Santorini is a ring of cliff around a drowned volcano. Book it from the water.
Which catamaran anchors long enough to actually swim. What the sunset costs from a deck instead of a wall in Oia. Whether Akrotiri beats the crater walk when you only have one morning. Reviews of every tour you can book on the island.
Four bookings the rest of a Santorini week gets planned around.
What each one costs, how long it takes, and what the travellers who went say about it.
01The volcano crossingVolcanic Islands Cruise with Hot Springs VisitLoose ash up to the crater lip on Nea Kameni, then the warm sulphur water off its flank. More people book this than anything else on the island.
02The day on deckCatamaran Tour with BBQ Dinner, Drinks, and MusicA catamaran with a swim ladder down the stern and a grill going while the red and white cliffs slide past.
03The island in a dayTop Sights Day Trip, Wine Tasting, & Oia SunsetTop sights, a winery and Oia timed for the light. The day that works for a short stay or a cruise-ship call.
04The long eveningSantorini Wine Adventure with 12 Wine Tastings, Tapas and SunsetTwelve pours of Assyrtiko off the ash with tapas between them, and the sun going down the whole way through.
Catamaran, sunset sail, or the boat out to the crater. Pick your deck.
You look at Santorini from the top and you understand it from the bottom. Five kinds of day on the water, what it costs to board each one, and how much time you actually get in the sea.
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · Catamaran Tour with BBQ Dinner, Drinks, and Music
Catamaran daysShade, a swim ladder, lunch grilled on the stern.
Sunset sailsThe light comes off the water, not off four hundred shoulders.
Volcano and hot springsAsh underfoot on Nea Kameni, then the rust-warm water.
Sea kayaksIn close under the cliffs, into caves no catamaran fits.
The full caldera dayCrater, springs, Thirassia and Oia in one long crossing.
All 254 days on the water →
The rim, the flat south, and the islets left over from the eruption.
Santorini is small enough to cross in forty minutes and divided far more sharply than that. Six parts of the island, and the best day out in each.
The days out most travellers on Santorini book.
Every review on the island →The tours that carry more travellers than anything else here, and what earns each one its slot.
1
Volcanic Islands Cruise with Hot Springs Visit
Cruise Santorini’s caldera, hike an active volcano, swim to sulfur springs, visit Thirassia, and add Oia sunset time for excellent value.
From · $29
Read our review →
2
Catamaran Tour with BBQ Dinner, Drinks, and Music
from $93
3
Santorini Classic Catamaran Cruise with BBQ, Drinks and Transfers
from $114
4
Luxury Catamaran Day Trip with Meal and Open Bar
from $129
5
Half-Day Exclusive Catamaran Cruise in Santorini with Meal and Open Bar
from $133
6
Santorini Gold Catamaran Cruise with Snorkel, BBQ & Open Bar
from $117
7
Top Sights Day Trip, Wine Tasting, & Oia Sunset
from $61
8
Traditional Sightseeing Bus Tour with Oia Sunset
from $69
The whole island wants the same ninety minutes. Spread out.
From May to September Santorini points at Oia around eight, and the lane down to the castle ruin stops moving a full hour before that. Every alternative is better: the rim path out of Imerovigli, a deck somewhere in the middle of the caldera, a winery terrace on the flat southern side, or a photographer who books first light instead of last.
The island is the rim. The volcano is still sitting in the middle of it.
Nea Kameni is loose black ash and a crater you can walk to the lip of, about an hour up from the tender and no shade anywhere on it. Off its flank the sea runs warm and rust-red where the sulphur comes through. Most crossings call at Thirassia on the way back.
What a day on Santorini actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. The island has a reputation for being expensive, and a surprising share of the best of it is not.
Museum and Akrotiri entry, village bus runs, and the standard volcano-and-springs crossing.
Full days: the catamaran with lunch aboard, the island-highlights run that ends in Oia, wine tours with a driver.
Private sailing, small-group luxury catamarans, long wine evenings, and a photographer for the morning.
