Santorini’s villages
5 h route4 stopsBest: The rim ones first thing. The inland ones any timeUpdated July 2026
Oia jams at sunset and that’s no longer a secret to anyone. What almost nobody says is the rest: that the same sunset, over the same sea and from the same cliff, is visible two villages away with nobody around. Santorini doesn’t have neighbourhoods: it has a dozen villages, and the difference between having a good or a bad time here depends almost entirely on which you choose.
The island splits into two worlds with their backs to each other. There’s the caldera rim line (Fira, Firostefani, Imerovigli, Oia) which is where the view, the expensive hotels and all the people are. And there’s the inland island and the outer face, with villages where real people live, where grandmothers sit in doorways and where there isn’t a single fridge-magnet shop. They’re ten minutes apart by bus and they look like two different islands.
The route, stop by stop
4 STOPS- 01
Oia
The village from the photos: white houses and blue domes stepped down the cliff, at the island’s northern tip. It’s genuinely beautiful and it deserves the fame. Two things before you go. First, it’s pronounced “Ee-a”, without the o, and saying it right saves you a bad moment. Second is when to go, which is everything.
In the evening, Oia is a funnel: thousands of people packed for the sunset onto three-metre-wide steps, standing waiting for an hour, then all leaving at once. Early in the morning, the same village is empty, the light hits the houses head-on and it’s one of the most beautiful places there is. It’s literally the same village eight hours apart.
Go at eight in the morning, look, have breakfast, walk the three hundred steps down to Amoudi and go back for a siesta. And in the evening, go to a different village.
- 02
Imerovigli and Firostefani
Between Fira and Oia, on the same cliff, there are two villages people walk through without stopping and which are the solution to almost every problem on this island. Firostefani is a twenty-minute walk from Fira. Imerovigli, forty, and it’s the highest point on the caldera rim, some three hundred metres above the water.
There’s the key that saves you the Oia ordeal: from these two villages you see exactly the same sunset, the sun sets in the same place for everyone, with a fraction of the people and without standing waiting for an hour.
And as a bonus, at Imerovigli there’s Skaros, a rock jutting out into the caldera where the island’s medieval fortress stood: a short path takes you there and the view is three hundred and sixty degrees. It’s the best place in Santorini for the sunset and there’s almost nobody on it.
- 03
Pyrgos and Emporio
The inland villages show the other Santorini, a quarter of an hour away by bus. Pyrgos is the highest on the island: a medieval village of concentric streets spiralling up to a Venetian castle, and from the top you see the whole island, caldera to open sea. At dusk the view is among the best there is and you don’t have to fight anyone for it.
Emporio has something no other has: a walled old quarter that’s a deliberate labyrinth. The streets are narrow, they get covered over, they turn without logic and there are passages: it was built that way on purpose so pirates who landed couldn’t find their way out. It still works: you will get lost.
Both villages have ordinary tavernas, ordinary prices and residents, and they’re the best way to remember this is an inhabited island and not a set. The same goes for Megalochori, with its ship captains’ mansions.
- 04
The outer face: Perissa and Kamari
The thing that throws people on arrival: there’s no beach on the caldera. What there is is a three-hundred-metre wall. The beaches are all on the outer face of the island, the gently sloping side, which is a world apart and considerably cheaper.
Perissa and Perivolos are a long black strand with beach bars, loungers and the atmosphere of an ordinary beach holiday, with no pretensions. Kamari is the same but with the Ancient Thera mountain dropping right beside it, which gives it an imposing silhouette. Vlychada is the odd one and the best: behind it are white ash cliffs sculpted by the wind that look like a lunar landscape.
This is where people with a budget and common sense stay: you sleep for half the price, you have a beach, and you take the bus to see the caldera when it’s time.
Frequently asked
Where to stay in Santorini?
If you want the caldera view, Imerovigli or Firostefani rather than Oia: the same sunset, far fewer people and somewhat cheaper. Fira is the bus hub, useful if you rent nothing. And on a budget, the outer face (Perissa, Perivolos, Kamari) costs half, has a beach and the bus takes you to the caldera. The inland villages, Pyrgos or Emporio, are the quietest.
Where to watch the Santorini sunset without crowds?
At Imerovigli or Firostefani, between Fira and Oia on the same cliff: the sun sets in the same place for everyone and there you don’t stand waiting for an hour. Better still, Skaros rock at Imerovigli, with a 360-degree view. Or go down to Amoudi, the port at the foot of Oia, and watch it seated over a fish dinner. Oia at sunset is a funnel of thousands of people.