The best day trips from Santorini are the caldera by catamaran and Thirasia by boat. Ios is the easiest island hop at forty minutes, Naxos and Paros are two to three hours, and Crete is possible and long. Everything else is on the island itself.
Santorini Experience 2018
Santorini Tours and Santorini transfers is the ideal choice to enjoy this unique experience.
From 5 to 7 October Santorini welcomes runners and swimmers for the 4th consecutive year to the top and most successful event of sports tourism in Greece, Santorini Experience, which opened its registrations and this year will provide many gifts and surprises.
Running in Santorini
For lovers of running on Saturday 6th October, the 3 different routes will take place, with “background” the magical images from the volcano overlooking the Caldera, as well as the settlements of Imerovigli, Firostefani and Oia.
Specifically, the 5 km route, which has been named last year “Aristeidis Alafouzos”, is about 10 km for the most experienced in distances and the distance of 15 km for those who love strength, endurance, technique and adrenaline. All the routes are based on the desalination plant in Oia, with earth paths and terminating again in Oia. The routes are designed by the former marathon runner, Panhellenic Classic Runner, Running Trainer and All About Running Manager, Nikos Polia.
Swimming in Santorini
Swimming on the high seas, as always, takes place on the last day of the races, Sunday 7 October and includes a 1.5 mile (2.4 km) race. Participants will have the opportunity to swim from the volcano to the old port of Fira. The event will take care of amateur athletes with the addition of a high-quality and high-quality safety jacket that gives the participant another incentive to choose the Santorini Experience.
The swimming trail will take place, as is the case every year, with absolute security in the enchanting waters of Santorini (average water temperature at 20-22 degrees Celsius), under the technical supervision of the Federal Technician, with Olympic and World Class Distinctions in Offshore Swimming, Nikos Gemelos, who has designed this unique route.
The safety of the race will contribute for another year to Lifeguard Patrol’s specialized lifeguards, who will also offer several lifeguards. For swimmers, different age categories will be formed depending on the final number of participating swimmers, and there will be a separate categorization for those who wear a full-body swimsuit (wetsuit category).
Activities for children in Santorini
In addition to swimming and running in the program, there will be activities for children, such as the well-established 1km playground, as well as Tae Kwon Do, from the silver medal winner Alexandros Nicolaides.
The goal of this year’s Santorini Experience is to break the entry record as athletes from 40 countries took part last year. In the next period, more information will be announced on the privileged packages and the easier access of the participants to the island of Santorini.
This year’s event has joined the Global Swim Series (GSS) so that all swimmers taking part in Santorini Experience, as well as the other GSS matches, have a global ranking. Correspondingly, the event has joined the World of Marathons World Community, which has more than 3,968 races worldwide.
Experience Santorini with Santorini tours
If you want to visit every corner of Santorini you should book Santorini tours now. Bellow is a list with the most popular Santorini tours:
- Santorini full day private tour
- Santorini sightseeing private tour
- Santorini exclusive shore private tour
- Santorini impressive Caldera private tour
- Santorini south part private tour
- Santorini north part private tour
- Santorini historical private tour
- Santorini sunset private tour
See more about Santorini island:
- Santorini summer tours
- Greek island hopping: How to combine it with Santorini Tours
- Santorini festival tours
- Tradition tours in Santorini
- Santorini group tours
Day Trips from Santorini: The Short Answer
Thirasia and the caldera by boat are the two that are genuinely worth a day. Ios is the easiest island hop, Naxos and Paros are comfortable in season, and Crete is possible and long. Everything else is either on the island itself or not worth the ferry. Those are the day trips from santorini in one paragraph.
The honest framing of day trips from santorini is that the island is small enough to see in four days, so the excursions are for people staying a week or for anybody who wants a change of scale. Do the caldera boat first; of all the day trips from santorini it is the one nobody regrets.
Thirasia
The other half of the rim, with about 300 residents and the quietest of the day trips from santorini.
What it is. The western arc of the caldera, separated when the centre collapsed, with one main village at Manolas on the cliff and a small harbour at Riva below it.
What you do. Walk up the old stepped path or take the road, eat at a taverna in the square, and look back at Santorini from the far side. There is a monastery, a couple of beaches and almost nothing else, which is why it beats the busier day trips from santorini.
How to get there. The small local ferry from Ammoudi below Oia, or as a stop on almost every catamaran and volcano excursion.
How long. Half a day on the local boat; an hour or two as part of a cruise.
When. Boats run reliably from April to October and the local ferry is weather-dependent all year.
