Santorini – Travel Tips

My husband and I went to Santorini this late April ( 2109), and after all the questions I got on my Instagram, I decided to do a Blog post about this amazing trip. We stayed at two different hotels, because the one I wanted originally was only available for 1 night. Lucky for you guys, I will have two reviews on two different hotels.

Arriving in Santorini

We flew from Athens to Santorini on Ryanair ( BE AWARE), if you fly with them, make sure to do your check in online. DO NOT do it at the airport , we did that and end up paying over 60.00 Euros per person just for them to do the check in and print the boarding passes for us. Other than that, all was fine. The flight was very fast and they were very friendly to us.

Rental Cars:

We decided to rent a car, so we could be free to go anywhere at any time. It was actually not a good idea. The streets are very narrow, and the signs are very confusing. We actually got la ost couple of times. Parking was a pain because most of the parking spaces were taken. And thinking that we were not there on high season, it’s crazy how busy it was. If you want to be free of the hassle and the stress, just take taxis. Another thing to be aware: NO UBERS in Santorini.

Hotels:

Dana Villas Infinity Pools Suite

I did lots of research online for the perfect hotel with an infinity pool. Of course to enjoy the view and to also capture amazing pictures. After doing my researches, I found that Dana Villas Infinity Pools suites, had the perfect room, that I was looking for. A suite with an infinity pool on my balcony and also a cave style spa pool inside our bathroom. The price for this suite was around 680.00 Euros and included breakfast.

Here below is a video showing a Tour in our room.

Pros about this hotel:

• Great prices for a Suite with Infinity Pool
• Friendly Staff
• Bathroom with Cave Style Spa ( huge indoor pool, with jets and waterfall)
• Sauna inside the master bath
• Great Location

The cons about this hotel:

• Breakfast was not good : very cheap quality food . ( cold and did not taste good)
• The master bath, was always wet, because of the steam of the indoor pool , we felt like we were in the swamps lol
• The bathroom on the hallway smelled bad
• They were under construction, so it was noisy.
• No restaurant at the property

Grace Hotel

The day prior our arrival, the hotel called us to confirm our time of arrival, so they could plan to send their staff to help us with the bags, especially because there is quite of walking from the area you park your car to the hotel. ( Every hotel you have to walk , because its impossible for them to have parking lots) When we arrived, they had 2 members of their staff to help us find a spot to park and to carry all our luggage. Right at the entrance of the Hotel we were greed by another staff member. I was in love with their customer service, right at the first moment.

The check-in process was amazing, the manager came to also greed us and offer champagne. 🙂 They also took a Polaroid picture of me and my husband and gave us a gift. The whole property looked brand new, with fresh white paint everywhere. After the check-in, they showed us some areas of the hotel, including their huge, amazing infinity pool, restaurant and Spa.

Behind the pool, they have a restaurant, where they serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The views from there are just spectacular. Too bad the days we were there was not sunny, but you can get an idea of the view.

The cool thing about this hotel is that if you are not staying there you can still, eat at the restaurant and enjoy the beautiful views. The video below shows the room we stayed in. They call our room: The Honey Moon Suite, there are several different types.

The Positive:

• Amazing customer service, very very professional and ready to serve you.
• Since the minute we got this hotel, we could tell this is a high-end hotel, from the hotel appearance to their customer service.
• Delicious food, their breakfast is a 5-course menu, and every day they have a different menu.
• The infinity pool was breathtaking
• The room was super modern, clean and smelled so good.
• Having a restaurant at the hotel was a big plus. ( Allowed us to stay and enjoy more our stay, versus having to go out and look for food, for lunch and dinner, since the other hotel only offered breakfast)
• They have a beautiful Spa and Gym on the property
• Free Yoga class every morning.

The Negative:

• Expensive, we paid about 1,000 Euros per night.
• Some of the staff that service the rooms did not speak English, so it was hard to communicate with them. But all the rest of the staff spoke great English.

Pictures and Exploring Santorini

On our first day, we hired a professional photographer that I found on Instagram. He was unbelievable professional and helpful; his Instagram is @true_santorini . Since we arrived before our check-in time, I figured to get our pictures done and take advantage of our time there. He picked us up at the hotel and took us to Oia.

The major benefit of hiring a local photographer is they are locals. They know where to take you, without having to wait on massive lines. The main spots for pictures are full of tourists. These places have lines that can easily take more than 1 hour for you to get your picture.

The other major benefit was that he showed us lots of places during the drive to Oia and also the special places in Oia.

Oia is the must go a place, for pictures and to walk around exploring their local shops and restaurants. I found Oia to be busier during the morning when all the cruise ships arrive.

I can not say enough how hiring our photographer was one of the best things we did. We got the pictures with no lines and also a little tour around Oia. A day after the photoshoot my husband and I went back to Oia, just to walk around and enjoy the place. No stress for pictures or lines.

I know that are also some boat trips, to take you to different areas of the island, but because of the weather, we decided not to do it. But this is definitely something we will do it when you return to Santorini.

We had an amazing time in Santorini, we only regret not waiting to go on Summer. We were upset for not getting bright , warm and sunny days. Our next time will be for sure during more warm days. Feel free to send me more questions. I also did a highlight of the our trip on my Instagram, with ton of videos. My Instagram is: @alinelowry