The best Santorini Tours at Christmas
Santorini in winter is a working island of about fifteen thousand people: the caldera view unchanged, the archaeological sites and wineries open on short hours, rooms at a third of the summer rate, and no boats. Santorini Tours runs private tours and transfers here all year.
Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ and is among the great festivals of the Orthodox Christian Church along with Easter. On this day, the Orthodox celebrate the incarnation of the Divine Word, the seizure of the son of God in the world as the second component of the Holy Trinity. God comes from heaven on earth to lift man from earth to heaven.
Santorini Tours present to you the most heavenly place on earth!
Christmas on Santorini island
The inhabitants of the Cyclades celebrate the twelve days, starting from Christmas Day and until January 6, celebrating the Orthodox feast of Epiphany. Several prejudices consider a good sign if a pigeon appears in their yard and / or the wind blows from the north on the first day of the New Year.
On the contrary, a bad sign is considered if a crow appears in their yard. In Santorini, there is an old custom from the Byzantine era, when all elementary school pupils give the “Goodbye” to their teacher.
Why you should visit Santorini during Christmas
Christmas is usually a time for shopping and shopping strolls, dinner excursions and drinks with friends, cities have traffic jams and lots of noise. In Santorini things are a bit different during the Christmas season. You can take a tour of Santorini!
They are celebrated much quieter, with an emphasis on local traditional cuisine. The traditional fava of Santorini will take the lead. The beans as well as the tomato bites from the traditional tomatoes of Santorini are served with the famous, tasty Vinsanto wine of the island.
Plus the prices during this period of time are really very low!
Activities to do on Santorini at Christmas
- Santorini full day private tour
- Santorini sightseeing private tour
- Santorini exclusive shore private tour
- Santorini impressive Caldera private tour
- Santorini south part private tour
- Santorini north part private tour
- Santorini historical private tour
- Santorini sunset private tour
See more about Santorini island:
- Santorini Instagram Stories
- Santorini photography tours
- Santorini summer tours
- Greek island hopping: How to combine it with Santorini Tours
Santorini in Winter: What It Is Actually Like
Santorini in winter is a working island of about fifteen thousand people, most of the caldera hotels shuttered, the archaeological sites and wineries open on short hours, and the view exactly as good as it is in August. Between November and March you will have Oia to yourself, pay a third of the summer rate for a room, and lose the boats, most of the beach fronts and roughly half the restaurants.
Temperatures run ten to sixteen degrees, it rains perhaps eight to twelve days a month, and the wind is the real story rather than the cold. Flights and ferries are disrupted several times each winter, so a rigid itinerary is a bad idea.
Whether that is a good holiday depends entirely on what you came for. If it is the caldera, the archaeology, the wine and the quiet, Santorini in winter is better than summer and considerably cheaper. If it is swimming, boat trips and beach bars, it is the wrong island at the wrong time.
Is Santorini Worth Visiting in Winter?
Yes, for four specific reasons, and no for two.
Why yes
The island empties. Two million visitors come here a year and almost none of them in January. Oia at midday in winter has the population of a small village, which is what it is.
The price collapses. Rooms that cost several hundred euro a night in August go for a fraction of it. Flights follow.
The light. Winter light on the caldera is low, long and much better for photography than the flat glare of July.
You meet the island. In summer you meet the tourism industry. Santorini in winter is farmers, fishermen, winemakers and the people who run the place, and they have time to talk to you.
Why no
The sea is out. Fourteen or fifteen degrees, no beach fronts open, and no boat trips to speak of. Swimming is for the very determined.
Things close. Not everything, but enough that you need to check before you travel rather than assume.
The honest verdict
A first visit in high summer shows you the postcard. A visit to Santorini in winter shows you the island. Most people who do both prefer the second and would still recommend the first to a friend who has never been.
What Is the Weather Like Month by Month?
November
Fifteen to nineteen degrees by day, twelve at night, and the wettest month of the year alongside December. The season is closing: hotels shut through the month, the last boats stop, and by the end of it the island has gone quiet. Still warm enough to walk comfortably.
December
Twelve to sixteen degrees, wet, and the first month of Santorini in winter proper. that is properly winter. Christmas and New Year bring Greek visitors and family returns, so the villages are lively for two weeks and empty either side. The caldera is often spectacular under broken cloud.
