Following on from my previous post, this one is more location specific if anyone is heading to Santorini with a baby.
As I mentioned, at first glance it’s not necessarily the most baby friendly island with lots of hills, cobbles and narrow streets, and a distinct lack of changing facilities… However, we were invited to a wedding so there was no question of not going and together with some key bits of kit we 100% made it work – and had a fabulous trip.
This post is about some of the places we went and what worked well with having Mr Small as a Santorini travel companion at 10 months old.
What to do
- Akrotiri Excavations – at this archeological site
you can see the remains of a Minoan Bronze Age settlement which was destroyed by a volcanic eruption in c. 1627 BC. While some visitors are disappointed by a lack of signage it is easily accessible with a pushchair and undercover so offers a welcome break from the sun and an easy stroll around an interesting historical site - Boat Trip – whilst they look amazing, the 5 hour private boat tours seemed a bit much with a 10 month old baby and the shorter 2-3 hour public tours didn’t seem to have great stop off points and risked being busier and with less shade. However, it felt wrong to go on holiday and not to do a boat trip so we opted for the €10 return boat from Akrotiri Beach (less a beach and more of a jetty just down the road from the excavations) and were not disappointed! The boat runs from Akrotiri Beach – Red Beach – White Beach – Black Beach – White Beach – Red Beach – and back to Akrotiri Beach. It was a very pleasant ride of about 40 minutes to do the round trip. We stayed on the boat in the end rather than get on and off, but each of the beaches had different things to offer: Red Beach – just the beach, no loungers, White Beach – the smallest but sandiest of the three with loungers to hire but be prepared to jump off the boat into the water as the boat can’t get that close, Black Beach – easier to get off the boat but a bit rockier, loungers to hire and a nice café/cocktail bar.
- Visit Fira/Thera – this is one for the baby carrier rather than the pram but worth it for the beautiful views. There is a well known 4 ½ hour walk from Fira to Oia which is not really very baby friendly, instead park your car at Imerovigli and take a pleasant 30 minute stroll into Fira and back with your baby happily strapped into a shady hiking carrier – there are plenty of places to stop for refreshments
- Visit Pyrgos – this beautiful hilltop town is again one for the baby carrier but everyone is very friendly – if you stop for a drink or bite to eat at Franco’s café you’ll be rewarded with fabulous views and relaxing music but beware they don’t have high chairs so you are best off taking a portable high chair with you. Top tip – the sunset view is just as good from Pyrgos as any of the well known spots… but the bonus is that it’s much less crowded!
Where to eat
- Melina’s taverna at Akrotiri beach and the café at the bottom of the cable car in Fira both had the ubiquitous Ikea high chair!
- Metaxy Mas in Exo Gonia comes highly recommended and had space for parking up a pushchair next to a couple of tables – Top Tip, book or arrive early to avoid disappointment
- Cave de Nikolas on Akrotiri beach was a definite favourite – we went here on our night where we had family to babysit so I can’t comment on the high chair availability!
- Kantouni in Pyrgos was very welcoming to Mr Small, we took our own portable high chair so I don’t know if they had their own but it’s on the main square so no need to climb up any hills and they were super helpful at identifying what would be suitable for Mr Small to eat…. Fava (bean puree) with pitta bread was a hit!
Where to get the essentials!
- The Lidl on the way into Fira from Pyrgos has a downstairs with nappies, wipes and some baby food for any emergency purchases
In terms of what not to do, we didn’t have any bad experiences but a word of warning is that Oia gets very busy and crowded so might be one to pass on or to visit in the morning when the narrow streets are a bit quieter.
If you’re planning a trip to Santorini and have any questions feel free to get in touch, two of the best resources I used were:
- The Marco Polo Santorini guide book
- https://santorinidave.com/
Some of the links in the above post may be ‘affiliate links’. This means that if you click on the link and purchase the item I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services that I personally use and believe will add value to my readers.
