Santorini vs milos is two volcanic islands that went opposite ways. Santorini kept its crater, put white villages on the rim and has Akrotiri, a live volcano and a wine region. Milos kept its coastline and has the strangest and best beaches in the Cyclades. First visit, sights or a honeymoon, Santorini. Beaches, swimming and quiet, Milos.
Enjoy a wine tour in Santorini in 2021
Undoubtedly Santorini is recognized as one of the best and most famous travel destinations in the world. In addition to its wild beauty, it is especially known for the excellent wines it produces which you can enjoy in a Santorini wine tour with Santorini Tours. The volcanic soil it has gives its wines a rare, almost unique character.
In Santorini are cultivated only indigenous varieties such as Assyrtiko, Aidani, Athiri, Mandilaria and Mavrotragano. The latter was a forgotten, insignificant variety scattered on the island in very small quantities. At the beginning of 2000 it started to gain the interest of the producers again, as a result of which today some of the best Greek red wines are produced from Mavrotragano.
However, the most famous variety of Santorini is Assyrtiko, which shows its best face on the island. Santorini wines have strong personality, rich body and sharp acidity. This uniqueness has made Santorini wines famous, giving them a place in the best wine lists around the world. The small quantity, the unique character, the expensive land and the global recognition have also contributed to the vertical increase of prices. The price of most wines increased by about 30-40% within 1 year. Many considered this increase absurd, but let us not forget that we are talking about unique premium wines that should take the place and also the price they deserve.
The island of Santorini has a special tradition in the production of wine from its birth about 3,500 years ago. Wine goes hand in hand with the evolution of civilization from its depths yesterday until today. The main reason for the exceptional and unique wine production in the world is the volcano. The volcanic site created the conditions: rich volcanic soil in lava and ash, volcanic material in the subsoil, specific climatic conditions and dry land due to limited rainfall, sea and sun.
The vineyard, an integral part of Santorini culture, is everywhere. The vineyards of the island are one of the oldest in Europe and a special way of pruning in the shape of a bun is used, which protects the vine from the wind. You will find old traditional wineries all over the island but the houses also have their own place dedicated to wine. The wineries keep the traditional method of winemaking until today, aiming at quality, custodians of the secret, divine taste that the volcano gave to the Santorini. Get to know the wines of Santorini with a Santorini private wine tour.
Which wine should I try in a Santorini wine tour?
The most famous labels of Santorini are Nykteri, dry, white aged wine of the Assyrtiko variety and the delicious, intoxicating Vinsanto with the intense sweet taste. The unique taste and aroma of Santorini wines brought them to the forefront of the international wine tasting community, winning outstanding reviews around the world. Santorini may be known all over the world for its sunset and view of the Caldera.
But connoisseurs know that Santorini, with its valuable heritage and tradition of 3,500 years in viticulture, is also famous for the quality and unsurpassed taste of its wines. The strength of the volcanic land of Santorini, in combination with the excellent climate of the island, favored the creation of unique varieties with strong aromas and flavors. And when professional winemakers came into play with a love for the place and a passion for their work, the fame of Santorini wines skyrocketed both in Greece and abroad.
Although there are several varieties, the most famous is Assyrtiko, a wine with an explosive body, which matches the volcanic character of the island. It is the largest part of the wine production of the island and one of its most important and recognizable exportable products.
There are two wines that we especially love. One is Nychteri, a white dry wine of the Assyrtiko variety, with aromas of flowers and citrus. The people who produced this wine worked in the cellars until late at night to squeeze the grapes, thus giving the wine its name. The second is Vinsanto, the famous red sweet wine of Santorini that is served more as a liqueur. The growers traditionally spread the grapes in the sun for two weeks to raise the sugars, which gives the wine its sweet taste. Its name is said to have come from Vin Santo which means Holy Wine.
In a Santorini wine tour you should try Assyrtiko in all its versions, fresh and aged as each vineyard reflects its uniqueness but also each winemaking is unique. There are excellent varieties of wine you can taste in a Santorini wine tour such us Athiri, Aidani, Mavrotragano but also the lesser known Mandilaria, Voudomato, Katsano.
