Easter in Santorini is the best week of the Greek year to be here: candlelit Epitaphios processions along the caldera rim on Good Friday, a whole hillside of fires at Pyrgos, the Anastasi at midnight on Saturday, and lamb on the spit from mid-morning on Sunday.
Traditional Greek Easter in Santorini
Meet the Greek Easter in Santorini by Santorini Tours!
Easter in Santorini is a spectacular experience! Passing by through the fields with the white dirt, you come across the medieval village where the carrying around of the epitaph fills you with religious feelings.
As you walk the road you can see on your left and right, tin oil lamps which form a river of shimmering fire, the women are chanting and the smell of spring flowers is sweetly mixed with the incense.
Holy Week in Santorini
At the monastery of Prophet Ilias located at the highest point of the island, on the night of Resurrection you have a clear view of the fireworks lighting up the whole island of Santorini.
During the Holy Week the place is filled with smells and tastes. The bakeries are making continuously Easter breads, cookies and melitinia, the traditional Easter sweet of Santorini.
Another significant Easter meal is the sgardoumia, the soup that locals eat at the night of Resurrection. The ceremony for welcoming spring is concluded with cocooning at private swimming pools above the breathtaking edge of the cliff and following the nightlife of Fira.
Good Friday in Santorini
Do not miss the as the astonishing Good Friday in Pyrgos. The area is located in the hinterland shines from afar on Good Friday night.
The Tower is high with a unique spectacular view during the day. Especially on Good Friday night, candles make something very special. They enlighten the whole village. From the beginning of the morning, every route and corner of the village, its inhabitants are filled with canes that revive with mineral oil and all together while the Epitaph comes out of the church, creating a river of light that flickers.
In just a few minutes the medieval castle “gets fire”!
Book now Santorini private transfers or especially a Pyrgos private transfer!
Hotels in Santorini for Easter
If you would like to experience something different, the Greek Orthodox Easter in Santorini will give you some unforgettable moments and you can take a private tour in Santorini. The only thing you need to do is to find the right hotel in Santorini and book a room!
5 Things you should during the Easter in Santorini
- Experience the most religious epitaph of the whole Cyclades, at the medieval tower. The locals light up torches and the whole place smells of myrrh, candles and incense.
- Experience the night of Resurrection from the monastery of Prophet Ilias, at the highest ground of Santorini and watch the fireworks cover the whole island.
- Watch the first sunset of your vacation in peace by booking a Santorini sunset private tour.
- Walk the path that connects Imerovigli with Oia. The spring sweetens the rough sight of caldera, filling it with wildflowers. Book now a Santorini north part private tour.
- Supply yourself with melitinia from local bakeries, traditional Easter sweet with mizithra cheese and sugar.
See more about vacations in Santorini island:
- Wine tourism in Santorini
- Family vacation ideas: Santorini is the ideal destination for kids
- Santorini Museums: Tribute to the history of the Greek island
- Babymoon in Santorini
Easter in Santorini: The Short Answer
The best week of the Greek year to be here, and almost nothing about easter in santorini is staged for visitors. Easter in santorini means candlelit processions along the caldera rim on Good Friday, a hillside of bonfires at Pyrgos, fireworks at midnight on Saturday, and lamb on the spit from mid-morning on Sunday.
Come for five nights, base yourself in Fira or Firostefani so you can walk to the services, and spend at least one evening in Pyrgos. Book easter in santorini early, because Greeks travel home for this week and the island fills.
When Is Greek Easter?
Orthodox Easter follows the Julian calculation and moves each year. It usually falls in April, occasionally in early May, and rarely in late March. In most years it is one to five weeks after Western Easter, and in some years the two coincide.
What that means practically. Check the date for your year before booking anything, because the date of easter in santorini is the hinge of the whole spring season. Hotels reopen for it, restaurants come back, boats restart, and prices step up for that fortnight.
Holy Week. Megali Evdomada runs from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, and the services of easter in santorini build through it.
The following week. Diakainisimos, when the island is quiet again and everything that reopened for Easter is still open. It is arguably the single best week of the year to visit, and it is why some people book easter in santorini and stay on.
Holy Week Day by Day
Palm Sunday. Palm and laurel crosses handed out at the churches. The last day fish is eaten before the strictest part of the fast.
Holy Monday to Wednesday. Evening services, and the whitewashing. Every village repaints its walls, steps and church surrounds in the days before Easter, which is why the island looks so startlingly clean in the photographs from easter in santorini.
Holy Thursday. Red eggs are dyed in the morning, tsoureki bread is baked, and in the evening the Twelve Gospels are read while the Epitaphios, a wooden bier, is decorated with flowers by the women of each parish. It takes hours and anybody may watch, and it is one of the gentler moments of easter in santorini.
