Whether you’re visiting Santorini on a honeymoon, romantic getaway or just for a fun vacation, the most famous Cyclades Island will make you fall in love with sunsets all over again.
Staying in one of those picturesque cliffside homes in Santorini was on our bucket list for so long! As we started searching for where to stay and which one to choose, we quickly realized this was the type of place we needed to redeem credit card points here to get that luxury experience we dreamed of.
Where to stay
When you look at pictures of Santorini sunsets and cliffside homes most likely you’re looking at Oia. Oia is located at the northwestern tip of Santorini and is filled with the whitewashed cave homes. This area is known for having the best sunsets on the island. Having this reputation means it will be crowded and expensive! People flock to this town to get the best sunset views.
About 7km away from Oia you’ll find Imerovigli. This small town is located just before Fira and you’ll also find those cliffside homes just on a much smaller scale than Oia. This area is filled with upscale boutique hotels and is a popular destination for those that want to be close to Fira but stay there.
Fira is the capital of Santorini, you’ll find everything here including the main bus terminal and where the ferries typically bring people for day trips.
In order to minimize transportation costs, get the sunset views daily and enjoy walking through the cobble streets without the crowds, we chose to stay in Oia.
Getting around
Although the island is quite small getting around can be quite expensive! Taxi rides can cost anywhere from $35-$50 for a 10 minute ride from FIra to Oia and because there are not many taxis on the island, you may have to wait a while to get one.
Taxi rides are also possible to arrange via your hotel and can may cost a little more or less than a taxi depending on the hotel.
By far the cheapest way to get around the island is using the bus. The bus will cost around 2 euros and is easy to find the different bus routes in the main Fira bus terminal. The bus drivers speak enough English as they deal with tourists everyday asking pretty much the same questions. You won’t pay the bus fare until the conductor comes around and collects the fare. It’s best to have small change as the fare varies slightly depending on where you are going. Just keep in the mind the bus can be very crowded during high season!
Transfer service
Another way to get around from the airport to your hotel or to the ferries is by using a transfer service. There are many out there but we used Welcome Pickups and had a great experience. This was cheaper than booking through our hotel and much less stressful than a taxi. Sort of like a prescheduled Uber!
Redeeming Points
Santorini doesn’t have as many chain hotel properties as some of the other Greek Islands. For Marriott properties which is where we prioritize earning our points for, there are only 2 properties:
Can you guess just by looking at the screenshot which hotel we chose?
The rates for this Mystique hotel vary significantly based on the time of year and how full it is. I looked at booking for 2 weeks from now just for fun and the paid rate was double what this screenshot shows but the points value was the same. Using your points here is a great way to maximize them and avoid these expensive nightly rates especially during high season!
We booked 3 nights on points and stayed in the Allure Wet Suite which included a jacuzzi on the private patio. With our Titanium Elite status we were upgraded to a much larger patio. The patio space was quite massive but not super private as other guests walk on the outside to get to their rooms. This is really the case all over Oia/Santorini. We didn’t have any issues with this as our room as in the middle of the hotel property so only a few guests needed to walk by our room. Personally, we enjoyed the people watching from our patio!
Check out our Instagram story highlights for Greece to see the whole room!
Marriott Benefits
With our Titanium Elite status breakfast was included during our stay. This is the best Marriott reward in luxury 5 star hotels like this one as the breakfast is super expensive and also super good!! Unfortunately at this hotel we were not able to use our late check our perk as the hotel was fully booked but we were able to hang by the pool before our later ferry.
Tips for earning points
By far our biggest points earner for Marriott stays is our Amex Bonvoy card. This card has paid for itself over and over again. It gets us 15 nights closer to elite status every year which allows us to earn points faster and use towards free stays!
If you’re interested in the card here is our referral link.
