Where is the best sunset in Santorini that is not Oia?

Imerovigli with Skaros rock in the foreground, or the Akrotiri lighthouse at the south-western tip, which has essentially no crowd at all.

Are the famous Santorini terraces public?

No. Almost every rooftop, courtyard and infinity pool in those photographs belongs to a hotel or a private home. Book the room or ask the owner.

Which month is best for photography in Santorini?

April, May, September and October, for softer light, fewer people and lower prices. Winter is spectacular and empty but much of the island is closed.

Instagram Archives - SANTORINI PRIVATE GUIDED TOURS

Q: What are the best Instagram spots in Santorini?

The three blue domes and the windmills in Oia, Skaros rock seen from Imerovigli, the Firostefani campanile, Ammoudi Bay, Pyrgos castle, the Akrotiri lighthouse and the wind-carved cliffs at Vlychada.

Q: What time should I photograph Oia?

Between six and eight in the morning. The village is empty, the light is soft on the western faces and there is no queue for any viewpoint.

Q: Can I fly a drone in Santorini?

Only within current Greek and EU rules. There are restrictions around the airport, over crowds and at archaeological sites, where permission is generally required. Check before travelling.

Q: Do I need a professional camera?

No. Every spot works on a phone. Lock the exposure on the white walls rather than the sky, or they will blow out.

Santorini

The best Santorini Instagram spots are the three blue domes and the windmills in Oia, Skaros rock from Imerovigli, the Firostefani campanile, Ammoudi, Pyrgos castle and the Akrotiri lighthouse. Shoot them before nine or after six. Santorini Tours will drive you at half past five in the morning if the light needs it.

is the most popular island of Greece with the most posts in Instagram! Yes, you read right! This app has only one purpose… to create experiences that bring people together and encourage authentic communication.

You can book a Santorini Private Tour to visit all the popular destinations and share your best moments in your favourite social media like Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.

Outrageous number of photos posted in Instagram

More than five million photos of the Santorini island have been posted in Instagram!

Santorini is the most photographed region in Greece, based on Instagram data collectors, as its unique landscape has “climbed” at the top of the specific social network more than five million times.

Santorini’s splendid sunset, volcano, whitewashed houses, and blue-domed churches that look like hanging on the caldera are extinguishing visitors, and the #Santorini hashtag at Instagram is becoming more and more popular. Indeed, many people were attracted by the wave of visitors over the past few years and the “action” of Instagram and the other social media that also share stories, photos and videos.

Santorini sightseeing

Santorini offers a wide variety of sightseeings, which you can enjoy by booking one of the following Santorini private tours to take the best photos and share them with your followers in Instagram or the other social media.

Popular attractions in Santorini

Santorini like most Greek islands has so many places to visit that you have to be organised to manage to see most of them. Apart from the famous destinations you can also book a Santorini Private Tour and Food Experience.

See below the most popular Santorini attractions

Ancient Thira
Museum of Prehistoric Thera
Art Space
Red (Kokkini) Beach
White (Aspri) Beach
Akrotiri Lighthouse
Vlihada Beach
Black (Mesa Pigadia) Beach
Ancient Akrotiri
Skaros Rock
Ammoudi
Tomato Industrial Museum
Wine Museum
Old Port
Maritime Museum
Gyzi Megaron
Perissa Beach
Kamari Beach
Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral
Agios Georgios Beach
Catholic Cathedral
Archaeological Museum
Cultural Village

Discover the best things to do in Santorini. Book now a Santorini Private Tour and visit the most popular beaches and attractions and live the greatest experience you will ever have!

See more about Santorini island:

Santorini Instagram Spots: The Short List

The twelve santorini instagram spots that actually deliver, in the order we would shoot them.

