This is the first negative review I have left on VRBO after many years of staying in lots of different places in many different countries. However, our week here was not good, and I don’t want others to come here and have the same experience. This home is not designed to handle to the July heat. The home only has AC in two bedrooms, and neither of them work to truly make the rooms feel cool because the rest of the house is so hot. The rest of the home has no AC, and it is a miserable experience. It was so hot we never even cooked a meal here.
According to the many locals we did excursions with each day, many days there are no breezes in July, and this is why opening the windows was no help most of the time. The house was almost always hotter inside than outside despite leaving windows open at night, etc. We tried everything.
The 2nd story was unbearable as the heat rises...even the basement where the 2 twin beds are located was hot. It was so hot our 15 year old son and 17 year old daughter ended up sharing the main level queen bedroom with AC. If you have teens, you know they do everything possible to have their own space, but these were extreme circumstances.
The home is situated at the very top of a hill where the sun beats down on the house all day, and there is no shade at all. You will not be lounging on the rooftop, and you will not want to sit in the courtyard on July days. Many days, we took cold showers just trying to cool down from being out on the island and having to return to a hot house.
We booked 6 nights and 7 days here (way too long to stay in Santorini), and we were hoping to have days to just rest. Instead, we needed up booking an excursion for everyday except one to try to just stay away from the hot house. The owner did bring fans after I sent a message saying we needed to find different accommodations due to heat.
Go rent something with AC throughout the home and with amazing views of the Caldera. It is a must for summer heat. We absolutely cannot recommend this house for summer months. Our teenagers said they wanted a shirt that says, “We survived Santorini.”