What to accompany them with?
With the genuine local products, fava, capers, barley, cherry tomatoes, the recipes that are based on them, but also tomato meatballs, sponge, stuffed (either with zucchini flowers or cherry tomatoes).
With Santorini Tours you can visit all the wineries of Santorini.You can take a tour of Santorini!
Santorini vs Milos: The Short Answer
Santorini vs milos is a comparison of two volcanic islands that went in opposite directions. Santorini kept its crater, put white villages along the rim and became the most photographed island in Greece. Milos kept its coastline, stayed a mining island, and now has the strangest and best beaches in the Cyclades.
On santorini vs milos for a first visit, a honeymoon or a week with sights in it, the answer is Santorini. For beaches, quiet, swimming and a boat day around a coast that looks like nowhere else, Milos. Both are volcanic, both are dramatic, and only one of them has an archaeological site, a wine region and twenty flights a day.
The two sides of santorini vs milos are three to four hours apart by ferry with no daily direct service in the shoulder months, which makes doing both harder than any other pairing in the Cyclades.
The Landscape
Santorini. The dramatic half of santorini vs milos: the rim of a collapsed caldera, a 300-metre cliff, a crater full of sea, two black islets in the middle and villages balanced along the top edge.
Milos. The coastal half of santorini vs milos: a horseshoe bay with a coastline of white rock formations, sulphur-yellow cliffs, sea caves, old mining works and 70-odd beaches, most of them reached by boat or a rough track.
The famous view. Santorini has one and it is unmatched. Milos has thirty smaller ones and no single postcard.
Colour. Milos wins this part of santorini vs milos on variety: white, ochre, red, black and grey rock within a few kilometres. Santorini wins on scale.
Sarakiniko. The white lunar rock on the north coast is the one thing on Milos that has no equivalent anywhere, and it is the reason many people put santorini vs milos on the table at all.
Size. Milos is 160 square kilometres to Santorini’s 76, with far worse roads and far longer drives.
See how the Santorini caldera formed.
The Beaches
The least close section of any santorini vs milos comparison, and the reason most people ask the question.
Milos. The beach half of santorini vs milos: Sarakiniko’s white moonscape, Tsigrado down a rope and a ladder, Firiplaka and Paliochori with their striped cliffs, Kleftiko reachable only by boat, and dozens of small coves in between.
Santorini. Black, grey and red volcanic sand: Perissa, Perivolos, Kamari, Vlychada and Monolithos. Long, dramatic, deep water off the shore, no natural shade and sand too hot to walk on by eleven in summer.
Access. Many Milos beaches need a 4×4, a boat or a scramble. Every Santorini beach has a road, a car park and a taverna behind it.
Shade and facilities. Santorini, comfortably. Milos has more beauty and fewer sunbeds.
The verdict. Milos, and it is not close. If the trip is about swimming and coastline, santorini vs milos answers itself in one line.
See the Santorini beaches ranked.
What There Is to See
Santorini. The sightseeing half of santorini vs milos: Akrotiri, a Bronze Age town buried by the eruption around 1600 BC with two-storey houses, drainage and frescoes. Ancient Thira on its ridge. Nea Kameni, the active volcano. Two good museums in Fira. Around fifteen wineries. Oia, Imerovigli and the caldera rim path.
Milos. The catacombs and the ancient theatre at Klima, the spot where the Venus de Milo was found, Plaka’s castle, the fishing villages with their painted syrmata boat garages, and the mining museum.
The verdict. Santorini, by a wide margin. On sights the santorini vs milos question is settled by one buried city and one active volcano.
The qualifier. Klima and Mandrakia are two of the prettiest small settlements in the Cyclades, and nobody visits Milos for museums anyway.
See Akrotiri and the volcano.
The Boat Day on Each
Both sides of santorini vs milos are best seen from the water, and the two trips are completely different.
