Hello Santorini!

June 4, 2019

Europe

Hello Santorini!

From Kuwait, I flew to Athens and from Athens I was on Aegean Airlines (Olympic Air), and returning back to Athens I used Sky Express. Olympic Air was good with luggage allowance of 23 KG each. Sky Express had only 15 KG allowance, but I logged in and bought extra 15 KGs.

Weeell.. For a change let me start by telling you that I think I was kind of ‘lied to’ at the airport by the telecom company/the lady responsible for sales upon arrival.

I’ve purchased a SIM card for EURO 30, for 1 week of 20 GBs that did not walk right after I stepped out of the airport. When I called again to tell her the problem, she hinted that I was lying to her somehow by asking “so how are you calling me now by WhatsApp if your phone doesn’t have credit?”. It was offensive, unprofessional and it did piss me off.

So my first tip for you guys is if you do decide to purchase a SIM card or credit, make sure its recharged, working and stay for another few minutes before you exit the kiosk. Otherwise, every hotel and every restaurant has WiFi, I only needed the internet for google maps for driving and my Kuwaiti International roaming service did a great job with that.

Now, as I proceeded from the airport to the hotel I realized how expensive Taxis are for short-sh rides Our Airport drive was around 30 minutes and it cost us something around 40 Euros. So, my fiends and I decided to rent a car. (4 minutes road would easily cost 10-15 Euros fixed rate).

To drive in Santorini is easy; you could either A) rent a car or B) get ATVs, scooters etc whichever makes you more comfortable. We rented a convertible FIAT (our first choice was a convertible mini-cooper, but it wasn’t available! ha!) . All they needed were international license. For me (Kuwaiti license), my local license was accepted as a second driver.

I would definitely recommend getting in touch with your hotel to organize for your car rental as it would be convenient to bring the car to you to your hotel and have it picked up from there as well.

Read the below to be able to identify the best area to stay in Santorini for you and what you look for:

Fira: the capital of the island, nightclubs, shops, restaurants, buzz. (found a cute nail spa..)

Firostefani: very seclusive and relaxing but still very close to Fira for shops etc

Oia: (This is where my hotel was at), the most famous and probably the most romantic place to stay in Santorini, not that many shops, no nightlife, but really relaxing atmosphere and some amazing restaurants. Expect tons of tourist masses though, which during the sunset time are everywhere (on the roofs, on the streets, on the walls etc). If you stay here and want to do sunset dinners in the area, make sure you book ahead!.

Imerovigli: amazing views to the caldera, seclusive, not touristic and still close to Fira where all the buzz and shopping is. I had dinner twice in this area, really liked it!

Perissa , Perivolos, Kamari: no views to the volcano but walking distance to the best beaches of Santorini. If you have knee problems and still wanna visit Santorini, its a good area to consider staying at!