10 Things to Do in Santorini in February

Although February is not considered the best time to visit the island due to the low temperatures, there are plenty of things to see and do in Santorini. One of the main attractions is to visit the ancient archaeological ruins to learn about the local history and culture.

Another interesting activity in Santorini in February is to visit local wineries and vineyards, as the island is famous for its wine production. But there are also some seasonal festivals to enjoy during the month of February.

Undoubtedly one of the most popular events during the month of February on the island is the carnival. As part of theCarnival celebrations, the island is filled with a festive and colourful energy with costume parades and a variety of activities, including the opportunity to enjoy local food and drink.

Greek Carnival begins three weeks before the start of Christian Lent and ends on the weekend before Great Monday, a Greek public holiday celebrated on the Monday before Ash Wednesday, and usually occurs during the month of February. During the Greek carnival you will see parades with floats, extravagant costumes, dancing and live music.

You can also enjoy typical food and drink during these events, including wine and a variety of traditional sweets such as loukoumades, baklava, tiganites and other typical desserts. Carnival is also a good time to sign up for a tour of Santorini to learn more about the culture of the region, especially during this season.

Interesting details

• Price: You don't have to pay anything to enjoy this annual spectacle.
• Time: Carnival celebrations usually take place throughout the day.
• Location: The whole island gets excited about the different carnival celebrations.

February is one of the best months of the year to get to know the wine culture in Santorini, mainly because it is a winter month, when the crowds go down and you can see and get to know the island in a different way. With this in mind, you will have the opportunity to explore the island's wine heritage by visiting places like the Santo Winery or the Koutsoyannopoulos Wine Museum.

Each of these places have their own particular attractions, for example, if you visit the Santo Winery in Santorini you can learn about its production of high quality wines, but you also have the opportunity to take a guided tour to learn about the long winemaking tradition of the island and taste some of the most delicious wines in Greece. If you go in summer, I recommend tasting the island's wines on board one of the Santorini cruises.

On the other hand, a visit to the Koutsoyannopoulos Wine Museum in Santorini will be a unique opportunity for you to learn about the history of the island's viticulture and wine production, but also to enjoy an interesting atmosphere inside a volcanic cave. Part of what you'll love most about this museum is that you'll be able to learn first-hand about the history of wine in Santorini, from the Bronze Age to the present day.

Interesting details

• Price: A wine tour in Santorini can cost around 120 euros per person.
• Hours: You can generally enjoy this type of activity from morning to afternoon.
• Location: These wineries are located just a few minutes from Fira.

Despite the challenging February weather in Santorini, you will have a great opportunity to get to know the cultural features of this island during this month. For this reason I recommend you to sign up for the different cultural activities available in the peninsular area, which will help you to explore the archaeological culture of the island and learn about it.

One of those activities that I recommend you to do during the month of February is to visit the Archaeological Museum of Santorini, where you can mainly admire pieces dating back to the Bronze Age, including pottery, sculptures and other ancient artefacts. Inside the museum you will also learn about the origins of the Cycladic civilisation through displays of ancient artefacts and tools.

Oia is another great place to visit in February to get a taste of the culture of the town, in this case through its famous white architecture and blue domes on the hillside overlooking Santorini's caldera. The best thing about including this tour among the best things to see and do in Santorini in winter is that the crowds thin out considerably, giving you more opportunity to see the whole place at your leisure.

Details of interest

• Price: If you do these tours on your own, you won't have to pay anything. But if you decide to take a guided tour of the village of Oia you will have to pay around 100 euros per person. And if you decide to visit the Archaeological Museum of Santorini you would have to pay around 30 euros for admission.
• Opening hours: The opening hours of the museum are generally between 9:00 and 19:00.
• Location: The museum is located very close to Fira.

Santorini is famous not only for its stunning architecture of white and blue houses, but also for its delicious local cuisine, which I recommend you take the opportunity to sample during the month of February, when the island' s most famous restaurants reopen and become fashionable during the summer months.

In most of these restaurants you will have the opportunity to try some of Santorini's traditional dishes, such as Moussaka, Souvlaki, Pastisio or Gyros. But you should also know that winter is the perfect time to enjoy a warm and comforting meal after exploring the island during the day, especially considering that Santorini's gastronomy is known for its rich Mediterranean flavour.

Among the restaurants I recommend you check out during your tour of Santorini in February are: To Psaraki, Metaxi Mas, Selene and Argo, each in a different region of the island, but generally offering traditional Greek dishes that you can't miss.

Interesting details

• Price: Dishes at these restaurants range in price from 15 to 30 euros per person. While appetizers and desserts can cost between 5 to 15 euros and drinks between 2 and 5 euros, approximately.
• Opening hours: Restaurants are usually open for lunch, snacks and dinner.
• Location: You can find restaurants open all over the island.

February is a good time to visit Santorini if you're looking to save money, as it's low season on the island, which means fewer tourists and lower prices on flights, hotels, shopping and attractions. This is something you should definitely take advantage of on your trip, which is why I recommend shopping at the local markets.

In these types of local markets you will be able to find different types of products, some of them fresh, such as meats, cheeses or vegetables. Or you may even have the opportunity to buy some souvenirs to take home as a souvenir of your trip. If you want to travel to Santorini during the month of February, or even if you make a trip to Santorini in January, one thing you can't miss are the offers on travel packages and attractions.

