Santorini in September: A 5-Day Travel Guide

santorini in september

What is Santorini like in September?

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is santorin worth visiting

Whether or Not We Think Santorini is Worth It

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is santorin expensive

What to Expect Budget Wise When Traveling to Santorini

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why we only visited santorini

And why we didn’t island hop to other Greek islands

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5 day santorini itinerary

How to Spend 5 Days on Santorini

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Where to stay in santorini

Where We Stayed in Santorini

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If this is your first time on The Weithouse - welcome! My name is Taylor and I’m the girl behind the screen and camera bringing you resources to help you plan the trip of your dreams.

This Santorini Five-Day Travel Guide will share our experience visiting Santorini in early September from Paris and share the details from our five days on the Greek island.

santorini in september

We visited Santorini over Labor Day weekend (August 31 - September 5). We knew these dates were more of a shoulder season on the island, but before the windy season in October.

September in Santorini was an ideal month to visit the Greek island. The weather in Santorini during our time there in September was mostly upper 80F and full sunshine (except for our last day). September in Santorini was still a great time to go to the beach, swim in the ocean and do all of the warm weather activities.

Additionally, we had no issues with crowds during our time in Santorini in September. I was worried that Labor Day US travelers might impact our dates, but we didn’t feel like the island was over crowded in September. August is a huge vacation month for Europeans, so I think the Europeans had all started trickling out by the time we arrived.

Is Santorini worth visiting?

Santorini feels like one of those “ultimate” destinations, doesn’t it? But often those top travel spots can make you wonder if they really live up to all the hype.

That’s how I felt about Santorini (and Greece) before our first trip. Santorini just felt too good to be true. I for no real particular reason just kept avoiding it as a travel destination (despite my love for the Mediterranean and Greek food).

So is Santorini really as captivating and jaw-dropping as the internet makes it out to be? Yes! The landscape, architecture and coastline of Santorini is exceptionally gorgeous, with its dramatic cliffs atop sparkling blue waters.

And Santorini is so much more than the perceived luxury honeymooner spot and can offer an incredible travel experience regardless of your reason for visiting.

Is Santorini Expensive?

If you’ve seen any photos of Santorini or hotels in Santorini then you will get the idea that it is a luxury destination that comes at a price. Santorini is dotted with luxury accommodations, however, you can still visit the Greek island on a reasonable budget if you’re wanting to experience the Greek island without that luxury price.

During your time in Santorini, if you want to stay in the famous Oia village, you will have a higher price per night, however, you can find properties all across the island that are more budget friendly, and often more remote, if you’re looking for a more relaxing, affordable experience in Santorini.

From our experience, food, transportation and excursions on the island weren’t overly priced, and if you are looking for more luxury experiences you can of course find those as well.

why we only visited santorini

In 2023, we saw a cheap flight (under 100 euros) on Transavia direct from Paris to Santorini and it felt pretty hard to pass up. We knew from the United States we wouldn’t likely ever be able to fly direct to Santorini and would have to connect in Athens.

This is sort of what prompted our entire trip to Santorini in the first place. With such a cheap direct flight, this wasn’t meant to be an all in Greek-island trip for us, and we really wanted it to remain as affordable and stress free as possible. So we opted to stay on the island of Santorini our entire trip and truly soak in what the island had to offer (while also making time to relax).

5 day santorini itinerary

Our cheap round trip flight from Paris to Santorini gave us six nights and five days to enjoy the island. The remainder of this Santorini 5-Day Travel Guide will outline the things we did during our time in Santorini and how you could spend five days enjoying it in a similar way.

Santorini Day one - explore oia

Regardless of where you’re staying on the island, spend one day in Santorini soaking up the famous hilltop village of Oia. Oia is the most famous village in Santorini and is where you will find the highly photographed blue domes (although you can find others throughout the island) and amazing accommodations with the most breathtaking edge of the world views.