Worth it? Yes, and it is the closest thing to time travel available here: the Cyclades as they were before tourism, and the most surprising of the day trips from santorini. See Thirasia.
The Caldera and Nea Kameni
The best of the day trips from santorini does not leave the crater.
The trip. A boat from the old port below Fira or from Athinios, landing on Nea Kameni for a thirty-minute climb to the crater rim, then the warm sulphurous springs off Palia Kameni, then usually Thirasia and a swim.
The catamaran version. Five to seven hours with lunch cooked on board, swimming stops at White Beach and the Akrotiri cliffs, and the caldera wall lit gold at the end of the day. Semi-private trips take twelve to twenty people.
Cost. Roughly 30 to 45 euros a head for the classic volcano boat, and 100 to 180 with lunch on a catamaran.
What to take. Closed shoes for the scoria, a hat, water, and swimwear you do not mind staining at the springs.
When. April to October. The meltemi cancels boats in July and August, so book early in the week.
Of all the day trips from santorini this is the one we push hardest, because the cliff seen from the water is the view nobody gets from land. See Nea Kameni.
Ios
The easiest of the day trips from santorini and the one most people have not considered.
Crossing. Forty minutes to an hour by fast ferry, several sailings a day in season.
What is there. A hilltop Chora of whitewashed lanes and windmills, the long sandy sweep of Mylopotas, and a reputation for nightlife that belongs largely to July and August.
The day. First boat out, taxi or bus up to the Chora, a swim at Mylopotas, lunch, and back on an evening sailing.
Why go. Sand. After a week of black grit it is the most refreshing of the day trips from santorini, and the Chora is lovely at midday when Oia is not.
Watch for. The last sailing back, which is earlier than you expect outside high summer and ends more day trips from santorini badly than any other detail.
Naxos and Paros
Both are two to three hours each way, which makes them the longest of the practical day trips from santorini.
Naxos. The largest Cycladic island: the Portara gateway on the islet by the port, a Venetian old town, long sandy beaches at Agios Prokopios and Plaka, and mountain villages inland. A full day gives you the town, a beach and lunch, and no more.
Paros. Parikia and the Byzantine church of Ekatontapyliani, or Naoussa’s harbour with its fish tavernas and boats. Slightly closer than Naxos, and the easier of the two as day trips from santorini.
The arithmetic. Five hours on ferries out of a fourteen-hour day. It works in season with the fast boats and it is not a relaxing day.
Better idea. Stay two nights on one of them rather than making it one of your day trips from santorini. Both reward more time.
Crete
Possible, and the longest of all the day trips from santorini.
Crossing. About two hours each way to Heraklion by high-speed ferry, seasonal, with one or two sailings a day.
What fits. Knossos and the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, which together are one of the great archaeological pairings in Europe and sit twenty minutes apart. Nothing else.
Why it is tempting. Seeing Akrotiri here and then Knossos there, in the same week, joins the two halves of the Minoan story.
Why it is hard. A dawn departure, four hours at sea and no margin if the boat is late. Wind cancels the crossing.
The verdict. Do it only if the archaeology is the reason you came, and otherwise split the trip properly with three or four nights on Crete.
Folegandros, Sikinos and Anafi
The quiet neighbours, and the least practical of the day trips from santorini.
Folegandros. The best of the small-island day trips from santorini: a cliff-top Chora that rivals the caldera villages for drama, roughly forty-five minutes to an hour and a half depending on the vessel. The single best small-island day available here when the schedule cooperates.
Sikinos. Tiny, agricultural and almost untouched, and among the hardest day trips from santorini to schedule.
Anafi. East of Santorini, with a monastery on a monolith second in size only to Gibraltar. Beautiful, and the timetable rarely allows a day return.
The catch. Schedules on all three are built around islanders rather than visitors, so a day trip depends entirely on the sailings falling right. Check the week you arrive rather than planning around them.
Day Trips from Santorini by Ferry: Practicalities
The port. Every one of the ferry day trips from santorini leaves from Athinios, on the west coast under the cliff, twenty-five minutes from Fira. There is a ticket office, two cafés and nothing else.
Arrive early. Forty-five minutes before departure in season. The road down is single-file in places and the traffic before a big sailing is slow.
Book ahead. Essential in July and August for any of the day trips from santorini, and sensible in June and September.
Check the return. The single most important detail. Confirm the last sailing back before you buy the outbound on any of the day trips from santorini, and note that it moves through the season.