Santorini. Five to seven hours round the caldera: the volcanic islets, swimming stops in deep clear water, lunch cooked on board, Thirasia, and the 300-metre cliff turning gold at six.
Milos. A full-day circuit to Kleftiko, with white rock arches, sea caves, swimming through tunnels and lunch at anchor. It is the single best boat day in the Cyclades.
Cost. 90 to 140 each on both halves of santorini vs milos.
Which is better. Milos for swimming and rock formations; Santorini for scale and the view back at the cliff.
If you only do one thing. Do the boat, on whichever island the santorini vs milos decision lands, because both are the highlight of their island.
Food, Wine and Evenings
Santorini. A volcanic island with no fresh water: white aubergine, capers, fava, and cherry tomatoes with a concentration nothing matches. Inland tavernas at Pyrgos and Megalochori are very good; the caldera rim charges two or three times as much for the view. The wine is world class.
Milos. Simple, good and cheap. Fish in the harbours, honest tavernas in Pollonia and Adamas, and no wine culture to speak of.
Nightlife. Santorini vs milos is decided in Fira, which has bars until dawn. Milos has a couple of harbour bars and an early night, which is what most of its visitors want.
Dinner prices. 30 to 45 for two on Milos, 35 to 55 inland on Santorini, 90 to 160 on the Santorini rim.
The verdict. On food santorini vs milos is close and on wine it is not: nothing in the Aegean compares with Assyrtiko from ungrafted basket vines. See the wine tour.
Crowds and Cost
Visitors. On santorini vs milos numbers, Santorini takes two to three million a year with up to five cruise ships a day. Milos takes a fraction of that and has no cruise traffic of consequence.
Where the crowds are. Two Santorini villages between eleven and five. Everywhere else on both islands is quiet.
Hotels. 60 to 120 inland on Santorini, 180 to 300 on the caldera, 400 and up for a cave suite. On Milos, 70 to 140 for a good room and 200 for the best.
Car hire. 25 to 70 a day on Santorini, 35 to 60 on Milos, where a 4×4 costs more and is genuinely useful.
The summary. Milos is cheaper than the Santorini rim and roughly the same as inland Santorini, which is the fact that decides most santorini vs milos bookings once people look at the numbers.
Getting There
Flights, the practical half of santorini vs milos. Santorini has direct services from most of Europe from April to October, and forty-five minutes from Athens all year with twenty or more rotations a day in season.
Flights to Milos. Athens only, on small aircraft, a few a day in summer and fewer out of it.
Ferries from Piraeus. Three to five hours to Milos, four and a half to five and a half to Santorini on a fast boat, and seven to eight on a conventional ferry to either.
Between the two. Three to four hours by ferry, and crucially not every day outside July and August. This is the practical reason santorini vs milos is usually an either-or rather than a both.
Connections. Milos sits on the western Cyclades line with Sifnos, Serifos and Folegandros. Santorini sits on the eastern line with Ios, Naxos, Paros and Mykonos. They are on different chains, which is why the crossing is awkward.
Winter. Santorini keeps daily flights and ferries. Milos becomes very quiet indeed.
The rule for both. Never a ferry on the day you fly home.
See the Santorini ports explained.
Getting Around
Milos. On santorini vs milos transport, a car is essential here, and for several of the best beaches a proper 4×4 rather than a small hire car. Tsigrado needs a rope and a ladder on foot, and Kleftiko cannot be reached by land at all.
Santorini. A car is useful and not essential. Everything is inside half an hour, the buses are frequent, and the only real problem is parking in Fira and Oia. See car hire.
Buses. Good on Santorini, adequate on Milos for Adamas, Plaka and the main southern beaches.
Private drivers. Priced per vehicle on Santorini, which for four people is often cheaper than a group tour per head. See transfers.
Walking. Santorini has the ten-kilometre rim path from Fira to Oia, which is the best walk in either island’s favour. Milos has short coastal scrambles rather than a signature route.
The verdict. On logistics santorini vs milos favours Santorini heavily: more flights, better roads, more buses and no beach that requires a rope.
