If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR202.63), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
All balmy Aegean breezes and dazzling whitewashed low-rises clad in smokey black volcanic rock, Magma Resort Santorini is hot stuff indeed. But there are plenty of opportunities to stay cool at this village-style enclave in the island’s sleepy northeast. Hang out in spacious earth-toned rooms and suites, where ceiling fans spin nonchalantly overhead, tiny geckos explore the volcanic wall art, and hypnotic sea, garden and vineyard views soothe the soul. There’s a spa with restorative massage treatments and sunrise yoga sessions, and a large infinity pool that practically begs you to bust out classic Aphrodite and Adonis poses against the dramatic Cyclades backdrop.
Smith Extra
Get this when you book through us:
A welcome drink each; SilverSmiths also get €50 food and drink credit, as do GoldSmiths, who get a fruit basket and bottle of Santorinian wine on top
11am. Check-in is at 3pm. Both are flexible, subject to availability.
Prices
Double rooms from £197.82 (€231), including tax at 14 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional local city tax of €10.00 per room per night on check-out.
More details
Rates include daily breakfast at the poolside Colombo restaurant. Long-lie-in fans, rejoice: you can stop by for your omelette, fruit and morning coffee as late as 11am.
Also
There are four accessible rooms at the resort and the grounds are largely flat and stair-free.
Hotel closed
Magma Resort Santorini is closed between 1 November and 30 April.
At the hotel
Free WiFi and shuttles to and from nearby Yalos Beach Club (four times, daily). In rooms: LED TV; Nespresso coffee machine; free bottled water, minibar with wine, snacks and Clumsies cocktails; air-conditioning; bathrobes; and Olive Era bath products.
Our favourite rooms
All rooms and suites at Magma Resort Santorini are spacious, light-filled affairs, complete with volcano-inspired art pieces, natural wood furnishings and private terraces. Junior suites offer the best of all worlds, adding a little extra space as well as a private pool or Jacuzzi from which to admire Aegean sea views and fiery sunset skies over a glass (or two) of bubbles.
Poolside
Magma’s outdoor pool is open around the clock and is a contender for the longest infinity pool on the island. As if the views out across the Aegean weren’t impressive enough.
Spa
The heat is on at the resort’s extensive Lava Spa, where the sauna, steam room, hammam, and hot-stone massage options soothe aching muscles; and there’s a heated pool that’s open between 9am and 9pm. Work up a sweat in the state-of-the-art fitness centre and greet the morning sun at dawn yoga sessions.
Packing tips
Bring reef shoes to counter the heat-absorbing black sands of Santorini’s volcanic beaches, don dazzling white swimwear the better to showcase your golden Greek glow, and stash an underwater camera for those essential caldera-snorkelling selfies.
Also
Balmy cerulean seas lap the black volcanic sands at Yalos Beach Club, five minutes’ drive from the hotel. Transfers and entry are free for guests of Magma Resort, but there’s a charge for use of umbrellas and sunloungers.
Colombo’s terrace in the early morning sunshine, gorging on pastries, fresh fruit and strong coffee while watching fishing boats bob on the Aegean below, is a tough act to follow.
Dress Code
Lightweight linens for Mr Smith and floaty floral fabrics for Mrs Smith will make the most of Santorini’s balmy dusk breezes when dining alfresco.
Hotel restaurant
Laidback Colombo sits right on the edge of the resort, serving an international menu accompanied by views across its wraparound infinity pool to the shimmering Aegean beyond. Grab breakfast until 11am, then come back for lunch between 1pm and 4.40pm. Dinner is served at sunset, from 7.30pm to 10.30pm, starring seabass ceviche, grilled octopus and a catch of the day delivered by local fisherman that very morning. Hit up Magma Soul for a modern take on Greek classics; it’s open for dinner from 7.30pm to 10.30pm.
Hotel bar
Reignite this long-dormant volcano’s sparky spirit with fire pits and throat-scorching ouzo cocktails around the infinity pool at Bar on the Rocks. Or head to the hotel’s literal (and some say, figurative) high point at Astra Lounge, where an expansive terrace, dotted with lanterns and fire pits, is wrapped with 360-degree island vistas – a fine accompaniment for cocktail hour. This scenic spot is also the setting for morning yoga classes; mixology workshops, and (on request) private dining.
Last orders
Both Astra Lounge and Bar on the Rocks shake, muddle and pour until 11pm.
Room service
Round-the-clock room service ensures those late-night sandwich cravings won’t go unsatisfied.
Magma Resort Santorini clings to the lava-forged slopes of sleepy Vourvoulos village in the northeast of the island, overlooking verdant vinsanto vineyards and the Aegean’s azure shimmer, 15 minutes from Santorini capital Oia.
Planes
Santorini Airport is less than 10 minutes’ drive south of the resort. One-way transfers cost around €40.
Automobiles
You can rent your own set of wheels at the airport for exploring the island’s volcanic beaches and achingly beautiful tumbledown villages, and there’s free valet parking at the hotel.