January
The coldest month of Santorini in winter: ten to fourteen degrees by day, occasionally down to five or six at night. Wind rather than cold is what you feel. Genuinely the quietest time on the island, and the cheapest.
February
Much like January but with the first signs of the turn: almonds flower, the terraces green up, and by the end of the month there is real warmth in the sun. Carnival falls here or in early March.
March
Fourteen to eighteen degrees and rising, the wildflowers starting, and the island beginning to reopen. The second half of March is the best of Santorini in winter conditions with spring already arriving.
Rain and wind
Rain comes in short heavy bursts rather than all-day drizzle, and a wet morning is often a clear afternoon. The wind is constant and can be strong enough to cancel flights and ferries. Neither is a reason to stay away; both are a reason not to book anything unmissable for the day you fly home.
Snow
It happens, perhaps once every few years, and it lasts hours rather than days. Photographs of white domes under actual snow are real and very rare.
What Is Open in Santorini in Winter and What Is Closed?
This is the question that decides whether Santorini in winter works for you, so here it is in detail.
Archaeological sites
Akrotiri: open. Winter hours, usually mornings into the early afternoon, and closed one day a week. It is roofed, so weather is irrelevant, and in winter you may have the whole Bronze Age town to yourself. Akrotiri.
Ancient Thira: usually open, short hours. The road up is exposed and occasionally closed in high wind. Call ahead. Ancient Thira.
Museums
Museum of Prehistoric Thera, Fira: open. Holds the frescoes and finds from Akrotiri, indoors and warm, and the single best wet-afternoon stop on the island.
Archaeological Museum, Fira: open on reduced hours.
Wine museum, Vothonas: open. Six metres underground in a cave, which means a constant temperature all year. Perfect in a storm. Wine museum.
Maritime Museum, Oia: reduced hours, sometimes closed midwinter.
Wineries
Open, most of them, and this is the best reason to visit Santorini in winter. The larger estates keep winter hours and the smaller ones will often open for a booked visit. Winter is pruning season, the wine from the last harvest is in barrel, and the winemakers actually have time to talk. Tasting rooms are heated. This is the strongest argument for Santorini in winter. Wine tour.
Restaurants
Fira: plenty open. The capital works all year because people live there.
The inland villages: open. Pyrgos, Megalochori, Emporio, Exo Gonia and Karterados all keep tavernas running for locals, and this is where you will eat best and cheapest.
Oia: thin. A handful open, most shut from November.
Ammoudi and the beach fronts: closed. Almost entirely, from November to April.
Hotels
Most caldera cave hotels close from November to March or April. What stays open is in Fira, Karterados, Messaria and a few in Firostefani and Imerovigli. There is always somewhere, and it costs a fraction of the summer rate, but the choice is narrow and worth booking rather than leaving to chance.
Boats
Effectively closed. This is the real cost of Santorini in winter. No catamarans, no volcano excursions, no Thirasia day boats on a schedule. Occasional private charters run on a calm day. If a boat trip is the point of your visit, do not come in winter.
The cable car
Runs on reduced hours and stops entirely in strong wind. There are no cruise ships to use it, so there is no queue.
Buses
KTEL runs a reduced winter timetable: fewer services, earlier finish, and some routes only two or three times a day. Everything still changes in Fira. Santorini in winter without a vehicle is workable but slow.
Shops
Fira’s shops stay open for residents. The souvenir shops in Oia largely close. Supermarkets, bakeries and pharmacies all operate normally.
Beaches
The sand is there, the loungers and bars are not. Perissa, Perivolos, Kamari and Vlychada are all worth walking on in winter and none of them are worth swimming from.
The airport and the port
Both open all year. The airport runs Athens flights only from November to March, with a handful of seasonal international routes returning in late March. Ferries run reduced schedules and are cancelled in weather.
What Can You Do in Santorini in Winter?
More than most people expect. Everything below runs in Santorini in winter, between November and March.
Akrotiri, properly
In August you shuffle round the walkways behind a coach party. In February you can stand still. The Bronze Age town under its roof – paved streets, three-storey houses, drainage, storage jars in place – is the best thing on the island and winter is the best time to see it. Take a guide; the site has almost no signage.
The caldera walk
Fira to Oia along the rim: ten kilometres, three to four hours, past Firostefani, Imerovigli and Skaros rock. In July this walk is a heat-management exercise. In winter it is simply a beautiful walk, with green terraces, clear air and nobody on the path. This alone justifies Santorini in winter for a lot of people. Imerovigli.
