Dining in Santorini is easy to get wrong. The island has no shortage of restaurants selling the same postcard experience: a white tablecloth, a caldera view, and food that plays it safe. Esperisma was never built for that crowd. Perched above the water on the cliffs of Fira, next to Athina Luxury Suites, it was built for people who want the view and a kitchen that takes the food as seriously as the setting. The World Luxury Restaurant Awards, now in their tenth year of recognizing excellence in global dining, have taken notice.
Esperisma Santorini, part of Aestian Philoxenia and Hospitality, has been nominated for the World Luxury Restaurant Awards. The nomination follows a track record that includes Continent Winner in 2024 and Regional Winner in 2025, placing Esperisma consistently among the top dining addresses not just in Greece but across its competitive category internationally.
You can view the full awards profile here: https://www.luxuryrestaurantawards.com/restaurant/esperisma-santorini/
What the World Luxury Restaurant Awards Represent
The World Luxury Restaurant Awards have been running for a decade, evaluating restaurants across country, regional, continental, and global tiers. The program does not measure popularity. It measures the sustained delivery of a complete dining experience, including kitchen quality, service, ambiance, and the overall impression a restaurant leaves on the guest.
A nomination at this level, particularly for a restaurant operating in one of the most competitive and closely watched tourism markets in Europe, carries real weight. It means the property has been assessed against a global standard and found to belong in the conversation.
For Esperisma, this is not a debut on that stage. The restaurant has been building its international profile steadily, and the 2026 nomination continues that trajectory.
Where Esperisma Actually Sits
Location shapes a restaurant before a single dish arrives. Esperisma sits directly above the caldera in Fira, positioned on the upper terrace of Athina Luxury Suites. The caldera view from here is unobstructed and complete, the kind that makes it genuinely difficult to decide where to look when the food arrives.
That positioning is not incidental to the experience. It is part of what Esperisma was designed around. The team built the restaurant with the understanding that a setting this remarkable demands a kitchen willing to match it. The result is a dining destination where neither element carries the other: the view earns its place, and so does the food.
The Food and the Menu Philosophy
Esperisma’s kitchen operates with a clear orientation: culinary innovation grounded in the ingredients and traditions of the Greek islands and the wider Mediterranean. The menu is built around locally sourced produce, applied with a level of technique and creativity that goes well beyond standard island fare.
The emphasis on Greek and Mediterranean cuisine is not a marketing position. It reflects a genuine commitment to the region’s food culture, elevated through careful sourcing and consistent execution. Fine dining in this context does not mean distant or theatrical. It means that every element on the plate has been considered, and that the experience of eating here feels personal rather than performative.
The wine list gives equal attention to Greek labels alongside a broader international selection, with the pairing of Santorinian wines to food from the same volcanic soil being a particular point of focus.
The Full Experience at Esperisma
A restaurant nomination of this caliber is rarely awarded on food alone. What the World Luxury Restaurant Awards evaluate is the totality of the experience, and Esperisma delivers across every dimension of that.
The bar within the restaurant serves signature cocktails from early in the day through the late evening hours. The sunset service is a specific moment in the Esperisma day: the light shifts across the caldera, the drinks change, and the pace of the meal adjusts accordingly. It is a transition the staff understands and works with rather than against.
For private occasions, candlelight dinner arrangements are available on request. The Caldera terrace becomes something else entirely in that context: a private dining setting that no purpose-built event space could replicate, because it is real rather than staged.
The attentive service throughout is the third element that makes the experience hold together. Staff at Esperisma operate with the awareness that the guest has chosen this table over every other option in one of the world’s most visited destinations. That awareness is visible in how the evening unfolds.
Ten Years of the World Luxury Restaurant Awards
The 2026 nomination arrives in the tenth year of the World Luxury Restaurant Awards, which adds a particular relevance to the moment. Over a decade, the program has tracked the evolution of luxury dining globally, and the restaurants that appear consistently across its history tend to be those building something durable rather than chasing short-term recognition.
Esperisma’s presence across multiple award cycles, from Continent Winner in 2024 to Regional Winner in 2025 and now the 2026 nomination, reflects exactly that kind of durability. It is a restaurant that has been doing the same thing consistently and improving it each season, which is a harder achievement than it sounds in a market where tourism pressure often pushes kitchens toward volume over quality.
Why This Matters for Anyone Planning to Visit Santorini
There are practical reasons to care about a nomination like this when you are planning a trip. Santorini has hundreds of restaurants. Most of them are competent. A smaller number are genuinely good. A very small number are worth organizing a day around.
The World Luxury Restaurant Awards, across their ten-year history, have functioned as a reliable filter for that last category. A nomination is a signal that the property has been evaluated carefully and found to belong among the best. For travelers who want to eat well in Santorini and not spend an evening at a restaurant that traded on its view instead of its kitchen, that signal is useful.
Esperisma offers table reservations directly through the restaurant, and given the demand for Caldera dining during peak season, booking in advance is advisable. Private dinner arrangements require additional lead time and can be coordinated through the restaurant directly.
Reserve Your Table
Santorini’s dining season moves quickly. Esperisma’s reputation and award standing mean tables at peak hours and during key summer weeks go fast.
Make your reservation or inquiry directly here: www.esperisma.com
Esperisma Santorini is part of Aestian Philoxenia and Hospitality, located at Athina Luxury Suites, Fira, Santorini, Greece.
Panagiotis Inglesis is the co-owner and General manager of Athina Luxury Suites, along with his wife Mrs.Artemis Argyrou. Together they had a vision to create one of the best boutique hotels in Santorini and today they continue their vision…Athina Luxury Suites is considered one of the top hotels on the island.