Should I Move to Santorini? Why Everyone Is Considering It
Santorini is the island on a million phone screens: white houses stacked on a volcanic cliff, blue domes, and a sunset that draws a crowd every single evening. Lately, though, the question we keep hearing is a different one. People are no longer only asking how to visit Santorini. They are asking whether they could actually live there.
Some are foreigners who fell for the island on holiday. Some are Greeks abroad thinking about coming home, and some are Greeks from Athens or Thessaloniki tired of city life. The honest answer is that Santorini can be a wonderful place to live, but it is a very different place from the one visitors see in August. Here is what life there looks like through the whole year, and what you need to know before you pack.
Why everyone seems to be considering it
Part of it is the sheer beauty. Few places in Europe let you walk to work along a cliff above a flooded volcano. Part of it is the shift in how people work. Remote jobs mean a designer in London or a programmer in Toronto can, in theory, do the same work from a terrace in Fira. And part of it is the pull of island life itself: a small community, a slower winter and the sea a few minutes away.
Greece has also made itself easier to reach for newcomers. Citizens of the EU can simply move. Non EU remote workers can apply for the Greek digital nomad visa, which asks for a monthly income of at least 3,500 euros from work outside Greece. Buyers looking at the golden visa should know that Santorini sits in the highest price band, with a minimum property investment of 800,000 euros since September 2024.
What Santorini is like when the crowds leave
The island has around 15,500 permanent residents, according to the 2021 census, yet it welcomes millions of visitors a year. That contrast shapes everything. From about November to March, many hotels, beach bars and restaurants in Oia, Imerovigli, Kamari and Perissa close their shutters. Fira stays awake through the winter, with supermarkets, bakeries, banks, pharmacies and a handful of tavernas and cafés that keep the lights on for locals.
Winter is when you meet the real island. Villages like Pyrgos, Megalochori, Emporio and Exo Gonia feel like small Cycladic communities again, with name day celebrations, church feasts and long coffees in the square. If you want to understand that side of Santorini before you decide, our look at the island's history, wine and villages is a good place to start.
A year on Santorini, season by season
Spring
Spring is the season many residents love most. The hills turn briefly green, wildflowers appear between the vines and the island slowly wakes up as businesses repaint and reopen. Easter is the big event. On Good Friday in Pyrgos, thousands of small tin lamps are lit along the lanes, walls and rooftops of the village before the Epitaphios procession passes through. It is one of the most moving sights in the Cyclades.
Spring is also the best time to walk the caldera path from Fira to Oia, roughly 10 kilometres of views that take three to four hours at an easy pace. Pack water and a hat, as there is little shade along the way.
Summer
Summer is busy, bright and, for most residents, a time for work. The sea is warm enough for swimming from around late May until October, and you will find quieter coves on the south and east coasts if you know where to look. Locals tend to swim early in the morning or late in the afternoon, and they keep away from the caldera edge at sunset. Expect traffic, full buses and long hours if your job is in tourism.
Autumn
Autumn may be the sweetest season of all. The water stays warm into October, the light softens and the island breathes out after the summer rush. The grape harvest on Santorini comes early, usually in late summer, and you will see grapes laid out to dry in the sun for Vinsanto, the island's famous sweet wine. By late October many businesses are counting down to closing day, and you can feel the community coming back together.
Winter
Winter is quiet, windy and sometimes wet, with days that range from bright and mild to grey and stormy. It is the season for hikes across the island to Profitis Ilias, walks on the black sand beaches with nobody around, long lunches at the tavernas that stay open, and evenings at home. Some people find this peace exactly what they came for. Others find the empty villages lonely after a few weeks, so it is worth spending at least part of a winter on the island before you commit.
Wine, food and the island table
Food on Santorini grows in volcanic soil with very little rain, and you can taste it. The island's yellow split peas make a creamy fava that appears on nearly every menu, and its small, intense cherry tomatoes go into domatokeftedes, crisp tomato fritters that are a true local speciality. Look out too for white aubergines, capers picked from the cliffs and chlorotyri, a soft fresh goat cheese.
Wine is the other great love of the island. Santorini vines are trained into low baskets called kouloura, which protect the grapes from the strong summer winds. The volcanic soil has kept phylloxera away, so many of the vines grow on their own roots and some are very old. The star grape is Assyrtiko, a crisp, mineral white, and learning about it is one of the nicest ways to start feeling at home here.
Something I would highly recommend is spending an afternoon with the island's winemakers before you make any big decision. A good tasting tour takes you inland, away from the caldera crowds, to vineyards and villages where you will see the agricultural side of Santorini that keeps going all year. It is also a gentle way to ask locals about their island and hear how they live. One I highly recommend is the Small-Group Santorini Wine Tasting and Vineyard Tour, and you can check availability on its page.
