Operated by the same people that own Fira’s ever-hip Koo Club, Chili Bar is one of the island’s coolest scenes that walks a fine line between beach club and drinking bar. Its quirky-chic façade of a thatch-roof patong looks like it should be in Thailand’s Koh Samui than a few hundred feet from the Aegean. Separating Chili from the sea is a large swathe of volcanic reddish-black sand and surfside lounge scene that vibrates with all-day summer jams from morning till night.

A surf bar without much surfing, the beach area of Chili offers lounger available for day rental as well as a handful of volleyball courts home to afternoon matches likely with daiquiri or beer bottle in hand. Inside, the bar is arranged along an outdoor courtyard with tiki-theme main bar and a few scattered tables that are almost always occupied. Around 4pm the music gets turned up as a happy hour scene of post-beach revelers drink and dance till sunset and often even later.

Last Word

Santorini’s top beach bar is actually co-owned by one of the island’s biggest nightclubs, Koo, and attracts a bevy of pretty-face locals and in-the-know tourists.