Wine tasting
The best single activity in Santorini in winter. The vines are pruned back to their bare baskets, which is when you finally understand how the kouloura works. Estates are quiet, tastings are unhurried, and the winemaker is often the person pouring. Assyrtiko, Nykteri, Vinsanto and Mavrotragano, in a heated room, with the caldera through the window.
Oia at midday
The single strangest and best experience of Santorini in winter. The most photographed village in Greece, empty, with the shutters closed and the light low. Walk the whole length of it in twenty minutes and pass six people. Oia.
The inland villages
Pyrgos and its Venetian castle, Megalochori’s bell towers and captains’ mansions, Emporio’s medieval kastelli with lanes built to confuse pirates, Vothonas and Finikia carved into ravines. These places are quiet in August and genuinely deserted in January, and they are where the island actually lives. Pyrgos · Emporio · All 32 villages.
Storm watching
A winter storm across the caldera, seen from a warm room on the rim, is worth the airfare on its own. The cliffs go black, the sea turns white, and the whole thing is over in two hours.
Photography
Low sun, long shadows, dramatic cloud, and no people in the frame. Serious photographers come specifically for Santorini in winter, and the difference between a January image of Oia and a July one is not subtle.
The museums
The wet-weather answer in Santorini in winter. Prehistoric Thera in Fira, the archaeological museum next door, and the underground wine museum at Vothonas. Three warm, dry hours whenever the weather turns.
Eating like a local
Eating in Santorini in winter is when the tavernas cook for their neighbours rather than for visitors. Fava, tomatokeftedes, white aubergine, chloro cheese, slow-cooked meat, and no queue. Prices drop with the season.
Ancient Thira on a clear day
A Greek, Hellenistic and Roman city on a ridge eight hundred feet above Kamari. In winter the visibility is often extraordinary and you can see half the Cyclades from the theatre. Check it is open and the road is not wind-closed.
Walking the beaches
Perissa, Perivolos, Vlychada and the red cliffs at Akrotiri, all empty, all free, and all much more dramatic under winter cloud than under summer haze. Vlychada.
Sunset without the crowd
The same sun goes down over the same caldera, and in December there are perhaps fifteen people at the Oia castle instead of three thousand. Sunset is also earlier – around five – so it fits a normal day rather than dictating one.
A private tour
We run all year. Santorini in winter days are shorter, so a five-hour tour covers what an eight-hour one does in August, simply because there is no traffic and no queue anywhere. Personalised tour.
What Does a Winter Day Look Like?
Three worked Santorini in winter itineraries, allowing for short daylight and the chance of weather.
A clear winter day
09:00 Coffee in Fira, on the rim, with the whole caldera to yourself.
09:45 Akrotiri. Ninety minutes, roofed, empty. Take a guide.
11:30 The Akrotiri lighthouse, twenty minutes further, where there is never anybody even in August.
12:30 Lunch in Megalochori or Emporio, in a taverna cooking for locals.
14:00 A winery. Bare pruned vines, a heated tasting room and an unhurried hour.
15:30 Pyrgos, up through the lanes to the castle, with half the Cyclades visible on a clear winter afternoon.
16:45 Sunset from Imerovigli, which in December happens at a civilised hour.
18:30 Dinner in Fira.
A wet or windy day
Santorini in winter gives you one of these perhaps every third day, and it is not a wasted one.
10:00 Museum of Prehistoric Thera in Fira. The frescoes and finds from Akrotiri, indoors and warm.
11:30 Akrotiri itself, which is roofed and entirely unaffected by weather.
13:00 Lunch in Vothonas or Exo Gonia.
14:30 The wine museum, six metres underground in a cave at a constant temperature whatever the sky is doing.
16:00 Back to the rim to watch the storm cross the caldera from behind glass, which is one of the genuine pleasures of Santorini in winter.
A three-day winter trip
Day 1. Arrive, settle in Fira, walk the rim to Firostefani and Imerovigli, sunset, dinner in town.
Day 2. Akrotiri, the lighthouse, lunch inland, a winery, Pyrgos, and Oia in the late afternoon when it is empty.
Day 3. Ancient Thira if the road is open and the sky is clear, Emporio, the museums, and a long last lunch.
Three days is the right length. Daylight is short and the list of open things is finite; a week of Santorini in winter is a rest rather than a sightseeing trip, which is a legitimate thing to want.
