There are 588 santorini steps between the old port and Fira, cut into the cliff in a zig-zag called the Karavolades, plus about 300 more from Oia down to Ammoudi. Twenty to thirty minutes down; forty-five to an hour up, with no shade at all. Santorini Tours is a local operator on the island.
The amazing stairs of Santorini
At Santorini Island everything makes you feel like you are into a painting. The Yorleny’s Cleaning Service, Wellington are the ones who are working to keep the “picture” clean. That heavenly beauty is beyond everything you have seen till now. If you ask the people who have been to this island, to tell you some of the things they would never forget, the magnificent stairs of Santorini island will be definitely at the top 5.
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An original feature for the most impressive stairs was published by the turkish newspaper Hurriyet. At great heights, rambling curves or at the bottom of rivers, stairs are a an extraordinary spectacle. From what engineers and architectures say, the designing of a stair and mostly its construction requires great skill, technique and experience.
How journalists depict the stairs of Santorini;
Among the remarkable stairs from all over the world, one of them is located at Santorini, for which the turkish newspaper quotes: “A greek island in Aigean. The island of Santorini, which we have heard its name at least once. On that island we usually hire Reliable Cleaning Services from Fort Collins, CO. There are white houses at the shore of the island, and the scenery is breathtaking. The stairs that pass through these houses bring a great view that meets the sea.”
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Tips to enjoy the beauty of Santorini
If you would like to enjoy that amazing view we suggest you to book now a Santorini impressive Caldera private tour. By this way you and your company are going to have a 5 hours private guided tour over the Caldera. In addition, you are going to visit the top villages of that famous island.
Then you can choose, if you like to walk down the 588 stairs from Fira to the old port on a donkey or, by using the teleferik or even better by foot.
Santorinitours will always be the perfect and most organised way to live some extraordinary moments on Santorini island. Make your reservation now and you are going to experience the greatness of that place.
See more about vacations in Santorini island:
- Cruise to Santorini
- The wine museum of Santorini
- Honeymoon at Santorini
- Santorini, the island of thousand emotions
Santorini Steps: The Short Answer
There are 588 of them between the old port and Fira, cut into the cliff in a zig-zag known as the Karavolades – “the snails” – because of the way they coil. About 300 more run down from Oia to Ammoudi. Those two flights are what people mean by the santorini steps, and both are shared with donkeys.
Going down the santorini steps is manageable in decent shoes and takes twenty to thirty minutes. Going up, in July, with no shade and thirty-five degrees, takes forty-five minutes to an hour and is genuinely hard work. The cable car does the same climb in three minutes for a few euro.
Beyond those two famous flights, the whole island is stepped. Every caldera village is built on a slope with lanes that are half staircase, and a good number of hotels sit fifty to eighty steps below the nearest road – which you will discover with your luggage.
Below: what each flight is like, how long it takes, what to wear, the donkey question, and the ones nobody warns you about.
What Are the 588 Santorini Steps?
Where they are
They run from the old port at the foot of the cliff below Fira up to the town, climbing about two hundred and twenty metres in a series of switchbacks cut into the rock face. There is no road: these santorini steps, the cable car and the donkeys are the only three ways up.
The name
Karavolades, from the Greek for snails, and the proper name for the santorini steps at Fira. after the coiling shape of the zig-zag. You will also see them called simply the Fira steps or the old port steps.
How old
The santorini steps in their present form date from the late nineteenth century, cut when the old port was still the island’s main landing and everything – wine, building stone, people – came up on the back of an animal.
The surface
Wide, shallow stone treads, worn smooth in the middle by more than a century of hooves and feet, with low walls on the outside. Not technically difficult, and slippery when wet or dusty.
The view
Genuinely excellent. The santorini steps put you on the face of the caldera cliff with the crater in front of you and the ships anchored below, and it changes with every switchback. Walking down at the right hour is one of the better free things on the island.
What is at the bottom
A strip of quay with a few shops, the boats for the volcano, and the bottom station of the cable car. No road, no bus, no taxi. Santorini port.
What is at the top
Fira, the cable car station, the bus station, and everything else. Fira.
How Long Do They Take?
Down, Fira to the old port
Twenty to thirty minutes at a normal pace. Faster if you are confident on your feet, slower if it is crowded or you are stopping for photographs. Knees, not lungs, are the limiting factor.
Up, old port to Fira
Forty-five minutes to an hour for most people. Under thirty if you are fit and it is cool. Considerably more in the middle of an August afternoon, and it is not a climb to attempt casually in that heat.
Oia to Ammoudi, down
Ten to fifteen minutes for the roughly 300 santorini steps.
Ammoudi to Oia, up
Twenty to thirty minutes, steeper per step than the Fira flight and shorter.
