Volcano View Hotel

We very much enjoyed our stay the first week of August 2008 at the Volcano View Hotel. The positive: the incredible view from the hotel, the hotel facilities, the delicious buffet breakfast and the free hotel shuttle to Fira. The negative: the rock hard bed which took a heavy toll on our sleep, the old / noisy air conditioner and the disco music played all day long at the bigger, lower pool. We had booked an east view room through a hotel website and when I saw the client reviews of the Volcano View Hotel, I discovered that the room I had booked was across the busy main street to Akrotiri / Perissa and was not at all in the main hotel building. After several heated discussions with the reservations office of this website, I was able to negotiate a basic studio with kitchenette in the main hotel building at a higher rate of Euros 160/night. Thank goodness I had done so. Our studio was located on the top terrace directly in front of the upper pool with an incredible view of the caldera. It was also right next to the restaurant and the lobby which meant fewer steps up and down. FYI: the hotel has two swimming pools available to hotel guests and not three as advertised on their website. I would highly recommend this hotel - it has one of the best views in Santorini and is a 5 minute drive from Fira (which is a plus if one is seeking a peaceful vacation). The hotel staff were professional and kind at all times. Santorini is quite expensive for decent accomodations and this was a happy compromise between location / view / price / hotel facilities. I would definitely return to this hotel but would ask for a better bed! ; )

This was our favorite hotel on our trip to Greece. The views are stunning and the service is wonderful. The food in the restaurant was nothing too special, but the service was very good. The hotel also offers a free shuttle into Fira that runs every 1.5 hours.

The Volcano View Hotel in Santorini was absolutely FANTASTIC!!! We had the most wonderful room with absolutely spectacular views. I believe that every room in the hotel has a view which is unparalleled. The restaurant for the hotel also gives amazing views and was a perfect place to have dinner and watch the breathtaking sunsets. The food there was good and not TOO expensive, especially compared to other restaurants with such views. I couldn't have been happier. My daughter said that it was the most beautiful place she had ever seen! I would give my HIGHEST recommendation for this hotel for any of your future clients. The only caution is that, since the hotel is built into the side of the cliff, there are many stairs (steep, narrow ones too) to be negotiated daily so it wouldn't be good for anyone who is elderly or disabled or has difficulty with stairs).

We unfortunately booked our Santorini room at this hotel. The hotel picked us up upon arrival to the island. The hotel staff was welcoming and the lobby was elegant. We got the cliff room for the standard room price. The room smelled like an old moldy bathroom, and I mean smelled. We didn't want to even put our things in it for fear of them smelling for the remainder of our trip. We could not switch rooms because the hotel was fully booked. The staff made many excuses for the smell and acted surprised to hear the complaint. We were offered a room in their brand new, unfinished, empty hotel across the street. We opted to find another hotel. We wasted our evening searching for a new hotel. If you don't like mold, don't stay here.

My husband and I read lots of reviews before booking our holiday. Despite some negative comments, photos of the hotel were breathtaking and we were able to book through a travel agent for a week there. We arrived at night and were shown to a lovely room just opposite the top swimming pool and next to the restaurant. The bathroom was small but very clean and with a great hot shower with shower curtain! Last year we stayed in Kamari and had to hold a shower over our heads! Next day we saw the breathtaking views- photos just don't do it justice; the hotel has one of the best views on the island, with three lovely pools and gardens.Breakfast was a good, varied buffet with tables overlooking the caldera- you had to pinch yourself to make sure you weren't dreaming! Staff were friendly and attentive and they were helpful in reception. The walk to Fira was about half an hour and enjoyable, despite the traffic. There was also a free mini bus from the hotel and taxis were easily obtained at Fira taxi-rank if you wanted a late night out. If you turned right out of the hotel a ten minute walk brought you to a lovely bakery and wine shop and across the road was one of our favourite restaurants- a Mexican one with seating even higher up on the caldera than the hotel; we often used to sit here with a drink and the food was fantastic! For the more energetic, past the Mexican, up a steep hill was Santo Wines- a great winery with wonderful views. You could taste a selection of wines or buy by the glass-just one euro! One afternoon we watched two weddings on the terrace- lovely. We feel that the location and facilities couldn't be beaten- we also enjoyed the lovely cooling breeze which blows on this coast- we went back to Kamari which seemed by comparison very crowded, hot and sticky although we liked it last year and did miss being by the beach, but not enough to go back! Yes there are some niggles but not enough to stop us going back to Volcano View next year- we cant wait!

