Santorini, caldera first.
Which cruise actually stops at the hot springs. Whether the sunset is worth the wall at Oia. What a run from the airport should cost. Every tour on the island, reviewed.
The caldera is only Santorini from the water.
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Nea Kameni still steams and the springs off Palea Kameni still run warm. Three shapes of boat day cover the bay between them: the cheap traditional cruise to the crater, the catamaran that spends five hours going nowhere slowly, and the evening run that gets you off the Oia pavement.
Nea Kameni, then the warm water
A boat to the black cinder island, twenty-odd minutes up a loose track to the crater rim in full sun, then back down to swim into the iron-warm water off Palea Kameni. Take a swimsuit you do not mind losing to the rust.
Five hours, two swim stops, food on deck
Fewer people and more deck. These run the south coast past the red and white cliffs, drop anchor twice for snorkelling, and cook while you are in the water.
Oia from the water, not the wall
The castle terrace at Oia holds a few hundred people and most of them arrive an hour early for the privilege. The alternative is to be out in the bay when the light goes.
Almost everything on Santorini happens on the caldera rim.
The boat that circles the volcano, the vines lying flat in the ash, the town buried under the pumice, and the hour every evening when the island turns to face the same way. The days a Santorini trip gets built around, and the best way to book each.
What everyone on Santorini ends up booking.
Every review →More travellers take these than anything else on the island. What each one actually includes, and what it costs.
1
Volcanic Islands Cruise with Hot Springs Visit
Santorini caldera cruise with Nea Kameni volcano hike, hot springs swim, Thirassia break, and optional Oia sunset bus add-on.
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
Santorini’s vines lie on the ground, woven into baskets.
No trellises, no shade and almost no rain. The vines are trained into low coils — koulara — so the fruit ripens inside, out of a wind that would otherwise strip it. The ground is pumice and ash, which is why phylloxera never took hold here and why Assyrtiko comes out tasting of salt and stone. Most tastings do three wineries and finish facing the caldera.
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At sunset the whole island turns and faces the same way.
All sunset cruises →
Sunset Sailing Catamaran Cruise in Santorini with BBQ and Drinks
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Volcano and Hot Springs Sunset Dinner Cruise
Read our review →Top Sights Day Trip, Wine Tasting, & Oia Sunset
Read our review →Santorini’s own: the dress, the crater, the buried town.
White cubes and blue domes run the length of the Aegean. A dress that fills the whole frame, a volcano you climb in the middle of a bay, and a Bronze Age town under the pumice belong to this island.
The Flying Dress
A photographer, a caldera terrace at the right hour, and metres of fabric that an assistant throws into the wind on cue. Santorini turned it into a genre and it is now the reason a large share of visitors hire a camera at all. The dress belongs to the operator and comes in their sizes and colours; the shoot moves between Oia, Imerovigli and the Fira rim depending on where the light lands and the crowd is not.
- 1Santorini 2h Private Flying Dress Photoshoot with Transportation★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 357 reviews
- 2Exclusive Santorini Flying Dress Photoshoot with Pickup★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 336 reviews
- 3Flying Dress Photoshoot in Santorini by Flying Dress Photo ©★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 137 reviews
The Crater and the Springs
Nea Kameni is the black cinder island in the middle of the bay, and it is still an open vent — the last eruption was 1950. Boats tie up at its small harbour, you walk up a loose track to the crater rim, and then re-board for the swim off Palea Kameni, where iron in the water turns the sea rust-orange and the temperature climbs the closer you get to the rock.
- 1Volcanic Islands Cruise with Hot Springs Visit★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 10,869 reviews
- 2Santorini Caldera Cruise Tour (Volcano, Hot Springs, Thirassia)★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,302 reviews
- 3Volcano and Hot Springs Sunset Dinner Cruise★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 1,224 reviews
The Town Under the Ash
Akrotiri was buried by the eruption that hollowed out the caldera and stayed buried for three and a half thousand years: two-storey houses, indoor drainage, wall paintings — and no bodies, which is why the reading is that everyone got out in time. It sits under a modern roof at the south end of the island, which makes it the coolest hour of a July afternoon.
- 1Akrotiri Entry Ticket and Audio Guide★★★★★★★★★★ 3.9 · 348 reviews
- 2Archaeological Bus Tour To Akrotiri Excavations & Red Beach★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 280 reviews
- 3Archaeological Bus Tour to Akrotiri Excavations & Red Beach★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 150 reviews
Santorini runs from a $16 airport van to a boat with your name on it.
Every tour on the island by price. The bottom of the range is transfers, entry tickets and the traditional volcano cruise; the top is private.
Airport and port runs, the Akrotiri ticket, and the old-fashioned cruise out to the crater and the hot springs.
The working middle of the island: full-day tours with the Oia sunset on the end, catamarans with lunch, three-winery tastings, an hour with a photographer.
Private drivers, small-group catamarans that cap at a dozen, flying-dress shoots and helicopter time over the rim.
What to book before you land on Santorini.
Most of the island can wait until you are standing on it. These cannot. High-season boats fill weeks out, and the meltemi — the north wind that runs through July and August — cancels sailings at short notice, so the slot early in your stay is the one that survives.
- 01Catamaran Tour with BBQ Dinner, Drinks, and MusicThe small-group boats cap at around a dozen guests, and August goes weeks ahead of the month.
- 02Santorini 2h Private Flying Dress Photoshoot with TransportationThe dress comes in the operator’s sizes and colours, and the golden-hour slots are the first to go.
- 03Shared Helicopter Tour Santorini 20 minutes – 2 passengersA handful of machines cover the whole island. The twenty-minute slots are gone long before the day.
- 04Economy Arrival Transfers From Santorini Airport To All DestinationsThere is no cable car at Athinios and barely a taxi rank anywhere. Arrange the pickup before the ferry or the flight lands.
Six hours in Santorini, with a cable-car queue in the middle of them.
Ships anchor out in the caldera and tender you to the Old Port under Fira. From there it is the cable car, the mule path or 588 steps up — and it is the queue back down in the afternoon that eats the day. The tours that meet the tender and drive out of Athinios instead skip the whole business.
The biggest lists on Santorini
Caldera Cruises31 tours
Catamaran Cruises81 tours
Wine Tours137 tours
Photoshoots82 tours
Sunset Cruises38 tours
Volcano & Hot Springs35 tours
Airport & Port Transfers47 tours- Every tour on the island →
Santorini by the kind of day it is
Three days on Santorini, in the order that works.
Morning one
Hot afternoonLatest Santorini tour reviews.
Everything on the island →
Private Fishing Tour – Sunset (transportation included)
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Unique 3-Hour Tour of Santorini for Cruise Ship Passengers
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Santorini Rent a Boat – License free private cruise
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Private Fishing Tour – Morning (transportation included)
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Santorini Wine Tasting & Food Pairing :Taste good life at Santorini
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Santorini Private Wine Tasting Experience with private sommelier
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