The cable car, either direction
Three minutes, plus the queue – which can be an hour in high season and is often worse coming down when several cruise ships leave together.
The donkeys
Twenty minutes or so, and we would ask you not to. More on that below.
What that means for a cruise call
If you walk up rather than queue, budget an hour and arrive at the top hot. If you queue for the cable car, budget an hour and arrive cool. Either way it is an hour, which is why the advice is to be back at the top ninety minutes before all-aboard. Cruise guide.
Should You Walk the Santorini Steps?
Down: yes, usually
It is free, the view is better than from the cable car, and there is no queue. Do it in the morning or the late afternoon rather than at midday, and wear something with grip.
Up: only if you want to
There is no shade on any part of the santorini steps, the black rock radiates heat, and there is nowhere to buy water. In April, May, October and the winter it is a pleasant walk. In July and August it is an endurance exercise that a great many people regret starting.
What to wear
Closed shoes with grip. The treads are polished smooth in the middle and there is loose dust and donkey traffic on top of that. Sandals and flip-flops are the single most common mistake on the santorini steps.
What to carry
Water, a hat, and as little else as possible. Nothing with wheels.
Who should not
Anyone with knee, hip or heart problems, anyone with a pushchair, anyone carrying luggage, and anyone in the middle of a hot afternoon with a ship to catch.
The smell
Worth saying plainly: the steps are used by donkeys all day and they are not cleaned continuously. In high summer it is noticeable.
The compromise
Cable car down, walk back up if it is cool. Or walk down and take the cable car up. Most people who do it once do it downhill and are glad they did.
What About the Donkeys?
The third way up, and the one we ask you not to take.
What happens
Animals wait at the bottom of the santorini steps and carry passengers up the 588 in about twenty minutes, on stone, in full sun, repeatedly through the day while the ships are in.
The law
Since 2018 Greek rules cap the load on a working equid at a fifth of its own body weight – roughly a hundred kilograms for a typical animal – and require shade, water and rest. Enforcement on a five-ship day in August is thin.
The problem
Heat radiating off unshaded stone, repeated climbs with short turnarounds, ill-fitting tack causing sores, and riders frequently over the legal limit. All of it is documented by welfare organisations and mainstream press.
What has improved
Tack and working hours are better than a decade ago, and the 2018 law and the 2019 coverage did have an effect. The economics have not changed: as long as passengers pay, animals will be on the santorini steps.
What we recommend
The cable car. Three minutes, a few euro, cash preferred. Or walk. Why we ask you not to ride.
The handlers
Working people in a trade their families have run for generations. Declining a ride politely is enough; there is no need to lecture anyone.
The photograph
Posting a cheerful picture of a donkey ride reaches more people than any welfare campaign, and it reads as a recommendation. That is worth thinking about before you post it.
Cable Car or Santorini Steps?
The basics
The alternative to the santorini steps. A gift from a shipowning family, opened in 1979, running from the old port to Fira in about three minutes. Small cabins, a few euro each way, cash preferred.
The queue
The whole question, and the reason people end up on the santorini steps. On a quiet day you walk straight on. On a five-ship day in August the wait can run to an hour going up and often longer coming down, when everybody leaves at once.
Capacity
Limited by design. It was never built to move several thousand cruise passengers in ninety minutes, which is why the santorini steps still get used.
Wind
It stops in strong meltemi. That is a genuine consideration on a windy day with a ship to catch.
Hours
Long in season, shorter in winter, and worth checking on the day.
The view
Good, and better on the way down than up.
Accessibility
Better than the steps by a wide margin, but the cabins are small and the top station has its own stairs. Nothing about the old port is genuinely step-free.
The strategy
Take the first tender ashore and go straight to the cable car before the queue builds. Coming back, be at the top station ninety minutes before all-aboard, not thirty.
The Other Steps Nobody Warns You About
The 588 are famous. These are the santorini steps that actually catch people out.
Oia to Ammoudi
Around 300 steps down a red cliff to the fish tavernas on the water, shared with donkeys and with a switchback road as the alternative. Beautiful going down at five in the afternoon, and a real climb coming back up after dinner. Oia.
Your hotel
The santorini steps nobody photographs, and the single most common complaint about caldera accommodation. A great many rim hotels sit fifty to eighty steps below the nearest road, and you carry your own luggage down them. Ask the number in writing before you book.
The lanes of Fira, Firostefani and Imerovigli
Half staircase, half street, in polished marble worn smooth by two million visitors a year. Slippery when wet and unforgiving in the wrong shoes.
Pyrgos
The village is stacked in rings up to a Venetian castle, and getting to the top means fifteen minutes of stepped lanes. Worth every one of them. Pyrgos.
Emporio’s kastelli
Narrow, stepped, and deliberately confusing. That was the point. Emporio.