1. The three blue domes, Oia. The single most photographed frame in Greece. Empty before seven in the morning.

2. Skaros rock, Imerovigli. A ruined castle headland jutting into the caldera. Best at sunset.

3. The Oia castle. Sunset, and three thousand other people.

4. Firostefani’s campanile. The three-bell tower above the caldera, best in late afternoon.

5. Ammoudi Bay. Red cliffs, blue boats, 300 steps down from Oia.

6. Vlychada’s lunar cliffs. Wind-carved grey rock that looks like another planet.

7. Pyrgos castle. The whole island in one frame, and almost nobody there.

8. The Akrotiri lighthouse. The entire caldera and Thirasia, with zero crowd.

9. Red Beach. Iron-red cliffs over a small cove.

10. Oia’s windmills. The northern tip, at the very end of the village.

11. The vineyards. Basket-trained vines in black ash, unlike anything in Europe.

12. Megalochori’s bell tower. An arched campanile over a lane with no traffic.

The single rule that governs all of them: be there before nine or after six. Every one of these santorini instagram spots is transformed by the hour you arrive, and none of them is improved by midday.

Why Does the Timing Matter So Much?

Two million visitors a year come to an island of fifteen thousand people, and almost all of them are in the same two villages between eleven and five.

Oia at seven in the morning is silent. The same lane at noon has a queue for a photograph. Nothing about the santorini instagram spots themselves changes; the difference is entirely who else is standing in them.

Light. The white walls at most santorini instagram spots blow out badly under overhead sun. Early morning and the hour before sunset give you the warm side-light that makes the blue domes read as blue rather than grey.

Crowds. Cruise ships tender passengers ashore from about eight and take them back from about four. Check how many ships are in on your dates: a one-ship day and a five-ship day are different islands.

Shadow. The caldera faces west. Mornings put the villages in soft shade with the sea lit behind them; evenings light the faces of the buildings directly.

Wind. The meltemi in July and August will ruin long hair, light dresses and tripods, and it is strongest in the afternoon.

The practical answer. Shoot the Oia santorini instagram spots between six and eight in the morning. Shoot the western rim – Imerovigli, Firostefani, the lighthouse – in the last ninety minutes of daylight. Do everything else in between, inland, where nobody is.

Which Santorini Instagram Spots Are in Oia?

Oia holds more santorini instagram spots per square metre than anywhere else in Greece, which is exactly the problem.

The three blue domes

The most famous of all santorini instagram spots. The frame everyone comes for: three blue-domed churches stacked below you with the caldera behind. It sits on the main pedestrian street towards the northern end of the village, reached on foot only. In August there is a queue for the position by nine in the morning. At half past six there is nobody.

The Oia castle ruins

The old Venetian fortress at the western tip, and the classic sunset viewpoint. Several thousand people gather here on a July evening, arriving up to two hours early to hold a spot on the wall. As a photograph it is fine; as an experience it is a crush. If you want it, be in place ninety minutes before. Oia.

The windmills

Two restored windmills at the far northern end of the village, past the castle. Fewer people than the domes and a cleaner background. Good at sunrise with the sea behind them.

Ammoudi Bay

One of the most under-shot santorini instagram spots. Three hundred steps down from Oia, or a switchback road. Red volcanic cliffs, blue fishing boats, tavernas on the water and the rock of Agios Nikolaos to swim from. Shoot it from the steps on the way down in the late afternoon, and from the water if you take a boat. One of the most under-shot santorini instagram spots because most people only see it at dinner.

The blue-shuttered lanes

The whole village is white lanes and blue doors, and the quietest santorini instagram spots here have no landmark in them at all. and the best frames are the ones without a landmark in them. Walk the back lanes rather than the main street. Almost all of them are private property, so shoot from the public path.

The staircase down to Ammoudi

Switchbacks cut into a red cliff with the sea below. Best from halfway down looking back up.

What to know about Oia

Nearly everything with a good angle in this village is somebody’s terrace, roof or hotel. The genuinely good santorini instagram spots here are all reachable from public paths; the ones that are not are people’s homes.

Which Ones Are on the Caldera Rim?

