How To Spend The Perfect 1 Day in Santorini
Summary: I’m sharing an example itinerary for 1 day in Santorini for travelers who only have a very short time on this beautiful Greek island.
Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links which just means I make a small commission if you purchase from them with no additional cost to you!
Santorini is known for its incredible sunsets, white-washed cliffside buildings, the underwater volcano that formed its crescent shape, and just being one of the most romantic, beautiful places you can visit.
Is 1 Day Enough To See Santorini?
The romantic idea of Santorini I started with above is mainly describing Fira and Oia, the two most popular touristy towns on the island. There is a lot more to see on Santorini that tourists rarely venture out to, so if you have more time to spend here, there’s definitely more to see. If you decide to stay longer, I have a 2-5 day Santorini itinerary that you can read through here.
That said, I know there are so many amazing Greek islands to visit and if you’re island hopping for your trip, you might only have 1 day in Santorini, so if that’s the case, you can certainly make the most of your 24 hours.
When to Visit Santorini
Like so many places, Santorini’s busy season is summer. Tourists flock from all over the world to see this beautiful island during the most sunny time of the year. However, with that sunny weather comes heat. Santorini can get very hot and very crowded this time of year.
Personally, I try to avoid these two things as much as possible. I visited Greece in early April and was met with perfect weather. It was chilly in the morning, but warm by the afternoon. It was still relatively crowded, but not bad at all. Keep in mind that this was also right after we started traveling post-pandemic, so tourism may have significantly picked up since then.
For weather reasons, I’d recommend traveling to Santorini in the shoulder months (April, May, September, or October), unless you want to spend most of your time in the water. If that’s you, then summer sounds like a good idea!
Where to Stay in Santorini
The two most popular towns on Santorini are Fira and Oia. This is where I’d recommend anyone stay. If you only have 1 day in Santorini, I’d stay in Fira. This area seemed more lively to me, and while both towns were gorgeous, with amazing views, food, and shopping, I preferred Fira.
When looking for a hotel in Santorini, the closer you get to the caldera (i.e., the cliffside), the more expensive your hotel will be. The priciest options have a view of all the white-washed buildings along the cliff.
We stayed in a boutique cave hotel called Fanari Vista Suites and it was amazing! There were only 5-6 rooms in the entire hotel and they each had their own personal lounging area with a hot tub and a view of the caldera. Breakfast was brought to our room each morning and the staff was incredibly helpful. I couldn’t recommend this hotel more!
How to Spend 1 Day in Santorini
If you have just a short time here, continue reading for the perfect itinerary for 1 day in Santorini. Let’s explore the town of Fira!
Take the Cable Car down to Santorini’s Old Port
Assuming you have a full 24 hours in Santorini, you will wake up on this busy day and have breakfast at the hotel. If you’re staying at Fanari Vista Suites, you will have let them know what you wanted for breakfast the night before, and it’ll be waiting for you when you wake up!
When you’re finished with that, we’ll head to the Old Port or Old Harbor of Santorini.
Fanari Vista is actually right at the beginning of the path to walk down to Old Port. You’ll see donkeys passing the hotel hiking up and down all day (please don’t pay to ride them!). You can walk this path down to the Old Port, or you can walk about four minutes to the cable car and ride that down. It opens early, around 7am, but it varies depending on the time of year.
You’ll see a lot of boat rentals and tours down here. If that’s how you’d like to spend your 1 day in Santorini, that would be amazing! If not, just take in the view of the caldera from the water’s edge, and continue along with this itinerary.
Wander Around Fira’s Beautiful Streets
You can choose to either walk up the stairs, or take the cable car back up to Fira. I’d suggest taking the cable car since you’ll be walking for a lot of the day.
Once you’re back in town, take a stroll around Fira’s beautiful streets. By this time, shops will likely start opening and you’ll see a lot of linen, leather, clothing, and souvenirs for sale. Stop in a few of these shops and take a look around!
When I was here, I found a lot of joy in simply walking around because everything was a marvel to look at. With white-washed buildings, cobblestone walkways, and flowers blooming everywhere, I was stopping every 10 minutes to take photos, so take your time with this and soak it all in!
Stop For Lunch
Lunch time is whenever you get hungry! There are a number of quick gyro shops around Fira if you don’t want to spend too much time eating. We tried several of them and they were all fantastic, so it seems hard to go wrong here.
If you’d like a little more of an upscale lunch, you can head to La Scala. This restaurant is located right on the cliffside, so the views are amazing. They serve breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert, so feel free to come here whenever you get hungry!
See the Three Bells of Fira (Blue-Domed Church)
When you’re done with lunch, head over to the Three Bells of Fira. It’s about a 15-minute walk from both La Scala and Fanari Vista Suites.
This is a very popular lookout spot to see the Aegean Sea. It’s also a very popular photo opportunity in Fira as it has the famous blue-domed church with three bells in the back.
Continue Walking Through Fira, Shopping, Admiring Local Art, etc.
Spend the rest of your day continuing to explore Fira. If you’re a shopper, I’m sure you’ll find something (or many things!) to bring home with you. Fira also has a lot of galleries with local art that you can spend some time looking at.
Watch the Sunset at PK Cocktail Bar
When it comes to the sunset, Santorini visitors take this very seriously, and for good reason! You’ll notice everyone stops and stares at the sunset for at least 30 minutes every night. If it’s a clear sky, the sunset will surely be beautiful, and the fact that everyone goes outside to watch it is so fun!
That said, the walkways that face the sunset will become very crowded this time of night. You’ll have to show up early or fight the crowds to claim a spot.
This is why I always recommend booking reservations for cocktails or dinner around the time of the sunset. We watched the sunset from PK Cocktail Bar a few nights while we were here and the view was amazing! The drinks and staff here were great, too.
Enjoy Dinner at Fanari
Fanari Vista Suites has a restaurant attached to it that anyone can visit, whether or not you’re staying at their hotel. Like the hotel, it’s right on the cliffside, so the views are amazing. They had a lot of different Greek food to choose from and everything we had was delicious!
You can choose to eat dinner here around the time of sunset instead of having cocktails first. If you want to do this, I just highly recommend making reservations as anywhere with a view of the sunset will fill up!
Night Club Option: 2 Brothers
You’ve had a long day if you’ve followed this itinerary, so I don’t blame you if your bed is calling your name after dinner!
For those of you that don’t want the night to end, Fira has a few night clubs that are fun almost any night of the week. We were chatting with our waiter at PK Cocktail Bar a few nights and asked for his recommendations on a bar where we could dance and he suggested 2 Brothers.
This ended up being a really fun night! It’s mostly a young crowd (20-somethings), but I don’t think people in their 30s would feel too out of place. The music was great and it was only about a 5 minute walk back to Fanari Vista.
Read More About Greece
I hope this itinerary helped you plan your 1 day in Santorini! If you have more time here, or you’re looking for more Greece travel inspiration, here are a few more posts you should check out:
