Santorini, Greece

Elessa Hotel

Price per night from$272.68

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR234.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Elessa Hotel Photos

Style

Suite dreams and sea views

Setting

Peak Pyrgos

Explore

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It’s all about the views at Elessa Hotel, a cream-hued, all-suite dream of a stay set on the cliffs of sleepy Pyrgos village. Every room, every terrace, every shaded nook and cool cranny is designed to showcase that cinematic Santorini scenery. Spot falcons soaring over the mountains while ensconced in your own elevated eyrie, scan the Aegean for fishing vessels from a poolside lounger, and grab front-row seats for sunset souvlaki and shots of ouzo on the restaurant’s panoramic terrace. 

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A free mocktail each on arrival, plus a 20 per cent discount on spa treatments

Facilities

Photos Elessa Hotel facilities

Need to know

Rooms

25 sea-facing suites.

Check–Out

11am, and check-in is at 3pm. Both are flexible, on request and subject to availability.

More details

Rates include breakfast served between 8am and 10.30am in Elani Restaurant. There’s an extensive buffet selection as well as hot dishes prepared to order, including shakshuka, omelettes, pancakes and French toast.

Also

Senior Suites at the hotel are accessible, but the hillside location and Pyrgos village’s steep, uneven streets can be challenging for wheelchair users and people with limited mobility.

Hotel closed

Elessa Hotel is closed from 1 November to 30 April.

At the hotel

Terraces, pool towels to borrow and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: air-conditioning, smart TV, espresso machine, tea-making kit, minibar, free bottled water, bathrobes, slippers and Korres bath products.

Our favourite rooms

There’s not a single suite at Elessa Hotel that doesn’t come with a plunge pool, a Jacuzzi or an infinity pool in which to while away entire days under the Santorini sun, like some sort of ancient Greek deity. But if you want to really elevate your experience — both literally and figuratively — check in to the top-floor Comfort Suite, where expansive views of the Aegean, the mountains and the caldera make the experience even more divine.

Poolside

Sunloungers line the panoramic pool terrace that juts out from the cliff face. From here the views — of sea, sky and mountains — are on another level. Sip a signature Sunrise cocktail then slide straight from your perch into the infinity pool when the temperatures feel more volcanic.

Spa

A range of massages and facials are carried out in the hotel’s treatment room; or, if you prefer, you can be pampered in your room.

Packing tips

Pair heavily polarised sunglasses with a big floppy hat to counter Santorini’s sugar-white dazzle. On the dark side (Santorini’s black beaches, that is), reef shoes will come in handy for dodging scorched toes on the heat-absorbing sand.

Also

The hotel’s private transfer service doubles as a taxi and can be booked for rides to local beaches, restaurants and attractions; fees vary based on distance.

Pet‐friendly

Dogs are not permitted in the hotel. See more pet-friendly hotels in Santorini.

Children

There are no specific facilities for Little Smiths at Elessa Hotel, but children aged 12 and over are welcome. All suites have a sofa-bed and Executive Villas can accommodate larger families, with space for up to eight.

Food and Drink

Photos Elessa Hotel food and drink

Top Table

The panoramic terrace is where it’s at for gorging on stellar sunset views along with your grilled octopus, Greek salads and stuffed vine leaves.

Dress Code

You’ll want to dine alfresco whenever humanly possible, so rock floaty cottons, lightweight linens and enormous hats for sun-kissed breakfasts, and don light sweaters and cardigans for cooler post-sunset digestifs.

Hotel restaurant

Elani is open all day, serving an extensive buffet and à la carte breakfast and Greek classics for lunch and dinner. The restaurant uses local produce wherever possible: fish and seafood plucked straight from the Aegean, farm-fresh Santorini tomatoes and fava beans, and a wine list that leans heavily into the island’s rich viticultural heritage. 

Hotel bar

Right next to the restaurant, Elani Bar serves local beers, wines, soft drinks and cocktails, including the signature Sunrise, from dawn till dusk. There’s also a poolside snack bar that serves sandwiches, salads, burgers, desserts and more. 

Last orders

Breakfast is served 8am to 10.30am and the restaurant kitchen closes at 10.30pm.

Room service

You can order meals — including breakfasts on floating trays — to your room during normal restaurant hours.

Location

Photos Elessa Hotel location
Address
Elessa Hotel
Pyrgos Kalistis
Santorini
84700
Greece

Elessa Hotel clings to a cliffside in the scenic Santorini village of Pyrgos, anchored to a mountainous, magma-hewn backdrop and privy to expansive Aegean views.

Planes

The hotel is a 15-minute taxi ride from Santorini Airport. Private transfers are available on request and start at €35 one-way for up to two passengers.

