Availability and Price
The standard, price and availability of accommodation in the Cyclades varies from island to island and, of course, according to the time of year you go.The more popular islands such as Mykonos and Santorini are, unsurprisingly, the most expensive and you’re unlikely to find anywhere reasonable below €50. Of course, if luxury is what you’re seeking, there’s no shortage of top-end hotels in these and other islands. The smaller, less busy islands are generally cheaper, and good studios can be found for €25 outside of the months of July and August.You’ll mostly not have any problems with availability outside of the high season, when it’s advisable to book ahead if you don’t want to traipse around wasting your precious time, desperately looking for ‘Rooms to Let’ or ‘Domatio’ signs, seeking out the last available room in town. At other times, on most islands, you should find a room quite easily.In the past, some islands had tourist information offices that could advise you on available rooms. Unfortunately, most of these seem to have become victims of the austerity cuts.
In the sections on each of the islands we provide links to our partner booking site where you can browse available accommodation for that island across all the popular web booking sites to get the best possible deal.
Booking Ahead or Finding a Room on Arrival
The popular image of stepping off the ferry and being accosted by hordes of room owners eagerly thrusting pictures of their rooms at you does still happen on some islands, but on others, once the cars and crowds meeting passengers have dispersed, you might find you’re the only one still waiting on the quayside. It’s then that you realise it’s time for lugging your bags around town.
The Internet age takes all the drudgery out of finding accommodation. Some say it also takes some of the romance and excitement out of it, but, what’s so exciting about trudging around town looking for a room while you could be sitting in a bar by the sea enjoying an ice-cold beer after a long day’s travelling?
Booking ahead doesn’t mean you lose any of the spontaneity of island-hopping – you can book the day before, or when you book your ferry ticket, or even on the ferry en-route to your new island. Chances are that your new host for the next few days will be there at the quayside waiting for you.
The other argument for not booking ahead is that you can’t see what you’re getting, whereas, the argument goes, you can choose your dream hotel or studio when you see it in the flesh. However, the traveller reviews on websites such as TripAdvisor are more likely to lead you to your Shangri-La, or at least they’ll help you avoid some soul-less, unfriendly, bug-ridden room at the back of beyond (although it has to be said that the standard of Greek island accommodation these days is generally very high).
Our preferred modus operandi, if we don’t have a favourite or a recommended place, is to check the on-line booking sites to find somewhere that seems to offer what we want, and then check out the reviews on TripAdvisor. Of course, TripAdvisor reviews are, by their nature, subjective and can be rigged, but you soon get a feel for the over-critical or the over-effusive review and discard it from your assessment. Often, your questions such as: “Is this hotel in a good location for restaurants and bars?”, or, “Is it too far from the port to carry my bags?”, etc., will be answered in one of the reviews.
Paying for accommodation
Cash is king at most hotels and rooms places in the islands so make sure you have enough cash and don’t expect to hear “That’ll do nicely, Sir” when you present your credit card on check-out.
On some web booking sites you can pay on-line by credit card at the time of booking, but on others, you are required to pay the establishment directly and your card details are taken only as a security precaution should you not show up.
Our Booking Partner
To give you the best possible choice, we’ve partnered with HotelBooking.com, which scans several of the top web-booking sites for your chosen location and gives you a choice of the best prices for each establishment.
The booking form below covers the whole of the Cyclades but the chapter on each island scans just that island or just certain towns or resorts on that island.
If you book using our forms to link to the HotelBooking.com website, we receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, that helps us continue expanding the Cyclades project. Once you’ve selected your options, we transfer control to HotelBooking.com. We have no knowledge of the data you enter on their website so you can be assured of your data security and privacy.