My husband and I are taking our first trip to Greece this spring, and we will be staying at Esperas on Santorini for one week. We will arrive in Santorini on the Thursday before Easter. Can anyone offer any tips on what we can expect for Easter Sunday and the day after? Esperas has a kitchenette, and I'm thinking we'll need to stock up on food if most businesses will be closed. Any advice you can offer would be wonderful. Thanks!

As many Greeks go "home" for Easter I suspect the island will be quite crowded. You will easily be able to check with your hosts at the Esperas as to whether or not you'll need to stock up on food. My guess is that you won't. You might even be invited to join in some of the festivities.

Remember, Santorini will celebrate Easter with the Greek Orthodox church which in 2005 celebrates Easter on May 1st. The Western Easter in 2005 is March 27. I celebrated Easter 2003 on Patmos. Simply amazing.

Thank you both for replies!

We will be arriving in Santorini on Apr 28 and departing on May 5. I'll be sure to plan ahead with Esperas regarding preparations for restaurant closings, etc. We're really excited!

I'm arriving May 12 myself. Can't Wait!!!

Beanweb don't worry about businesses being closed. On the contrary, during the Greek Easter, everything is open, because lots of greeks visit the islands during their easter vacation.

I agree with the comments above, I was in Naxos for Easter and lots of restaurants were open for the Greek families to celebrate. Some restaurants were not following their regular menu and instead had a standard Easter roast lamb dinner. It was a great experience.