Fira

Loizos Stylish Residences Fira

★★★★★

Staying in Fira is the most practical choice on Santorini: the island's buses all start here, the museums, the cable car and the caldera walkway are on your doorstep, and restaurants and bars stay open late. The problem is that central Fira hotels can be noisy or expensive. Loizos Stylish Residences addresses both. It calls itself a value-for-money hotel with excellent rates, and its site describes the location as in the city centre yet surprisingly quiet and almost residential. Step out of the front door and you are at the start of the pathway that winds towards the caldera cliffs, the shops, restaurants, cafes and museums. The hotel is arranged around a swimming pool reached by stone-paved paths, with sunbeds on either side, a welcome luxury at this price in the middle of town. Breakfast is served in a sunny breakfast room with a large balcony and an open view. Standard rooms are compact, at around sixteen square metres with a double or two single beds, air conditioning and the essentials. For families and groups of friends, the family apartment is the standout: around thirty-one square metres split into two rooms, one with a double bed and a door, the other with two single beds and a small kitchenette, sleeping up to four. Rooms come with satellite TV, a fridge, hair dryer and internet, and the hotel offers a free wake-up call, luggage storage, arrival transfers to book online, and massages and hair styling by appointment. It holds a Greek National Tourism Organisation licence like every legal hotel on the island. The honest trade-offs: there are no sea or caldera views from the rooms, the rooms are simple rather than stylish in a design-magazine sense, and the website information appears not to have been updated for some years, so confirm details such as breakfast pricing and facilities directly before booking.

Choosing a room: couples on a budget will be fine in a standard room, which looks out at pool level. The family apartment is the best value on the property for four people, but note that the second room has no door, so it suits families with children or close friends rather than two couples wanting privacy, as the hotel itself points out. Breakfast is offered as a buffet at a modest extra charge per guest according to the site; check the current terms.

Getting around: everything in Fira is walkable, including the bus station for Oia, Kamari, Perissa and Akrotiri, the cable car to the old port for boat trips, and the caldera path north to Firostefani and Imerovigli. The airport is about fifteen minutes away by taxi and Athinios port twenty to thirty minutes. You do not need a car at all if you stay here.

Season and practicalities: Fira stays lived-in all year, but the hotel does not publish its opening season, so check availability for winter dates. The climate resilience fee is charged per room per night according to category. Book through the official site or contact the hotel directly to confirm current rates.