I didn’t fall in love with Santorini after spending 2 full days there, to be precise, sometimes I even felt it overrated. But if you ask me what the most unforgettable thing in Santorini, I'd say it was the sunset at Ammoudi Bay.
Table of Contents
Santorini Day 2 Itinerary
Hike in Imerovigli
Visit Red Beach
Explore Oia
Visit 3 Domes Viewpoint
Watch sunset in Ammoudi Bay
Dine in Dimitris Ammoudi Taverna
Actual Route Diagram
Tips for Logistic
🕶️ Strongly recommend bringing a sunglasses, not for photo-taking reasons but for eyes protection reasons! Seriously because the houses are painted in white, the reflection is so strong that could cause your eyes uncomfortable.
🚗 If you plan to visit Oia for sunset, you’d better get there early. Otherwise, you’ll have difficulties finding a parking space, especially if you don’t want to pay a parking fee.
🅿️ Or you can park at a secret parking spot I found here which is free and also saves your time & energy walking back and forth. People usually explore the center of Oia first and then take the “rugged” stairs down to Ammoudi Bay when the sun is about to go down. “Rugged”, means that the stairs are paved with stones so it’s not that comfortable to walk. In addition, a great amount of horse poo on the way is another problem, which slows you down and stinks up the journey. 😬😵💫🥲
If you park at the center of Oia, you’ll need to follow the same route back since it’s faster (around 15 mins). But if you park at the secret spot, you’ll just take another flat, 13 mins route back to it. It really connects them perfectly. The only downside of the secret spot is not being the closest to the center, but at least the walk to the center is flat and no stairs.
The parking lot and the route we took to explore
Stairs leading to Ammoudi Bay from the center
My experience
Take a morning hike and enjoy breakfast
Imerovigli neighborhood is relatively quiet compared to Fira and taking a coastline walk there definitely freshens up my morning. There are not packed restaurants but few souvenir stores. Even though the sun was strong, the cool wind was able to expel the heat. The navy blue of the ocean calms people down and brings me a pleasant morning. Hiking in Imerovigli in the morning was indeed a good choice.
Having breakfast after a nice walk is wonderful, especially when the place is cute and gives you an ocean view. I felt like a princess, gracefully enjoying the porridge served with a little bit of fruits and cereals. However, on the other hand, I also felt like a sucker, overpaying for a meal. Well, I should have known the popularity of Santorini.
A part of the hiking trails
The trails gets elevated so you can have this view at some point
My porridge
Explore Red Beach
After the walk, we walked back to Fira to get our car, and heading to Red Beach. It’s a 25 min drive and grants us the opportunity to see other parts of Santorini on the way. Honestly, the other parts of Santorini felt like a clean version of my hometown which is also by the sea 😂. The strong wind makes the trees lean towards one side; some parts of the land are filled with dry grass and look abandoned; people use iron net as a barrier and it gets rusted easily because of the climate. It has so many similarities that I couldn’t help but call it out loudly in the car.
The reason why Red Beach is called by the name isn’t because of red, pink sands, but because of the red rocks by the side. People come here to enjoy the relatively quiet beach with Red Rocks’ company. Be careful of the red rocks, it’s actually pretty sharp and not easy to walk on because of the rugged surface. I don’t recommend wearing sandals before reaching to the beach part.
The Red Beach
Other parts of Santorini seen on the way
Blue domes are everywhere but this one is special
Oia is located in the North-West of Santorini, and is known for its great location to watch sunset and the 3 blue domes that we often see on postcards. Oh speaking of this, in case you think the same as I did: I thought the 3 blue domes are the only ones on the island. But apparently I was wrong. It’s everywhere on the island actually.
The closer the time was close to sunset, the more people lined up in the allies to take a photo with the blue domes. We didn’t care much about the sunset with blue domes, so we just get there earlier, took a photo and left for Ammoudi Bay. People go to Ammoudi Bay for sunset but you can also enjoy a romantic dinner in any of the only 3 restaurants there. Yep, you probably sense its scarcity so might just call them early to reserve if you are interested (remember to select a time that has overlaps with sunset).
Ammoudi Bay is absolutely one of a kind
We went to Dimitris Ammoudi Taverna for dinner and waited for sunset there. The tables right by the sea require either a minimum expense or an extra fee, so we didn’t choose them. As for the seafood, it was pricy of course but is fresh indeed. How about the sunset? It was definitely one of a kind. I think its specialty doesn’t lie only in the sun itself but in multiple other environmental factors that effect our sensation, such as the watching distance by the sea, the scene presented to us - boats floating on the sea and well-decorated restaurants surrounded. All these elements make sunset in Ammoudi Bay unique.
We left around 7:30 PM and walked along the bay heading to parking lot. I turned around and learned why Santorini is worth a visit: the red cliffs, the white houses, the yellow bulbs, the blue ocean, they fused so beautifully well.
Stay tuned! We are heading to Dubrovnik, Croatia next week!
