A beautiful island Kaytee, with some dramatic sunsets. We stayed at Kamari, but travelled all round the island. Unfortunately it was in 2006, so prices will have changed a lot by now. I would opt for a B & Bhere as the evening entertainment is based on nice meals at the beachside restaurants.

Santorini is one of the most expensive places in Greece, particularly if you stay on the caldera side (Fira, Firostefani, Imerovigli or Oia), you are paying for the uniqueness of the view! During the day Fira & Oia can get absolutely packed with cruise ship passengers, but you can check in advance as to which/how many ships are due in & stay away from the busiest areas on those days!
It's slightly cheaper on the east side (Kamari, Perrisa) where the beaches are, but you need to be aware that these are not your white sandy beaches, they are dark volcanic grit & get very hot underfoot.
Having given you some facts (they weren't meant to put you off) so you know just how different it will be to Zante, I have to say that it is popular because of it's uniqueness of being a volcanic island & the caldera is something very different to see, it changes colour with the light, particularly as the sun is going down.
It is possible to eat & drink at reasonable prices, but even at the cheaper end of the scale it's more costly than many other places.
Are you planning on 1 or 2 weeks for your holiday & which month? Everywhere in Greece is busy from mid July-approx Aug 20th as the Greeks all leave the cities for the islands & mainland resorts.
Consider doing another island too (or more if it's for 2 weeks), a contrast, but still in the same island group with many ferries to, are Naxos & Paros. Both much cheaper, less busy, & more traditional. From either of these you can do a day trip to Delos & Mykonos.

Athensfan is spot on. We spent 4 nights here in July at the Nomikos Villas overlooking the caldera. Although property on this side is expensive as a one off experience we thought it was worth every penny. We went on to visit Naxos, Paros, Antiparos, Mykonos & Delos, all easily accessable on the superb modern Greek ferry system. We chose to stay on the caldera side not only for the unique views but when it comes to beaches there are many better places in Greece for beach holidays. We spent an afternoon in Kamari which is pleasant enough although the bus back to Fira was packed.

We went to Santorini this year. By default we had an extra three nights due to changing flights because of threatened Greek national strike. Had 3 nights in Kamari, three nights in Villa Anamoessa on outskirts of Oia and 3 nights at Mill House Studios overlooking the caldera at Fira.
Kamari was definitely less expensive, villa Anamoessa overlooked the sea to the north and Mill house oveer the caldera.
Mill house was expensive but a unique experience and villa anemoessa stole our hearts with its tranquility, friendliness and sunsets.
Our opinion is to stay at Oia and visit Fira, taxi abaout 25 euros each way, buses opertae but didn't use them due to our staying at both places.
to eat at Santorini Mou restaurant ( near anamoessa) was a wonderful experience itself with good food and a host who plays guitar with guest bozooki players.
Hope this helps - depends whether you're on for a bit more expensive "treat" or not either way enjoy it.

Thank you so much for your replies, they are really informative and very helpful. Given me something to think about

If you're looking to do Santorini on somewhat of budget, you might want to consider Kamari or Perissa to stay, and do it earlier or later in the season - both options give you beach, Perissa is probably going to be a bit cheaper. Kamari is a little more "up-market'', I guess. The island bus service isn't half bad, and will get you from Kamari to Fira in around 20 minutes for under well two Euros. Fira is the bus hub for everywhere, and gives you great caldera views. You can day trip around (maybe book an overnight in Oia and have the sunset/sunrise?). Buses .....
http://www.santorini.gr-santorini.com/holidays/transport.htm

http://www.ktel-santorini.gr/ (the local bus company timetables)

Thanks again for your replies, could you let me know the average prices for a meal out and also beer and wine prices, I really want to go but if its out of our budget may have to look at another Island and do a trip there We are looking at going to Perrisa, thanks again for any information Also can you still PM on here cos I can't

Hi Kaytee,

sorry I can't give you an idea of present prices but when we were there a few years ago, we didn't find it any more expensive than other greek islands. We stayed for 2 weeks in kamari in August.

You won't be able to instigate pms as you are a new member and haven't made enough posts but you will be able to reply to any pms you receive.

We were there in July staying in Firostefani. If you eat in the restaurants in Fira, Oia, Imerovigli or Firostefani that have views of the Caldera you can expect to pay for it. We found one exception in the little square in Firostefani called Aktaion that was more 'Greek' than many of the others. The large number of American tourists who are not familiar with the euro probably keep the prices up in the locations they visit before their boats leave and therefore Kamari & Perissa have more usual Greek prices. Apart from the house wines, which we found consistently good (reds), we thought the bottles were very overpriced.

Thanks you both for your replies I feel more confident about going after having so many cheap but very cheerful holidays in Spain, my mind is made up, any recommendations on accomodation, places to see and eat gratefully received.

I went to Perissa for 2 weeks in July this year and loved it!

We stayed at the Marianna with Thomson and it was lovely, we had the most amazing views across the rockface to the sea. The place was about a 5 minute walk to the beach and to the first lot of restaurants. It had a huge pool, biggest we saw and there were plenty of sunbeds, but they were very well spaced out. Despite being in high season the pool area was always really quiet which was great. It was really clean, and they had no problem with you having your own drinks round by the pool which saved you a fair bit! It cost us under £500 per person for 2 weeks s/c and that was in the middle of July so I didn't think it was too expensive. You get free air cond there too which saves you a quite a lot.

We ate at Mermaid's a few times which is on the beach road not far from the start of the beach by the rock face, and if you like seafood Ammos is a must! It's in Perivalos but will apparently come and pick you up from your apartments. If you like a stroll in the evening though it's not too far, about 25mins slow walk maybe. The thing that I loved most about Perissa was that you could walk down the road of an evening without being hassled to go into restaurants. I didn't realise how much more relaxing that was until we went into Kamari for the afternoon and couldn't walk more than a few metres without being jumped on by the restaurant guys!

We hired a car for a few days and our best days were spent just aimlessly driving down roads that were off the beaten track. We found some amazing views that we's never have known about otherwise. I'd definitely recommend doing that. We also did a trip to the volcano which was stunning. We did that through the TO and although it was a really nice afternoon we spent 50euros on 3 or 4 hours for a boat trip, visit to the volcano, hot springs and lunch. On our last but one day we found a trip in a local agency for 29euros that was 12 hours long, that included what we'd done, plus a few hours on Thirassia, a few hours somewhere else, the evening on board watching the sunset plus other stuff I couldn't remember. We were gutted! It was my own fault though, I knew they were expensive through the TO but it just looked so good I couldn't resist. Definitely learnt for next time though!

Thanks for that Rachel, thats really useful info I've just looked in the Thomson brochure £459 each for when we want to go and it does look really nice. We usually go to Spain but wanted to try something different. I did try to PM you previously but I hadn't made enough posts. Thanks again Rachel any thing else you think of let me know

Thanks rdv for yr reply good job i like red wine lol. Is it easy to get to the ferry ports from Perissa ?

There are 2 ports, 1 is in Thira and 1 in Oia. To get to the one in Thira you'd get the bus from Perissa to Thira and then the cable car down. The Oia is the main port and that would be a bus to Thira and then another on to the port.

The really good thing about Santorini is that it's so small everywhere is a really short drive from the airport, Perissa only took about 25 mins with all the drop offs!

Kaytee,
the main port for tours is a few miles south of Thira in Athinios and there is a road that snakes all the way down to the harbour. This is also where the inter island ferries dock. Its always busy and there are bars & cafes down there. The port in Thira is mainly used by the cruise ships. If you book tours local pick ups will be included.