Santorini Travel Guide

Santorini is the postcard that turns out to be real: a crescent of cliffs left by one of history's great volcanic eruptions, its rim stacked with sugar-cube houses and blue-domed churches looking down into a flooded caldera. The villages of Fira and Oia trace the edge, and the sunset from Oia is so famous it draws a nightly crowd — earned, when the whole caldera turns gold and rose.

There's more here than the view. The volcanic soil makes for distinctive wines, above all the crisp white Assyrtiko, best tasted at a cliffside winery; the beaches are dramatic sweeps of black and red volcanic sand; and the old capital of Pyrgos offers the same beauty with a fraction of the crowds. It is busy and not cheap in high season, so come in late spring or early autumn — and stay a night or two, because Santorini is at its most magical once the day-cruise crowds have sailed away.