Lori,

The Residence Suites look beautiful! And, they seem like a good value as well. Do the suites have private balconies? Which type of accomodations did you have? Did you happen to see the honeymoon suite? How was the jacuzzi? Thank you for your help!

Jay

Hi Jay. I just saw your latest posts. We do end up spending the majority of our time in Oia when we're on Santorini, but we always do venture into Fira for at least a couple of nights. We go to dinner and usually one of the cliffside bars for a cocktail (Franco's is fun), but we are always happy to return to Oia. Fira just seems a little more cheesy to us (and we are from Florida- where t-shirt shops and postcard stands are everywhere; Fira reminds us a little too much of home in this respect). Also, we have always stayed at Katikies, which has the strange effect of making us instantly lose interest in sightseeing. :-) I think a lot depends on what you are going for- if rest and relaxation are top on your list, then you may be tempted to stay put as we do. If it's more sightseeing and exploring you're after, then it's probably not as important to have a drop dead hotel pool to sit by. Still, as I said, if you find a hotel in Fira (or Imerovigli) with the right view and atmosphere for you, you should grab it (aren't you leaving in 2 weeks??) and visit Oia.

The Residence Suites all have private balconies. I toured them last year when they were putting the final touches on the decor and they looked wonderful.

Repete - I agree! Imerovigli is awesome. Great places to stay, good food, great views, great people. It is more authentic Greece. And an easy walk into Fira (a suset walk to dinner along the caldera is especially nice.) The hike to Oia from Imerovigli is great too, just bring water as there is no place to get any along the way.

If the pick is still just between Fira and Oia, however, I would pick Oia unless you need lots of activity.

Thank you Europhile, brotherleelove, and amaclise! Yes, we are leaving in 2 weeks and have yet to book our hotel! Almost all of our inquiries are coming back as unavailable (or undesirable rooms)! Does anyone know about the Museum Spa Wellness Hotel? Thank you again all!

Jay

Check out the Volcanos Villas, Oia Mare, VIP Suites, Chelidonia Villas, Ikies Traditional Houses, Alexander's Boutique Hotel and Aspaki Suites.

Thank you Brotherleelove! Do you know anything about the Museum Wellness Spa Hotel?

Jay

Brotherleelove,

Alexander's looks great! I just filled out their request for availability form. Thanks!

Jay

No, sorry, I don't know about the Museum Spa other than having passed by a few times. It looks wonderful.

Good luck with Alexander's!

Thanks brotherleelove!

Jay

Jay-

We stayed in the Honeymoon Suite at Residence Suites. It's a rather large room with high ceilings (not "cavelike" like a lot of the accomodations in Oia) with a large private terrace (it's really like two separate terraces--one with a table and two chairs and a connecting one with two lounge chairs and a large hammack. The room also has a small "kitchen" area--a small refrigerator, sink, and electric hotplate. The bathroom is long and narrow with low ceilings--just a shower (no tub), but nice.

The folks at Ecorama were easy to work with and I thought that the rooms were very reasonable compared to the other accomodations in Oia. I took pictures of the room and terrace, but I can't figure out how to post the pictures for you but you can find some on their website:
http://www.residence-suites.com/photo-gallery.htm

If you look here, the room with the dark red stone wall in the background is the honeymoon suite. The bathroom is up the stairs to the left of the bed. (The beds a little hard--the mattress is not very thick!) The last picture on the first row (that with the hammack) is part of the terrace for the honeymoon suite. In addition, there's a table and chairs similar to that shown in the third picture of the first row.

Their were actually two hot tubs--one is the one that looks like a pool in the pictures--it's probably 3'x5', if that. The other is a portable unit. We didn't use either of them, but we saw their staff cleaning both of them every morning.

They're still rather new and doing some finishing touches, but I'd stay there again.

Hope that helps! Good luck on finding a room!

Lori

Thank you Lori! I prefer the "modern" rooms over the "traditional" cavelike dwellings, which appear cramped, and clostrophobic inducing little "bedrock" dwellings. The Residence Suites seem like a great value. I plan to call them tomorrow morning. Wish me luck!

Jay