Vothonas sits so close to Messaria the two villages have effectively merged, but Vothonas has a distinctive character of its own — many of its traditional houses are dug into the ground rather than into a cliff face, a variation on Santorini's cave-house architecture that's less common elsewhere on the island (see our traditional architecture guide).
Agia Anna and Panagia Trypa
The village's oldest church, Agia Anna, dates to 1827 and holds a carved wooden panel depicting Old Testament scenes, considered one of the more significant pieces of religious woodwork on the island. A short walk from the village centre leads to the small chapel of Panagia Trypa, perched on the edge of a cliff.
The wine museum
Vothonas is also home to a wine museum built into a cave roughly eight metres underground, tracing Santorini's winemaking history back several centuries — a good, low-key stop to pair with a visit to one of the working wineries covered in our winery profiles. See our full wine museum guide for what's actually inside.
Combining it with Messaria
Since the two villages have effectively merged, a single visit easily covers both — the wine museum here, then the neoclassical mansions and industrial history in Messaria, all within a short walk of each other and central enough to combine with Pyrgos or a winery visit the same day.
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