Good Friday. The most atmospheric night of easter in santorini, and the one described below.
Holy Saturday. A quiet day, then the central moment of easter in santorini at midnight.
Easter Sunday. Lamb, wine, music and eating that runs from eleven in the morning until it gets dark.
Easter Monday. A public holiday, and a slow one.
Good Friday and the Epitaphios
After dark on Good Friday every parish carries its flower-covered Epitaphios out of the church and through the village, led by the priest and the choir, with the congregation following and candles burning in doorways along the route.
In Fira, Firostefani and Imerovigli the procession goes along the caldera rim itself, so from a terrace you see a line of candles moving along a cliff 250 metres above the sea, with the chanting carrying up. It is the single most memorable half hour of easter in santorini and it costs nothing.
Time. Usually around nine in the evening, after the service. Ask at your hotel for the exact time in the nearest parish.
Etiquette. Dress respectfully, stand aside for the procession, do not use a flash and do not walk in front of the bier. Nobody minds photographs taken quietly from the edge.
Where. Any village, and they all differ. In the caldera villages the setting does the work; in Emporio and Megalochori the atmosphere is closer and more domestic.
Pyrgos on Fire
The one thing that makes easter in santorini different from Easter anywhere else in Greece.
On Good Friday evening the whole village of Pyrgos, which climbs a hill to a Venetian castle ruin, is lit with hundreds of small tin cans of burning oil and wood set along every wall, roof, step and path. From below, the entire hillside appears to be on fire, with the church and the castle picked out at the top. The Epitaphios procession then winds up through it.
What happens. Volunteers spend the afternoon placing and lighting the cans. By nightfall the village is outlined in flame and the whole of easter in santorini seems to be in the lanes.
When. Good Friday, from about half past eight, with the procession later.
Getting there. Pyrgos is twenty minutes from Fira. Go early, park at the bottom of the village or further out, and expect the roads to be busy afterwards. A driver is a good idea, because leaving at the same moment as everybody else is the least enjoyable part of easter in santorini.
What to take. A jacket, shoes with grip for stepped lanes, and patience with the crowd.
If you do one thing at easter in santorini, do this. See Pyrgos.
Saturday Midnight: The Anastasi
The central moment of the Orthodox year and of easter in santorini, and it is worth staying up for even if you are not religious.
Shortly before midnight the churches fill and everybody carries an unlit candle, a lambada. At midnight every light in the church is extinguished, the priest brings out the Holy Light and calls “Christos Anesti”, and the flame passes from candle to candle through the crowd and out into the square. Fireworks go off across the island, church bells ring, and people greet each other with “Christos Anesti” and the reply “Alithos Anesti”.
Then. Everybody takes their candle home, still lit if they can manage it, and marks a cross in soot above the door. The fast is broken with magiritsa, a soup made from the parts of the lamb, and with red eggs cracked against each other.
Where to be. Any village square. Fira’s main church, the square at Emporio, or the church at Firostefani with the caldera below.
Practicalities. Take a candle or buy one outside the church. Restaurants that are open serve magiritsa afterwards, and a good many hotels put on an easter in santorini table.
Easter Sunday
The eating day, and the most sociable twenty-four hours of easter in santorini.
Lamb or goat goes on the spit from about ten in the morning and turns for four or five hours, basted and watched by whoever is nearest. Ovens and courtyards fill. There is wine from the barrel, kokoretsi for the brave, salads, cheese, tsoureki and a great deal of standing about. Music starts in the afternoon and dancing follows it.
As a visitor. A good many tavernas and hotels put on an Easter Sunday table, usually a set menu with lamb and wine, and they book out. Village squares in Emporio, Megalochori and Pyrgos often have something communal going on, and Greek hospitality being what it is, standing nearby with an interested expression frequently ends with a plate in your hand.
Book it. If you want a taverna table for easter in santorini on the Sunday, reserve weeks ahead.
The red eggs. Each person taps their egg against another’s; the last unbroken egg brings luck for the year. It is taken more seriously than you would expect.
Easter Sunday is the warmest and least formal part of easter in santorini, and the part visitors remember.
What You Eat
Before. Lent runs for forty days and the strict fast excludes meat, dairy, eggs and fish with blood. What that produces is nistisima cooking, which is far better than it sounds: fava, gigantes, stuffed vine leaves, octopus, squid, greens, taramasalata and halva. Tavernas mark the dishes on the menu right through easter in santorini.
Holy Thursday. Red eggs, dyed the colour of the Passion, and tsoureki, a sweet braided bread flavoured with mahlepi and mastic.
