times the shoulder rate, flights are at their annual maximum, restaurants are full, boats are booked out, and the fifteenth of August is the busiest travel day in the country.
What it buys you. The warmest sea of the year at 25 or 26 degrees, and that is the entire return on is santorini expensive in August.
What it costs you beyond money. Thirty-two degrees with no shade, up to five cruise ships a day in the caldera, an hour in the cable car queue, and Oia impassable from eleven until eight.
The alternative. Late May, June, September and the first half of October. Half the price, a fraction of the crowd, and a sea that is warm from June onwards. September in particular is the month people wish they had booked, and the month where is santorini expensive gets a no.
If your dates can move, moving them is worth more than every other saving on this page combined.
How to Do It Cheaply
Come outside July and August. The single biggest lever on is santorini expensive, and it moves everything at once.
Sleep away from the rim. Karterados, Vothonas, Messaria, Perissa or Kamari. A third of the price for the same standard, and the view is free. This one decision halves is santorini expensive.
Eat inland. Pyrgos, Megalochori, Emporio and Exo Gonia, at a third of the caldera bill.
Buy the view once. One rim dinner, booked, on a night you have chosen. Seven of them is most of why is santorini expensive for a week.
Drink at the winery. Buy a bottle of Assyrtiko for 15 euros and drink it on your terrace instead of paying 45 for it at dinner.
Use the sunbed deal. Most beach bars waive the lounger charge if you eat there.
Share the vehicle. Private tours and transfers are priced per car, so four people pay one fare.
Take the conventional ferry. Cheaper than the catamaran and a better journey.
Fly via Athens. Frequently cheaper than a direct seasonal seat.
Book early. Late availability here is the expensive end of the market, which catches out everybody who asks is santorini expensive in July.
Skip what does not deliver. The hot springs, the donkeys, and the coach trip to Oia at sunset.
Follow those eleven and the question is santorini expensive stops being rhetorical: a week here can cost the same as a week on Naxos, minus one dinner.
Where the Money Actually Goes
It is worth understanding why the prices sit where they do, because is santorini expensive has real answers behind it rather than simple opportunism.
Everything arrives by ship. Food, fuel, building materials, wine bottles, sunbeds. There is no local supply of anything except tomatoes, capers, fava, wine and fish, and shipping is a genuine part of why is santorini expensive.
Water is manufactured. The island runs on desalination, which is expensive.
The season is five months long. A business that is open from May to October has to cover twelve months of costs.
Staff housing is a crisis. Seasonal workers are competing with short-term rentals, and wages have to cover it.
Building on the caldera is difficult. Everything is carried by hand down stepped lanes with no vehicle access.
The view is finite. There are only so many metres of rim, and demand for them is effectively unlimited.
That last point is the whole of it. Nobody is charging 500 euros for a room; they are charging 120 for the room and 380 for the cliff, and that is the honest anatomy of is santorini expensive.
The Luxury End
If money is not the constraint, this island does the top end genuinely well, and it is worth knowing what the money buys before deciding is santorini expensive.
Cave suites with private infinity pools. At Imerovigli, Oia and Firostefani, from around 800 euros a night and into four figures at peak.
Private catamaran charters. Your own boat, crew and route round the caldera with lunch cooked on board.
Private guides and vehicles. A licensed guide at Akrotiri and Ancient Thira changes both sites completely.
Wine. Private tastings with winemakers, vertical Vinsanto flights, and vineyard lunches.
Restaurants. A handful of genuinely accomplished kitchens on the rim, and tasting menus to match.
Helicopter transfers. From Athens or between islands.
Photographers. An entire local industry, and good ones book out months ahead.
What it does not buy. Solitude in Oia at sunset, a sandy beach, or a functioning taxi rank. Some things here are not for sale at any answer to is santorini expensive.
Hidden Costs Nobody Mentions
The steps. A caldera hotel fifty steps below the road may charge for luggage porterage, and if it does not, you are carrying the cases.
Parking. Free everywhere, and non-existent in Fira and Oia in season, which converts into taxi fares that do not exist or a long walk.