Skaros rock, Imerovigli

The best of the non-Oia santorini instagram spots. A rock headland pushing out into the caldera with the ruins of a medieval castle on it, reached by a steep path and a short scramble. The classic frame is from the Imerovigli path looking across at it with the sun going down behind. The best sunset on the island and a fraction of the Oia crowd. Imerovigli.

The chapel of Theoskepasti

A small white chapel on the far side of Skaros, and one of the emptiest santorini instagram spots on the rim. reached along the headland. Worth the walk, and often completely empty.

Firostefani’s three-bell campanile

The arched bell tower with the caldera framed through it. Ten minutes’ walk north of Fira and one of the most reliable santorini instagram spots for late afternoon light. Firostefani.

The Fira caldera path

The whole ten-kilometre rim walk from Fira to Oia is a chain of santorini instagram spots. is a sequence of viewpoints. The stretch between Firostefani and Imerovigli is the best of it, and at first light you will have it to yourself.

Fira’s cable car and the old port

The 588 zig-zag steps down the cliff photograph well from above, particularly in low light with the ships anchored below. Fira.

Agios Minas church, Fira

The blue-domed white church on the cliff edge below Fira, seen from the path above. One of the island’s signature frames and far less crowded than the Oia domes.

Which Santorini Instagram Spots Have No Crowd?

Everything below is as good as the famous frames and none of it has a queue. These are the santorini instagram spots we take guests to when they say they want something nobody else has.

Pyrgos castle

The best of the inland santorini instagram spots. The highest village on the island, fifteen minutes from Fira, with a Venetian kastelli at the top reached through stepped lanes. From the walls you see the whole of Santorini at once: the caldera on one side, the airport and the open sea on the other. At two in the afternoon you will pass six people. Pyrgos.

The Akrotiri lighthouse

The far south-western tip, twenty minutes past the archaeological site on a road that ends at a gate. The entire caldera, Thirasia and the open sea in one frame, with the sun setting straight into it. There is essentially never anybody there. Akrotiri lighthouse.

Vlychada’s lunar cliffs

Grey pumice carved by the wind into folds and spires that look like a moonscape, running along the back of the beach. Flat afternoon light or overcast days work best. Almost nobody photographs it and it is one of the strangest santorini instagram spots on the island. Vlychada.

Megalochori

An arched bell tower over an empty lane, cave houses, walled captains’ mansions and vines growing out of the pavement. Ten minutes from Pyrgos and effectively undiscovered by photographers. Megalochori.

Emporio’s kastelli

The most atmospheric of the inland santorini instagram spots. A medieval defensive village with lanes built deliberately to confuse pirates, plus the Goulas tower and the windmills on the ridge above. The most atmospheric village on the island and the least visited. Emporio.

The vineyards

Basket-trained kouloura vines lying flat in black volcanic ash, with the sea behind. There is no other vineyard landscape in Europe that looks like this, and it photographs best in the low light of early morning. Wine tour.

Ancient Thira

The only archaeological entry on this list of santorini instagram spots. A Greek and Roman city on a ridge eight hundred feet above Kamari, with a theatre looking out over open sea. The road up is a series of hairpins and the site closes in the early afternoon, so it is a morning shoot. Ancient Thira.

Red Beach

Iron-red cliffs over a small cove near Akrotiri. Dramatic, and subject to rockfall closures – check what is open before you drive down. Red Beach.

Thirasia

The island across the caldera, reached by boat from Ammoudi or Athinios. One village at the top of a stair, a handful of tavernas, and the reverse view: Santorini itself as a cliff on the horizon. Thirasia.

Nea Kameni

The black cinder island in the middle of the caldera, with a crater rim you can walk to in half an hour. Black rock, blue water and the cliffs of Santorini all around. Nea Kameni.

From a boat

The caldera only makes sense from inside it. A catamaran gives you the one angle no land-based visitor gets: the whole three-hundred-metre cliff with the villages balanced along the top edge. Of all the santorini instagram spots this is the one that most surprises people.

Kamari and the cliff of Mesa Vouno

Black pebble beach with the enormous rock of Ancient Thira rising straight out of it. Dramatic at the end of the day. Kamari.