Saturday midnight. Magiritsa, a lemony soup made from lamb offal and greens, eaten after the Anastasi. It divides opinion and it is the traditional way to break the fast at easter in santorini.
Sunday. Whole lamb or goat on the spit, kokoretsi, salads, cheese, fresh bread and wine straight from the barrel.
Local to this island. Fava from the split peas grown here, white aubergine, capers, chloro cheese and the Assyrtiko to go with all of it. See the food experience.
Where. Inland at Pyrgos, Megalochori, Emporio and Exo Gonia, where the easter in santorini tables are and the prices are a third of the caldera rim.
Customs and Words You Will Hear
Christos Anesti. Christ is risen. Said from midnight on Saturday until Ascension. The reply is Alithos Anesti, truly he is risen.
Kali Anastasi. Said before Saturday night, wishing you a good Resurrection service.
Kalo Pascha. Happy Easter, used in the run-up.
Chronia polla. Many years. The catch-all Greek greeting for any feast.
The lambada. The decorated candle, traditionally given to children by their godparents.
Tsougrisma. The egg-cracking contest.
The soot cross. Marked above the door with the flame carried home from church.
The Epitaphios. The flower-covered bier carried on Good Friday.
None of it needs explaining to take part in, and using two words of it will change how the week feels.
What Is Open at Easter in Santorini
Easter in santorini is the week the island wakes up, and the timing depends on the date.
Hotels. Most caldera properties reopen for easter in santorini, which is why the date matters so much to the season.
Restaurants. Fira and the inland villages run all year; Oia and the rim reopen around now. Many close on Good Friday and reopen for Sunday.
Shops. Closed on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, and reduced on Saturday and Monday. Supermarkets are busy in the days before.
Akrotiri and the museums. Open, on holiday hours over the weekend itself. Check before driving out. See Akrotiri.
Wineries. Open, and quiet in a good way. See the wine tour.
Boats. Volcano and catamaran trips are usually running by Easter, weather allowing.
Buses. Reduced on the holidays themselves.
Banks and offices. Closed Friday and Monday.
Weather and What to Pack
Temperature. Seventeen to twenty-two degrees by day depending on whether easter in santorini falls in early April or in May, and ten to fifteen at night.
Rain. Possible in April, unlikely in May, and it comes in showers.
Wind. The rim is exposed and evening processions are outdoors for an hour or more.
Sea. Seventeen to nineteen degrees. Swimmable for the hardy.
Pack. A warm layer for the night services, shoes with grip for stepped lanes in the dark, something respectful for church, a light waterproof, and a small torch for Pyrgos.
What to Do With the Days
The evenings belong to the calendar. The days are yours, and they are unusually good ones because the island is green, empty and open.
Akrotiri. Roofed, shaded and quiet before the season starts. Ninety minutes and far better with a guide.
The rim path. Fira to Oia, ten kilometres, three to four hours, at a temperature you can actually walk in and with wild flowers along the edge of it.
The wineries. The vines are in leaf and the estates have time to talk. Three in an afternoon with a driver.
Ancient Thira. A Hellenistic city on a ridge, comfortable now and punishing in August.
The inland villages. Freshly whitewashed for the week, which is the one time of year they are all repainted at once.
A boat. Usually running by now, with a calmer sea than summer and no queue at the old port.
Photography. Green terraces, whitewashed walls, candles and processions. Easter in santorini is the best photographic week of the year here and almost nobody plans a trip around it.
Two things a day at most, because the evenings run late all week and the Anastasi does not finish until one in the morning.
How the Island Prepares
The fortnight before is worth arriving for, because it is when you see the place working rather than performing.
Whitewash goes on everything: walls, steps, the edges of paths, the surrounds of every church. It is done by hand, by whoever lives there, and it is the reason the villages look so uncannily bright in photographs taken this week. Bakeries switch to tsoureki and start selling it by the metre. Butchers take orders for lamb weeks ahead. Church interiors are cleaned and the Epitaphios frames are brought out of storage.
Families come back from Athens on the Wednesday and Thursday, so the ferries and flights are full in one direction and empty in the other. Hotels that have been shut all winter reopen, staff arrive from the mainland, and the whole seasonal machinery starts turning again within about four days.
If you want to understand why easter in santorini feels different from a summer visit, it is this: nothing that week is being done for you. You are simply present while an island of 15,500 people has its most important week of the year, and they are, in the Greek way, delighted to have you there.
Which Village to Spend It In
Pyrgos. The obvious answer for the Good Friday of easter in santorini, because of the fires. Stepped, crowded that night, and unforgettable.
Fira. The largest congregation, the main procession along the rim, and everything open. The practical base. See Fira.