How Does It Compare to the Other Seasons?
Against high summer. Winter wins on price, crowds, light and access to the archaeological sites. Summer wins on swimming, boats, restaurant choice and daylight. Nothing else separates them, because the caldera does not change.
Against the shoulder months. April, May, September and October are the genuine compromise: warm enough to swim at the ends of them, quiet enough to enjoy, and everything open. If your dates are flexible and you are choosing purely on quality, take a shoulder month. Choose Santorini in winter when you want the island at its emptiest or its cheapest, or when winter is when you can travel.
Against other Greek islands in winter. Most Cyclades islands shut almost completely. Santorini keeps an airport with several Athens flights a day, three museums, two archaeological sites, working wineries and a capital that functions all year. It is one of the few islands in the group where a winter visit is straightforward rather than an expedition.
What Do Locals Do in Santorini in Winter?
Worth knowing, because it tells you what Santorini in winter is actually for.
Santorini in winter is the working half of the year. The vines are pruned in January and February, one cane at a time, by hand, in the wind. Hotels are repainted and rebuilt. Families that spent the summer working sixteen-hour days see each other again. The tavernas that stay open cook for neighbours, which is why the food is better and cheaper.
It is also when the island is repaired: roads, walls, churches, the cable car. If you see scaffolding in February, that is why there is none in July.
Visiting Santorini in winter means being a guest in a place that is doing its own thing rather than performing for you. Most people find that a considerable improvement, and it is the reason a good number of visitors who come once in January come back in January.
What Happens at Christmas and New Year?
The two weeks around Christmas are the liveliest part of Santorini in winter, because the island’s own people come home.
Christmas
Fira puts up lights and a tree on the main square, the villages decorate their churches, and children go door to door singing kalanda on Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and Epiphany Eve, accompanied by a triangle. Christmas Day itself is a family day: expect many businesses closed and a very quiet island.
The food is the point. Christopsomo, the round Christmas bread, melomakarona soaked in honey and kourabiedes buried in icing sugar. Every bakery on the island makes all three from mid-December.
New Year
New Year’s Eve is bigger than Christmas here. Vasilopita, the New Year cake with a coin baked into it, is cut just after midnight, and whoever gets the coin has a good year. Fira has bars and music running late; the villages have family tables. Saint Basil rather than Santa brings presents, on the first of January.
Epiphany, 6 January
The blessing of the waters. A priest throws a cross into the sea – at Ammoudi, at the old port, at Kamari – and young men dive in after it in January water. Whoever surfaces with it is blessed for the year. It is entirely genuine, entirely local, and one of the best things you can witness in Santorini in winter.
Carnival, February or early March
Apokries runs for three weeks before Lent, with costumes, parades in Fira and a good deal of eating. It ends with Clean Monday, when the island flies kites and eats seafood and flatbread outdoors, weather permitting.
Greek Easter
Usually April, sometimes late, and technically outside winter – but worth knowing about because it is the biggest event of the Greek year and the island fills with Greek rather than foreign visitors. Midnight resurrection services, fireworks over the caldera, and lamb on Sunday.
Village saint’s days
Scattered through the winter calendar, small, and completely unadvertised. If you happen on one, go.
How Do You Get There and Around?
Flights
Getting to Santorini in winter is simpler than people fear. From November to March the airport runs Athens flights only, several a day, forty-five minutes. Seasonal international routes stop in late October and return from late March. Winter flights are cancelled or diverted several times a season for wind, so leave a day’s margin before an onward connection.
Ferries
Reduced winter schedules to Piraeus and around the Cyclades, on conventional ferries rather than high-speed craft – the fast boats largely stop for the season. Cancellations for weather are common. Athinios port is exposed and unpleasant in a storm. Athinios port.
Transfers
We run all year, meet every arrival by name and track the flight or the ferry rather than the timetable. In winter this matters more than in summer, because delays are the norm rather than the exception. Transfers.
Hire car
Cheap in winter and widely available without booking ahead. Watch for standing water on the bends, gravel washed onto the road after rain, and unlit roads at five in the afternoon when it is already dark.
Buses
Reduced timetable, everything still routing through Fira, and last services early in the evening. Fine for Fira to Oia and Fira to Kamari; awkward for anything else.
Taxis
Around thirty for the whole island, and the same problem as summer for different reasons.
Walking
Better than in summer. The caldera path, the villages and the beaches are all more pleasant at fifteen degrees than at thirty-five.