Assyrtiko grows in baskets on the ground here, because of the wind.
The vines are coiled into low kouloura baskets instead of trained on wires: the meltemi would strip anything standing upright, and inside the coil the fruit sits shaded and drinks the night fog off the sea. What comes out has salt in it. The cellars are on the flat southern side, an easy afternoon from anywhere on the rim.
Thirty feet of silk on a whitewashed terrace: this island invented that.
Somebody in Oia worked out that a long train of fabric against whitewash and blue photographs like nothing else, and an industry followed within a season. The sessions worth booking run at first light, when the lanes are empty, the dress reads properly against the caldera and the wind does most of the work for you.
Every photo session on the island →
Four Santorini bookings that will not wait for you.
Most of this island can be arranged from a taverna table the night before. These four run on boat timetables, a fixed number of seats and a sun that sets when it sets.
- 01Top Sights Day Trip, Wine Tasting, & Oia SunsetThere is exactly one departure a day and demand for it is the whole island’s. In August the good boats are gone weeks out.
- 02Santorini 2h Private Flying Dress Photoshoot with TransportationOne dress, one photographer, one terrace, and the light that makes it work lasts about forty minutes. Sunrise slots go first.
- 03Catamaran Tour with BBQ Dinner, Drinks, and MusicSmall-group catamarans cap the deck at a dozen or so people. The big-boat seats last all summer; the small ones do not.
- 04Guided Horseback Riding Day Trip to a BeachThe excavation sits under a roof with a capped number of people inside at a time, so the guided slots close well before the walk-up queue does.
Three things that only happen on this island.
Blue water and white villages exist all over the Aegean. A Bronze Age town sealed under pumice, sand that burns your feet by ten, and vines grown in woven baskets do not.
Akrotiri
A town of two-storey houses with staircases and drains, sealed under metres of pumice when the volcano went in the Bronze Age and dug out almost intact. There are no bodies and no abandoned valuables: the people saw it coming and left in good order. It sits under a modern roof now, cool and dim, which also makes it the sanest thing on the island to be doing at two in the afternoon.
- 1Guided Horseback Riding Day Trip to a Beach★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 477 reviews
- 2Akrotiri Entry Ticket and Audio Guide★★★★★★★★★★ 3.9 · 348 reviews
- 3Archaeological Bus Tour To Akrotiri Excavations & Red Beach★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 280 reviews
The black and red coast
The south-east side is black volcanic sand at Perissa and Kamari, hot enough by mid-morning that you need something on your feet to cross it. Round at Akrotiri the cliff turns rust-red and drops straight into the water at Red Beach, reached on foot over a rockfall or, far more sensibly, by boat.
- 1Greek Show, Buffet Dinner, and Drinks at Dimitris★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 474 reviews
- 2Perivolos Beach: Sun-Bed Experience FortyOne Bar Restaurant★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 449 reviews
- 3Santorini in 5 hours: Oia, Traditional Villages & Black Beach★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 282 reviews
Kouloura vines
Santorini trains its Assyrtiko into low woven coils rather than up wires, because the meltemi would strip anything standing up. The fruit sits inside the basket, shaded, taking its moisture from the night fog rolling off the sea. Much of the root stock predates phylloxera and is older than almost anything growing in France.
- 1Top Sights Day Trip, Wine Tasting, & Oia Sunset★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 2,492 reviews
- 2Santorini Wine Adventure with 12 Wine Tastings, Tapas and Sunset★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,715 reviews
- 3Small-Group Sunset Wine Tour with Santo Winery★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 801 reviews
By place — the rim, the south, the islets
By kind of day — deck, cellar, dig or camera
Land, water, vineyard, dig: how a first Santorini is best sequenced.
Before you flyThe newest Santorini reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
Private Transfer from Santorini Airport to Santorini
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Top Spots Bus Tour in Santorini with Transportation
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Private Captivating Santorini Highlights Tour inc. tastings
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Authentic Santorini: A Self-Guided Audio Tour of Oia
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Santorini Personal Ground Transportation Concierge Services
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