Greece has over 200 inhabited islands. Most travelers visit three or four of them, and most of those are the obvious ones: Santorini, Mykonos, Crete, Corfu. The pricing across these islands varies enormously, and the relationship between price and experience is not always what you’d expect.
Here’s what hotels actually cost and what you get for them.
Santorini: Expensive and Worth It Once
Santorini is the most expensive island in Greece by a significant margin. Budget accommodation in Fira (the main town) starts around 120 to 180 EUR per night in June and September. In July and August, the floor is closer to 180 EUR and goes up to 600 to 1,200 EUR for the iconic cave hotels in Oia with the caldera views.
The question isn’t whether Santorini is overpriced (it is, by any objective measure), but whether the premium is justified for you personally.
The honest assessment: the caldera view is genuinely one of the most dramatic built environments in the world. The blue-domed churches and white-cube houses stacked on the volcanic cliff are as good in person as in photos. If you’ve never seen it, it’s worth going at least once.
What doesn’t justify the premium: the beaches are mediocre (black volcanic sand, crowded), the food scene outside of a handful of genuinely excellent restaurants is tourist-optimized and overpriced, and the island is small enough that you’ve seen most of it in two days.
Best approach: stay two nights in Oia or Imerovigli, pay for the view once, leave before the price-to-experience ratio collapses.
Mykonos: Overpriced For What It Actually Is
Mykonos is not a beautiful island. It’s a party island with some nice beaches and a reasonably photogenic old town (Hora). The whitewashed windmills and Little Venice area are genuinely pretty for an hour.
The rest is clubs, beach clubs charging 25 EUR for a sunbed, and a service culture that ranges from indifferent to actively hostile toward budget travelers.
Peak summer hotels: 200 to 500 EUR per night for anything decent. Hotels.com search in July will show you 150 EUR rooms that are basic to the point of insulting.
If high-end beach club culture and DJs are what you came for, Mykonos delivers. For everything else, there are better options for less money.
Crete: The Right Size, The Right Prices
Crete is large enough to be genuinely varied. The north coast (Heraklion, Rethymno, Chania) has the infrastructure and better-known beaches. The south coast (Matala, Agia Galini, Plakias) is quieter and feels more genuinely Greek.
Chania old town is the best urban area in Crete: Venetian harbor, good restaurants, an actual functioning city with history. Hotels in the old town: 80 to 150 EUR per night in June and September. July and August bumps that to 110 to 200 EUR.
The inland villages (Archanes, Krousonas near Heraklion; the White Mountains area from Chania) offer genuine rural Greece at 50 to 90 EUR per night in small guesthouses, often with homemade food included in the rate.
Crete also has Heraklion Archaeological Museum (Minoan collection, legitimately world-class) and Knossos (15 minutes from Heraklion) if you want history alongside the beach.
Value verdict: best overall island for combining quality, variety, and reasonable prices in Greece.
Corfu: Affordable if You Go North or South
Corfu Town (Kerkyra) is the gem of the island: Venetian architecture, a genuinely old city, good food in the Liston arcade area. Hotels here: 70 to 130 EUR per night.
The problem areas are the resort strips, specifically Kavos in the south (British party-tourism infrastructure, completely unrelated to anything Greek) and Sidari in the north (similar vibe, smaller scale). These zones exist and they’re cheap: 50 to 80 EUR per night. The tradeoff is an experience that could be set in any mass-market resort anywhere in the Mediterranean.
The better Corfu is the northeast coast around Kassiopi and Agios Stefanos, the olive grove-covered interior around Pelekas, and the beaches on the northwest tip (Loggas, Peroulades) with the characteristic cliff formations. Hotels in these areas: 70 to 120 EUR.
Rhodes: Medieval Town Worth It, Resorts Skip
Rhodes has one of the best medieval walled cities in Europe. The Palace of the Grand Masters, the Knights’ Hospital, the Street of the Knights. Staying inside or immediately adjacent to the old town is genuinely excellent. Hotels here: 80 to 150 EUR in peak season.
The resort strip around Faliraki and the international-style hotels along the coast are a different matter entirely. Functional, often decent value (60 to 100 EUR), but disconnected from what makes Rhodes worth visiting.
Practical note: Rhodes Airport is well-connected with direct flights from most European cities during summer, making it one of the more accessible Greek islands without Athens connections.
Naxos: The Best Beach-to-Price Ratio in the Aegean
Naxos is consistently undervalued by international tourists who overlook it for Santorini or Mykonos. It has better beaches than both (Agios Prokopios and Plaka are exceptional, and they’re wide enough to actually absorb visitors), more interesting inland villages, and hotel prices that remain sane.
Hotels near Naxos Town (Hora): 70 to 130 EUR per night in July. Beachside hotels at Agios Prokopios: 90 to 160 EUR. A fraction of the equivalent at Santorini.
The food is better too. Naxos produces its own cheese (graviera), its own potatoes (PDO-protected), and citron liqueur. The markets actually have local products.
Fast ferry from Piraeus: 3.5 to 4 hours. Naxos is also a natural hub for exploring nearby smaller islands (Paros is 30 minutes, Koufonisia is 2 hours by ferry).
The Price Summary
| Island | Budget hotel (June) | Mid-range (June) | Peak July premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santorini | 120-180 EUR | 250-450 EUR | +40-80% |
| Mykonos | 150-200 EUR | 300-500 EUR | +50-100% |
| Crete | 70-110 EUR | 120-180 EUR | +20-30% |
| Corfu | 60-90 EUR | 100-150 EUR | +15-25% |
| Rhodes | 70-100 EUR | 120-170 EUR | +20-30% |
| Naxos | 70-100 EUR | 110-150 EUR | +15-25% |
The conclusion writes itself: go to Santorini if you must (once), avoid Mykonos unless clubs are your primary motivation, and pick Naxos or Crete for a genuinely good Greek summer that won’t hurt your wallet.
Shoulder season (May, early June, late September) drops all of these prices by 25 to 40%. May in Greece specifically is beautiful: warm enough to swim, flowers everywhere, no crowds.
For comparison with other Mediterranean destinations, our guides for Croatia, Italy, and Spain cover the same island and coastal pricing dynamics with similar shoulder-season patterns.