Where Should You Stay?
The choice narrows a great deal in Santorini in winter, which makes the decision easier rather than harder.
Fira
The obvious base for Santorini in winter. It is the only place on the island that functions normally all year: restaurants open, shops open, buses radiating out, museums on the doorstep and a caldera view. Almost everything that stays open in Santorini in winter is here or within ten minutes of it. Fira.
Firostefani and Imerovigli
A handful of caldera hotels stay open through the winter, at a fraction of their summer rate. The same view, walking distance to Fira, and genuine silence. If you can find one open, take it. Firostefani.
Karterados and Messaria
Working villages five to ten minutes from Fira, with the cheapest rooms on the island and no view. Sensible if the budget matters and you have a car. Karterados · Messaria.
Pyrgos and Megalochori
A few guesthouses stay open, and both villages keep tavernas running for locals. Central, quiet, and the best food. Megalochori.
Oia
Beautiful and largely shut in Santorini in winter. A small number of hotels and restaurants operate; most do not. Visit it, do not necessarily sleep in it.
Kamari and Perissa
Resort villages with almost nothing open out of season. Avoid as a base in Santorini in winter, however cheap.
What to check before booking
Four things to confirm before booking a room for Santorini in winter.
Heating. Not every room built for August has serious heating. Ask.
Whether the restaurant is open. Many winter-open hotels close their own kitchen.
Steps. Wet marble steps in the dark at five in the afternoon are a real consideration.
Whether it is actually open. Listings sites are not always accurate about winter closures. Message the property.
What Does It Cost?
The cost is the other headline argument for Santorini in winter.
Accommodation. A third to a fifth of the August rate for the same room. Caldera-view hotels that are unaffordable in July are ordinary hotel prices in January.
Flights. Athens to Santorini in winter is one of the cheaper domestic flights in Europe.
Hire car. Substantially cheaper, and available without booking.
Food. Winter menus in the villages are priced for residents. The same meal that costs a caldera-rim price in August costs a village price in February.
Sites and museums. Reduced winter admission at the state sites, and the combined ticket still applies.
Wine. The same at the estate door, which is to say considerably less than a Fira gift shop.
Tours and transfers. The same rate as summer, priced per vehicle, but you cover more in less time because there is no traffic and no queue.
What you save overall. Realistically, half the cost of the same trip in August, and often better than half on accommodation alone.
Who Should Visit Santorini in Winter?
Come if
Santorini in winter is for you if you want the caldera and the archaeology rather than the beach. You are a photographer. You care about wine. You have been before in summer and did not enjoy the crowds. You want a quiet few days somewhere beautiful and are happy to spend part of it indoors. You are travelling on a budget and want a caldera view you could not otherwise afford.
Do not come if
You want to swim, sail or lie on a beach. You need a guaranteed itinerary with no weather risk. You are relying on public transport for everything. You want nightlife beyond a few bars in Fira. It is your only trip to Greece and you want the classic Cyclades summer.
Honeymoons
Santorini in winter suits some honeymoons very well: empty villages, low light, a caldera suite at a third of the price and dinner with nobody else in the room. It suits others badly, for the same reasons.
Families
Santorini in winter with children is workable but not obvious. Akrotiri, the wine museum and the villages hold up; there is no beach and short daylight.
What Is Each Winter Month Best For?
November
The gentlest month of Santorini in winter. The last of the warmth and the first of the quiet. Still fifteen to nineteen degrees, still green after the first rains, and the caldera path is at its best. Some hotels and restaurants are still open from the season and close through the month, so the earlier in November you come, the more choice you have. The wettest month alongside December.
Best for: walking, the shoulder-season price with much of the infrastructure still running.
December
Two islands in one month. The first three weeks are properly empty; the fortnight around Christmas and New Year is the liveliest of Santorini in winter, with lights in Fira, carols, bakeries full of melomakarona and the Epiphany dive on the sixth. Sunset at five.
Best for: the Greek Christmas, and storm-watching from a warm room.
January
The coldest, quietest and cheapest month. Ten to fourteen degrees, real wind, and an island of fifteen thousand people getting on with their year. Akrotiri to yourself, wineries pruning, and Oia entirely deserted.
Best for: photography, solitude, and the lowest prices of the year.
