carrom

We will spend a week bareboat chertering around the Small Cyclades late June and I thought I would add 3 nights in Santorini at the end of this. So we won't be looking for beaches so much as local life, music, restaurants and beautiful scenery. We would like to rent a motorbike/scooter and plan to drive around the island looking at countryside, vineyards, ruins etc. At this point I am undecided on where to stay between Imerovigli or Oia. We are afraid that Oia is too far out from all the other places and it will take all day on the scooter to get anywhere. On the other hand maybe Imerovigli is too quiet in the evenings.....We've read all the posts and looked at hotels and still can't decide. We'd like a hotel with great view and pool as far away as possible from the regurgitations of cruise ships. We are looking at places like Anastasia Apartments in Imerovigli and Atrina Houses in Oia. Any other suggestions? If we stay in Oia is our night life restricted to Oia or is scootering to Firà an option at night?
Any suggestions or advice very welcome.
Thanks

brotherleelove2004

If you want access to Fira's youth-oriented nightlife and your two choices are Imerovigli and Oia, stay in Imerovigli. I do suggest that you also look in Firostefani, however. You'll be far enough away from the cruise ship hordes but still within easy walking distance to Fira. Oia is lively but the nightlife is limited to the restaurants and some mellow bars and cafes.

Oia is 7 miles from Fira. If there's even a slim chance that you'd be drunk, trying to drive a scooter on the dangerous road between Fira and Oia would be suicidal, especially at night.

In Oia, besides Atrina, check Filotera Villas, Caldera Villas, Strogili Houses, Nostos Apartments, Rimida Villas and Kima Villas.

Here's a list of hotels separated by village: http://www.santonet.gr/hotels

travelerjan

Scootering to FIra Town from Oia is not only time-consuming but quite dangerous in the dark, the road is narrow and car drivers are not careful.

Consider FIrostefani ... quiet at night, yet walkable along cliffside path to Fira nightlife, in 15 minutes.... it is the "northern Suburb" of Fira Town yet is away from crowds and hubbub. It is among the highest point in the Island, so all hotels listed below have great views. I found this link (which oddly enough originates in mykonos) that lists a ton of FIrostefani hotels with views AND pools of varying sizes, mostly depicted:
http://mykonos-accommodation.com/san...irostefani.htm
-- handily enough, it lists prices for most... some are not up-to-date, but will give you an idea.

carrom

Thank-you both for useful advice and web sites. We are used to motorbiking in Rome's traffic but we don't like narrow roads at night after drinking! Also we are in our forties/fifties so maybe the night life in Oia is more than enough. Good restaurants and mellow bars sounds like our thing. For some reason Firostefani doesn't give me a vibe but I may be wrong. I'll look at all the suggested hotels and try and decide that way round.
Thanks!

stonest

Carrom, though I haven't driven a motorbike in Rome, I have on Santorini and the road from Oia to Fira is pitch black and terrifying at night! My husband and I held on to each other for dear life while being passed by tour bus after tour bus on the high road between Fira and Oia. There is a road that travels by the water that connects the two towns, but I don't recall a single street light. It wasn't as terrifying as the road on the hill, but it had it's own issues!

Next time we will definitely plan on taking the bus between Oia and Fira if we plan on hanging around after the sunsets. Of course, I should also say that we rented the slowest ATV and maybe it wouldn't have been as bad if we had been able to move it a little more!

ashleygr

Well, it seems that what you are looking for is a place like Oia, so I will tell you what the advantages of it are. First of all, it is a very nice, picturesque village from where one can enjoy amazing views to the volcano and the caldera. Most of the hotels have rooms with exciting view. In my personal opinion, when visiting Santorini, one should stay at a hotel from where people can see the beauty and the peculiarities of this island. I can suggest you a list of Oia hotels, there are photos of them too, so you can see the view they offer.
http://www.santorini-hotels.info/san...els-in-Oia.asp
Apart from that, you only have three days there so I don’t think you are going to waste all of them in drinking evenings which will prevent you from being fresh for the next day island exploring. You can rent a car for your last day in order to spend an evening at Fira if you are afraid of driving the scooter. However, if I were you, I would definitely rent a car, from the first day, which would protect me from the sun and would make much more comfortable any transportation.

carrom

Thank-you. We have decided to stay in Oia and stick to our biking/exploring during the day. Husband has just informed me our nightlife will be restricted by Football World Cup Matches!
A lot of the hotels I checked out are already full! But I have found a Standard House at Esperas which looks good budget/location wise. Any opinions on that?

It now seems we will have extra days so are thinking of moving on to Mykonos....I will do some reading up on that and post again.

travelerjan

Mykonos despite its endless publicity is not the only option for "moving on" ... it may have the livelliest nightlife earliest, but by early July other spots are heating up ... Originally you said you wanted a hotel with a "great view and pool and as far away as possible from the regurgitations of cruise ships." So I'm just taking you at our work by suggesting opltions.

Mykonos, like Santorini has a daily invasion of Cruise throngs. Whereas Paros, Naxos and Ios do not. They are all on the daily Blue Star Ferry line in a row, easiest to reach. Paros and Ios also have a humming nightlife scene, heating up as July begins (Ios more on the college-age side). All three have beaches as good or better than Mykonos. Paros is best for scootering, less hilly than Naxos. Naxos has most to see in terms of authentic villages, dramatic landscapes, greenery (very lush island), plus ruins & ancient sites

Here's a useful noncommercial website that I like, with a young outlook, profiling almost all the Greek Isles one by one, lots of photos, candid opinions, put together by a youngish Athens schoolmaster who has not found his facts in a book, but has sunned on the beaches and danced in the clubs and eaten in the tavernas... take a look! http://www.greek-islands.us/

travelerjan

Typo alert! Paragraph #1 last sentence should read "I'm just taking you at YOUR WORD." My fingers got tangled.