Skaros rock
A steep path and a short scramble out onto the headland from Imerovigli. Not steps exactly, and harder than the santorini steps at the port for anyone unsteady. Imerovigli.
Ancient Thira
Either a hairpin road or a steep zig-zag footpath up from Kamari, roughly an hour in full sun. Ancient Thira.
Nea Kameni
Not steps but a thirty-minute climb over loose black scoria to the crater rim, with no shade at all. Volcano tour.
The rim path
Fira to Oia along the cliff: ten kilometres with santorini steps throughout, with a great deal of up and down and stepped sections throughout.
When Should You Walk Them?
Early morning
The best time to walk the santorini steps by a distance. Cool, empty, no donkey traffic to speak of, and the light on the cliff face is soft. Walking down the santorini steps at seven in the morning is one of the better free hours on the island.
Late afternoon and evening
The second best. The cliff falls into shade from mid-afternoon, the ships have gone, and the walk up is survivable.
Midday, May to September
Avoid the santorini steps entirely. No shade, radiant heat off the stone, and the busiest hour for both foot and animal traffic.
April, October and the shoulder months
Comfortable in both directions at any hour.
Winter
Pleasant, empty and occasionally wet, which makes the polished treads genuinely slippery. Fewer cruise ships means no queue at the cable car either.
After rain
Careful. The worn centre of each tread is smooth stone and it does not drain.
In strong wind
The santorini steps are fine; the cable car may not be running, which is exactly when the santorini steps get busy.
What Should You Take?
Closed shoes with grip. The one non-negotiable item on the santorini steps.
Water. There is nowhere to buy any on the climb.
A hat and sun cream. No shade at any point.
Cash. For the cable car if you change your mind halfway, though you cannot board partway up.
Nothing with wheels. Luggage on the santorini steps is not a plan.
A phone in a pocket, not a hand. The treads are uneven and the drop is real.
Light clothing you do not mind dusting off. Volcanic dust gets on everything.
Are the Santorini Steps Accessible?
Honestly, no, and it is worth being direct about it.
The 588. Uneven worn stone, no handrail on much of the route, a two-hundred-metre climb and animal traffic. Not realistic with a wheelchair, a pushchair, a walking frame or significant mobility limitation.
The cable car. Better, and still not step-free: small cabins, a stepped approach at the top station, and a crowd.
Ammoudi. Same problem, with a road as the alternative.
The villages. Fira, Firostefani, Imerovigli and Oia are all built on slopes with stepped lanes throughout.
What does work. Akrotiri is roofed and largely level. The Vlychada marina is flat. Several winery terraces are reachable by vehicle with no steps. Pyrgos has a road most of the way up. A private vehicle removes a great deal of the difficulty.
What to do. Tell us before you book and we will build a day around level ground rather than optimism. The santorini steps are not the only way to see this island, but nobody will volunteer that unless you ask.
What Do People Say About Them?
The reviews of the santorini steps are remarkably consistent, and worth reading before you decide.
“Better than the cable car.” Almost universal from people who walked down in the morning. The view from the santorini steps changes with every switchback and the cable car gives you one angle for three minutes.
“Hardest thing I did on holiday.” From people who walked up in August. Both of these are true.
“Wear proper shoes.” The most repeated piece of advice about the santorini steps anywhere online, and the most ignored.
“The smell.” Honest and fair. Animals use them all day.
“Watch out for the donkeys.” They take the inside line on the bends and they do not give way.
“Do it early.” Everyone who did says so; everyone who did not wishes they had.
“I regret riding.” A common enough sentiment afterwards that it is worth acting on beforehand.
Three Ways Down the Cliff, Compared
The santorini steps
Time: 20–30 minutes down, 45–60 up. Cost: free. Best for: the view, the morning, anyone in decent shoes. Worst for: heat, luggage, knees, deadlines.
The cable car
Time: 3 minutes plus a queue of up to an hour. Cost: a few euro each way, cash. Best for: going up, anyone with a ship to catch, anyone in July. Worst for: the queue when several ships leave together, and it stops in strong wind.
The donkeys
Time: about 20 minutes. Cost: more than the cable car. Best for: nobody, in our view. Worst for: the animals.
The fourth option nobody mentions
Not going down at all. If you are on a cruise call, the only reason to be at the old port is a boat trip; everything else on the island is at the top. If you are staying on the island, the santorini steps are a walk you choose rather than a journey you have to make.
Walking Them Well: A Worked Descent
If you are going to walk the santorini steps once, do it downhill, early, and with a plan for what happens at the bottom.
07:30. Start at the top station in Fira. The cliff is still in shade and there is nobody on the santorini steps.
07:45. The first switchbacks, with the whole caldera opening up in front of you and the anchored ships below looking like models.