When Should You Shoot Each One?

An hour-by-hour plan, because the santorini instagram spots are all the same places at different times and the time is what makes the picture.

05:30 to 07:00 – sunrise

Oia. The blue domes, the windmills, the lanes, all empty. Every one of the famous santorini instagram spots, with nobody in them. The sun comes up behind the island rather than over the caldera, so the light is soft and indirect on the western faces. This is the single most valuable hour of the day for photography here and almost nobody uses it.

07:00 to 09:00

Still Oia, or the caldera path from Fira north. Warm light, few people, and shops beginning to open behind you.

09:00 to 11:00

Ancient Thira before it closes, or the vineyards, or Emporio. Inland and archaeological, while the rim fills up.

11:00 to 16:00

The worst light and the worst crowds at every one of the santorini instagram spots. Shoot indoors, shoot the lunar cliffs at Vlychada where flat light suits the rock, shoot Akrotiri under its roof, or do not shoot at all and have lunch inland.

16:00 to 18:00

Pyrgos and Megalochori as the light lengthens. The inland villages take late afternoon better than the rim does.

18:00 to sunset

The western rim, which holds the best evening santorini instagram spots. Imerovigli and Skaros, Firostefani’s campanile, or the Akrotiri lighthouse. If you must do the Oia castle, be there ninety minutes early.

After sunset

Twenty minutes of afterglow that most of the crowd walks away from, and it is often the better light. Then blue hour over Fira with the lights coming on down the cliff.

Night

Very little light pollution once you are inland. The Milky Way is visible from the road above Emporio on a clear night, with the villages glowing on the horizon.

How Does the Season Change Things?

April and May

Green terraces, wildflowers, clear air and a fraction of the summer crowd. Arguably the best months for the santorini instagram spots, and the accommodation costs half.

June

Long days, everything open, and the crowd building. Sunset around half past eight.

July and August

Harsh overhead light, haze, up to five cruise ships a day and the strongest wind of the year. Everything on this page still works but only at the edges of the day.

September

The light softens, the crowds thin after the first week, and the sea is at its warmest. Many photographers’ favourite month.

October

Low sun, dramatic cloud, real value, and quiet villages. Excellent, with a small weather risk.

November to March

Empty. The santorini instagram spots belong to you in January. Oia at midday has the population of a small village, which is what it is. Low winter sun, long shadows, storms crossing the caldera and no people in frame. The santorini instagram spots are at their most photogenic and least accessible at the same time – many businesses are shut and flights are Athens-only. Santorini in winter.

The one seasonal warning

The meltemi blows hardest in July and August. It will move a tripod, ruin loose fabric and blow sand across the beaches. Check the forecast before planning anything that needs stillness.

What Are the Best Photo Routes?

Three worked routes, because the santorini instagram spots are scattered and the roads are slower than they look.

The sunrise route

Every famous frame before breakfast. 05:30 Leave for Oia in the dark. 06:00 The blue domes, empty. 06:45 The windmills at the northern tip. 07:15 Down the steps towards Ammoudi for the switchbacks and the red cliff. 08:00 Coffee in the village as it wakes up. You will have shot the three most famous frames on the island before most visitors have had breakfast.

The sunset route

The three best evening santorini instagram spots in one walk. 17:00 Firostefani campanile in the lengthening light. 17:45 Walk north along the rim to Imerovigli. 18:30 The Skaros viewpoint, with the rock in silhouette. 19:30 Stay for the afterglow that everybody else walks away from. This is the best sunset sequence on the island and it is not the one in the guidebooks.

The no-crowd route

09:00 Ancient Thira before it closes. 11:00 Emporio’s kastelli and windmills. 13:00 Lunch in Megalochori. 14:30 The vineyards and a winery. 16:00 Pyrgos castle. 18:30 The Akrotiri lighthouse for sunset. A whole day of santorini instagram spots without queuing once.

