Visit Cyprus - Travel Tips - History and Sun

A visit to Santorini with a small child one year old. A great wine tasting, car rental, and two days on the famous Caldera at Imerovigli. Finally, sunset watching with dinner at one of the best places in Oia.

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 Santorini Sunset with a small Kid? Why Not?

Special Thanks to my wife for spending so much time in order to arrange this trip! We were supposed to go alone without any children for our 10 years anniversary. But the small one could not relax with the grandmom so we finally took it with us.

If it happens to you to be in our position, do not worry at all. Just take the kid/s with you and everything will be ok. Just ignore the people that will be laughing at you in the streets of Santorini, or just smile at them.

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Airports and Flights

First of all, I would like to mention that we traveled with LOT Polish Airlines and our experience was superb, especially compared to the prior flight to Cyprus with Wizzair at the end of August. 

No queue at all during the check-in. We had a problem with the baby ticket and they solved it in a few minutes and without any trouble. Previously with Wizzair, not only we have been more than two hours earlier, but we hardly made it to reach the gate on time.

Most importantly, the plane was half-full, at least while traveling from the Warsaw Chopin Airport to Santorini airport and they were giving free water and chocolates. The people were very helpful and the flight was very smooth.

Finally, as soon as we arrived at the Santorini airport, the Police picked us and handled us like VIPs. We skipped the waiting queue and we proceeded straight to get our luggage which came out very fast. Also, the trolley was waiting for us exactly the time we got out of the plane.

Another good to mention is that on our departure there was a very big queue at the airport. Even before we entered the airport, they picked us and we skipped all the lines and proceeded directly for check-in without even asking for anything.

LOT Airlines girls allowed us to send a piece of extra luggage to the plane without paying anything extra and they arranged everything without any issues the soonest possible.

Our special thanks to the people at the Santorini Airport and to the LOT airlines for all the help and the smooth arrival and departure. Not many people travel with small children to Santorini for obvious reasons, so at least the people are very helpful.

Unfortunately, the island's infrastructure does not help at all walking with a stroller, especially in Oia and Imerovigli that we stayed and also in other locations of the island, like the wine tasting we have been and the restaurant to watch the sunset. But we did great :)

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Car Rental in Santorini

We have been checking many companies because we decided to book our car rental in Santorini before our trip. We finally founded that EURODOLLAR had relatively good prices and we could book without paying + we could pay cash on pickup. At least we thought it was cheaper.

We were going to pick the car the next day from our first hotel in order to travel to the next one and stop on the way for a wine tasting. In this way, we could save one day of car rental which costs roughly €55 per day for a very small car (Nissan Micra Automatic).

Yes, a car rental in Santorini is very expensive. It is actually €40 without any insurance, €55 with coverage up to €550 and with full coverage even to be €70 per day. So you rent a car for 10 days and it might be cheaper to buy the car instead.

Be aware that even that they say, you don't have to pay a deposit, you still need to give your credit card for a warranty or you have to pay for full insurance with will be €70 per day. So better have your credit card ready if you are planning to rent a car in Santorini.

For our airport, to first hotel transfer, we booked a transfer from the hotel for €30. Still cheaper than a car rental and safer. You can also find transfers just outside the airport to any place in Santorini with prices ranging from €10 to €15 per person.

Since we spent the first day within a walking distance we even didn't need the car. It might be worth mentioning that you might not even need to book a car rental in advance since everyone in Santorini is renting cars. Outside our first place and within a distance of 400 meters there were 5-6 car rental companies.

Finally, consider before renting a car, if you really need the car. Finding parking in Santorini, especially in Imerovigli and Oia is very difficult and might be even far from your accommodation, the streets are very narrow and in some cases, you might be going on a one-way road without even notice.

For families with small kids, a car rental might be convenient since you can at least keep the stroller in the car instead of carrying it up and down in Caldera. Believe me, it is very hard and our stroller is quite a light one.

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Perissa, Santorini

Many hotels do not allow kids in Santorini, so when we decided to take the child, we could not go to the hotel we have booked in the first place since it was for adults only. So we booked the Meltemi Village Hotel for one night just to see this side of the island.

So far so good since the hotel was on a flat street. No sidewalks but you could manage. The only problem is that they gave us a room on the up floor so we had stairs to go to our room. Even our neighbors below told us: «You should be down here».

Since we were going to stay only for one night, we decided to not say anything and it was a good opportunity to practice our carrying skills before the hardest who was about to come later on at the Caldera :)

Meltemi Village Hotel is an amazing place and I highly recommend it. Very big rooms with kitchen and a balcony with jacuzzi are the main attractions. Unfortunately, the water was cold and the weather was a bit windy at the end of September - the beginning of October, so we were not able to use the Jakuzzi.

