Greece › Santorini › Vacation Packages
By Santorini Dave
See Also
- Where to Stay in Santorini
- Best Hotels in Santorini
- Santorini Cruises
- Best Santorini Tours
- Greek Ferry Guide
The best Santorini hotels are located in the towns along the caldera, looking down on the volcano. Fira, Oia, Imerovigli, and Firostefani are all located along the edge of the caldera. If you book a Santorini vacation package you probably won’t get to stay here. For the best holiday deals and coolest hotels book hotels and flights on your own.
Vacation Packages for Santorini
Common Question: How do I book a Vacation Package to Santorini?
My Answer: You don’t want to.You can get better vacation deals and have a more interesting holiday by booking your flight and hotel separately. It’s easy to do. (Read my Santorini Holiday Guide if you need any tips.) After plenty of pandemic-related upheaval, Santorini travel returned to normal in 2023 and is set to be more popular than ever in 2024 (do book hotels and flights early).
When you plan your Santorini holiday or honeymoon on your own you get the dates you truly want, the flights that work best for you, the hotel with the best reviews. With packages it’s all about compromise. Agents have blocks of reservations for popular vacation spots, specific flights, and certain hotels. Their goal is to squeeze you into one of those blocks. I’m not suggesting this can never work out. It can.
Santorini is such a unique treasure this is one trip you don’t want to have a cookie-cutter experience. The caldera hotels with the best views are usually not part of holiday packages. The most common vacation deals (and the packages with the cheapest costs) will put you in the beach towns of Kamari, Perissa, or Perivolos – all fine holiday spots but not the caldera experience that you might be picturing.
And best of all, is a Greek island hopping trip that takes in multiple islands like Mykonos, Naxos, Paros, and Crete.
The Best Websites for Booking a Santorini Holiday
- Flights to Santorini: Kayak.com – Great site and very easy to use. (If you want a direct flight to Santorini from Europe – without going through Athens – then you’ll likely have to book a cheap budget airline like Ryan Air or Easy Jet.) Most flights to Santorini depart from London, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Berlin, Rome, and Athens. There are also direct flights to Mykonos from the rest of Europe.
- Hotels in Santorini: Booking.com – Reliable, easy to use website with good prices for hotels, villas, and holiday rentals.
- Ferries to Santorini: FerryHopper.com – Booking ferries more than a few weeks in advance is rarely necessary (so book flights and hotels first). If you are traveling during high season (late June to early September) and want to book ferry tickets in advance, or need to search for ferry schedules then this is the site to use.
And that’s it. It’s pretty easy.
But if you still want the name of a respected travel agent that offers vacation packages to Santorini and the Greek islands then check out my list of the best Greece Travel Agents.
I'm Santorini Dave. I started this site in 2011 with a short article on tips for visiting Santorini with kids. We're now a small team of writers and researchers dedicated to providing the best travel content on the internet. We focus on 
Hi Dave,
My husband, 10 year old son, and I are hoping to travel to Greece from the US for 2 weeks (plus 2 travel days) starting in mid June. We want some historical time and beach and swim time (hiking and bikes are also good) and no more than 4 or 5 hotels. I am concerned about ferries since it seems you can’t buy the tickets in advance and I have read posts where people could not get tickets to take day trips. Do you have a suggested itinerary? Would you fly or ferry between the islands? Is it easier to just fly from Athens to Crete and then rent a car to see Crete? Or if you only see Crete and Athens have you not really seen Greece? Do you need a car on an island? When we are on an island all we need is beauty wihout crowds and good food, no nightlife necessary. Thank you!
Thank you,
I would recommend island hopping around the Cycladic Islands. Perhaps fly to Santorini (lots of flights and direct flights from Western Europe), then ferry to Naxos, Paros, Milos, or Antiparos. Mykonos is also great but like Santorini it’s busy. Then back to Athens for the flight home. You wouldn’t have to rent a car on any of those islands if you didn’t want to.
Hi Dave,
We have been reviewing your site and have found it helpful! We are booking our honeymoon and are planning to be in Santorini and Mykonos. We want to split time between the two arriving to Athens on June 30 and departing July 12th.
We currently could find availability in Mykonos at Hotel Nissaki (July 7th – 11th) but are having difficulty locating a solid spot in Santorini. Most of your recommendations seem to be sold out! Any hotel suggestions that did not make the blog?
Thank you for any suggestions in advance!
Tony Lucia
Some hotels that have availability for early July are Santorini Secret (Oia), Tholos Resort (Imerovigli), Sun Rocks (Firostefani), and Hotel Thireas (Fira).
Hey Dave! This site is amazing – I’ve booked our entire trip using information you’ve provided. I have a question about flights from Mykonos to Athens. We are leaving Mykonos in the morning and I’m trying to coordinate time for departing flight back to the US…not sure how much time I should allow between flights. Will we need to collect our luggage and check in again for the flight home? Thanks much!
Deb
Yes, you’ll have to collect your bags and check in again. There are no guarantees but I would want 2.5 hours at least in Athens. Flights from the islands can often be late. Bumping that up to 4 hours would not be silly.
Dave
Beautiful website. My wife has always wanted to go to the Greek Isles. We’ve tentatively booked to arrive into Athens on May 5 and depart out of Athens on May 14. Can you recommend an itinerary? Maybe two nights per island but very flexible. We mostly walk and are in good shape. Thanks
David
Firstly, I would save any time you spend in Athens until the end (that way you have a safety buffer if any ferries or flights are canceled/delayed so that you don’t miss your flight home). With that in mind, assuming you don’t arrive in Athens too late, I would get the next plane to Santorini. Spend 3 nights there (you need at least 2 full days for Santorini). Then Blue Star ferry to Naxos (2 nights), Paros (2 nights), Mykonos (1 or 2 nights), Athens (1 night or just fly from Mykonos, or go straight to the airport from the ferry if you don’t want to explore Athens). The Blue Star ferries are the best for avoiding seasickness. No need to buy ferry tickets in advance for any of these routes. Just buy them on the islands as soon as you arrive.