Santorini should be a satisfying visit for travelers.
After a harrowing winter of earthquakes that sent residents on four Greek islands to evacuate, the summer tourism season is nearing its peak. The islands of Santorini, Paros, Naxos, and Mykonos were evacuated, and schools closed in early February. Santorini, the most-visited of the four islands, is back to normal and open for visitors, although visitation has been somewhat more subdued than the previous summer.
On a morning described by the manager at Vedema, a Luxury Collection Resort as one of the hottest yet this summer, I zipped down the side of the volcanic crater to the coastal village of Vlichada to visit the Tomato Industrial Museum. The timing was particularly prescient. After wandering through the preserved industrial works of the old tomato canning factory, where the island’s famously sweet local tomatoes were once made into paste or canned whole, I sat down to watch a video. In it, the island’s elders who had ties to the tomato factory recount their experiences.
The tomato factory was a community focal point from when it opened in 1945 until it closed in 1981, when the owners moved canning production to the Greek mainland. I sat up, however, when the interviewees in the video started discussing the earthquake and tsunami that hit Santorini in 1956. Much more devastating than this year’s quakes, that quake and tsunami destroyed several structures on the island, but also won the then-impoverished residents some attention from the government. “It was the first time I tasted wheat bread,” said one of the interviewees in the video. Wheat wasn’t grown on the island, so the islanders at that time made their bread from barley flour.
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There’s a tasting bar in the factory, so visitors can sample some of the company’s tomato paste. “Many locals spread this paste on bread and have it for breakfast,” the attendant said. I tried it on breadsticks and cheese, alongside some pickled caper leaves (yes, the leaves are edible too), while we chatted about tourism after the earthquakes.
“Yes, it’s down 40%,” she lamented. “It’s been pretty slow.”
I noticed the same when I arrived. The last time I flew to Santorini, in 2023, the airport was packed wall-to-wall with visitors, both on the arrival and departure. This year, it was much more subdued: no long lines for rental cars, no traffic jams (except for a handful of bottlenecks in the largest town of Fira, which are always clogged).
Vedema Resort, in the village of Megalochori, is designed to maintain the character of the village among its units strewn across different converted buildings, it also seemed quiet. I was the only guest tasting wine in their 400-year-old wine cave one evening, and there were just a handful of other tables on their rooftop restaurant for dinner. “Try the tomatoes,” I told the next table. “They’re like candy.”
Beyond the walls of the resort, in the village, it was similarly uncrowded, even though small groups of cruise tourists wander through at intervals. A short walk up a hill (it’s always a hill on Santorini) I chatted with Argy Kakissis in the mulberry-shaded garden at Symposion Cultural Center, which she cofounded with her husband Yannis Pantazis. Both are Greek-American repatriates to Greece, and welcome visitors to the center for local wine, handmade traditional instruments, or a workshop on making pan flutes, plus rotating art exhibits or other music or art installations.
We sipped local honey wine from earthenware cups and enjoyed the breeze wafting through the leaves of the tree overhead. Kakissis hasn’t noticed a drop in visitation, but she also notes that most of the center’s visitors are seeking it out—it doesn’t depend on either volume or foot traffic.
For a change of pace, I spent a night at Istoria Hotel, which was awarded a Michelin Key. There are just 12 suites (mine was in a converted stable, with a lovely courtyard and outdoor jetted tub). It seemed well-patronized, particularly around the pool (one of the largest on the island). Santorini has a good amount of beach, but most of the island’s towns are atop the hills, so it’s pleasant to have the black sand of Perivalos Beach just out the front door.
My final stop on the island was the famous Mystique, a Luxury Collection Hotel, in the village of Oia. Famous for its travel poster views of blue-domed buildings, traditional windmills, and lurid sunsets, Oia is the island’s most perennially over touristed village. And there was definitely more activity there than other parts of the island, with crowds of visitors dressed in white clamoring for the best sunset view (and selfie) each evening.
The methods for coping with the crowds are still in place. There’s a parking lot with a free shuttle for the popular sea-level restaurants at Ammoudi Bay, where I had a memorable seafood pasta (and more tomatoes!) and gorgeous sunset views at Ammoudi Fish Tavern. The lot was near full, but not full, and the traffic was manageable—not bumper-to-bumper like it was in 2023. Back then, one was likely to end up watching the Oia sunset from their car if they hadn’t planned well enough ahead—now, it’s easier to find a spot.
I’d been to Oia before—crowds or not—and I just wanted to take in the views, so I spent most of my time in the infinity pool at Mystique (or in the jetted tub on the terrace of my suite, built in the “cave” style of dwellings long popular on the island). Here, the tomatoes came with fresh strawberries, whipped feta, and wild rose vinaigrette.
The news about the earthquakes earlier this year certainly gave many residents a fright, and many visitors clearly cancelled. While most of the hotel managers I chatted with acknowledged a drop in business from May through July, they also noted bookings look relatively normal for the “peakiest peaks” in September and October.
With new restrictions on cruise tourism on this and other Greek islands, and the waning of the “revenge travel” phenomenon, Santorini should be a satisfying visit for travelers for the next few seasons—as long as they visit the island for several days, avoiding the cruise crowds in the midday heat by spending those hours relaxing by their pool.
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