7 Most Instagrammable Spots in Santorini, Greece

Santorini is the modern name for Thira, a volcanic island in Greece's Cyclades group formed by one of the largest eruptions in recorded history, around 1600 BC, which collapsed the island's centre into the sea and left the crescent-shaped caldera that now defines its coastline. The white-and-blue villages built along the caldera's rim have made it one of the most photographed islands in the Mediterranean, and while the Oia sunset is the single most famous shot, the island rewards looking beyond it.

1. Oia's blue domes

The three blue-domed churches on Oia's caldera-facing terraces, most visible from a small public viewing platform near the village's main path, are the island's single most reproduced image and the reason most visitors build a Santorini itinerary around at least one night in the village.

2. The Oia Castle sunset point

The ruined Byzantine-era castle at Oia's western edge is the traditional gathering spot for watching the sun set into the caldera, drawing large crowds nightly in high season for a view back over the whole village and the water below.

3. Fira's caldera-edge cable car and steps

Santorini's capital, Fira, sits directly on the caldera rim, and the switchback path down to the old port, walkable or ridden by donkey, or the cable car alongside it, both give a steep, layered view back up at the town's white buildings stacked against the cliff.

4. Imerovigli's Skaros Rock

A short walk from the village of Imerovigli leads to Skaros Rock, the remains of a medieval fortress on a rocky promontory jutting into the caldera, and the walk out to it gives one of the island's widest unobstructed views back along the cliffside villages.

5. Akrotiri's Red Beach

On the island's south coast, Red Beach takes its colour from the dark red volcanic cliffs that back it, a striking contrast to the more typical blue-and-white shots from the caldera villages further north.

6. The Akrotiri archaeological site

Buried by the same eruption that shaped the caldera and preserved in volcanic ash, this Bronze Age settlement, sometimes called Greece's Pompeii, gives a very different, ochre-toned backdrop of excavated stone streets and multi-storey buildings.

7. Pyrgos village

Set on a hilltop inland from the caldera, Pyrgos keeps a quieter, less-visited version of Santorini's whitewashed architecture, its narrow stepped lanes climbing to a ruined Venetian-era fortress with views across most of the island.

Traveller tips

• Santorini (Thira) National Airport has direct seasonal and year-round connections to Athens and several other European cities.
• Oia's viewing points for sunset get extremely crowded in July and August; arriving at least an hour early, or visiting in the shoulder months of May, June or September, makes for a noticeably easier visit.
• The island's caldera-side paths involve a lot of steps and uneven stone; comfortable footwear matters more here than on most Greek islands.
• Ferries connect Santorini to other Cycladic islands and to Piraeus, Athens' port, though the crossing from Athens takes several hours even on fast ferries.