Wind. The meltemi cancels fast ferries first and conventional ones second. If your boat is cancelled you may be stuck overnight, so never plan one of your day trips from santorini for the day before a flight.
Parking. Free at Athinios and limited. A transfer is easier at both ends. See transfers.
Seasickness. High-speed craft slam rather than roll and have no outside deck, which spoils a good many day trips from santorini. Take the conventional ferry if you are prone to it.
Cost. Roughly 40 to 90 euros a head return depending on the island and the vessel.
The Day Trips That Never Leave the Island
Most of what people call day trips from santorini are forty minutes away by road.
Akrotiri and the south. The Bronze Age town under its roof, Red Beach, the lighthouse and a winery. A full day without hurrying, and the best of the land day trips from santorini. See Akrotiri.
Ancient Thira and Kamari. A Hellenistic city on a ridge, then the beach below it. See Ancient Thira.
The inland villages. Pyrgos, Emporio, Megalochori and Exo Gonia, none of which take any cruise traffic. See Pyrgos.
The wine day. Three estates from four in the afternoon with a driver. See the wine tour.
The rim walk. Fira to Oia, ten kilometres, three to four hours, and the best free one of the day trips from santorini.
Oia at dawn. Empty, level and cool, and back for breakfast. The cheapest of all the day trips from santorini.
Anybody with four nights should do these before looking at day trips from santorini to anywhere else.
Which Day Trips from Santorini Are Worth It?
Definitely. The caldera by catamaran, and Thirasia.
Probably. Ios if you want sand, and Folegandros if the sailings line up.
Only for a reason. Crete, for Knossos. Naxos or Paros, if you have a week and want a change.
Not really. Anafi and Sikinos as day returns, because the timetables fight you.
Never. Any of them on your last full day, and any of them if you only have three nights here.
The rule. On a four-night trip, no ferry at all. On a week, one of the day trips from santorini and no more.
Day Trips from Santorini in Winter
The picture changes completely between November and March.
Boats. The volcano trips, catamarans and Thirasia excursions stop for the season. The small local ferry to Thirasia runs when the weather allows.
Ferries. The fast catamarans stop; the conventional Blue Star continues to Piraeus and calls at Naxos and Paros on a reduced timetable, which makes a day return difficult and frequently impossible.
Wind. Gales cancel sailings for two or three days at a time, which rules out most winter day trips from santorini.
What replaces them. The on-island days above, all of which work year round: Akrotiri, the museums, the villages, the wineries and the rim path.
The verdict. In winter, treat day trips from santorini as land-based and plan nothing that needs a boat.
Timing the Week
Where the excursions sit in a trip matters as much as which ones you pick.
Not day one. Flights land late, transfers take time, and the first evening is a terrace and a dinner.
Not the last day. If the wind cancels it there is no second chance, and if the boat runs late you will be watching the clock instead of the cliff.
Early in the week. Put the boat on day two or three, so a cancellation can be moved rather than lost. This single habit saves more day trips from santorini than any other piece of planning.
Watch the forecast, not the calendar. Book the boat for the flat day and the land day for the windy one, rather than the other way round.
Leave one day empty. The unbooked afternoon is what everybody says afterwards that they enjoyed most.
With Children and With Limited Mobility
With children. A catamaran with swimming stops is the best day out on the island for any age above about five: shade, lunch, a toilet and the sea. The volcano climb suits energetic children over ten and nobody younger. Thirasia works if they will walk up a hill or you take the road.
With limited mobility. The volcano is out: it is a loose scoria path with no handrail. A catamaran is fine on a calm day if boarding at Athinios rather than by tender. Thirasia by the local ferry involves a steep climb or a taxi at the top. Most of the on-island days are the better answer, and Akrotiri in particular is roofed and walked on level boardwalks.
With a baby. Half-day boat trips only, or skip the water entirely. The land days work at any age with a car.
What to ask before booking. Shade on deck, a toilet, the total duration, the boarding point and the cancellation policy for wind. Those five questions sort out most day trips from santorini before you have paid anything.
What They Cost
Volcano and hot springs boat. 30 to 45 euros a head, the cheapest of the boat day trips from santorini, plus the small entrance fee on Nea Kameni.
Catamaran with lunch. 100 to 180 a head on a shared boat, considerably more for a private charter.
Local ferry to Thirasia. A few euros each way from Ammoudi.
Ios return. Roughly 40 to 70 euros a head, the cheapest of the island day trips from santorini.
Naxos or Paros return. 60 to 100.
Crete return. 80 to 130, plus a taxi or hire car at the far end for Knossos.