How Many Days Each Needs
Santorini. On santorini vs milos trip length, five nights is right here: Akrotiri, a boat day, the wineries, Oia at dawn, a beach afternoon and one day with nothing in it. Three works and feels tight.
Milos. Four to six, because the beaches are spread around a large coastline and the good ones take a drive or a boat.
The asymmetry. Santorini front-loads: the first two days are extraordinary. Milos builds: the fourth and fifth days are when you find the beach you will remember.
Ten days. Both, with the ferry checked carefully, or one of them plus Paros or Naxos, which is easier.
A week. One island. Splitting a week across santorini vs milos costs a travel day at each end and shows you neither properly.
See the Santorini itinerary guide.
Which Suits Which Trip
First visit to Greece. Santorini takes santorini vs milos here. The caldera is what people picture when they picture Greece, and it is better in person.
Honeymoon. Santorini, for the terraces and the boat days. Milos is romantic in a quieter, sandier way.
Beach holiday. Milos, outright.
Photography. Both, differently: Santorini for the villages and the light, Milos for rock, colour and water.
Families with young children. Neither is ideal. Milos has better swimming and worse access; Santorini has flat beach villages and hot black sand. Paros or Naxos beats both.
Archaeology and wine. Santorini, outright.
Quiet. Milos, comfortably.
Five nights only. Santorini, which delivers more per day.
A second Cyclades trip. Milos, once the famous view is in the album.
Swimming and boat days. Milos, and Kleftiko is the best of them.
Read that list and the santorini vs milos answer for your particular week is usually obvious in two lines.
Season by Season
April and May. Santorini vs milos in spring: both are quiet and the sea is cold. Santorini has more open and more flights; Milos is still waking up.
June. The best month on either: long days, warm enough water, everything running and pre-peak prices.
July and August. Milos is calmer and less crowded, but the meltemi hits its north coast hard and closes the Kleftiko boats on the worst days. Santorini is busier and its south coast stays swimmable.
September. The warmest sea of the year on both, with crowds thinning after the first week. The best month to settle santorini vs milos in favour of whichever you fancy.
October. Santorini keeps flights and services to the end of the month; Milos winds down earlier.
November to March. Santorini remains open in reduced form. Milos is essentially closed to visitors.
See the Santorini weather month by month.
Doing Both in One Trip
Doing both is harder than any other Cyclades pairing, and worth knowing why before you plan it.
The problem. They sit on different ferry lines, so the direct crossing is three to four hours and does not run daily outside high summer.
The workaround. Route through Athens by air, or add Folegandros or Sifnos between them and treat the trip as a western-Cyclades loop with Santorini at the end.
The order. Milos first, Santorini second, because Santorini has the flights home.
How long. Twelve nights minimum for a comfortable santorini vs milos combination: five, five and two travel days.
The honest advice. With ten days or fewer, pick one and add Paros, Naxos or Ios instead, both of which are forty minutes from Santorini.
The exception. In July and August the direct boats run most days, and the crossing is straightforward if you book ahead and travel in the morning.
Where to Stay on Each
Santorini, for the view that decides santorini vs milos. Firostefani or Imerovigli, with caldera terraces and road access at Firostefani. See Firostefani.
Santorini, for value. Karterados, Messaria, Vothonas or the back streets of Perissa, at a third of the rim price.
Santorini, for a beach. Kamari, Perissa or Monolithos, flat and walkable, with tavernas on the sand. See Kamari.
Milos, the other side of santorini vs milos, for convenience. Adamas, where the ferries dock, with the shops, the boats and the bus stop.
Milos, for prettiness. Plaka or Trypiti, up the hill, with the castle and the sunset.
Milos, for quiet. Pollonia in the north east, a small harbour village with good food and the Kimolos ferry.
The pattern. On both islands the village decides the holiday more than the hotel does, which is the one piece of advice that applies whichever way santorini vs milos goes. See where to stay on Santorini.
Common Misconceptions
“Milos is the undiscovered Santorini.” It has been busy since about 2018 and it was never the same kind of island.
