Loved the Uranos Apartments - husband and I stayed there 6th - 13th June 2006 in top floor, superior apartment (booked with Manos who didn't let us down - as always!). No balcony, but small sun terrace to enjoy the spectacular view of the Caldera. Well worth the money. Breakfast included - good idea as eating out not cheap on Santorini. Good choice of food as well thanks to lovely, kindly chef lady (!). Different choice of hot food plus usual continental choices - very tasty.

Room very, very clean and spacious. In fact, the whole complex was kept beautifully clean and tidy. Sadly, shower didn't work whole time we were there, just a sad little dribble. We mentioned it to the lovely Dora (lady proprietor) who was very sympathetic, and did at one point offer to call a plumber, but he didn't materialise. We were offered use of the shower in the jacuzzi but didn't fancy a 'public' shower. On the last day, we discovered some beatifully furnished, brand new changing rooms near the reception desk and wondered why we hadn't been allowed to use these! But hey, this is Greece, these things happen and it certainly didn't spoil our enjoyment at all!

Uranos don't have a pool, but they do have 2 jacuzzis and, at a push, they will let you use the pool next door. The 'upper' jacuzzi is the nicer one. Recently installed and draped in white muslin with turquoise lighting - very swish! There is a white-washed sun deck just outside the jacuzzi, but this proved a little too hot for us (hotter than the caribbean!!) and as our sun terrace was just above the jacuzzi (and we had a sun brolly), we pretty much stayed up there in our quiet moments. They have a snack bar which doubles up as the breakfast room. We only had a couple of coffees there but other people had 'snacks' which looked more like meals to me - very nice!

Location is great. Uranos is on the path between Oia and Thira - We walked to Thira in about 15 mins (back in about 30 - it was hot!!). We did attempt to walk to Oia but gave up (again, it was hot!). Anyway the bus to Oia is only 1 euro 20 and takes about 15 minutes. They run regularly, even in low season, and stop on the main road just up from the centre of Imerovigli (opposite ciggy kiosk). We got all over the island on the local buses and the most it cost was about 2 euro 70 and that was to Perissa (or Kamari, can't remember, both about the same!).

We had a fabulous meal out one night in Oia and caught the last bus back - about 10.30pm. I think it was called 'Candouni' (near the traditional ouzerie) off the beaten track, so much cheaper than the ones in the main street, and we even had our own private viewing of the legendary Oia sunset courtesy of the lovely taverna owner and his wife - memorable, thank you!! Oh, and the food was pretty special too!

So to end, Santorini was breathtaking (literally sometimes, very hilly), stunning scenery (stops you in your tracks, and everyone else, so watch out for that!) but very, very expensive. Probably on a par with Venice. We do Greece a lot, normally to very quiet islands, but we'd heard a lot about Santorini from other Greek lovers and just wanted to see what Santorini was all about! It was memorable (a week was enough), but we don't need to go again - prefer the 'real Greece'.

My two traveling buddies and I just returned from a marvelous four-night stay at the charming Uranos Traditional Villas on Santorini.
Perched on the side of the volcanic cliffs overlooking the sea and the small island of Nea Kameni, it was the perfect place to relax and explore the tiny village of Imerovigli. We enjoyed a greatly discounted rate of 120 Euros per night in the off season including a continental breakfast delivered to our room; rates skyrocket to 280 Euros per night during the peak summer travel season. Because we were traveling in the off season, we shared the villages with mostly the friendly locals (rather than throngs of tourists), most of whom spoke English. Our room was a charming two bedroom unit with a third bed in the living room providing plenty of privacy for each of us, plus two bathrooms, a tiny kitchenette and a private patio overlooking a postcard perfect vista.
You'll probably want to rent a car to travel around the island. The friendly manager of Uranos put us in touch with a company that provided a small car for 20 Euros per day. You'll love it!

We stayed at the Uranos over Christmas 2002. The people were wonderful, there was a quiet little taverna across the street. I think it's the best location in Santorini. The view was wonderful, and if we go again (hopefully) we will stay there or one of their other properties. We saw a lot of the other properties we had considered staying at and were absolutely sure we had made the best choice!