Santorini : 10 things you NEED TO KNOW before coming in 2025

At the end of last summer season I asked you on Instagram what do you wish you had known before coming to Santorini. I received hundreds of answers and in today's video I'm going to reveal to you the 10 most common ones. Hey guys welcome to Santorini Explained. My name is Sebastian. I'm a tour guide in Athens. If you are coming to Athens and you would like to know what kind of tours I run this is my Instagram page. Alright so the answer that came back the most was make sure to watch all the videos of Sebastian's YouTube channel which I found very cute. Actually this came from people who discovered my channel only when they were already on the island and at that point they realized they probably hadn't made the best decisions regarding the location of their hotel, the tours they booked or how to use public buses for instance. So yeah if you're coming to Santorini in the future make sure to watch more than one or two videos of my channel. I'm not the one saying it you are. Alright another answer that came back a lot was I wish I had stayed longer on the island. Many people stayed for three or four days and they said they wish they would have stayed for another two days because there's so much to do and see compared to Mykonos and all the other islands except for Crete. Crete is massive and also has 1 billion things to do. One day I'll make some videos about it and yeah I'm not surprised people wrote this if they only came for three days. In my opinion the ideal duration of a stay in Santorini is from five to seven days. Now just so you know some people also wrote the opposite. They wish they had stayed less time in Santorini. I reached out to those people asking why that was and the answer was always the same. Those people were all on a budget and yeah it's true that if you cannot afford all these tours and excursions your experience at Santorini won't be the same. So basically if you're coming to Santorini only to do the free stuff like visiting the villages and chilling on the beach then know that you don't need more than three days really. The third answer I got was I wish I had spent less time in the touristy areas. Many of you had planned one entire day just to visit Ia and same for Fira but no this is a total waste of time. You don't need more than two three hours for each because they're very tiny so you can easily do both Ia and Fira on the same day and then on another day do Pyrgos and Megalochori for instance which are much less touristy and as beautiful. Fourth thing you should know if you plan to get around the island by bus you have to book a hotel in Fira. Now this is something I've already mentioned in many of my other videos so I won't do it again but yeah keep in mind that taking buses from Fira is much much more convenient than from anywhere else. Fifth point the heat. Now I know this one sounds kind of obvious Greece is a warm country but you know what you can't properly understand it until you're actually here it's hot yes but in a different way. I've heard many people say it's crazy it feels like the sun is closer to us it just feels so warm on the skin. Many people have told me this so it's not just that it's hot it's that the sun is properly savage and all you want to do is lie down in the shade and never stand up again. Now I'm no scientist I'm not sure why this is but my guess would be one there's no pollution fogging up the atmosphere and two no overcast either the sky is always perfect blue so between you and the sun there's really no obstacle. Now when does it get super hot well more or less from mid-June to mid-September the rest of the summer is still warm don't get me wrong but the sun feels a little bit less aggressive. The sixth thing you should know is that buses don't stop if you don't tell them to stop. Yeah indeed Santorini's bus system is pretty messy and if you've watched my video on all their unwritten rules you know what I'm talking about but one thing I didn't think of telling you in that video is use your phone's GPS so as you hop on a bus go to Google Maps and type in your destination and when you see that the bus is about to get there yell stop please to the driver. Now usually there is a ticket seller on board whose job is to make sure that everyone gets dropped off where they want to but so many things can go wrong and I've seen a lot of tourists devastated because their stop had just been skipped and then they just stand there not knowing what to do so if you want to play it safe do the GPS thing and don't be shy to shout in the bus for your stop that's what we locals do. Oh and by the way one more thing about buses don't be surprised if at some point you have to stand on the bus they will squeeze in as many passengers as possible so if you're amongst the last ones to board that will probably be your fate. It's definitely not the safest option but there are just not enough buses in Santorini compared to the amount of tourists that are coming every year so they don't really have a choice. Seventh thing you should know driving is way more intense and chaotic than you would think. Now this one really depends on where you're from. If you're Italian for instance it will feel very similar but if you're American and you're used to wide roads, stop signs that are actually respected and a clear parking system where you understand how you should be parking well you're in for a big surprise. So my advice would be only rent a car if you feel you will be comfortable driving in those conditions. If you're someone who is already stressed out when driving under normal conditions don't drive here you're gonna have a heart attack. Next thing you should know it's not that easy to go to the other Greek islands from Santorini. Let's have a quick look at the map of Greece. If I tell you that it only takes 40 minutes to fly from Athens to Santorini you might assume oh wow so I can be in all these other islands in less than half an hour that's amazing but no the vast majority of all these other islands don't have an airport and even the ones that do they're usually only connected with Athens not with the other islands. So if you want to fly from Santorini to let's say Mylos you will have to fly through Athens which will take you so much longer than a direct flight. So what about ferries you might be asking? Are they more convenient than planes? Well yes but depending which island you want to go to there might be only like one ferry per week or there's no direct ferry connection at all so you'll have to do a layover on another island first so yeah if you're coming to Santorini for let's say one week don't think you'll be able to go for some day trips to other islands in the neighborhood and then come back to Santorini on the same day of course I'm not saying it's impossible to do island hopping in Greece it's definitely possible and many people are doing it but you gotta study the ferry routes first to see which islands are properly interconnected otherwise you're gonna spend more time transiting around than actually being on the islands you want to visit. I'll make a video at some point on all of this if it's live already I'm gonna link it Alright next thing you should know don't get ripped off at the ferry port because yeah as you exit the ferry you'll start hearing guys yelling the bus is here come here for the bus and they're actually playing on the words because they are not the public bus they have private minibuses and their rate is 30 euros for two instead of four euros for two like the public bus. I've met many people who got confused and went to them when hearing them shout and by the time they understand this was not the public bus it's too late and they end up spending way more money than they should have so if you are arriving by ferry make sure to check out this video at some point so that you know where exactly to find the actual public buses oh and by the way you will not have this problem if you are arriving by plane everything is much better organized at the airport and you won't have those random guys trying to sell you their stuff. The next thing you should know is that Santorini is full of stairs and very uncomfortable cobblestones it's something i mentioned in many of my other videos yet lots of people have told me they hadn't realized how bad it really was so let me be clear once and for all if you have a hard time with stairs in general maybe you have a bad knee or hip issues Santorini is not really made for you also if you have a baby and you plan on coming with a stroller you're gonna have a bad time and when you book a hotel make sure you understand how many steps you'll have to walk up and down every day to reach your room i know that places like these are very appealing but what they don't tell you is that sometimes you're actually located here for instance and to get to the top it's going to be like 100 steps every time now these hotels usually do have porters who carry your luggage at your arrival and departure but they don't carry you so make sure you're fit enough for this all right the majority of people coming to Santorini fly to the island instead of taking the boat but is this really the best way well that's what i'm answering in this video and this one is about all the things you can do with only 25 euros and if you thought that 25 euros can't buy you anything in Santorini because everything is so expensive well think again and there you go that's it for today's video hope you enjoyed it see you in the next one bye