Imerovigli, Santorini: permit issued for new 5-star hotel

The Building Department of the Municipality of Thira issued, according to a report by Cyclades24 on Thursday, 24 September 2026, a building permit for the construction of a new five-star hotel in the area of Imerovigli, in Santorini. The permit concerns a plot of 1,048 square metres, on which the construction of a building with a built area of 511.10 square metres is envisaged. The total volume of above-ground construction is set at 2,095.40 cubic metres, with the maximum permitted building height reaching 4 metres, according to the details made public by the competent authority. The permit was issued following inspection of the study file by the Building Department of the Municipality of Thira, a procedure that precedes any new building activity on the island.

Imerovigli is one of the most sought-after areas of Santorini for hotel investments, due to its views towards the caldera and its proximity to Fira and Oia. The issuance of a new building permit for a hotel unit in the area is part of the ongoing building activity in the sector of tourist accommodation on the island, which in recent years has remained at high levels despite periodic discussions about Santorini’s carrying capacity in relation to infrastructure, road networks and the island’s natural environment. The area already hosts a range of high-specification hotel units, a fact that creates intense competition for the few available plots with views towards the caldera.

The report does not mention the number of rooms or beds that the new unit will have, nor details about the investor or the company that will undertake the construction. Neither a timetable for the start or completion of work is given, nor is it stated whether an application for an operating permit from the competent tourism authority has already been submitted. The issuance of a building permit is a prerequisite stage before any construction activity begins, but it does not automatically mean that the project will be implemented immediately or in its entirety as licensed today. The absence of information about the investor and the cost of the investment leaves unclear for now the precise scale of the undertaking.

The new permit is issued at a time when the local authority of Santorini is closely monitoring the levels of tourist traffic and building activity on the island, as reflected in the recent figures on September tourist traffic presented by the mayor of Thira. Earlier this year an investment for a new hotel at Pyrgos, Santorini was also recorded, an indication of ongoing investment activity in the island’s hotel sector. Detailed information about the number of rooms, the investor and the timetable for the new unit at Imerovigli remain unclear.