Sunbeds. 15 to 40 euros a pair, which people do not budget for.
Cover charges. Bread and service appear on the bill in some rim restaurants.
Fish by the kilo. The single most common bill shock on the island.
The cable car. Small, and multiplied by a family twice a day.
Cancelled boats. The meltemi cancels sailings and refund policies vary. Read them.
ATV damage waivers. Frequently sold on the spot at a price that makes the daily rate look different.
The airport. Nothing to do there and expensive to do it in.
None of these is enormous, and together they are why a budget that looked right at home makes people ask is santorini expensive halfway through the week.
Is Santorini Expensive for Families?
Less than you would expect. For families, is santorini expensive turns on one decision.
The caldera is priced for couples. A great many rim hotels have no family rooms at all and some take no children under twelve, so the expensive half of the island is largely closed to you anyway. What is left is the south and east coast, where prices are ordinary.
Family room or apartment. 90 to 200 euros a night in August at Kamari, Perissa or Monolithos, and half that in the shoulder months.
Food. Children eat cheaply and are welcome everywhere. A plate of chips, grilled chicken or plain pasta costs a few euros and no taverna minds producing it.
Beaches. Free. Sunbeds 15 to 40 a pair, often waived if you eat there.
Sights. Akrotiri is free for EU under-eighteens and reduced for others.
Boats. Catamarans usually have a child rate.
Car and child seat. 35 to 70 a day plus the seat, which must be reserved in writing.
The saving. Private tours and transfers are priced per vehicle, so a family of four pays one fare rather than four, which is the biggest single answer to is santorini expensive with children.
Asked specifically about children, is santorini expensive gets a no, provided you accept that the postcard hotel is not the one you are staying in. See Monolithos.
Is Santorini Expensive for Couples?
This is where it is, because the couples product is exactly the product that makes is santorini expensive true.
A cave room with a private terrace and a plunge pool on the caldera rim is the single most expensive thing on the island, and it is what nearly everybody comes for. Add rim dinners at 60 to 120 a head, a private boat, and August dates, and a five-night trip passes 5,000 euros without anything unusual happening, and is santorini expensive gets a resounding yes.
The honest middle path. Firostefani rather than Oia, which is the same view with road access at two thirds of the price. Two rim dinners rather than five. A shared catamaran rather than a charter. Late May or late September rather than August.
What that saves. Comfortably half, with no loss anybody would notice in a photograph. That is the answer to is santorini expensive for couples.
What is worth the money. The terrace. It is the whole point of the island and you will use it every day.
What is not. The plunge pool, which is two metres of cold water, and the sunset dinner, which is a queue with a tablecloth. See honeymoons.
What Is Worth Paying For
A terrace with a view. If the trip is about the caldera, buy it and stop asking is santorini expensive. Firostefani or Imerovigli.
A licensed guide at Akrotiri. The site is nearly meaningless without one and transformed with one.
A boat day. The cliff from the water is the one thing you cannot get from land.
A wine afternoon with a driver. So both of you can taste.
An airport transfer. It removes the worst half hour of the trip.
One good dinner. Inland, not on the rim.
Time. A fifth night in the shoulder season costs less than a taxi to the airport in August, which is is santorini expensive in one sentence.
What Is Not Worth Paying For
The hot springs. Lukewarm, brown, and they stain swimwear.
A donkey ride. On welfare grounds, and it is 588 unpleasant steps.
A coach tour to Oia at sunset. Several thousand people, ninety minutes and a meeting point.
A plunge pool. Photogenic and unusable.
Sunset dinner on the rim in August. Book a winery terrace instead and eat later, inland.
A hire car if you are staying in Oia. There is nowhere to put it.
Bottled water at rim prices. Buy it at a supermarket.
Six sights in one day. You are paying for driving.
Cut those eight and the answer to is santorini expensive improves by several hundred euros without changing anything you would remember.
Is Santorini Expensive for Solo Travellers?
Proportionally, yes. Alone, is santorini expensive for a structural reason: almost everything here is priced for two.
