uppsala30

Hello, I am looking for recommendations for Santorini in May of 2023. I start to plan early!! Originally I wasn’t planning on visiting any Greek islands on this trip. Our daughter is a Greek archeologist and she asked me to join her on a research trip to Thessloniki next Spring. We were planning on staying there about two weeks, then heading back to the States. Now her husband is coming, he really wants to visit Greece. So we are going to add more days and meet him in Athens, where she has additional research. Add on my husband, he wants to come ( I guess we are renting a large apartment in Athens!). His dream is to visit Santorini ( not my dream ) so I am adding on extra days for Santorini and 1 additional island. My thoughts are 3 nights Santorini, then 4 or 5 nights on either Milos or Antiparos ( suggestions from my daughter). I have visited Greece many times since my university days. I’ve been to Rhodes, Crete,Ios, and Corfu plus multiple trips on the mainland. Hoping for a hotel recommendation for Santorini- mid level price. Are we going to be the oldest tourists on Santorini? I have this thought that the island is overrun with Honeymooners

HappyTrvlr

We were surrounded by young couples on their honeymoons when we went to Santorini. Do not spend much time there, just enough to see the Caldera view and to visit Akrotiri. Very over touristed. I do not recommend our hotel as pretty as it was, so will not mention it. It does not give a real Greek experience.

KarenWoo

We just returned from Greece, and we spent 3 nights on Santorini. It is beautiful and I believe well worth visiting. Yes, there were lots of young couples there, but we met and talked to older couples like us (early to mid-70's) and families with young children and older children.

We stayed at Blue Dolphin Apartments in Firastefani, recommended by Travelerjan on this site. I highly recommend staying in Firastefani. It is quieter and less crowded than Fira and Oia. Imerovigli is even less crowded, but there are fewer restaurants and cafes there, and it's a longer walk to Fira and Firastefani. Because we are older, too, I looked for a hotel with the fewest amount of steps! There were 40 steps to walk down from the street to the Reception Desk, and then 2 flights of steps to our hotel room. I highly recommend this hotel. We had a caldera view with a balcony overlooking the caldera where we had a leisurely breakfast 2 mornings. We did have breakfast at a nearby restaurant one morning, but we loved our hotel's breakfasts (a feast), for only 25 euros for 2 people. Our room rate was about $230 per night.

While Santorini is certainly about the caldera view, there is more to Santorini than the caldera. If you go, I strongly recommend renting a car for a day. We really enjoyed the archaeological site of Akrotiri, the beauty of Red Sands Beach, the Akrotiri lighthouse, and the black sand beach at Perissa. We stopped here for drinks and a Greek salad, sitting at lovely tables a few feet from the beach.

While Santorini does not give you a "real" Greek experience, it is stunningly beautiful. For a quieter and more laidback experience, we really liked Naxos.

geetika

We were also in Santorini three weeks back and while there were a lot of younger people, it didn’t detract from having an enjoyable trip.

We were a family group of seven, with my niece, nephew and girlfriend. I too had booked Blue Dolphins in Firostefani, but our dates changed and they didn’t have availability. So we went to Olympic Villas, at Finikia a 10 minute walk from Oia. We had two apartments and a cave room, which was further down the cliff. The apartments were near the pool overlooking the caldera, about 12 steps up from road level.

I highly recommend Olympic Villas, it’s very calm and quiet, with a small supermarket just across the road. We bought bread, fruit and yogurt for breakfast, though the hotel also offers a simple breakfast. The views were stunning and we walked to Oia in the morning and evening, when the day trippers were away. In any case, May isn’t very busy, so you should be fine.

Do visit the ancient site of Akrotiri and the nearby red sand beach. We rented cars and drove all over the island, it’s stunning, with stupendous vistas wherever you look. Santorini is touristy for a reason!

balthy

You will definitely not be the oldest tourists in Santorini. Whilst it is a popular honeymoon destination, it is a destination for all, whether elderly or not. Just choose a place to stay wisely as some have several steps leading down to rooms which might be on various levels. We stayed in some village houses in Oia which was perfect. Despite it being busy outside, the accommodation was calm and quiet with stunning views.

geetika

Was it Old Oia Houses? They’re very well reviewed, but didn’t have availability for my dates. The same people have a restaurant Lotza, with gorgeous caldera views and good food at reasonable prices, for Santorini

FTOttawa

Seniors here. We enjoyed the views, service, and surrounding restaurants of Hotel Mylos in Firostefani. Grateful to our host for carrying my bag up two flights of stairs, mind you. The walk from there to Oia took about five hours, not the advertised 2.5, but was well worth it.

The views from Ancient Thera are also stunning, and the ride up in a minivan is quite the set of switchbacks.