The 10-day Santorini honeymoon we'd book tomorrow
Cliffside caldera suites, sunset catamarans and a very quiet second week on Folegandros.
There's a particular kind of quiet that settles over Santorini after the day-trip ferries have left and the cliffside towns of Oia and Fira empty out for the evening - and it's that quiet, more than the famous sunsets, that makes it one of the best honeymoon destinations for couples travelling from Scotland. Ten days split between a caldera-view suite and the almost untouched island of Folegandros gives you both the postcard moment and the total switch-off.
This is the itinerary we'd book again without hesitation: five nights in a cliffside Santorini suite, a full day sailing the caldera at sunset, and a genuinely quiet second week on Folegandros where nothing is scheduled at all.
Getting there from Scotland
There are no direct flights from Edinburgh or Glasgow to Santorini, so realistically you're looking at a connection through Athens with a carrier like Aegean, or a seasonal charter connection via a UK hub in peak summer. Total travel time door-to-door usually runs six to eight hours including the connection, and flights should be booked as early as four to six months ahead for the best fares in high season.
When to go
Late May, June and September offer the best balance of warm weather, quieter towns and lower prices than the July and August peak, when Oia's clifftop paths can feel more crowded than romantic. September in particular gives you sea temperatures still warm enough for swimming with noticeably calmer crowds.
The itinerary
- Days 1 to 5: cliffside suite in Oia or Imerovigli, caldera-view balcony, breakfast delivered to your terrace
- Day 3: private or small-group sunset catamaran cruise around the caldera, with swimming stops at the hot springs
- Day 4: wine tasting at a Santorini vineyard, where volcanic soil produces genuinely distinctive Assyrtiko whites
- Days 6 to 10: ferry to Folegandros (around two hours), a much quieter Cycladic island with whitewashed lanes and almost no day-trippers
- Day 8: a lazy day at Agali beach, with lunch at a taverna that hasn't changed its menu in twenty years
Budgeting for 2026
A ten-day trip along these lines, staying in a genuine caldera-view suite in Santorini for the first half and a comfortable boutique stay on Folegandros for the second, realistically costs from £3,800 to £5,500 per couple including flights, depending on the season and exact accommodation level. Santorini's cliffside suites carry a real premium for the view, so couples on a tighter budget might consider three nights there instead of five, extending the Folegandros stretch instead.
Why the second island matters
Most couples who've honeymooned in Santorini alone say the same thing afterwards - it's beautiful, but relentlessly busy, and doesn't leave much room for the kind of unstructured, do-nothing days a honeymoon should include. Folegandros solves that entirely: no cruise ships, a handful of small hotels, and evenings where the loudest sound is cutlery on a taverna table.
Book the Santorini leg for the drama and the photographs, then let Folegandros be where the honeymoon actually happens - slow mornings, long lunches, and the sense that you've found somewhere the rest of the world hasn't.