Rooms. Single occupancy rarely gets a discount. You pay the double rate or close to it, which is the largest penalty a solo traveller faces on this island.
Private tours and transfers. Priced per vehicle, which is excellent for four people and poor for one. A shared small-group tour is the sensible answer alone.
Restaurants. Greek dishes come as plates to share, so eating alone means either fewer dishes or more waste. Mezedes solve it.
Boats. Per person, so no penalty.
Hostels. Perissa and Fira have them, from around 25 to 45 euros in season, and they are where the company is, and where is santorini expensive gets its cheapest no.
The bus. Two euros a journey and no penalty at all.
The honest summary. A solo week costs perhaps 65 to 75 per cent of what a couple pays between them, rather than half. Whether is santorini expensive alone comes down almost entirely to the room.
Costs Month by Month
January and February. The cheapest of the year, and the months where is santorini expensive is simply false. Rooms 50 to 120, flights from Athens under 60 euros return, and half the caldera shut.
March. Still cheap and still half closed.
April. Rising through the month, with Easter as a spike whenever it falls.
May. Excellent value and the clearest no to is santorini expensive. Everything open, rooms 100 to 200 with a view, and no crowds.
June. Prices climbing, sea warm, still comfortable. Arguably the best month of the year.
July. High season proper. Rooms roughly double May.
August. Peak, and the fortnight where is santorini expensive is the most expensive answer in Greece.
September. Falling steadily through the month, with the warmest sea of the year. The best value-to-quality ratio of any month.
October. Very good value in the first half; things start closing in the second.
November and December. Cheap, quiet, and much of the caldera shut. Christmas and New Year are a brief exception.
Plotted against a calendar, the answer to is santorini expensive is a curve with one enormous spike in it, and everything else on this page is a footnote to that shape.
A Day-by-Day Cost Breakdown
Two people, mid-range, September, excluding accommodation and flights.
Day 1. Airport transfer 45, supermarket shop 25, taverna dinner 55. Total 125.
Day 2. Bakery breakfast 10, Akrotiri entry 30, lunch in Megalochori 45, hire car 40, fuel 15, dinner inland 55. Total 195.
Day 3. Breakfast 10, beach sunbeds 25, beach lunch 40, wine tasting for two at one estate 50, dinner 55. Total 180.
Day 4. Catamaran with lunch and drinks 280 for two. Light dinner 30. Total 310.
Day 5. Breakfast 10, Ancient Thira 20, lunch 40, one caldera-rim dinner booked 170. Total 240.
Day 6. Breakfast 10, museums 12, lunch 35, transfer to the airport 45. Total 102.
Five full days. About 1,150 euros for two, or 115 a head a day before the room, which is a real number to set against is santorini expensive.
Strip out the catamaran and the rim dinner and the same week costs about 700. Those two lines are half the discretionary spend, and they are also the two things people remember, which is the whole difficulty with asking is santorini expensive in the abstract.
Is Santorini Expensive to Get Married In?
It can be, and the range in which is santorini expensive applies here is enormous.
The paperwork. A civil ceremony at the municipality is inexpensive in itself. The costs are everything around it.
Venue. A caldera terrace with a view is the single largest line, and hotels charge accordingly for exclusive use.
Photographer. A well-established local one books out months ahead and prices like a European city.
Flowers, hair, planner. All available, all at destination-wedding rates.
Guests. Everybody has to fly and stay, which is the real cost of a Santorini wedding and it is not yours.
Cheaper alternatives. A ceremony at an inland venue or a winery terrace, or a vow renewal with two people and a photographer, which is the version we see most often and by far the best value.
Timing. April to early June and September to October. Cheaper, cooler and better light than August.
See weddings.
What Things Cost: A Price List
Indicative high-season figures in euros, so that is santorini expensive can be checked line by line.
Freddo espresso. 3 to 5. Bottle of water. 0.50 in a supermarket, 2 to 3 on the rim.
Gyros. 4 to 6. Bakery pastry. 2 to 4.
Beer in a taverna. 4 to 7. Cocktail on the caldera. 12 to 20.
