Best Hidden Beaches in Santorini

Hidden Beaches in Santorini: Volcanic Coves Beyond the Tourist Trail

Santorini's famous beaches draw visitors from every corner of the world, but the island's volcanic coastline — complex, dramatic, and difficult to navigate in places — conceals a number of beaches and swimming spots that remain largely unknown to the tourist circuit. These hidden places range from small coves accessible only to those with boats or a willingness to scramble over lava fields, to long northern beaches that visitors simply never reach because every guidebook and every taxi driver sends them south. Finding them requires curiosity, a hire car or boat, and a willingness to set aside the Santorini script — but the rewards include swimming in water of extraordinary quality in conditions that approximate genuine solitude, even in August.

Top Hidden Beaches in Santorini

Agios Georgios Beach

Agios Georgios, near the small village of the same name in the south of the island, is a long, modest beach of black volcanic sand that sits entirely off the tourist circuit despite being perfectly accessible by car. The beach is used primarily by local families from the surrounding villages and by a small number of visitors staying in the area's low-key accommodation, and its facilities reflect this: a single seasonal taverna, basic sunbed rental, and nothing more. The water is clean and the swimming uncomplicated, and the complete absence of the Santorini tourist premium — in prices, atmosphere, and visitor density — makes it a refreshing counterpoint to the famous beach experience a few kilometres to the north-east.

Baxedes Beach

Baxedes, near Oia at the northern tip of the island, is Santorini's best windsurfing beach and one of its least-visited for conventional beach purposes — a wide, exposed bay where the Meltemi winds blow with reliable force from June through August, filling the water with kiters and windsurfers and making the beach itself pleasantly active on windy days while remaining genuinely uncrowded on calm ones. In shoulder season — May and September — when the Meltemi is absent or moderate and the summer crowds have dispersed, Baxedes offers excellent swimming and near-complete solitude, with the extraordinary Oia skyline visible on the clifftop to the south providing the most spectacular possible backdrop for an uncrowded beach afternoon.

Koloumbos Beach

Koloumbos on the north-east coast near Oia is significant for two overlapping reasons: it is one of Santorini's least-visited beaches, and it is situated above a submerged volcanic vent where geothermally heated water mingles with the Aegean in a way that warms the sea to noticeably higher temperatures than anywhere else on the island, particularly in spring and autumn. The beach itself is a stretch of reddish volcanic sand with no facilities, accessible via a rough path from the Oia road. Snorkellers exploring the near-shore underwater geography sometimes report visible hydrothermal activity — streams of warm water rising from the seabed, an extraordinary reminder of the volcanic forces that created this entire island.

Explore Santorini's Hidden Coastline

Discover the quieter Santorini from a well-positioned base. Browse our guide to hotels in Santorini and across Greece, including properties in the north and east of the island. For more of Greece's undiscovered coastal treasures, explore our guide to beaches in Greece.