The Other Side of Santorini: History, Wine and Quiet Villages
A lot of people give Santorini two days. They ride the cable car, watch one sunset in Oia, take the same photo of the blue domes as everyone else and move on to the next island. It is easy to see why, and just as easy to miss the point. Behind the caldera views sits one of the richest islands in Greece for history, wine and village life.
This is the other side of Santorini: a Bronze Age town buried by a volcano, a mountaintop city founded by Dorian settlers, vines trained into baskets on the ground, and inland villages where the square still belongs to the people who live there. It rewards a longer stay, and it is at its best when the crowds have gone home.
Why two days is not enough
The caldera villages of Fira, Imerovigli and Oia are beautiful, but they are also where almost everyone stays, eats and queues. Spend all your time there and you will leave thinking Santorini is a view with hotels attached. Give the island four or five days and it opens up: ancient frescoes in Fira, Bronze Age streets at Akrotiri, a long lunch in a village square, a boat out to the volcano and a glass of something sweet and old in a wine cellar. The main sites also keep shorter hours outside summer and close on different days, so extra time lets you plan around them instead of racing between them.
Akrotiri, the Bronze Age town under the ash
If you add only one thing to your plans, make it Akrotiri. On the southwest coast, archaeologists have uncovered part of a thriving prehistoric town that was buried under volcanic material in the great eruption of the Late Bronze Age, probably at the end of the 17th century BC. Systematic excavations began in 1967 under Spyridon Marinatos and continue today.
Under a modern bioclimatic roof, walkways lead you above paved streets with a working drainage system, open squares and more than 30 multi-storey buildings. Storage jars still stand where they were left, and wooden furniture that rotted away long ago has been recovered as plaster casts from the hollows it left in the ash. Very few precious objects have turned up, a sign that the people who lived here probably had time to gather their valuables and leave.
Akrotiri is open all year. From November to March it opens from 08:30 to 15:30 every day except Tuesday, with longer hours on most days in the warmer months. A full ticket costs €20 (€10 reduced), and entry is free on the first Sunday of each month from November to March.
Ancient Thera, the city on the mountain
Centuries after the eruption the island was settled again, and from the 8th century BC the city of Thera grew along the ridge of Mesa Vouno, a rocky headland between the beaches of Kamari and Perissa. According to Herodotus, its Dorian settlers were led by Theras, who gave the island the name it still carries in Greek. You can follow its main street past the agora, the theatre and the sanctuary of Apollo Karneios to the Terrace of Festivals, high above the southern Aegean. It is windy, wild and almost always quiet.
Check the opening days before you go. Under the 2026 schedule the site opens from 08:30 to 15:30 every day except Wednesday, with a €10 ticket. Winter access is far more limited: the most recent published winter schedule had it open only from Friday to Sunday in November and by appointment from December to February, so contact the Ephorate of Antiquities of the Cyclades in advance if you are visiting then.
Two museums in Fira that most visitors walk past
Museum of Prehistoric Thera
Akrotiri makes much more sense once you have seen what came out of it, and most of that is in Fira. The Museum of Prehistoric Thera covers the island's story up to the eruption, with Cycladic figurines, clay tablets in Linear A and casts of furniture from the ash. A second exhibition, opened in 2021, shows 28 wall paintings from two Akrotiri buildings arranged as they once decorated the rooms, including the Fishermen and the Saffron Gatherers. It opens from 08:30 to 15:30, closes on Tuesdays and costs €10 under the 2026 schedule.
Archaeological Museum of Thera
The Archaeological Museum of Thera, also in Fira, reopened in June 2025 after years of renovation. It covers the later, historic island, and its star is the Kore of Thera, a 7th century BC marble statue of a young woman, nearly 2.5 metres tall and almost complete, found in 2000 in the cemetery of Ancient Thera. Under the 2026 schedule it opens from 08:30 to 15:30 (09:00 to 21:00 on Saturdays), closes on Mondays and costs €10. Hours at both museums can change with the seasons, so check before you go.
The volcano, the hot springs and Therasia
From the caldera rim, the dark islands in the middle of the bay look like piles of rock. They are the youngest land in the Aegean. Nea Kameni was built up by eruptions between 1570 and 1950, and steam still rises near its crater, a 20 to 30 minute walk over black lava from the landing. Close by, at Palea Kameni, warm water rich in iron and sulphur seeps into a small cove where the sea reaches around 35°C.