Automobiles

You may want your own set of wheels for exploring Santorini’s atmospheric mountain villages, black-sand beaches and verdant vineyards; but the hotel’s taxi service is handy for languid, grape juice-fuelled lunches when nobody wants to be the designated driver. There’s free private parking at the hotel.

Other

The sea voyage to Santorini from Athens’ Port of Piraeus is a scenic alternative to flying from the mainland but be prepared to bed in: the journey takes five to six hours by catamaran and longer by traditional ferry. You can also island-hop to Santorini by boat from neighbouring isles like Mykonos and Naxos.

Worth getting out of bed for

Chuck a grape in just about any direction from Elessa Hotel and there’s every chance you’ll hit one of Santorini’s celebrated wine estates. Tours and tastings are available at most, including the impossibly picturesque Venetsanos Winery, carved into the caldera; among the centuries-old vines at Estate Argyros; and in Koutsogiannopoulos Wine Museum & Winery’s labyrinthine, subterranean cave cellars. Pro-tip: take advantage of the hotel’s dedicated cab service if you plan to linger over a few glasses of the good stuff. 

Bag some Cycladic selfies with chalk-white churches and cerulean-blue domes — minus the crowds of Oia and Fira — in Pyrgos village. Its other scenic backdrops include narrow cobbled lanes, bougainvillaea-strewn squares, cat-friendly nooks and Kasteli Castle, a striking Venetian fortress. The views from this hilltop hamlet are among the island’s best, but you can go one better by embarking on the 45-minute hike up to Santorini’s highest point, Mount Profitis Ilias. At its peak you’ll find an 18th-century monastery and 360-degree panoramas. For something less glute-troubling, the black volcanic sands of Kamari Beach are a 15-minute drive from the hotel. 

Local restaurants

Located right next to Elessa Hotel in Pyrgos, Xeporto’s extensive menu of Mediterranean mezzes is made for sharing. Just try not to get distracted by those extraordinary views from on high, lest your fellow diners snaffle the last zucchini fritter or saganaki shrimp when you’re not looking. Nearby Kallisti rustles up Italian favourites, Cyclades style. Loosen your belt for wood-fired gnocchi with sweet Santorini tomatoes and fried lasagne with parmesan cream. 
 

Local cafés

You’ve made it all the way up to the castle on the hill, where Kastelana Café provides a picturesque pitstop for that much-needed iced latte. Grab a tree-shaded spot and revel in close-up views of the fortress and the cute church of Agios Nikolaos. There’s a little art gallery to browse inside, too. For grab-and-go coffees and pastries, follow your nose to The Pyrgos Bakery, a village stalwart that has all your baklava needs covered; near-neighbour the Kantouni Sweetery ups the ante with glossy fruit tarts, creative ice creams and more. 

Local bars

Relatively sleepy Pyrgos isn’t cut out for rowdy nightlife — if it’s late-night cocktail joints and clubs you seek, you’ll need to head into Fira or Oia. Alternatively, hit Pyrgos’s restaurant-adjacent bars for aperitivos and cocktails. Overlooked by the castle, Franco’s Cafe is a low-key sundowner option; it’s beloved by locals and has a rooftop terrace that looks out across Santorini to the glittering Aegean beyond. Another popular local favourite, Penelope's Ouzeri sits among brilliantly white buildings and electric-blue rooftops. Come for the ouzo and the view, stay for the tomato keftedes — moreish little fritters that, here at Penelope’s, are practically the stuff of Greek legend. 

Reviews

Photos Elessa Hotel reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from their elevated Santorini eyrie and unpacked their ouzo, vinsanto and jars of sun-dried tomatoes, a full account of their Cyclades sojourn will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Elessa Hotel in Pyrgos, Santorini's highest hilltop village… 
 
If it’s sunset views and decadent downtime you seek, you’ve come to the right place. From its Pyrgos perch high above the Aegean, Elessa Hotel wows with showstopper vistas from almost every angle. Inside, it’s no less impressive — 25 sumptuous, sea-view suites make spacious sanctuaries from the sizzling Santorini sun, replete with little comforts: espresso machines, minibars, luxury bathrobes and slippers, and cool-underfoot tiled floors. Every suite has a plunge or infinity pool, or Jacuzzi, on its terrace, meaning you can have your own private Poseidon-style adventures any time of day or night; Senior Suites come with spa-style marble bath tubs, too. 
 
Alfresco Aphrodites can try their best to emerge goddess-like from Elessa’s infinity pool; those wishing to stay dignified and dry can take sundowners on the restaurant terraces which feel tailor-made for the occasion. Or, if you fancy a (marginal) change of pace, you’re just a short stroll from Pyrgos’s atmospheric cobbled streets and dazzling — in more ways than one — Cycladic architecture. 

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Price per night from $255.20

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