Useful details

• Price: Prices can vary according to what you're looking for, but generally go down during February.
• Timetable: The times of the activities you'll be doing can vary according to the type of activity you're hoping to do.
• Location: You can find activities to do all over the island of Santorini.

Much more so than during January, February is the perfect time to enjoy hiking in Santorini, thanks to the cooler weather that you can experience during this time of year. One of the most popular options is the challenging eight-mile hike between Fira and Oia, which is an excellent activity if you want to experience the best of hiking on the island.

This hike, although a long and somewhat difficult trek, is a good introduction to the natural beauty of Santorini. It will generally take you between 2.5 and 5 hours to complete this trip, depending on your fitness level and speed. The entire route is full of spectacular views, which will allow you to take several photos of your trip.

But in addition to this route, there are other hiking routes in Santorini that you will love to enjoy during the month of February. These include walks along the cliffs of Santorini 's caldera and hikes through the island's beautiful traditional villages. Overall, on each of these routes you will have the opportunity to see breathtaking panoramic views.

Details of interest

• Price: The guided tour from Fira to Oia can cost around 120 euros per person. If you go on your own, you won't have to pay anything, but be aware that you will have to buy some drinks to hydrate yourself along the way.
• Timetable: You can do this route in the morning to arrive in Oia at midday, or you can also start the hike at midday to arrive around 17:00.
• Location: this route has a distance of approximately 10 kilometres.

Imerovigli is one of Santorini's smallest and most charming villages. It sits on top of a cliff and part of its main attractions are its spectacular views of Santorini's caldera and coastline. February, being the month of Valentine's Day, is a good time for a romantic getaway to this village.

Its main attraction is that it is a quiet place to relax and disconnect from the rest of the island's hustle and bustle. Another feature of Imerovigli is its traditional whitewashed architecture, blended with the natural surroundings.

You should know that besides Oia, in this village, you can also enjoy the most beautiful sunsets on the island. In fact, if you go to Santorini in September, when it's summer, you can take a boat trip to explore the area. If you are someone who admires religion and the cultural dynamics of the places you visit, you should know that in Imerovigli there are several interesting churches to visit, each with its own history and architecture.

Details of interest

• Price: If you want to visit this village on your own, you will not have to pay anything. In case you want to take an excursion to this place, you will have to pay a little more than 100 euros per person.
• Timetable: the idea of visiting this village is to do it early in the morning to get to know the place better, although if you go during the sunset, you will be able to see all the incredible places in the area.
• Location: This village is located on a hill on the island of Santorini.

As temperatures in Santorini tend to be cooler and with occasional rainfall during the winter compared to the summer months, it is a good time to visit places you would not visit during the summer. In this case, two of the places I recommend you visit during February is to explore the religious and cultural life of Fira, the island's capital.

Within its boundaries you'll find several interesting churches and museums, including the Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral and the Prehistoric Museum of Thera, the latter being most famous for exhibiting artefacts found at the nearby Akrotiri sites.

The cathedral, meanwhile, is known for its large blue bell tower and impressive frescoes inside, which are both ancient and modern. Its architecture, characteristic of Greek Orthodox churches, will also catch your eye. Although Santorini is known for its picturesque churches and chapels, the Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Trinity is undoubtedly one of the island's highlights.

Interesting details

• Price: Visiting the churches is priceless, you are free to go inside and admire the exterior. There are no guided tours but you will have to do it on your own.
• Timetable: You can usually do this tour in the morning, as the churches are usually open to the public from early in the morning.
• Location: The church is located on the seafront of the town of Fira.

As February is still the winter season, this is the best time to visit the village of Emporio. It is one of the most interesting places to visit in Santorini thanks to its narrow streets and white buildings with blue roofs, but also to its different churches and places to visit. Besides that, Emporio offers something unique and different and that is that this village was founded during the Venetian occupation of the island.

Inside you will find one of Santorini's five castles and an important commercial centre, with its own port in Perissa. Strolling through the historic centre of the village is like travelling back in time, and best of all, you can enjoy an authentic experience that is much less touristy than other villages on the island.

Interesting details

• Price: you don't need to pay anything to visit this village, and in the case of the castle, you will have to visit it on the outside, because it is not possible to see it on the inside.
• Opening hours: You can visit the castle at any time of the day.
• Location: It is located in the village of Emporio on the island of Santorini.

Another incredible area to visit during the month of February is undoubtedly Akrotiri, which is known as the Pompeii of Greece. During this month you will have the advantage of seeing the complex because the weather is still cool enough to enjoy the tour, but it's also true that winter is leaving behind.

If you visit Santorini in March or any other spring or winter month, a visit to this archaeological site is a must because it is one of the most important archaeological sites of the Aegean era. The complex dates back to the Bronze Age and has been compared to Pompeii because it was covered by the ashes of a volcanic eruption in the 17th century BC.

The difference between it and its Roman counterpart is that it is believed that most of its inhabitants managed to escape before the city was buried. Inside the complex you will see evidence of a thriving and advanced community, with beautiful wall decorations, complex drainage systems and even public baths.

In addition to the excavations which can be visited during a guided tour, there is an archaeological museum on site which features artefacts found in the ancient city.

Details of interest

• Price: For a guided tour of Akrotiri you will have to pay just over 120 euros per person.
• Opening hours: Generally this site is open all day, although I recommend visiting during the morning hours.
• Location: It is located very close to the city of Fira.