Then there is Therasia, the piece of the old island that faces Oia across the caldera. Home to a few hundred people, with its main village of Manolas on the clifftop and fish tavernas down at Korfos, it feels like Santorini before the crowds arrived.
Something I would highly recommend is a half-day boat trip out to the volcano and Therasia. It is the easiest way to see all three in one go, with the walk up Nea Kameni, a warm swim and lunch by the water on Therasia, without juggling separate boats. One I highly recommend is the Santorini Caldera Half-Day Cruise to the Volcano, Hot Springs & Thirassia, and you can check availability on its page.
Organised boat trips run mainly in the warmer months and depend on the wind, so later in the year check before you build a day around one. Out of season, small boats from Ammoudi below Oia and ferries from Athinios still cross to Therasia, weather permitting.
Wine country: Assyrtiko, vinsanto and basket vines
Walk through the vineyards around Pyrgos, Megalochori or Exo Gonia and you will see vines that hardly rise above the ground. Growers twist them into a low basket shape called kouloura, with the grapes growing inside, to shelter them from the strong summer winds. The volcanic soil has also kept out phylloxera, the pest that ravaged vineyards across Europe.
The star grape is Assyrtiko, at least 85% of any dry white sold as PDO Santorini, and it makes wines that are dry, mineral and bright. Then try vinsanto, the island's traditional sweet wine, made from grapes dried in the sun until they shrivel and aged in oak for at least 24 months. Many wineries offer tastings, some in kanaves, old cellars dug into the volcanic ground, but hours vary through the year, so call ahead outside summer.
The villages away from the caldera crowds
The hidden villages of Santorini are where the island goes about its everyday life. Pyrgos, the highest village on the island, climbs in narrow lanes to its Venetian castle, the Kasteli, with views over almost the whole island. Emporio, the largest inland village, has a Kasteli of its own, with houses packed together to form a defensive wall, and the 15th century Goulas tower.
Megalochori has a square shaded by trees and bougainvillea, old mansions and vineyards on every side. Exo Gonia is built on a hill around the large church of Agios Charalambos, and neighbouring Mesa Gonia is home to Panagia Episkopi, an 11th century Byzantine church that ranks among the most important monuments in the Cyclades. In the north, Finikia sits just behind Oia with a fraction of its crowds. The best approach is simple: park at the edge, walk in and stay for lunch.
Why Santorini is better out of season
From November to March, Santorini changes. Many hotels and restaurants close and the island returns to the people who live there, much like the still, empty island in this short film of Santorini in winter. Some visitors find that too quiet. I think it is when the island makes the most sense: the light is soft, the weather is good for walking, and you can stand on the caldera edge at sunset with room to breathe.
The trade-off is planning. Base yourself in or near Fira, rent a car if you can and check each site's opening days before you set out. Leave one day free in case the wind cancels a boat. October and spring are a happy middle ground, with most things still open and far fewer people.
A four day plan for the other Santorini
Day 1: Fira's museums
Visit both museums (avoid Monday and Tuesday, when one of them is closed), then walk the caldera path toward Imerovigli in the late afternoon.
Day 2: Akrotiri and wine country
See Akrotiri in the morning, have lunch in Megalochori and finish the afternoon at a winery with a glass of vinsanto.
Day 3: Ancient Thera and the villages
Head up to Ancient Thera early if it is open, then drive on to Emporio, Exo Gonia and Pyrgos for the evening light.
Day 4: The volcano and Therasia
Spend the day on the water with the volcano, the hot springs and a long lunch on Therasia.
Give Santorini the time it deserves
Two days in Santorini gives you a postcard. Four or five give you the island itself: its Bronze Age streets, its mountain city, its basket vines and its quiet village squares. Stay a little longer, ideally once the crowds have gone, and you will see why the people who know Santorini best keep coming back.
If you'd like to see what the island looks like during the winter months, watch this film by Tony Kariotis called NakedSantorini. In this film Kariotis captures the views and sounds of an island naked of tourism. Just views, ambient sounds, and the occasional local. It's a 3 part series, don't miss it!
Photo: C messier, CC BY-SA 4.0