Transfer to Athinios. From about 40 euros per vehicle, which for four people beats two taxis that do not exist.
A private guided day on the island. From around 340 euros for the vehicle rather than per person.
Priced honestly, most day trips from santorini cost less than a single dinner on the caldera rim, which is worth knowing before dismissing them.
Mistakes People Make
Booking a ferry day before a flight. Wind cancels sailings and the airline does not care, which ruins more day trips from santorini than anything else.
Not checking the last boat back. The commonest way to end up on the wrong island at nine in the evening.
Doing Naxos in a day. Five hours at sea for four hours ashore.
Taking the fast boat in a meltemi. An enclosed cabin, no deck, and a rough hour.
Climbing the volcano at midday in August. Loose black scoria with no shade.
Good swimwear at the hot springs. The iron stains it.
Booking a ferry on a three-night trip. You have not seen this island yet, so day trips from santorini can wait.
Assuming Athinios has facilities. It has a ticket office and two cafés, which surprises everybody starting one of the ferry day trips from santorini.
Driving to the port and hunting for parking. Book a transfer.
Day Trips from Santorini: Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best day trip from Santorini? A catamaran round the caldera with swimming stops, or the volcano and Thirasia by boat. Both stay inside the crater and both give the view you cannot get from land.
Can you do a day trip to another island? Yes. Ios is forty minutes to an hour, Folegandros about an hour, Naxos and Paros two to three hours, and Crete about two hours, all by high-speed ferry in season.
Is a day trip to Crete possible? Yes, in season, and it is a long day. Knossos and the Heraklion museum fit; nothing else does.
How much does a boat trip cost? Roughly 30 to 45 euros a head for the volcano and hot springs, and 100 to 180 for a catamaran with lunch.
How do you get to Thirasia? The small local ferry from Ammoudi below Oia, or as a stop on most catamaran and volcano excursions.
Which port do ferries leave from? Athinios, on the west coast, about twenty-five minutes from Fira. Arrive forty-five minutes early in season.
Do trips run in winter? The excursion boats stop from about November to March. The Blue Star ferry continues on a reduced timetable, which rarely allows a day return.
What if the wind cancels the boat? Fast ferries are pulled first. Never plan a crossing for the day before a flight, and keep a spare day.
Are the hot springs worth it? As a curiosity. The water is lukewarm and the iron stains swimwear.
How many day trips should we do? One on a four-night stay, two on a week. The island itself takes four days.
Do we need to book ahead? Boats yes, in July and August especially. Book the day trips from santorini before the restaurants. Ferries a few weeks ahead at peak.
Is a private boat worth it? For four or more, frequently yes, because it is priced per boat and you control the route and the timing.
We Will Build the Day Around the Wind
We are a local operator running private tours and transfers in our own vehicles, and half the skill in planning day trips from santorini is knowing which day to put the boat on.
We watch the forecast, we get you to Athinios or the old port without a parking search, and on the land days we take you round the island at the hours that actually work: Akrotiri before the coaches, the wineries after four, and Oia when you can walk down the main street.
Prices are per vehicle rather than per person, hotel pickup anywhere on the island is included, we guide in twelve languages, and an 80 EUR deposit confirms a date.
See the personalised tour, the full day tour, or contact us.
Every Village and Site on the Island
Any of these can be built into a private day. Each has its own page with what to see and how long to allow.
Caldera villages: Fira · Firostefani · Imerovigli · Oia · Finikia · Baxedes
Inland villages: Pyrgos · Megalochori · Emporio · Mesaria · Karterados · Vothonas · Vourvoulos · Exo Gonia · Mesa Gonia · Pigadia
Beaches: Perissa · Perivolos · Kamari · Vlychada · Monolithos · Red Beach · White Beach · Agios Georgios · Agia Paraskevi
Sites and landmarks: Akrotiri · Ancient Thira · Akrotiri Lighthouse · Nea Kameni · Palia Kameni · Thirasia · Athinios Port
All our tours: All Santorini tours · Full day tour · Sightseeing tour · Personalised tour · North part tour · Horse riding · South part tour · Sunset tour · Shore excursion · Caldera tour · Food experience · Wine tour · Historical tour · Small group tour
Planning and services: Famous sights tour · Private transfers · Transfers to Oia and Finikia · Transfers to other villages · Villages of Santorini · History of Santorini · Tours near you · Languages we guide in · Food and fun tours · Gay friendly tours · Our tour buses · Daily tours · Day tours · FAQ · Gallery · Tour photo gallery · About us · Contact · Blog