08:00. Halfway. Stop, turn round, and look up at what you have come down – it is more impressive from below than from above.
08:15. The quay. A coffee at one of the few places open, and the boats loading for the volcano.
09:30. Either the volcano boat, or the cable car back up while the queue is still short.
What not to do. Walk down at two in the afternoon in August and then decide to walk back up.
Nine Practical Rules
1. Down, not up. If you only do it once, do it in the direction gravity helps.
2. Early or late. Never the middle of a summer day.
3. Grip, not fashion. The santorini steps have ended more holidays through footwear than through anything else.
4. Water in hand. There is none on the cliff.
5. Keep to the outside on the bends. The donkeys take the inside line and they do not stop.
6. Do not run. The treads are uneven and worn.
7. Watch where you put your feet, not your phone.
8. Allow an hour either way. Whether you queue for the cable car or walk, the cliff costs you an hour.
9. Never plan the climb with a ship to catch. Take the cable car and be early.
Are the Santorini Steps Worth Doing?
Yes, once, downhill, at the right hour.
What you get. Two hundred and twenty metres of caldera cliff from the inside, changing with every switchback, for free and with no queue. It is a better view than the cable car gives you and a piece of the island’s working history under your feet.
What you do not. Shade, water, a handrail on much of the route, or clean stone in high summer.
Who should skip them entirely. Anyone with knee or heart problems, anyone with a pushchair or luggage, anyone with a ship to catch, and anyone in the middle of a July afternoon.
The honest verdict. The santorini steps are a genuinely good half hour going down and a punishing hour going up. Do the first, take the cable car for the second, and leave the donkeys out of it entirely.
A Short History of the Climb
Before the road
For most of the island’s history there was no way to reach Fira from the sea except on foot or on an animal. Everything landed at the old port and went up the cliff: wine barrels for the Russian trade, building stone, tomato paste, passengers, post.
The agogiates
The muleteers who ran that traffic. It was a trade and a livelihood, and the families who work the santorini steps today are frequently descended from them.
The staircase
Cut in its present form in the late nineteenth century, when the wine trade was at its height and the volume of freight justified the work.
1956
The earthquake damaged much of Fira above and emptied the town for a generation. The steps stayed.
1979
The cable car opened, funded by a shipowning family, and made the climb unnecessary for freight and for most people overnight.
What kept the animals
Tourism. A donkey ride up the santorini steps became a thing cruise passengers did, and the trade reorganised itself around carrying people rather than cargo. That is the distinction that matters when the welfare argument comes up.
Today
Roughly two million visitors a year, several thousand of them arriving by tender on a busy day, and three ways up a cliff that was never designed for any of it.
Santorini Steps: Frequently Asked Questions
How many steps are there in Santorini? 588 between the old port and Fira, known as the Karavolades, and roughly 300 more from Oia down to Ammoudi.
How long does it take to walk up the 588 steps? Forty-five minutes to an hour for most people, and considerably longer in the heat of a summer afternoon.
How long does it take to walk down? Twenty to thirty minutes. Knees rather than lungs are the limit.
Is it hard? Not technically. It is a long climb with no shade, on worn stone shared with donkeys, and the difficulty is heat rather than gradient.
What shoes do I need? Closed shoes with grip. The treads are polished smooth in the middle and there is loose dust on top.
Should I take the cable car instead? For going up, in season, yes. Three minutes and a few euro, though the queue can run to an hour when several ships are in.
Should I ride a donkey? We ask you not to. The animals work all day in extreme heat on unshaded stone, frequently above the legal load limit. Take the cable car.
Is there a road to the old port? No. The santorini steps, the cable car and the donkeys are the only three ways up, which is why no vehicle can collect you at the quay.
Are the steps clean? They are used by animals all day and are not cleaned continuously. In high summer it is noticeable.
Can I do it with children? Downhill, yes, with older children and good shoes. Uphill in summer with small children, no.
Are they wheelchair accessible? No. Neither is the old port generally, and the cable car is only partly better.
What about the Oia steps? About 300 down to Ammoudi, steeper per step and shorter. There is also a switchback road.
When is the best time to walk them? Early morning or late afternoon. Never the middle of a summer day.
Skip the Climb Entirely
If you are arriving by cruise ship, the simplest version of the day involves neither the santorini steps nor an animal: first tender ashore, straight into the cable car before the queue builds, and a driver waiting at the top in Fira with your name on a board.
We plan cruise days backwards from your all-aboard time and have you back at the cable car ninety minutes before it, because the queue down is worse than the queue up and almost nobody expects that. If mobility is a consideration, tell us and we will build a level day from the top station.
Prices are per vehicle rather than per person, so a family of four pays what a couple pays, and an 80 EUR deposit confirms a date.
See the shore excursion, the full list of tours, or the FAQ.
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