“Santorini is just a sunset.” It holds the best-preserved Bronze Age town in the Aegean, an active volcano and a unique wine region.
“Milos is cheaper in every way.” Rooms are cheaper than the caldera and dearer than inland Santorini in August, and the car costs more.
“You can day-trip between them.” Three to four hours each way on a boat that does not run daily. Absolutely not.
“Santorini has no good beaches.” It has long black-sand stretches with tavernas and sunbeds. They are second tier for swimming and perfectly pleasant late in the afternoon.
“They are basically the same volcanic island.” The most common error in the santorini vs milos debate: one is a collapsed crater with villages on the rim, the other is a mining island with a carved coastline.
The One-Line Verdicts
Seven nights, first time in Greece. Santorini.
Seven nights, third time in Greece. Milos.
A beach-driven week. Milos.
A sights-driven week. Santorini.
A honeymoon. Santorini.
A photographer. Both, and Milos if you already have the caldera in the album.
August on a budget. Milos, if you can get the flights.
Anyone who does not want to drive. Santorini, comfortably.
Anyone who wants one perfect boat day. Milos, for Kleftiko.
A wine trip. Santorini, and nothing else in the Cyclades comes close.
A winter break. Santorini, because Milos closes.
Eleven lines, and santorini vs milos takes about a minute to settle once you know which of them describes your week.
What Each Island Feels Like After Three Days
Comparisons on paper miss the part that actually matters, which is what the week feels like once the novelty has gone.
The Santorini half of santorini vs milos after three days. You have stopped photographing the view and started using it: coffee on the terrace at seven, the rim path at an hour when nobody else is on it, and dinner at nine in a village where the ships have gone. The island shrinks to a set of habits, and they are good ones.
Milos after three days. You have found your beach. Most people settle on one cove and go back to it, because getting to a new one is half an hour of driving and a scramble, and the one you found is empty anyway.
The failure mode on Santorini. Trying to see everything, at midday, in August, in a queue. That is the version people complain about.
The failure mode on Milos. Underestimating the driving, hiring the wrong car, and losing two days to tracks you cannot use.
The thing both share. The best hours are early and late, and the middle of the day belongs to the shade. Whichever way santorini vs milos falls, that rule does not change.
If You Have Already Been to Santorini
A good share of the santorini vs milos traffic is people who have seen the caldera and want the next island.
Go to Milos if. You want beaches, boats and rock formations, and you are happy to drive.
Go to Naxos if. You want beaches with less effort, mountain villages and good cheap food.
Go to Folegandros if. You want the caldera-village atmosphere at a tenth of the scale.
Go to Paros if. You want a balanced island with nightlife and ferries everywhere.
Come back here if. You did Santorini in two days from a cruise ship or a coach and never saw Akrotiri, a winery or the rim path at seven in the morning. That is not the same island, and it is the one worth returning for.
The Verdict
Santorini wins santorini vs milos on being extraordinary. A crater eight kilometres across, a buried Bronze Age city, an active volcano and a wine region with no equivalent, all within fifty minutes of driving.
Milos is better at being a beach island. Seventy beaches, white rock, sea caves, and the best boat day in the Cyclades.
The cost. Close, once you stay off the Santorini rim.
The logistics. Santorini wins on flights, roads and buses; Milos asks for a car and rewards it.
Our answer. If it is your first trip, do not agonise over santorini vs milos: come here, see the caldera, and put Milos on the list for the year after.
If you have ten days and want both. Milos first, Santorini second, and check the ferry timetable before you book anything at all.
Three Questions That Settle It
If the lists have not decided santorini vs milos for you, three questions will.
1. Will you drive? Milos needs a car for the whole week and a rough-road one for several beaches. If nobody in the party wants to drive on tracks, that is santorini vs milos answered.
2. Is anything on the trip a fixed appointment? A wedding, an anniversary dinner, a flight with one connection. Santorini has twenty flights a day to Athens and Milos has three, which matters more than any beach.
3. What will you talk about afterwards? If the answer is a swim, book Milos. If it is a view, a site or a glass of Assyrtiko on a terrace, book here.
