What to do in Fira, Santorini in 48 Hours

After being in Athens for two days and falling in love with it I was wondering if Santorini was going to blow me away like all the blogs and books I read said it would. I am here to report, yes indeed, Santorini is fucking gorgeous. Santorini should absolutely be on your bucket list and this post will give you plenty of reasons why. But first, where to stay in Santorini? Fira or Oia? We were lucky enough to stay 2 days in each, so I’ll start off by gushing about Fira.

Stay at Amelot Art Suites

I have been trying to put this place into words and it’s honestly impossible. Staying at Amelot Art Suites was an absolute dream and after visiting 38 countries this is in my top 3 accommodations I’ve ever stayed in. Alex was our host while we were there and he was so accommodating, helpful and so damn sweet. We arrived in Fira knowing that we were staying at a beautiful place, but Amelot blew all of our expectations out of the water. You arrive and even the entryway is adorable.

And the views…

While we waited for our room to be ready we decided to check out the rooftop and were blown away all over again…There are 4 rooms at this hotel, three rooms have their jacuzzi up on the balcony and one has a private jacuzzi next to their room. We were lucky enough to have the private one, but I mean could you complain if this was your view from the jacuzzi?

It was then time to check out our room and we just continued to fall in love with this place. You can tell every detail was thought through as they built and designed this hotel.

The view from the door out to the balcony didn’t even seem real.

And the view from our balcony…

Ok I could write an entire post on Amelot Art Suites so I am going to move on but I will be chatting about it more throughout this post…

Hike from Fira to Oia

The hike from Fira to Oia is one you’ll hear many people talk about while you are visiting Santorini. You will also hear a lot of varying answers on how long it takes and how long it is. I asked many locals and verified with Google when I was there and the hiking trail from Oia to Fira is approximately 10km. This is a fairly easy hike considering that for the most part the path is either similar to a sidewalk or there is cobblestone. The entire hike (if you do roundtrip) should take around 3-4 hours depending on your pace and how often you stop for photos. If you’re doing just one way than it will take about 1-2 hours.

We were so lucky that we were here while all the wildflowers were blooming!

It’s so fun to walk along and see the many hotels and vantage points.

Stop for Lunch at Aegean

I only walked to Imerovigli (about 1/3 way) due to timing so I stopped for lunch before heading back to Fira and so glad I did. The views from Aegean Restaurant were awesome and my server was so kind.

I enjoyed their Santorini Salad and although there were far too many tomatoes for me, it was so good! I’m still drooling over the whipped feta. Everything was so fresh.

Many people debate over if it’s prettier or better to walk from Oia to Fira or Fira to Oia. It really depends on what views you prefer. Doing the walk from Oia, you tend to be looking into the mountains whereas the way the island is shaped, from Fira to Oia, you’re looking out to the caldera more. Also, if you’re doing a round trip- than you’ll get to decide for yourself! Most people do a one-way and then get the bus back to where they started. At most you’ll pay 3 euros for the bus or you’ll pay 30-40 euros for a taxi.

Dinner at Volkan on the Rocks

The nice part about Santorini is there are so many restaurants and bars with incredible views! If you’re looking for another awesome view check out Volkan on the Rocks for dinner and sunset. Because we were staying at Amelot and it had such great views, we decided to get our food to go. If your hotel doesn’t have a great sunset view, than Volkan is a great place for that. If your hotel does have a great view then enjoy a drink here, take in the views, and then get your food to go to enjoy a more quiet sunset experience. This is because when it comes to places with great sunset views in Santorini, expect them to always be packed. I mean with this view how could they not be?

The falafel from here was our favorite on the trip and I absolutely loved the grape leaves.

Sunset at PK Cocktail Bar

If you are still full from lunch or just wanting a drink at sunset, PK Cocktail Bar is the perfect spot for you! Once again, if you are staying at Amelot then no need for a sunset spot but we did walk by here and the views were absolutely stunning…

If you’re visiting in the off-season than you don’t need reservations, but if you’re here in the summer definitely make reservations for PK Cocktail Lounge because there is very limited seating. As for our sunset views this is right out front of our hotel…

Santorini sunsets are something else…

Enjoy Wine in Your Jacuzzi

Another perk of Amelot is the jacuzzi’s. I highly recommend enjoying a glass of wine as the stars come out. Make sure when you book that you check that your jacuzzi is heated as many in Santorini are not. It came as a huge surprise to hear that a lot of hotels didn’t heat theirs and we were so grateful ours was at Amelot.

Watching the end of the sunset and all the lights come on is such a magical experience.

Santorini is definitely one of the most unique and magical places I’ve ever been to.

Wake up For Sunrise

Everyone goes crazy for the Santorini sunsets, but you never hear about getting up for sunrise. Well I can vouch for gorgeous sunrises as well!

The rooftop at Amelot Art Suites is the perfect spot to watch the sunrise from.

Wine Tour with Santorini Wine Tour

We had an opportunity to go on the “Santorini Wine Roads” wine tour with Santorini Wine Tour and had a blast. This was a four hour wine tour and we visited 3 wineries. It was such an incredible experience. It was the perfect mix of drinking wine, learning about the history of Santorini wine and just having fun and taking in the gorgeous scenery.

I know quite a bit about wine and had no idea that the vines grew this way in Santorini! It was so cool to learn more about Assyrtiko (white Greek wine grape indigenous to the island of Santorini) and how labor intensive it is making wine in these conditions.

And I mean the views…

The entire wine tour was so fun and beautiful, but the view from Venetsanos Winery was out of this world.

I even met someone on the tour who I have a mutual friend with! In all places, Santorini! That was such a treat.

I highly recommend booking a wine tour with Santorini Wine Tour, it was such an awesome experience. We visited Boutari Winery, Venetsanos Winery and Art Space Winery and they were all great. One more time for the views…

Lunch at Kokkalo

The highest recommended lunch spot in Fira was Kokkalo and we learned quickly it was for good reason. When we first arrived we were a bit turned off because it smelled like cigarettes and there was no one in there, but we decided to give it a go and were instantly glad that we did. The servers were nice and hilarious and the food was some of our favorite from our entire trip in Greece.

We loved their Pandesia salad, feta balls and vegetable risotto.

Explore Fira

After lunch, walk around the town of Fira and simply take in the views and visit some shops. We were unaware that Fira is where most of the cruise ship groups come so there were a lot of souvenir shops (not my thing) but there were some better ones sprinkled around.

And there are great spots like this one to grab a cocktail to go so you can enjoy one as you’re exploring…

So many gorgeous spots to stop and take photos…

Dinner at Trinacria and Watch the Sunset

For our last night in Fira, Lotti had a great idea to grab a pizza to go and enjoy it at a spot we discovered as we were exploring the day before. I did some research and found Trinacria and it did not disappoint!

We brought a bottle of wine we bought on our wine tour at Art Space Winery, ordered two pizzas and a salad and I mean come on…Does it get any better than this?!

The most perfect spot for photos…

The sunset somehow beat the one the night before. I will never forget this last night in Fira!

Well, have I convinced you to visit Santorini yet? Honestly, this place was such a dream and I couldn’t recommend visiting it more. Thanks so much for reading along! Have you been to Santorini? Did you enjoy Fira or Oia more? I have so much more to say about this magical island and can’t wait to keep sharing more tips. Keep an eye out for future blog posts about my time spent in Greece!