February
January with the turn beginning. Almond blossom on the terraces, the light lengthening, and Carnival somewhere in the second half. The sea is at its coldest but the sun starts to have warmth in it by the end of the month.
Best for: Carnival, almond blossom, and the last of the genuinely low prices.
March
The last month of Santorini in winter and the best value of the year. Fourteen to eighteen degrees, wildflowers on the terraces, seasonal flights returning at the end of the month and hotels reopening. The second half of March gives you empty-island conditions with spring weather, which is arguably the best value of the entire year.
Best for: wildflowers, walking, and catching Santorini in winter conditions with almost-spring temperatures.
Common Questions About the Practicalities
Are the roads safe in Santorini in winter? Yes, with care. Standing water on the bends, gravel washed down after heavy rain, no lighting and no hard shoulder. Drive slowly and do not drive tired.
Is there a pharmacy and a doctor? Yes. Pharmacies in Fira and the larger villages, a health centre in Fira, and anything serious flown to Athens. Travel insurance is not optional.
Do shops take cards? Almost everywhere, but carry cash for bakeries, small tavernas and the cable car.
Is there heating? In hotels that stay open, generally yes. In hotels that reopen for a booking, ask specifically.
Is the tap water drinkable? The island runs largely on desalination. Drink bottled, all year.
How long is daylight? Sunrise around seven thirty and sunset around five in December, stretching to about six thirty by late March.
Is anything different about the sunsets? Only that they happen earlier, there is nobody watching them, and winter cloud makes them considerably more dramatic than the clear flat skies of July.
Do I need to book restaurants? No, except on Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and Clean Monday, when the ones that are open fill with locals.
Will I be the only tourist? Not quite, but close. In January you will see other visitors and you will not see crowds.
What Do Visitors Say Afterwards?
The pattern is consistent enough to be worth reporting. People who take Santorini in winter as a substitute for a summer trip are usually disappointed, because they came for a summer trip. People who take it as its own thing are usually surprised by how much they preferred it.
The three things they mention are always the same. Standing alone on the caldera path. Having Akrotiri to themselves. And the food, which in winter is cooked for residents rather than for a queue.
The three complaints are also consistent: not enough daylight, too many closed doors in Oia, and one wasted day to weather. All three are avoidable if you plan for them, which is the entire purpose of this page.
How Do You Plan a Winter Trip Properly?
Six steps, in order.
1. Pick the month for what you want. December for the Greek Christmas, January for emptiness and price, late March for spring arriving. Every version of Santorini in winter is different.
2. Book flights with a margin. Never a same-day onward connection. Winter cancellations happen several times a season.
3. Confirm the hotel is actually open, by message, and ask about heating and about its own restaurant.
4. Check the sites. Akrotiri and Ancient Thira run winter hours and close one day a week, and the Ancient Thira road can be wind-closed.
5. Book the vehicle, not the boat. Boats barely run. A car or a driver is what makes Santorini in winter work, because the bus timetable is thin and dark comes at five.
6. Keep one day loose. Weather will take an afternoon somewhere. If it does not, you have a free day on an empty island, which is not a punishment.
Is There Anything You Will Genuinely Miss?
Three things, and it is worth being clear about them rather than pretending otherwise.
The water. Not just swimming – the whole relationship with the sea. In summer the caldera is something you sail into and swim in. In Santorini in winter it is something you look at. That is a real loss and no amount of good light replaces it.
The evening street. Fira and Oia in June have a particular quality after nine at night, when the day-trippers have gone and the residents and the guests share the lanes. In January the lanes are simply empty, which is beautiful and is not the same thing.
Choice. Twenty restaurants become six. Forty hotels become eight. If you like deciding on the day where to eat, Santorini in winter will frustrate you.
Set against that: no queue anywhere, a third of the price, and an archaeological site of world importance with nobody else in it. Most people find the trade worth making at least once.
A Final Word on Santorini in Winter
The caldera does not know what month it is. The cliffs are the same three hundred metres, the villages are the same white, and the light is arguably better. What changes is everything around it: the crowds, the prices, the noise, and whether the island is performing or simply living.
Come in July for the version on the postcard. Come to Santorini in winter for the version underneath it. Both are worth the journey, and only one of them lets you stand on the rim at Imerovigli at four in the afternoon, in January, and hear nothing at all.
What Should You Pack?
Packing for Santorini in winter is about wind and wet stone, not about cold.