The tiebreaker. Cost is not one, because santorini vs milos on price is close once you stay inland, and the flights usually cost less to Santorini than to Milos anyway.
And if you are still stuck. Come here first. The caldera is the thing people remember for thirty years, and Milos will still be there next summer with the same white rock and the same empty coves.
Two Volcanoes, Two Outcomes
The geology is the most interesting part of the santorini vs milos comparison and almost nobody writes about it.
Santorini. The louder volcano in santorini vs milos: a stratovolcano that blew its top around 1600 BC and collapsed into the sea, leaving a caldera eight kilometres across with the villages on the rim. It is still active: Nea Kameni last erupted in 1950.
Milos. An older, quieter volcanic complex that produced obsidian traded across the Mediterranean 11,000 years ago, plus bentonite, perlite and sulphur, which the island still mines.
What you see as a result. On Santorini, a crater and cliffs of ash and lava. On Milos, hydrothermal rock in white, yellow and rust, carved into shapes by the sea.
Hot water. Both have it. Santorini’s is at the springs by Palia Kameni; Milos has warm sand and thermal seeps at Paliochori.
The wine connection. Only Santorini’s volcanic soil produced a wine region, because pumice holds moisture and keeps phylloxera out.
The verdict. For geology santorini vs milos is a genuine tie, and it is the only category where that is true.
What a Week on Each Looks Like
The Santorini side of santorini vs milos, five nights. Arrive and do nothing. Akrotiri at opening with a guide, lunch in Megalochori, three wineries from four, dinner at Pyrgos. A catamaran round the caldera with swimming stops and lunch on board. Oia at seven in the morning, the afternoon free, one rim dinner. The rim path early, a beach from four, dinner at Vothonas. Then home.
Milos, five nights. Arrive at Adamas. Sarakiniko at first light and Plaka for the sunset. The full-day boat to Kleftiko. Firiplaka and Tsigrado with a picnic. Klima, Mandrakia and the catacombs. A last swim at Paliochori.
The difference in one line. The Santorini week has four fixed appointments and two empty afternoons; the Milos week has one boat and a lot of driving to beaches.
Which sounds better? That is the santorini vs milos question, and there is no wrong answer, only a mismatch between what you booked and what you wanted.
Santorini vs Milos: Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better, santorini vs milos? Santorini for a first visit, sights, wine and a honeymoon. Milos for beaches, swimming, quiet and the best boat day in the Cyclades.
Which has better beaches? Milos, by a wide margin, though several of them need a boat or a 4×4.
Which is cheaper? Milos against the Santorini caldera, and roughly level against inland Santorini.
Which is quieter? Milos, comfortably. Santorini is quiet too, before nine and after seven.
Which is better for a honeymoon? Santorini, for the caldera terraces.
How far apart are they? Three to four hours by ferry, and not daily outside high summer, because they sit on different ferry lines.
Can you visit both? Yes, with twelve nights or in July and August. With a week, pick one.
Which has more to do? Santorini: two archaeological sites, a volcano, museums and fifteen wineries.
Do you need a car on each? Essential on Milos, optional on Santorini.
Which is better in August? Milos for space, Santorini for reliability, since the meltemi closes some Milos beaches and boats.
Is Milos the new Santorini? No. It is a different island with better beaches and no caldera, and the phrase has never made sense to anybody who lives on either.
If Santorini Is the Half You Choose
We are a local operator running private tours and transfers in our own vehicles, and most of what we sell is timing rather than transport: Akrotiri before the coaches, the wineries after four, the villages once the ships have gone, and Oia at an hour when you can walk down the main street.
If you are weighing santorini vs milos on crowds or on cost, tell us your dates and we will show you the version of this island that feels half as busy and costs what the other one costs: an inland base, inland dinners, one shared boat and a driver on the two days that matter.
Prices are per vehicle rather than per person, hotel pickup anywhere on the island is included, we guide in twelve languages, and an 80 EUR deposit confirms a date.
See the personalised tour, the full day tour, 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
