Santo Mine Oia Suites stands on the ground of a worked-out stone mine, cut into the cliffs of Oia above Ammoudi Bay. Volcanic rock surrounds the house, which was built to sit with it and with the white walls of Oia above. It opened to its first guests in April 2024.
There are 37 suites. Every suite faces the sea, and every terrace has an infinity plunge pool or a jacuzzi, or both. Oia is a ten-minute walk uphill, and Ammoudi Bay and its restaurants are below. Santo Mine is one of three Santo Collection houses on the Oia headland, beside the older Santo Pure Oia Suites & Villas and the two four-bedroom Villas by Santo Collection, and all three are under Metaxa Hospitality Group.
The suites
The suite index shows two sizes across four categories: 35 sq m junior suites, 50 to 60 sq m Majestic suites. Three of the categories are junior, open plan, and take up to three guests, with a private pool or a heated jacuzzi outside. The Majestic has separate rooms, takes four, and has both a pool and a jacuzzi. Two suites are accessible, and golf buggies carry guests around the site.
The suites were drawn from brutalism and eclectic minimalism, in warm and cream tones, with stone, wood, marble and copper left raw. Interiors are kept spare so the view carries the room, in linen and muted earth colours with charcoal in the detail. Each has a rain shower, a coffee machine, a mini bar and a wardrobe with robes. The roofs are planted with the island’s own endemic flora. The minimum age is 12 in the house and eight at Alme and Rhoe. No pets stay.
Alme and Rhoe
The dining is two rooms: Alme, seafood, dinner, above the cliffs; and Rhoe Wine Bar & More, all day and open-air by the main pool. Alme takes its name from άλμη, the Greek word for brine, and is built on the day’s catch, with fish from Greek waters, dry aged cuts among them, à la carte dishes and a tasting menu. Calamari with wild Cretan oregano is one of its standing plates, and the wine list leans on Santorini. Rhoe serves Greek specialities through the day, botanical cocktails mixed with herbs from the house’s own garden, and local wines and beers, and its Santorini salad is made with baby vine tomatoes, capers and chlorotiri cheese. A vintage-style wine cellar opens on request for a guided tasting of the island’s indigenous grapes, and dinner can be laid in a suite by candlelight with a waiter of its own. Breakfast is a buffet of freshly baked breads, marmalades and superfoods. Those two rooms and room service are the whole of the dining, so a longer stay takes in the kitchens of Oia and Ammoudi Bay too.
Pnoe Spa and the Somma gym
Pnoe Spa, three treatment rooms, hammam and sauna, is run for the house by the wellness specialist Aegeo Spas and is open from 10am to 7pm. Its face and body treatments are built on the skincare brand Comfort Zone, and it is the first Comfort Zone spa in Greece. The gym is Somma, outdoors on a deck, open from 7am to 9pm, and guests may also use the indoor fitness centre at Santo Pure next door. A yoga programme runs Mondays to Saturdays, with free 20-minute taster sessions, and mindfulness, Pilates, aqua yoga and aerial yoga are held in the outdoor spaces at Santo Pure. The main pool is lined with double sun beds and has bar service. Away from the house, the Thirasia wellness retreat combines hiking, yoga and meditation on Thirasia, the island across the caldera, with a swim off its beach.
Who is this for
A couple on a romantic week, and anyone who would rather stay in a small house than a large one. The village above is a maze of narrow streets with restaurants, boutiques and cafes under pink bougainvillaea, and the whitewashed houses and blue domes of Oia. Below, the day runs from sunrise over the open sea to the sunset the island is best known for, and in between there are boat trips, a yacht, diving the caldera and open-air film nights in the yard.