Half litre of house wine. 12 to 20. Bottle of Assyrtiko at a winery. 12 to 25.
Taverna dinner for two with wine, inland. 45 to 60.
Caldera-rim dinner for two with wine. 130 to 250.
Sunbeds for two. 15 to 40, often free with lunch.
Bus journey. About 2. Cable car. A few euros each way.
Hire car per day. 35 to 70 in August. ATV. 35 to 60.
Airport transfer. From 40 per vehicle. Private half day. From 220 per vehicle.
Wine tasting. 15 to 30 a head. Volcano boat. 30 to 45 a head.
Catamaran with lunch. 100 to 180 a head.
Akrotiri and Ancient Thira. Modest, with concessions.
Read down that list and the pattern is unmistakable: everything is normal except the things attached to the view. That is the whole of any honest answer to is santorini expensive.
Compared With Other European Destinations
Useful context, because is santorini expensive is asked constantly without a benchmark.
Against Amalfi and Capri. Comparable, and Capri is dearer.
Against Ibiza and Formentera in August. Comparable.
Against Venice, Paris or Amsterdam in summer. Rooms are comparable and food here is cheaper.
Against Croatia’s Dalmatian coast. Dearer here for a room with a view, similar for food.
Against the rest of Greece. Dearer than everywhere except Mykonos, which is the only comparison in which is santorini expensive is unarguable.
Against Portugal or Turkey. Considerably dearer.
So the fair statement is that this is a European premium destination priced like one in high season, and an ordinary Greek island priced like one in May. Both statements are true, and which applies depends entirely on your dates.
Common Price Myths
“You cannot do Santorini on a budget.” You can, comfortably, by sleeping inland and travelling in the shoulder season.
“Everything on the island is overpriced.” The supermarkets, bakeries, buses, museums, sites and inland tavernas are all ordinary Greek prices.
“You have to stay on the caldera.” The view is free from the public rim path, which runs the length of Fira, Firostefani and Imerovigli.
“Restaurants are all tourist traps.” The rim ones are priced for the terrace. Ten minutes inland the cooking is better and a third of the price.
“The sunset costs money.” It does not, anywhere.
“A cave hotel is a rip-off.” It is the traditional dwelling and it stays at 18 degrees all summer.
“Prices are fixed by the season.” They move week by week, and the first fortnight of August is a different market from the last week of it.
Anyone repeating that the island is simply expensive, without asking when and where, has answered is santorini expensive without looking at the question.
What Has Changed
Worth knowing, because a lot of price advice online is several years out of date.
Cruise arrivals are being capped. The local authority has moved to limit daily numbers, which will change the shape of the day rather than the prices.
Card payment is now near-universal. The cash-only taverna is largely gone.
Short-term rentals have pushed up staff housing costs. Which feeds through into wages and therefore into menus.
The shoulder season has lengthened. April and October are far busier and dearer than they were a decade ago.
Direct flights have multiplied. Which has brought fares down in the shoulder months and not in August.
The top end has grown fastest. Suites that were 400 euros a night are now 900, while the inland rooms have risen roughly with inflation, so is santorini expensive depends more than ever on where you sleep.
The consequence is that the gap between the two islands described at the top of this page has widened, not narrowed. The cheap version of Santorini is still cheap; the expensive version has become considerably more so.
Getting Here: What It Costs From Where You Are
The travel leg is a real part of any answer to is santorini expensive, and it varies more by origin than anything else on this page.
From the United Kingdom. Direct seasonal flights from London, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and Edinburgh, three and a half to four hours. August fares are the peak of the year; May and October are frequently half. Out of season, fly to Athens and take the fifty-minute hop, which is often cheaper than a single direct ticket in June.
From Germany, France and Italy. The best-served markets after the UK, with a large charter operation and two to three hour flights. Italy is the shortest and cheapest run of all.
From the United States and Canada. No direct flights and there never have been. Transatlantic to Athens, then the hop. Booking the two legs separately is usually cheaper and entirely at your own risk, so leave four hours rather than ninety minutes.