The one-day version

Three santorini instagram spots and nothing else. Oia at six, inland from ten to four, the western rim from six. Three locations, and you will have covered the island properly.

What About Couples, Proposals and Solo Travellers?

Couples

Imerovigli rather than Oia. The light is the same, the crowd is a tenth, and Skaros in the background gives you a foreground subject that the flat Oia castle shot does not.

Proposals

The two quietest santorini instagram spots: the Akrotiri lighthouse at sunset, or the Skaros headland. Both are quiet enough to actually hear each other, which the Oia castle at eight in the evening is not.

Solo travellers

A tripod and a timer work fine at the quiet santorini instagram spots and badly at the busy ones. Sunrise in Oia is the exception: you will have the frame to yourself and can take as long as you like.

Families

Shoot early, keep it short, and put the beach after it. Nobody under ten is waiting ninety minutes for a sunset.

Hiring a photographer

Common here and worth it for one session rather than a week. The good ones start before seven and know which lanes are public. Ask to see a full gallery from a single shoot rather than a highlights reel.

Wedding shoots

Book the venue and the photographer nine to twelve months ahead for summer, and check what permits the location needs. Santorini weddings.

How Do You Get Between Them?

This is the part that decides whether a photography day works, because the santorini instagram spots are spread across an island with about thirty licensed taxis.

Private driver. The only realistic way to shoot the santorini instagram spots at both ends of the same day. to shoot sunrise and sunset in the same day. We collect at half past five in the morning if that is what the light needs, wait while you shoot, and move you between the rim and the inland villages without you parking anywhere. Priced per vehicle rather than per person. Personalised tour.

Hire car. Workable, except that Oia and Fira parking in season is genuinely difficult and you will lose the golden hour looking for a space.

Buses. Cheap, and every route changes in Fira. The first service is far too late for sunrise and the last is too early for a proper sunset in Oia.

Taxis. At half past five in the morning, no.

On foot. Excellent within Oia, Fira, Firostefani and Imerovigli, and along the caldera path between them. Useless for everything else.

By boat. The caldera from the water, Thirasia, the volcano and the coloured beaches, none of which are reachable any other way.

What Are the Rules and the Etiquette?

Worth taking seriously, because a good number of the best santorini instagram spots sit on or beside private property and residents have had enough.

Private terraces are private

Almost every rooftop, courtyard and infinity pool you have seen in a photograph belongs to a hotel or a family home. Walking onto one without asking is trespass, and it is the single behaviour that has soured residents on photographers. If you want a terrace shot, book the room or ask the owner.

Blocking lanes

Those white pedestrian streets are how people get to work, move deliveries and take children to school. A twenty-minute shoot in the middle of one at nine in the morning is genuinely obstructive.

Churches

Shoot the outside freely. Inside, ask, cover shoulders and knees, and do not shoot during a service.

Drones

Greek rules follow the EU framework: registration as an operator, restrictions near airports and crowds, and archaeological sites generally require permission from the authorities. Santorini’s airport sits in the middle of the island and the caldera villages are dense with people. Check the current rules before you travel rather than after you are stopped.

Tripods

Fine on paths and viewpoints, difficult in a crowded lane, and impossible in wind on an exposed rim.

Commercial shoots

Weddings and paid photo sessions in some locations require permits and fees. Your photographer should know; if they do not, that is a warning sign.

The donkeys

A picture of a donkey ride on the 588 steps reads as an endorsement, and the animals work all day in extreme heat under loads well above the legal limit. Do not post it. Why we ask you not to ride.

People in your frame

Residents did not consent to being content. Wide shots of a village are fine; close portraits of strangers are not.

What Should You Bring and Wear?

Kit

Wide angle for the caldera and the lanes – the depth here is the subject. A short telephoto for compressing the villages along the rim, which is how those layered cliff-edge shots are made. A polariser for the sea. Spare batteries, because heat drains them. A cloth, because sea spray and dust get on everything.

Phone shooting

Entirely adequate for every one of the santorini instagram spots on this page. Lock exposure on the white walls or they blow out; the domes are the thing that has to be exposed correctly, not the sky.