Fabulous views!!! Wonderful hotel overlooking the Caldera. Good clean basic rooms though the beds are a bit hard. Air conditioning and a bathroom with all the amenities. We had a refrigerator, hot plate, dishes and glasses in the room so we brought dinner in one night and sat on our patio and watched the sunset drinking wine and eating cheese---perfect. The staff was friendly and helpful. There is a shuttle that runs periodically into Fira and 5 minute ride away. There is a winery about a 25 minute walk and a bakery on the way to the winery. There is internet access for a small fee and excursions can be arranged for you. Breakfast was included with our room and was great. Most rooms are down steps so if you cannot walk steps this may not be the place for you. There are a few rooms at the top on street level--mom stayed in one and it was great. Noise was not an issue for her and she had a great view from the top. I highly recommend this hotel and would stay again.

The view was incredible. The room was very basic, like a Day's Inn or Red roof. The room was clean, shower was interesting -- water all over the floor. The shower curtain did not cover the shower "area" -- not really a shower stall. The beds were hard. Lunch and breakfast were fine and the staff was very friendly. Internet access available for a reasonable cost in the lobby. for dinner I ordered a greek specialty - slouvaki and it was the worst meat I ever ate -- tough. So go to Senor Zorbas (Mexican) for dinner. They also have an amazing view and the food is good. We had a car and needed it to get around and see the island. I would stay there again because I liked being out of the main town, even with the very hard bed. And then, there is the amazing view. of the caldera. I asked for an easy access room and first they put us right in front of the pool, so I asked for a change and they gave me a better room.

Me and my husband have just returned from our honeymoon in Santorini where we stayed at the Volcano View Hotel. We went with Thomas Cook and stayed for two weeks. I was a little nervous to see what our room was like based on reviews I have seen through tripadvisor but was very pleased to find the room was lovely, we had a bath, shower with shower curtain (very unusual for Greece). I have stayed in Greece many times and the rooms are usually basic but this was not as basic as most and very comfortable, you get maid service and clean towels everyday. The hotel even provide towels for round the pool if you ask at reception as you can't take the ones from your room.The views are spectacular and our balcony was nice a private and was the best view we have ever had. The hotel staff are lovely and friendly always smiling. The hotel has 3 pools with very comfortable sun loungers and with the breeze you get from being so high up makes it lovely to sunbath. The pool bar is open from 10.30 in the morning until 7 when you then go up to the restaurant where they serve most of the night, the food was not too bad but we mainly went into Fira town for dinner on an evening. The walk into Fira only took half an hour but felt less as we had such wonderful views to look at on the way. There is a courtesy bus which runs throughout the day and if full will come back a second time, this came in great use coming back on an evening. I would definitely recommend this hotel to honeymooners and couples, there were not many children as there isn't much for them to do. If you go to Santorini no trip would be complete without visiting Oia to watch the sunset, it was absoluately perfect there and we had two lovely meals on an evening watching the sunset. We caught the bus in on an evening which you get from Fira and it takes half an hour, very thin roads so no for the faint hearted on a bus but definitely worth the trip. If you stay at Volvano View the only supermarket near by is Fira if you are wanting lunch in your own room instead of at the restaurant so be warned the mini market across the road from the hotel only serves booze and snacks. Eve from Leeds

My partner and I just returned from a two week vacation in Greece, (it was our first time to both Santorini and the Volcano View Hotel & Villas. As with many Greek islands, beaches tend to be away from the town center so we chose a hotel with a pool. We were given room 105 in a street level building adjacent to the main complex. The room was modestly appointed with a small balcony. The bathroom had a shower though was small and had a terrible smell, (several guests were complaining about the smell in their bathrooms). Since the street noise was loud, we turned on the air conditioner only to have it drip water onto the desk and floor. The staff was unfriendly and the breakfast buffet was terrible. The pools were not heated and too cold for swimming. The hotel provides shuttle service to town though only five or six times a day, (it's too far to walk). The town center is extremely commercial and not very attractive catering mostly to cruise ship passengers. The sunsets were gorgeous though would not return back to Santorini or the Volcano View Hotel & Villas.

I had planned to stay at a different hotel in Santorini but changed my reservation to Volcano View after meeting Niko, the manager of the VV's villas, in NY. It was a great choice! I can't imagine tiring of the views from the hotel - especially at sunset. The room was average but had a very nice view over the caldera, and we really didn't spend too much time in the room. The only issue we had was that there was no curtain for the shower/bath so the bathroom floor tended to get pretty wet. Mostly, we spent our time at the hotel by the pool or at the restaurant or one of the other common areas where there's space to strech out and enjoy the view. Everyone who works there is very friendly - and always smiling. And check out the Greek music night on Thursdays. :) Another note - We had some friends that were staying in another hotel down the road from VV. When they visited us at VV they couldn't stop gushing over how amazing it was in comparison to where they were staying. And while we didn't stay in one of the villas, we walked around a few of them with Niko and they are really amazing and definitely worth staying in if possible.