The picture painted is familiar but no less gorgeous. Cerulean-domed little churches, white marble streets leading to nowhere and everywhere, beautiful shops selling ceramics and handmade jewellery. Perching on the edges, the Atlantis bookshop couldn’t have been more suitably named. Lazy morning strolls intertwined with essential beach time as the sea breeze lulls you to sleep, late lunch seamlessly leading on to early drinks and some more walks around the cliff tops. From the capital Fira to the little villages of Firostefani, Imerovigli, Megalochori, Pyrgos —and the occasional coffee or wine pit-stop to gaze at the landscape (the landscape!)— one really does feel spoilt for choice in this island that truly combines the best of every world.

And then there’s the sunset. Make the time to gather up at iconic Oia and pay your respects to the sun for a hard day’s work. Dinner can wait but not for too long. Santorini’s gastronomy is the thing that feast dreams are made of —the freshest ingredients, sophisticated flavours and dishes to be paired with the finest varieties of local wine. The soil is blessed with a perfect climate, and if you happen to be around the dates of the annual Santorini Wine Festival then by all means, have a sip of everything.

If culture is high up on a visitor’s ideal vacation checklist, then a visit at the Santorini Arts Factory (SAF) is definitely of the order. Every year, SAF hosts a terrific program of exhibitions, performances and events and showcases an array of acclaimed artists. Don’t let the odds of the tripod-carrying-and-shutter-speed-checking crowds or the honeymoon-central vibe ever deter you from carving some precious time out of the year to visit Santorini. Whilst you stand in awe looking over the Aegean as the sun takes it’s last dip into the majestic blue sea, you’ll know what the hype is all about; that sheer amazing fortune of finding one’s way here, in Greece, is worth every moment.