Telegraph published the following expert guide to the best boutique hotels in Santorini, including the top places to stay for caldera views, infinity pools, spas, great food and a romantic vibe:
Canaves Oia Hotel, Santorini
Canaves (named for the k?naves, which were medieval wine cellars dug into Santor?ni’s volcanic strata) is a caldera-view establishment. The style is Cycladic sculpted white on steroids, with scant colour accents. The infinity pool overhead is big compared to the usual ones at cliffside resorts here. Superior suites in both wings have private plunge-pools or a whirlpool tub outside. Rain showers are ubiquitous, as are king-sized beds (except in the most ‘basic’ Classic suites). The 45 square-metre river-pool suites in both wings, aimed at honeymooners, are particularly intriguing.
Grace Santorini
Grace Santorini is a stunning boutique hotel in a half-dozen tiers overlooking the caldera. Expect a champagne and cool-facecloth welcome, and food set aside for late arrivals. It’s hip, modern and edgy. Common areas in grey and white, with neon-lit accents; same palette for rooms, minus the neon, plus cushion colour-splashes. Main infinity pool is very long, good for serious swimmers.
Avaton Resort & Spa
Interiors are cutting-edge modern. Laura the manageress, and her whole team are ace for bookings, recommendations and general helpfulness. The stunning grotto-spa is a highlight, with a massage room for couples (the dominant clientele at Avaton), sauna, steam room, cold plunge pool for afterwards and a heated hydromassage pool. Breakfast is ordered off a tick-menu the night before, served to your quarters or poolside at set quarter-hour time slots.
Katikies, Santorini
Infinity pools which blend into the sky, a candle-lit rooftop restaurant and tranquil white-washed cottages set into a cliff overlooking the volcanic Caldera and Aegean Sea make this a dreamy escape for honeymooners and romantics. Built into cliffs, the hotel’s cubist-style cottages cascade down the hillside and are interlinked by a series of bridges, steps and pools.
Afroessa, Imerovigli, Santorini
In a variation on the usual local cliffside cave-house conversion, this is partly an adapted k?nava, or wine cellar, from the 18th century, turned into accommodation only during the 1990s. In two units, you can still see the original wine collection basins, left in situ under glass panels. Service is willing, both from the owners and seasonal staff. There’s a reasonably secluded (but unheated) pool next to the pleasant, pastel-shaded bar in the main communal area.
Iconic Santorini
To enhance privacy and service levels, Iconic is never full – only 12 of the 20 rooms are bookable at any given moment, unless you’re a wedding party hiring the whole place. D?cor throughout is Mediterranean beach-house, predominantly white and earth tones, with cushions as colour accents. Staff are friendly, with any reasonable request fulfilled in a jiffy. There’s a tiny gym, and small spa which squeezes in a pool and couple’s massage room; gym use is not allowed during spa treatments.
Atrina Traditional Houses, Santorini
Atrina Canava 1894 is a small cliffside hotel with exceptional service and appealingly quirky units. The name commemorates the year the current owner’s great-grandfather bought land here and dug two k?naves (wine cellars). The striking volcanic-rock-walled pool area contrasts with the dazzling white exterior. There are nine suites or studios, all unique; five ‘houses’ (though these take only two adults); and one villa. Three have private whirlpools out front: Xenonas, Atrina Villa and Dimitris.
Voreina Gallery Suites, Santorini, Greece
The ‘Gallery’ part of the name denotes the original art on the walls of every suite, donated by past resident artists; this rotates over time and won’t necessarily match what you see on the website. Design throughout is contemporary without being too in-your-face. As the name Voreina (‘northerly’ in Greek) implies, it’s on the quiet northern edge of P?rgos, one of the most interesting of Santor?ni’s inland villages, with narrow lanes to stroll and a Venetian summit k?stro (castle). The views make a nice change from the caldera-edge clich?: stretching north over farmland to Fir? and Firostef?ni, fetchingly illuminated by night.
Esperas Traditional Houses
Mock-troglodytic and Cycladic vernacular architecture combine to pleasing effect at this hotel. Expect excellent staff: excursion arrangements (some room rates include them) and restaurant recommendations are arranged with aplomb. There’s a big dug-out unheated pool, suitable for proper swimming. Here you’ll have the best sunset views in the village from your own terrace.
Kapari Natural Resort, Santorini
Kapari Natural Resort consists of five three-century-old troglodytic houses, plus nine 2009-built ones, cascading over three levels. There are no sharp edges anywhere here; even the restaurant loo has fountain-bowl sinks. Ochre and buff are the predominant hues, extending to polished-cement floors, with matching soft furnishings. From galleried Premium Room 201, you can gaze at Sk?ros castle-rock without leaving bed; downstairs there’s a walk-in wardrobe, bathroom with rain shower, and proper living room with a decorative fireplace. Spa Premium category rooms have a guaranteed private balcony or terrace, plus indoor whirlpools.
Enigma Apartments and Suites, Santorini
Enigma Apartments and Suites manage to appeal both to loving couples and family groups, no mean trick on Santor?ni where caldera-view establishments are 10 a penny. Staff, especially manageress Khrysoula, are top, good about looking after early flight arrivals – you’ll probably get breakfast to revive and early access to your room. There are hot tub suites, and there’s fairly good privacy on the terraces, screened from next door by a solid wall and some climbing plants.
Astra Suites, Santorini
The multilingual staff are clued up and proactive without being intrusive; manager George has been here for two decades. A fair-sized caldera-edge pool has day-beds and wooden loungers. Courtesy rooms are available for late departures, and there is a small spa with hammam, sauna and treatment room. Breakfast is brought to your terrace, and lunch is room or poolside service. The dinner-only restaurant has a less snacky menu, offering such dishes as mylok?pi (aka shi drum or ombrina fish) en papillote and lobster risotto, plus creative salads and desserts.
Aenaon Villas, Santorini
‘Aenaon’ is an ancient Greek word for perpetual or endless – as in the views from here. This is not so much a hotel as a members-only resort, distinguished by ultra-crisp architectural lines and superlative service levels. Proprietor Yiorgos is a retired civil engineer who designed the whole complex himself. It’s Cycladic but definitely tending to minimalist. A medium-sized infinity pool sits on the on the caldera side. But it’s mostly the warmth of Yiorgos and his wife Alexandra, and their helpful staff, ‘effective yet invisible’ as one guest put it, that makes the experience.
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