Sultry Santorini without the crowds? How to enjoy a Valentine's break on the world's most romantic volcanic island
Sultry Santorini without the crowds? How to enjoy a Valentine's break on the world's most romantic volcanic island
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While this Greek island is often overcrowded come summer, Heidi Fuller-Love discovers that Santorini is far more pleasant in February during a romantic off-season Valentine’s escape. As I watched the sun descend in a haze of vanilla and scarlet over one of the world’s most famous volcanic calderas it was easy to understand why ‘Santorini honeymoon’ was one of the most popular Google searches in 2024. Far beneath me, the volcanic crater plunged in layers of red and black lava to the wine-dark sea beneath, whilst Oia’s whitewashed cave hotels perched on the crater’s rim above me like icing on a wedding cake. In summer, Santorini’s famous sunset spot near the ruins of its Venetian castle would have been packed with punters battling to get their selfies. In February, however, there were only half a dozen of us admiring that spectacular view. “My friends will think I’ve used Photoshop when they see my pictures of Santorini with hardly any people,” I heard someone say.
![[Oia’s whitewashed cave-like buildings come to life in the hazy sunsets that brush over the island]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/22/15/21/iStock-541132240.jpeg)
Read more: The best hotels in Santorini for luxury suites and sea views. Stripped down to shorts and T-shirt, the following day I breakfasted on sugar-dusted slabs of custard-pie bougatsa by my pool, glittering like molten lead in the 20C heat, before heading out to visit Fira. When I’d visited the island’s capital a few months earlier, it was a football scrum packed with cruise ship passengers. In February, however, there were only five of us oohing and aahing at scenic views over the crater’s volcanic core as the funicular whizzed us down to Skala Port, and back up again. “We love it here at this time of the year – we have the archaeological sites to ourselves and we’ve found some great tavernas where only the locals go,” an elderly couple from Houston confided.
![[Santorini’s archaeological sites, like the ruins of the Ancient Thira, can be explored peacefully without the hordes of crowds when visiting in the off-season]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/22/15/09/iStock-854882174.jpeg)
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