Clothes

The classic santorini instagram spots frames use a strong solid colour against white and blue – red, yellow and deep blue all work. Flowing fabric photographs well and behaves badly in the meltemi, so bring something you can hold. White on white disappears.

Shoes

Grip, always. The marble lanes are polished smooth by two million visitors a year and the paths to Skaros and Ancient Thira are rough. Heels in Oia are a photograph, not footwear.

Sun

There is essentially no shade anywhere. Hat, cream, water, and a reason to be indoors between noon and four.

Cash

The cable car, small tavernas and the boats all prefer notes.

What Santorini Instagram Spots Mistakes Do People Make?

Arriving at midday. Harsh overhead light, blown-out walls and a queue. Every problem with the santorini instagram spots starts here.

Only shooting Oia. There are santorini instagram spots in thirty-one other villages. One village out of thirty-two, and the most crowded one.

Believing the sunset has to be from the Oia castle. It does not, and four other places are better.

Trespassing for a terrace. Those are people’s homes and hotel rooms.

Planning one shoot per day. The light gives you two hours in the morning and ninety minutes in the evening. Use both.

Booking a hire car and losing the light to parking. Oia in July is not a place to look for a space at seven in the evening.

Wearing white. It vanishes against the walls. Use one strong colour.

Ignoring the wind. Loose fabric and tripods do not survive an August afternoon on the rim.

Flying a drone without checking the rules. Airport, crowds and archaeological sites all restrict them.

Not scouting the day before. Ten minutes walking a route in daylight saves an hour at the santorini instagram spots at sunrise. Ten minutes walking a route in daylight saves an hour at sunrise.

Leaving after the sun goes down. The twenty minutes of afterglow are often the best light of the day, and the crowd has gone.

Posting the donkey ride. It reads as a recommendation for a trade that should not exist.

Santorini Instagram Spots: Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best santorini instagram spots? The three blue domes and the windmills in Oia, Skaros rock from Imerovigli, the Firostefani campanile, Ammoudi Bay, Pyrgos castle, the Akrotiri lighthouse and the lunar cliffs at Vlychada.

Where are the three blue domes? On the main pedestrian street towards the northern end of Oia, reachable on foot only. Go before seven in the morning.

What time should I photograph Oia? Between six and eight in the morning. It is empty, the light is soft and there is no queue for any position.

Where is the best sunset that is not Oia? Imerovigli with Skaros in the foreground, or the Akrotiri lighthouse, which has essentially no crowd at all.

Can I fly a drone in Santorini? Only within the current Greek and EU rules. There are restrictions around the airport, over crowds and at archaeological sites, and permission is generally required for the latter.

Are the famous terraces public? No. Almost every rooftop and infinity pool you have seen belongs to a hotel or a private home. Book the room or ask.

Which month is best for photography? April, May, September and October. Softer light, fewer people, lower prices. Winter is spectacular and much is closed.

Do I need a professional camera? No. Every spot on this page works on a phone. Lock the exposure on the white walls.

How do I get around for sunrise and sunset? A private driver. Buses start too late and finish too early, and there are around thirty taxis on the whole island.

How many days do I need? Two, if you use both ends of each day. One is possible if you shoot Oia at sunrise and the western rim at sunset.

Is Oia worth it despite the crowds? Yes, at the right hour. At the wrong hour it is the most crowded place in Greece.

Can you take us to these places? Yes, including at half past five in the morning.

Shoot the Island Properly

We are a local operator and we run santorini instagram spots photography days as private tours: an early start for the sunrise frames, the inland villages and the archaeology while the rim is full, and the western rim for the last hour of light.

The driver waits while you shoot, which is the whole point – no parking, no bus timetable, no missed light. Prices are per vehicle rather than per person, so a family or a group of friends pays what a couple pays, hotel pickup anywhere on the island is included, and an 80 EUR deposit confirms a date.

See the personalised tour, the sunset tour, the full list of tours, or the FAQ.