Housing, the hardest part
If there is one thing that makes people think twice, it is housing. Many homes on the island have become holiday rentals, so long term rentals are scarce and expensive. Teachers, doctors and seasonal workers have all struggled to find a place to stay, and the problem has been widely reported in the Greek press. Some landlords will only rent from autumn to spring, before switching their homes to tourists for the summer.
Start your search early, ask around in person and be ready to look at inland villages like Vothonas, Mesaria or Karterados rather than the caldera towns. If you plan to buy, check building permits and the condition of the property carefully, and take local legal advice. For a closer look at rents, groceries and everyday prices, see our guide to the cost of living in Santorini.
Work and money
Most jobs on Santorini are in tourism: hotels, restaurants, shops, boats, transfers and tours. Many of these jobs are seasonal, running from roughly April to October, which means a good income for part of the year and very little work in winter. Year round jobs exist in public services, health, education, construction, wine production and the businesses that serve residents, but there are not many of them.
That is why remote workers and people with income from abroad often find Santorini easier than those who need a local job. Even so, budget carefully. Everyday prices on the island are higher than on the mainland, because almost everything arrives by ship, and summer prices for eating out are among the highest in Greece.
Getting on and off the island
Santorini is well connected for an island. Ferries run from Piraeus all year, but the winter schedule is thinner and strong winds can cancel sailings for a day or two at a time. The conventional ferry to Athens takes around seven to eleven hours, and you can check routes and ferry tickets ahead of a trip to the mainland or to other islands. Faster boats run mainly in the warmer months.
Santorini airport stays open through the winter, with regular flights to Athens, while international routes are mostly seasonal. Many residents fly to Athens for shopping, specialist appointments or simply a change of scene. On the island, the local bus network links Fira with the main villages, but in winter services are fewer, and most residents find a car or scooter essential.
Healthcare, water and the ground beneath you
Santorini has a public hospital, the General Hospital of Thira in Karterados, which opened in 2016 and replaced the smaller health centre that the island relied on for years. There are also private clinics, doctors and pharmacies. For serious or specialist care, patients are often transferred to Athens, so check what your health cover includes before you move.
Water is a real issue. Santorini gets very little rain and has limited groundwater, so most of its drinking water comes from desalination plants that turn seawater into fresh water. Supplies come under pressure in peak summer, and many residents drink bottled water. It helps to choose a home that is connected to the main network and to treat water with care.
Then there is the volcano. Santorini sits on one of the most closely watched volcanic systems in Europe. In early 2025 an undersea earthquake swarm between Santorini and Amorgos led to a state of emergency, closed schools for weeks and sent thousands of people off the island for a while, before the activity gradually faded. Our article on Santorini earthquakes and the volcano explains what scientists know and what it means for the island.
Questions to ask yourself before you move
Could you enjoy a quiet winter, with many places closed and fewer people around?
Do you have income from abroad, or a job that continues outside the tourist season?
Have you found a long term home that will not turn into a holiday rental in June?
Are you comfortable with ferry cancellations and trips to Athens for some services?
Have you spent at least a few weeks on the island in winter, not only in summer?
If you can answer yes to most of these, Santorini may be a beautiful place to build a life. Spend time there in the off season, talk to residents and give yourself a trial winter before you sell everything. The island rewards people who love it for more than its sunsets.
Where to Stay While You Scout Santorini
A trial stay tells you more when you sample more than one corner of the island. These well-reviewed hotels are spread across six different areas, so you can compare villages, commutes and seasonal rhythms before you commit.
Onyx Hotel & Suites in Karterados is a small family-run hotel in a quiet village about a 25 minute walk from Fira, a good way to see everyday local life close to the capital.
De Sol Hotel & Spa in Fira sits just outside town with a free shuttle into the centre and stays open all year, so you can see the capital in the quiet months as well as in summer.
Astra Suites in Imerovigli is a calm clifftop base a short walk from Fira along the caldera path, a good way to judge whether quieter village life suits you.
Canaves Oia Suites puts you in the heart of Oia, so you can see how the island's busiest sunset village feels at peak season (it closes from November to April).
Aqua Blue Beach Hotel sits on the black sand beach at Perissa, giving you a feel for daily life on the south coast away from the caldera.
Zannos Melathron is a restored 19th century mansion in hilltop Pyrgos, an inland village where traditional Santorini life carries on all around you.
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Photo: Norbert Nagel, CC BY-SA 3.0
