Santorini · Backpacking
ON A BUDGET
The caldera is expensive, the south coast is not — and the bus connects them for pocket change.
Sleep in Perissa
Black-sand beach village on the south coast with the island's cheapest dorms, a supermarket and a bus into Fira every half hour.
What a day costs
Reckon on €45–75 a day, roughly $50–85: dorm €20–35, bakery and gyros €12–20, buses and a sunbed €8–15.
Getting around cheap
KTEL buses radiate from the Fira terminal to every beach and to Oia for €2–3 a hop; last services run mid-evening.
Free by day
The caldera path from Fira to Oia — around ten kilometres, three hours, no ticket. Add the Imerovigli sunset and Vlychada's cliffs.
Where travellers meet
Perissa's beachfront bars run cheap happy hours and free sunbeds with a drink; the hostel crowd migrates there most afternoons.