Finally, the location of the hotel is excellent since it is very close to a market, and to some awesome fast food for Greek Souvlaki. Also, it is a short walk to get down to the beachside with many restaurants and bars. This is a long nice walk with a preferred place to be the Seaside Beach Bar.

Great music, great service, and great sushi in a nice environment. It was also good that the small one was sleeping for a long time, so we enjoyed our Processo and made some nice pictures. We have been also to one of the restaurants there for fish and it was not nice (Avoid Poseidon restaurant).

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Wine Tasting at Venetsanos

On the way from Perissa to Imerovigli, just after Megalochori, it's this amazing winery. Not very friendly for small kids with a stroller, but we managed to get down and enjoy the amazing view of Caldera while tasting a few wines with some tasty bites.

This place has a great view of the Caldera, the staff is very friendly and the set up together with the wines is very nice. We took 4 wines to taste in order also to be in the limit if the Police will stop us for an alcotest.

Tasting 4 wines cost €25 per person and you taste 4 different wines accompanied by a plate of cheese and other very tasty bites.

We have been there without a prior reservation. We had to wait around 15 minutes to get a table, but it was the 1st of October, so a reservation might be necessary during the high season months.

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Imerovigli, Pyrgos and Megalochori

Our final,cut-breathing destination, just on the Caldera. Difficult with the child, but it worthed it. I will not say anything about the amazing breakfast, you can see it in the picture below. «One picture is a thousand words».

Booked at the cut-breathing ALIKO Luxury Suites just on the hill with an amazing Caldera and Sunset view. It was a 75 square meters apartment, even bigger than our apartment in Warsaw and this time the Jakuzzi was warm, so we played a little bit the first day.

The place is not for strolling with the kid. since it is full of narrow streets with stairs and most properties are private down the hill. Where we stayed, there was the main street you could walk a little bit with 3-4 restaurants and a bar.

While being there for 2 days, we had the chance to visit Pyrgos and see the monastery. It was very good gymnastics to get to the monastery. On the way back we were hungry and we wanted to discover some traditional family place where the food will be tasty and not overpriced.

We found exactly what we were looking for. A very traditional small family place with amazing food, good portions, and very good prices. We have tried a few things and we can declare that it was the best food we have eaten in Santorini.

The name of the place is GeroManolis («The old Manolis») and it is highly recommended if you can find it. We were heading from the Venetsanos to Megalochori and turned left after the bakery. By the way, this bakery makes nice homemade food.

Then it was somewhere inside those small streets on the way to the beach. Here is the address on Google Maps.

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Sunset in Oia

Our closing afternoon in Santorini on the 2nd of October included a Sunset dinner at the famous Ammoudi Sunset restaurant in Oia. We booked this in advance at 18:00. It was the only place at the end we made a prior booking, but I believe even without a booking we could find a table.

It is very strange that in Santorini, all those places require a prior paid booking and in one place they were even asking to prepay €100 per person in advance. Crazy things. At least the restaurant we booked required us to pre-pay only €10 per person which is more reasonable.

Since we were going very close to the sunset time, the way to the place was packed in cars and it was very hard to get there. Finally, we made it and we parked very close. The way to the restaurant is not stroller friendly but it is not hard to get there either. Only a few stairs to get down to the small port.

Paraskevas, the owner of the place was sitting at a table next to us controlling and he wanted to sit us in a safe warm place. But we wanted to sit just next to the sea, so we got a very nice table. Anyway, we were not going to stay for long. As soon as the sunset is gone, we should be going as well.

At first, we were planning to take the famous lobster pasta of the place. But we knew we are not going to enjoy it with the small child and it was €109. So I took just a seafood pasta and my wife starter calamari. We drunk two donkey's and we hit the road before the small one start to freaking out.

Fortunately, she slept on the way back and she even didn't notice that we lost the way back home and we entered some strange roads and we nearly stacked in the middle of nowhere in the dark. And all this because Google found a «shortcut».

Finally, the small Micra got out of the sand and we were able to get back to the normal street. That was a big relief since the last time we visited Balos in Crete with the small Panda, we stayed in the middle of nowhere and they had to come to pick us. At that time we were with our other kid before 9 years.

Maybe the sunset was not so wow on the first days of October, but we had a great experience and the setup was very beautiful.

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Planning a Trip to Santorini with Kid/s?

Don't Worry! If we Made it, You can Make it as well!

Just Enjoy Caldera, the Sunset, and Every Moment!

10 Reasons to Visit Crete, Again with Kid

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