The less expensive places are on the landward (east) side of Fira town, plenty of small hotels/rooms for rent only maybe 20% more in price than say Perissa. I would say you must look at the room before taking it as most places are on a slope so rooms vary somewhat, some noisy roads as well. The caldera views are free from just about anywhere on the cliffside.

Anyway if there's an earthquake you won't want to be on the edge of a cliff....

I guess the same would be true of Oia but I have never tried there.

If you really MUST have the view then that's what you pay for.
You could consider Akrotiri as there are places down there with the view up the caldera and it is slightly more reasonable.
Given that transport is so good & cheap , and the isalnd is so small its really often better to stay in a room without that view as they are most of a very high standard, and travel about to look.

5 years ago, we stayed in Oia for one week in the "Nostos Appartments" and we'd loved it!
Though it wasn't cheap (about 120 Euros per night for 2 persons), we thought it was worth it! The view from the caldera in Oia is breathtaking, we had our own terasse and enjoyed every moment there (very relaxing)!
The appartment although was very nice, very clean and spacious.

But, some people told us, that Santorini got much more expensive than 5 years ago, so I do not know how much it is now for above mentioned appartments.

If you're interested, I add the link for above mentioned app.
In my opinion - we had a fantastic time there!

http://www.nostosapts.gr/

Have a nice time
Astrid

I would agree with the idea that you live somewhere else and use the well-working and cheap transportation! 1 euro for a trip all over the island, and due to the size of the santorini it doesn't take that much time! We lived in Kamari beach and took the bus to fira and oia many evenings to eat and go around.. it worked perfectly well!

Any idea how late into the evening the busses ran between Kamari and Oia/fira? for example would you be able to get the bus back after an evening meal watching the sunset?

Yes, the buses run up to around 24:00 for Fira-Oia and Fira-Kamari although I would check with the timetable on the bus square in Fira, as such things are seasonal. An out of date timetable is here:

http://www.santorini.info/buses.html

thanks Ouzo,

the service seems to run quite regularly. Will definitely make use of it at some point.