The most beautiful black sand beach you will ever see is in Perissa Beach Santorini.
The beach offers lots of things to do besides relaxing at the water. You can go shopping, have coffee, jet ski, snorkel, walk the strip, or eat delicious food. No matter what activity you are interested in, there is something for you to do in Perissa Beach.
We stayed near Perissa Beach for our trip to Santorini and we loved every second of it.
1. Lunch or Dinner in Perissa Beach Santorini
For 5 of the 7 days in Santorini, we decided to eat in Perissa.
The best thing about most restaurants along the beach is if you visit their restaurant, you are able to use their umbrellas and beach chairs. These chairs are lined along the black sand beach. This is great because your waiter (or waitress) will offer their services while you enjoy the beach furniture.
Some of the villages and towns in Santorini, like Oia, require you to park in a designated parking spot.
Parking in these designated locations also require you to pay for parking. But in Perissa, that is different. You can literally park anywhere off the road. Everywhere is free, public, parking.
Most of the dishes we tried on this side of the island were casual foods.
These were things like:
- Pizza
- Gyros
- Skewers
- Gelato
Our first night for dinner, we tried an upscale spot. We decided to go all out and order octopus. Needless to say, we were not fans.
There are numerous upscale restaurants in the Perissa Beach area, but we just opted into more beach-bum meals.
2. Relaxing on the Beach
The beach is one of the best places for relaxing on the whole island.
Like we mentioned above, if you find a restaurant you like, you are able to use their umbrellas and chairs. Lots of the restaurants have great food, beer, and mixed drinks. You should be able to find something you like with no problem.
Most of the restaurant chairs have umbrellas and you are able to pick your own.
If you do not wish to find a restaurant, the beach still offers public umbrellas and chairs.
Some of these are free, but a few of them are for rent. You shouldn’t have a problem finding beach chairs to rent unless you are there at peak season.
Relaxing on the beach was our favorite thing about the trip. We were in Santorini in very late May, so the water was a little cold but still enjoyable. There were lots of people in the water as the temperature was in the high 80’s.
Make sure to bring some beach sandals, as the volcano black sand is very rough and hot after the sun hits it.
Snorkeling In Santorini Greece
We brought a snorkel and GoPro in hopes of snorkeling at the beach. We were not disappointed.
There was one day we just wanted to relax and snorkel the beach and that’s exactly what we did. The Aegean Sea is very deep and blue, but it is beautiful.
Perissa Beach had one of the clearest beaches ever.
Where it was so clear, you could see the immediate drop off after about 10 feet. The drop off could put the water over your head within seconds. This allowed for great snorkeling and GoPro footage.
We saw some cool fish in the ocean, including what we think was a European Flounder!
If you have the opportunity to snorkel, you definitely should. But do it during low tide, because the high tide brings in seaweed and dirt, making the water hard to see-through.
3. Shopping near Perissa Beach
There are tons of shops on the strip of the beach.
These range in different styles. You can find local boutiques, gift shops, souvenir shops, anything else you would typically see in a tourist location.
Adrienne found a beautiful dress at a local store, which she used for our engagement photos in Santorini. I also picked up a leather belt in the leather shop. The prices were very good.
That is one thing you will notice about this side of the island, compared to Oia, the prices are not insane.
4. Water Sports on Perissa Beach Santorini
If you are interested in watersports, Perissa Beach has you covered.
There are a few different companies who sit right on the beach that offer water sports rentals. These could range from jet-skis, kayaks, paddle-boards, any many more. We did notice these were slightly expensive, but if we had more time we were totally down for the jet-skis.
These businesses were open every day from sunrise to sunset.
5. Walking the Strip Near Perissa Beach
Like we mentioned earlier, the Perissa Beach strip is the place to be.
This strip actually stretches from Perissa Beach down to Perivolos Beach. It seems like it is a far walk, but it definitely is not. There are all kinds of restaurants, coffee shops, gift shops, and night clubs along this strip. We did not go to any of the night clubs, but the strip was lively when the sun went down.
We enjoyed the beach strip way more than the Oia walks, as there is more space for people to move around.