Firostefani and Imerovigli. The candlelit procession on the cliff path with the caldera below, and a fraction of the crowd. See Firostefani.
Emporio. The largest and least visited village, with a medieval kasteli and an Easter that is entirely for the people who live there. See Emporio.
Megalochori. Vaulted lanes, bell towers and the best food. See Megalochori.
Oia. Beautiful and, at easter in santorini, quieter than you would expect. Still stepped. See Oia.
The plan we suggest. Stay in Fira or Firostefani, go to Pyrgos on Good Friday, the Anastasi at your nearest church on Saturday, and an inland village for Sunday lunch. That covers easter in santorini properly without spending the week in a car.
Easter in Santorini with Children
Better than most religious festivals, because so much of easter in santorini is outdoors and involves food.
What works. Dyeing the red eggs on Thursday, the egg-cracking on Sunday, the candles at midnight, the fireworks, the fires at Pyrgos, and a spit turning in a courtyard all morning.
What is hard. A midnight service with a small child, and stepped lanes in the dark at Pyrgos with a pushchair.
The compromise. Take them to the square rather than into the church, arrive for the last twenty minutes before midnight, and go straight home afterwards.
Where to stay. Somewhere level. See Kamari.
Booking and Prices
Book early. Greeks travel home for easter in santorini, flights and ferries fill, and hotel rates step up for that fortnight. Three months ahead is not excessive.
Flights. Domestic services from Athens are busy and dearer; some direct European routes have restarted by then, some have not.
Ferries. Heavily booked in both directions on the days around the weekend.
Hotels. 120 to 250 euros for a caldera room at easter in santorini, against 350 and up in August and 100 to 200 for the rest of spring.
Restaurants. Reserve the Sunday lunch of easter in santorini weeks in advance.
Car hire. Book it. The island runs short over the holiday.
Transfers and drivers. Worth arranging for the Good Friday of easter in santorini at Pyrgos in particular. See transfers.
Is Easter in Santorini Worth It?
Yes if you want to see the island as a place people live rather than a destination, and you are happy to build the week around evening services and long lunches rather than around a beach. Yes if you like food, atmosphere and being somewhere genuinely local.
Less so if you want swimming, guaranteed sun, a quiet week or the full run of summer boat trips. Prices are higher than the rest of spring and everything needs booking.
Our own view is that easter in santorini is the most interesting week of the year here, and that the week immediately after it is the most comfortable: everything is open, the crowds have gone home and the island is still green.
Mistakes People Make
Booking late. The one unrecoverable mistake with easter in santorini.
Assuming Western Easter dates. They frequently do not match.
Expecting shops to be open on Friday and Sunday. They are not.
Driving to Pyrgos at half past eight. Go early and park low.
Skipping the Anastasi because it is late. It is the point of the whole week.
Planning a boat for Easter Sunday. Most crews spend easter in santorini with their families.
Wearing beach clothes to a service. Cover shoulders and knees.
Eating on the caldera rim on Sunday. The easter in santorini table is inland.
Easter in Santorini: Frequently Asked Questions
When is Greek Easter? It moves each year, usually falling in April, occasionally early May and rarely late March. It is often one to five weeks after Western Easter and sometimes on the same date.
What is the best night? Good Friday at Pyrgos, when the whole village is lit with hundreds of burning cans, followed by the Epitaphios procession.
What happens at midnight on Saturday? The Anastasi. The lights go out, the Holy Light passes candle to candle, fireworks go off across the island and the fast is broken with magiritsa soup and red eggs.
Can visitors attend the services? Yes, everywhere. Dress respectfully, stand at the back or outside, and do not use a flash.
Is everything closed? Shops, banks and offices close on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Restaurants mostly close Friday and reopen for Sunday.
Is it expensive? Dearer than the rest of spring and far cheaper than August. Caldera rooms run 120 to 250 euros.
How far ahead should we book? Two to three months for flights, hotels and Sunday lunch.
Where should we stay? Fira or Firostefani, so you can walk to a service and drive to Pyrgos.
Can you swim? The sea is 17 to 19 degrees. Hardy swimmers only.
Is it a good week for a first visit? Yes, with the caveat that half the week is about the calendar rather than the sights. The week after Easter is the ideal follow-on.
What should we say? Kali Anastasi before Saturday, Christos Anesti afterwards, and Chronia polla to anybody at any point.
Spend the Week With Someone Who Lives Here
We are a local operator running private tours and transfers in our own vehicles, and easter in santorini is the week we most enjoy showing people. Pyrgos on Good Friday without the parking, a village square for the Anastasi, a winery on the quiet Saturday, and Akrotiri while everybody else is still asleep on Easter Monday.
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 list of tours, 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