Here are the highlights of Oia to enjoy during your time in the village:

• Have a delicious and fresh breakfast from Kookoo Bar Lounge

• Stroll through the beautiful village streets

• Take photos with the iconic blue domes (you can get a lunch or dinner view of them from Lotza on the terrace)

• Take the stairs down to Ammoudi Bay and swim in the sea at Ammoudi Beach

• Enjoy a sunset dinner from Sunset Ammoudi Bay

• Watch the sunset from the iconic spot at Oia Castle

santorini day two - explore fira and hike from fira to oia

To enjoy more of Santorini outside of Oia, you can spend a day discovering the larger village of Fira (Thera), more centrally located on the island. You can access Fira from Oia via public transportation (or by car if you are in a different part of the island).

Fira offers stunning views over the Caldera of Santorini, and is a much more bustling village as it is the port city for the cruise ships coming into Santorini. That being said, Fira has more restaurants, more crowds and more touristic shops, however, the village is still one of white-washed architecture and sun-drenched streets.

Hike from Fira to Oia (or Oia to Fira)

There is a wonderful hike connecting Oia and Fira, that you can access from either village. This hike is a great way to spend a not too hot day during your time in Santorini and is full of jaw-dropping landscapes and views. The hike takes roughly three hours (or more depending on your speed) and is 10 km (6 miles).

Doing the hike from Fira to Oia is one of our favorite memories from our travels to Santorini. The hike takes you along the cliffside, through the stunning and quaint village of Imerovigli and past tiny churches and sometimes even donkeys!

To do the hike between Oia and Fira, you definitely need to have good walking shoes as it can be pretty rocky. And obviously pack some water if you’re planning to do the hike on a hot day. We did the hike a few hours before sunset and it was very pleasant.

The hike doesn’t involve anything too strenuous, and is doable for most skill levels.

Santorini day three - enjoy your santorini accomodations

It’s likely that you spent some amount of money on your accommodations in Santorini, so you should spend some time simply relaxing and enjoying the beautiful property you booked on the island.

We personally enjoyed a full day lounging around at our second Airbnb of our trip: Le Cote Oia (edge of oia). The property is a small studio bedroom with bathroom at the very edge of Oia. It has a private balcony and hot tub, and complete privacy.

Santorini day four - visit santorini’s black beach

After your day of relaxation, it’s time to head to the beach. The villages of Oia and Fira do not have real stretches of beach, so you will need to drive a bit to access such beaches on the island.

We enjoyed a wonderful day of sun bathing at Black Beach or Mesa Pigadia Beach, where we rented chairs for the day from Naboo Santorini Beach Bar and enjoyed watching the ferry bring passengers to the beach from the water. We had no issues renting chairs in early September, but maybe in peak season try to get there early or call in advance to reserve a chair.

santorini day five - take a tour of santorini

On your fifth and last day on Santorini, you can book a guided tour of the island to discover more of the beaches, historical sights and villages on Santorini.

We personally booked a tour with our taxi driver (that we were connected with through our Airbnb) who took us all over the island before dropping us off at the airport that evening.

Our first stop was at red beach, where we quickly hopped out of the car to see the famous red rocks of the beach below. Red Beach was one of the more crowded spots we saw in Santorini in September, but did look like an iconic spot to spend the day.

Don’t visit Santorini and miss the Excavations of Akrotiri. This was another highlight of our trip and I highly recommend visiting when in Santorini if you get the chance.

The excavations of Akrotiri are a preserved archaelogical sight, similar to Pompeii, with evidence of human habitation dating back to the Neolithic Age (4500 BC) (according to Santorini-View.com). You can buy tickets for the site at the entrance and spend roughly an hour walking through the ancient village, discovering the walls, frescoes and pottery preserved in time.

Where to Stay in Santorini

Regardless of whether you’re planning a short or long visit to Santorini, there is no shortage of amazing places to stay on the island.

If you’re looking for a more affordable place to stay in Oia, we spent the first part of our travels in this Airbnb in Ammoudi Bay, which had a very affordable nightly rate.

We spent half of our time at this Airbnb and the second half at the above mentioned property.

If you’re interested in our other favorite Airbnbs in Oia, we’ve created a hand selected list of the best Airbnbs in Oia in this post.

stick around a while

Need more help planning your trip to Santorini? We have a few other Santorini guides, like our Complete Guide to Oia and our roundup of the best Airbnbs in Oia.

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