Santorini · Home base
Santorini, from the inside
The home island of Epicure Greece. We live and work in Fira, and we design private journeys around the caldera: stays on the rim, volcanic tastings, sailing at sunset and tables you cannot book yourself.
The island
A crescent around a drowned volcano
Santorini began as a round island the Greeks called Strongyli. One of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history hollowed it into the crescent you arrive at today: a rim of dark cliffs around a flooded caldera, with white villages balanced along the top edge.
- Oia
- The postcard village. At its best in the morning, before the sunset audience files in.
- Fira
- The working capital on the rim, and our home. Every Epicure journey is run from here.
- Imerovigli
- A quiet walk above Fira. The view without the crowd, for the guests who want the caldera in silence.
- Kamari
- Down at sea level on black volcanic sand. The easy pace we recommend to families.
The island also keeps one of the great archaeological sites of the Aegean. Akrotiri, a Bronze Age town sealed under volcanic ash, survived the way Pompeii did, streets and staircases intact. Pair it with the red volcanic cliffs of the nearby coast, then give a morning to the rim path from Fira toward Oia, past Skaros Rock, the best free spectacle Santorini offers.
With Epicure
How we host the island
Most visitors see Santorini from a queue. Our work is arranging the island so it meets you the other way: doors open, keys ready, and a plan that already knows what the afternoon wind will do.
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Stays on the caldera edge
Suites and villas on the rim in Oia, Imerovigli and Fira, chosen room by room for the view, the pool and the walk home. A shortlist we have slept in, not scraped from a booking engine.
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The volcanic table
Tastings among the low, basket-trained vines, led by Assyrtiko and closed with a glass of sweet vinsanto. For dinner, tables worth the drive inland, like Metaksy Mas near Exo Gonia.
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The caldera under sail
A private boat and a slow lap of the caldera, past the volcanic islets at its centre, with time to swim in open water and dinner on deck as the light drops.
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A host on the island
Not a hotline. A person in Fira who knows your plan, moves the table when the wind changes, and answers all day, every day of the journey.
Timing
The island by season
- April to May
- The island wakes. Wildflowers on the rim, a cool sea, room to breathe in the villages. The months for walkers.
- June to August
- Full summer. Long days, warm water, and the sunset crowds at their peak in Oia. We book far ahead and keep you to the quiet corners.
- September to October
- Our favourite stretch. The sea at its warmest after the long summer, softer light, and crowds thinning by the week.
- November to March
- The quiet season. Many doors close, the caldera turns moody, and the island belongs to the people who live on it.
Epicure here
We are not visiting. We live here.
Epicure Greece is based in Fira, in the middle of the island. When you travel with us on Santorini, the people who designed the journey are minutes away, not time zones. Tell us the occasion and the season, and we will come back with the first sketch.