A proper windproof layer. The wind, not the temperature, is what makes Santorini in winter feel cold. A jacket that stops wind is worth more than a thick one that does not.
Waterproof shoes with grip. The marble lanes are polished smooth by two million summer visitors and they are genuinely slippery wet.
Layers rather than bulk. Fifteen degrees in the sun on a sheltered terrace and eight in the wind on the rim, in the same hour.
An umbrella that survives wind, or better, a hood. Ordinary umbrellas do not last a day here.
Sunglasses and sun cream. The winter sun is low and straight in your eyes, and it still burns on a clear day.
Something warm for the evening indoors. Rooms built for August are not always well heated.
A swimming costume, if you are the kind of person who will get in at fifteen degrees. Some are.
A torch or your phone. Village lanes are dark and dark comes at five.
What Mistakes Do People Make in Santorini in Winter?
Assuming everything is open. Check the specific hotel, the specific restaurant and the specific site, not the island in general.
Booking a tight connection. Winter flights and ferries are cancelled for wind several times a season. Leave a day.
Staying in Oia or Kamari. Beautiful in one case, cheap in the other, and both largely closed. Stay in or near Fira.
Relying on buses. The winter timetable is thin and finishes early.
Expecting summer daylight. Sunset is around five in December. Plan a shorter day and a longer evening.
Packing for cold rather than wind. Ten degrees with a meltemi behind it feels like four.
Coming for the beaches. They are still there and they are still black; there is simply nothing on them.
Booking a boat trip. Almost nothing runs, and what does runs at the captain’s discretion on the day.
Underestimating it. Most people arrive expecting a compromise and leave saying Santorini in winter was the better trip.
Santorini in Winter: Frequently Asked Questions
Is Santorini in winter worth visiting? Yes, if you want the caldera, the archaeology, the wine and the quiet. No, if you want to swim, sail or lie on a beach. The view is identical and the price is a third.
What is the weather like? Ten to eighteen degrees depending on the month, eight to twelve wet days a month, and persistent wind. Rain arrives in short heavy bursts rather than all day.
Is anything open? Yes: Akrotiri, Ancient Thira, all three museums, most wineries, the cable car, the buses, and plenty of restaurants in Fira and the inland villages. Closed: the boats, the beach fronts, most of Oia and most caldera hotels.
Can you swim? The sea is fourteen or fifteen degrees. People do. Most do not.
Is Oia open in winter? Largely closed as a place to eat and sleep, entirely open as a place to walk through. Empty Oia is one of the best things about Santorini in winter.
Are there boat trips? Effectively no. No scheduled catamarans, volcano tours or Thirasia boats between November and March.
Does the cable car run? Yes, on reduced hours, and it stops in strong wind. There is no queue.
How do I get there in winter? Athens flights, several a day, forty-five minutes. Ferries run reduced winter schedules and cancel in weather.
Will my flight be cancelled? Possibly. It happens several times each winter. Never book a same-day onward connection.
Is it cheaper? Substantially. Roughly half the total cost of the same trip in August, and better than that on accommodation.
How many days do I need? Three or four. Daylight is short and the list of open attractions is finite.
Does it snow? Rarely, perhaps once every few years, and it melts within hours.
Are tours running? Yes. We run private tours and transfers all year, and a winter day covers more ground than a summer one.
What about Christmas and New Year? The busiest and most enjoyable fortnight of the winter, with lights in Fira, carols, vasilopita and the Epiphany blessing of the waters on 6 January.
Book a Winter Tour or Transfer
We are a local operator and we work all year, which in practice means we know what is open this week rather than what the website said last summer. Tell us your dates and we will tell you honestly what is running and what is not.
A winter tour covers more than a summer one in the same hours – no traffic, no coach parties, no queue at Akrotiri – so the five-hour day is usually enough. Prices are per vehicle rather than per person, hotel pickup is included, flights and ferries are tracked rather than assumed, and an 80 EUR deposit confirms a date.
One practical note on booking a tour for Santorini in winter: tell us your flight number when you book. Winter arrivals slip by hours rather than minutes, and a driver waiting on a tracked flight is the difference between starting your first day and losing it. There is no charge for the wait.
Whatever you decide, Santorini in winter rewards the visitor who plans around the weather rather than against it, and who treats a lost afternoon as an excuse to sit somewhere warm on the rim and watch the caldera do something the July visitors never see.
See the full list of tours, the historical tour which is the strongest winter option, or the FAQ.
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