From Australia and Asia. Two stops, twenty-four to thirty hours, and a night in Athens on the way in that should be budgeted rather than resented.
From elsewhere in Greece. Two to three hours by fast ferry from Mykonos, Naxos or Paros at 60 to 90 euros, and about two hours from Crete in season.
The Athens night. Two hundred euros for a hotel and a dinner in Plaka, and it turns a punishing arrival into a good one. Whether that counts against is santorini expensive is a matter of temperament.
Two Nights, Four Nights or a Week
Trip length changes the arithmetic in a way people rarely think about.
Two nights. The worst value of the three. Arrival and departure days are largely lost to transfers, so you pay two nights and get one usable day. Only sensible as part of an island-hopping route.
Four nights. The efficient minimum. Three full days, which covers Akrotiri, a winery afternoon, a boat and Oia at dawn. The fixed costs of getting here are spread over enough days to justify them.
Five nights. Our usual recommendation. The fifth night costs one room rate and buys a whole day with nothing booked, which is the day most people say they enjoyed most.
A week. The marginal cost per day falls steadily. By day six you are eating like a resident, you know which taverna is cheapest and you have stopped booking things.
Ten days. Add another island by ferry rather than stretching this one.
The pattern is simple: short trips make is santorini expensive true, and longer ones dilute the fixed costs until it stops being.
Paying for Time Rather Than Things
The most useful reframing we can offer, after years of watching people spend money here.
Almost nothing on this island is worth paying for as an object. The room is a bed; the view outside it is free from the path. The rim restaurant is a terrace; the food is better inland. The plunge pool is two metres of cold water. The sunset is free everywhere.
What is genuinely worth money here is time, and specifically the removal of friction: not queueing for the cable car, not circling Fira for a parking space, not standing at an airport taxi rank with tired children, not spending an hour of a five-day trip working out which bus goes where. A private transfer at 45 euros and a guided day at 340 for the vehicle are not luxuries in that framing; they are the purchase of usable hours on a trip that only has a few of them.
Set against that, the 500-euro room is the one line where is santorini expensive is genuinely true and genuinely avoidable, because the thing it is selling you is visible for nothing from fifty metres away.
The Cheapest Good Week We Could Design
Two people, seven nights, late September or the first half of May, excluding flights.
Sleep. A simple hotel or apartment at Karterados or Kamari with a pool, around 600 euros for the week.
Eat. Bakery breakfasts, taverna lunches, inland dinners, two supermarket picnics on the rim at sunset. About 450.
Move. A hire car for three days at 90, fuel at 30, buses on the other days at 20. About 140.
See. Akrotiri, Ancient Thira and both Fira museums, about 60 for two. A wine tasting at 50. About 110.
The one splurge. A shared catamaran with lunch, about 260 for two.
The other one splurge. A single caldera-rim dinner, booked, about 170.
Total. Around 1,730 euros for two, for seven nights, with a boat day and a rim dinner in it.
That is a genuinely good week, and it is what the island costs when you stop paying for the cliff twice. Anyone who reads that figure and still asks is santorini expensive is really asking whether the cave suite is worth it, which is a different question and a personal one.
Two Islands, One Name
Everything on this page comes back to a single observation, so it is worth stating plainly at the end.
There is a Santorini that appears in magazines: a cave suite on a cliff, a plunge pool over a volcano, a table at the edge of a terrace at eight in the evening, a chartered catamaran. It is real, it is very good, and it costs what a European luxury destination costs. Nobody who books it should be surprised by the bill.
And there is the other one: a village on the flat with a pool and a bus stop, a taverna in Emporio where dinner for two is 45 euros, a hire car on empty roads in May, a Bronze Age town under a roof, fifteen wineries with terraces, and the most famous view in Greece available for nothing from a public path that runs for three kilometres. That island costs what Naxos costs.
Both are here at the same time, on 76 square kilometres, and visitors move between them daily without noticing. That is why is santorini expensive has no single answer, and why every honest attempt at one is really a list of decisions rather than a number.
