Santorini Hotel
 

I have done extensive research, especially on this board, to try to find the right Santorini hotel for my husband and me this May. I love the look of Katikies and Perivolas, but those hotels are more than I want to pay. Is anyone familiar with Notos Therme hotel? Does it have a caldera view and if so, do all the rooms have such a view? What about Vedema - does anyone recommend that hotel? I would like to spend no more than 200 euros per night with a great view, beautiful pool and the "look" of Katikies and Perivolas.

I looked it up. Notos Therme is in Vlichada, which is nowhere near the caldera. It's on the other side of the island. Vedema is a luxury hotel with all the trimmings, but it sits in the middle of a vineyard and doesn't have a caldera view either.

Even in May 200 euro is only going to get you "so much."

Check Strogili Houses, Atrina Houses, Kima Villas, Caldera Villas, Nostos Apartments, La Perla Villas, Oia Mare and Esperas.

I actually just broke down and booked Katikies. I'll keep looking and see if I find something better (I have about one month to cancel with no penalty).

One more question unrelated to the hotel: We fly into Athens at 4:20 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon. Will we have enough time to catch a 5:45 p.m. flight to Santorini, or should we opt for the 9:20 p.m. to be safe?

Hi Becca

The Notos Therme Hotel is nowhere near the caldera! Try The Vocano Villas - http://www.volcanosvillas.com.

That's not enough time, sorry. You need around 2 full hours once you're on the ground unless you're flying in on Olympic so they'll transfer your luggage. Are there no other flights open before 9:20 PM? You have both Olympic and Aegean to choose from.

I've looked at both Olympic and Aegean. Olympic has three flights that day from Athens to Santorini - two before our 4:20 p.m. arrival time and then one at 9:20 p.m. Aegean's booking portion of their website is currently down but what I have written down is that they only have a 5:45 p.m. flight and then the next flight sometime around 9:30 p.m. if I recall correctly.

Actually, Aegean's last flight of the day is 5:45 p.m.

Actually, I don't think it is. There's usually a later flight around 10:30. If it's not showing up on their website it means it's either sold out or not yet officially offered, probably the former. During the tourist season they fly to Santorini 3 or 4 times each day, depending on the demand.

I should have mentioned this before - we aren't checking any luggage, only carry on. Does that change anything or will it likely take a long time to get through customs?

You don't say where your flight originates. If you're coming in to Athens from another EU country there will be no customs or passport control, but if you are on a direct flight from outside the EU you will have to go through both passport control and customs.

Assuming your flight is on time you _might_ make the earlier flight to Santorini but it's still cutting it very close. Take the later flight.

If I were spending my honeymoon in Santorini and wanted to spend a maximum of 200 euros a night, I'd look at a suite at the Anastasis Apartments in Imerovigli.

If you're willing to go up to 250 euros a night, the honeymoon suite looks fabulous.

Ah, I see. I'm coming from a KLM flight from Amsterdam.