Aqua Blue Hotel

This hotel is perfectly located with excellent staff. Right on a private beach (which although is black sand is like normal sand) and has 2 pools as well The beach and pools are table service and everything can be charged to the room which makes it very relaxing! The rooms are excellent - cleaners are amazing and it’s spotless every single time we return. Clean towels every day too! Food was excellent both at the hotel and surrounding. The staff were incredible - nothing too much trouble and so friendly Nearby there’s plenty to do. We hired a car which was about 300 euros for 4 full days including fuel, but we wouldn’t have covered the island if we didn’t. We like to be active on holiday as sat by the pool for 7 days is possible at this hotel but not our style. Roads are ok - lack of road markings are a bit of a surprise, but speeds are so slow and pace of life on the island is such that if you can drive in a UK city, the island is no problem! You don’t need a sat nav either - get to know the 5 main towns and you can get anywhere The weather was boiling hot for our trip and the whole island suffers with lack of shade so plan your excursions well or come out of the hottest months. We booked with TUI and the transfer was ok but about 50 minutes as we had a 30 minute detour dropping off at hotels in nearby Kalmari… if you’re less price sensitive, I’d suggest book your own transfer Highly recommend the island and this hotel, but make sure you tap into their knowledge of what to do and maximise your time. We stayed for 6 nights and think that’s ample time to explore the island and have time to cool off in the pool The entry into the sea on beaches around the hotel are on rock rather than sand. It’s no problem but a bit slipper so if you have sea shoes, that would help. The water is super clear and about 10 metres off shore when the depth is still only about 1.75m the crater shelf begins and there’s loads of fish feeding so snorkelling is great Would also recommend scuba diving at Santorini dive centre, even if you’ve never done it before. They’ll sort everything and the fishes are amazing even if you’ve never done never venture out of 2-3 metres of water and just enjoy the experience