Make three of them well, which are the month, the village and where you eat, and this is an affordable island with an extraordinary view. Make them badly and it is one of the most expensive weeks in Europe.
Money Practicalities
Currency. Euro.
Cards. Accepted almost everywhere, including most tavernas and all hotels. Greek businesses are legally required to accept card payment in most sectors.
Cash. Useful for small village tavernas, beach canteens, the bus and the cable car.
ATMs. In Fira, Oia, Kamari, Perissa and Emporio. Fees vary by machine and the bank-branded ones are cheaper than the standalone tourist machines.
Prices displayed. Menus and rate cards must show prices including tax. What you see is what you pay, so is santorini expensive is at least never a surprise on the menu.
Receipts. Always issued and legally required.
Tourist tax. A small nightly accommodation levy is charged separately at check-in or check-out, by room category.
VAT. Included in displayed prices.
Exchange bureaux. Avoid. Use an ATM.
Tipping
Restaurants. Rounding up, or five to ten per cent for good service. Not obligatory and not expected in the American sense.
Tavernas. Leaving the coins is normal.
Taxis. Round up.
Hotel staff. A few euros for luggage carried down eighty steps is well earned.
Guides and drivers. At your discretion, and appreciated rather than assumed.
Boat crew. Commonly a shared tip at the end of the day.
Tipping culture here is relaxed and nobody will chase you. It is a small part of any answer to is santorini expensive.
Mistakes That Cost Money
Booking August in February and thinking you got a deal. You got the August rate, which is the whole of why is santorini expensive that fortnight.
Booking late for August. The remaining rooms are the dearest ones.
Assuming a caldera room includes a pool you can swim in. It is a plunge pool.
Eating on the rim every night. Roughly triple the inland bill for the week.
Ordering fish without asking the weight. The classic.
Hiring a car for a caldera stay. Parking is the problem, not the driving.
Taking taxis. There are about thirty, so you will be waiting and paying.
Buying water and snacks at rim prices. Twenty metres of walking solves it.
Booking a boat for the last day. If the wind cancels it, there is no second chance and refund terms vary.
Not reading the ATV insurance. The daily rate is not the total.
Paying for a sunset viewpoint. Every viewpoint on this island is free, whatever anybody selling one tells you about is santorini expensive.
Is Santorini Expensive: Frequently Asked Questions
Is Santorini expensive? On the caldera rim in August, yes, very. Away from the view and outside July and August it costs about what any other Greek island costs. The premium is almost entirely for the cliff.
How much does a week cost? For two people excluding flights, roughly 900 to 1,300 euros on a budget in May, 1,800 to 2,600 mid-range, and 6,000 upwards for a caldera room in August.
How much is a hotel? A caldera-view double runs from about 350 euros a night in August and 100 to 200 in May or October. Off the rim, 50 to 180 depending on the season.
How much is dinner? 60 to 120 euros a head with wine on the caldera rim, 20 to 30 at a village taverna inland, and 15 to 25 at a beach taverna.
Is food expensive? Only where the view is. Inland tavernas are ordinary Greek prices and usually better.
What is the cheapest month? January, and among the months everything is open, May and October.
Is it more expensive than Mykonos? Mykonos is dearer at the top end; Santorini is dearer for an average room with a view. Both are the two most expensive islands in the Cyclades.
Can you visit on a budget? Yes. Stay at Karterados or Perissa, eat inland, use buses and one hire-car day, and come in May or October.
Do you need a lot of cash? No. Cards work almost everywhere; carry some cash for village tavernas, buses and the cable car.
Are the beaches free? Yes. Sunbeds cost 15 to 40 euros a pair and are often free if you eat at the bar.
Is the sunset free? Entirely, from every viewpoint including Oia castle.
What is the single biggest saving? Changing the month. Everything else on this page is secondary to that.
We Will Tell You Where the Money Is Wasted
We are a local operator running private tours and transfers in our own vehicles, and a fair part of what we do is telling people which parts of this island are worth paying for and which are not.
Prices are per vehicle rather than per person, which for a family or a group of four is where the saving is, 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, transfers, 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