Other
Intrepid seafarers can take the scenic route by ferry from the Port of Piraeus in Athens. You’ll require serious sea legs (and reading material) though: the voyage can take a leisurely 10 hours. Speedier services (four to five hours) are also available.
Worth getting out of bed for
You know what they say: if your vacay ain’t on Instagram, it didn’t happen. Nowhere is this truer than for Santorini capital Oia, a mere 15-minute drive north of Magma Resort. This insanely photogenic Cyclades stunner has been breaking the Internet since before the Internet even existed. You know the one: chalk-white churches with electrifying blue domes, lapped by sugar-spun clouds of pink bougainvillaea. Don your floppiest sunhats and most comically oversized sunglasses against the dazzle for a jaunt around the prime selfie spots: by the windmill on the cliff overlooking Amoudi Bay and the cobalt blues of the caldera far below; at the Byzantine Agios Nikolaos Castle; outside Anastasis Church with its distinctive blue dome and cute little pink bell tower.
Despite similarly drop-dead-gorgeous looks, nearby Fira comes with the promise of fewer crowds than its more famous neighbour. Here’s where you can check out Bronze Age art and ceramics at the Museum of Prehistoric Thira and ogle frescoes by celebrated local artist Christoforos Asimis beneath the rolling arches of the Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral, as well as filling your boots (and camera roll) with all that blue-and-white architectural eye candy.
Surefooted travellers can strike out for difficult-to-reach (read: secluded) rocky coves along the shores of both Oia and Fira. But for those who prefer a smoother approach to the beach, a free transfer operates between Magma Resort Santorini and nearby Yalos Beach, where balmy waters lap black volcanic sands and resident swans bob around traditional fishing boats in search of breakfast.
There’s a wide range of additional activities that can be booked through the resort, including wine-tasting in the nearby Sigalas and Vassaltis vineyards, catamaran cruises around the caldera and boat trips out to the neighbouring island of Thirassia.
Local restaurants
Mosey down to the peaceful village of Vourvoulos, where cobbled lanes lead to whitewashed churches and family-run restaurants where the fish is so fresh you’d swear it had jumped straight from the sea onto your plate. Case in point: homely Aidani serves up hearty octopus salads, feta-stuffed calamari and crispy local anchovies alongside traditional Greek meatballs, moussaka and souvlaki. You’ll find this rustic rural favourite on the main square: look for the arched windows, checked tablecloths, oak-barrel planters and devoted crowd of local regulars.
Hewn into the cliffs above Fira, Ira Hotel & Spa’s rooftop White Cave restaurant comes with the kind of views from which dreams are spun. Minimalist interiors frame epic vistas that take in Fira, the caldera and volcanic isles beyond, their hunched silhouettes rising leviathan-like from the sea against flaming Cyclades sunsets of orange, red, pink and purple. The Greek-European menu presents a worthy distraction though, all seafood spaghetti, lamb fricassees, rib-eye steaks and traditional local desserts.
Local bars
Owner Dimitri has been presiding over Fira stalwart Kira Thira for over three decades, drawing a devoted local crowd and curious tourists to his distinctly un-Santorini-like jazz bar. Drop by for a glass of local wine or sangria at this cosy cavern where arched ceilings, candlelight and wall-mounted musical instruments are the order of the day. The bar hosts regular live-music evenings and late-night DJ slots.
Rooftop bars are where it's at for the finest caldera sunsets, and Fira’s Volkan on the Rocks is one of the hottest tickets in town. Hit up the foliage frenzy that is the garden bar for an ice-cold lager or chocolatey stout fresh from Volkan’s own brewery, or upgrade to sundowner cocktails including a refreshing Raspberry Punch and a zesty Blind Pirate spiked with spiced rum. And if all that early evening hedonism leaves you in need of a sit down, good news: Volkan on the Rocks also has an outdoor cinema, with nightly film screenings throughout the peak summer season.
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 this Santorini sizzler, shaken the black volcanic sand from their shoes and unpacked their obligatory souvenir bottles of ouzo and local Cannonau wine, a full account of their lava-ly relaxing break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Magma Resort Santorini…
The spirit of the volcanic eruption that formed Santorini over three millennia ago looms large at Magma Resort, where great chunks of hardened lava, stacked like giant Jenga pieces, make for an eye-catching geometric exterior. Inside, a moody minimalist lobby complete with black (yep, volcanic) rock staircase leads the way to unexpectedly bright and airy rooms and suites, most with private pools or Jacuzzis, and many with sea views.
The village-style layout is an updated take on Santorini’s traditional whitewashed terraces, with all roads leading to the epic infinity pool where – if you squint a little – you might imagine yourself to be standing on the edge of the world. Legendary Cyclades sunsets that paint the resort’s walls pink and set skies ablaze in fiery hues of copper and crimson could well have you believing the volcano is up to its old tricks again, especially after that second ouzo-laced cocktail.
