What to do in Santorini for the day??

We have never been to Santorini before and I was wondering what is their to do there?, any tips/ideas??

And What do you do when you go there?? :)

Is there any private tours you would recommend?

Any tips/advise/ideas are very welcome.

There are MANY MANY threads just down the board on all of your questions. Without knowing you, your interests, limitations and budget, hard to make a recommendation.

Santorini is very easy to DIY with just a little research. Spending a good bit of time along the caldera rim in Oia and Fira, enjoying the scenery, would be satisfying all by itself.

We just got back, and we took the city bus to Oia, walked around the shops, had a nice lunch, took many pictures. You will love it. By far the best stop on our cruise. Enjoy!!! :cool:

We have never been to Santorini

Any tips/advise/ideas are very welcome.

Pop over to the volcano and swim in the hot (warm :)) springs ? I think it was €20 pp from the dockside.

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Pop over to the volcano and swim in the hot (warm :)) springs ? I think it was €20 pp from the dockside.

 

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Do you pick it up where the tenders dock (below the cable car) or at the far dock away from the cable car? Seabourn charging $79 PER PERSON so 20 euro sounds excellent.

Thanks

We got on the first tender to town and rented a car from Tony's. We drove the island at our leisure. We went to Oia first before all the tour buses got there (we were the only ship in port, luckily). We spent a few hours in Oia, then drove to some of the wineries, beaches, stopped at a beer brewery, then back to town to drop the car off. We took the last tender back to the ship.

Hi!

I just came back from Santorini.We had our wedding on June 2nd there, so we spent a whole week on the island.One day we arranged a private tour by minibus visiting Oia,Firostefani ,Imerovigli.Another day we booked a private boat and did the caldera tour.And on our last tour we visited Akrotiri,Pyrgos village,Red beach for photos and Black beach.We didn't visit a winery as we were getting married in one(Santo Winery)!

Try Gold Street Travel ,we booked all the excursions with them,they are great!

Annabel4 congratulations on your wedding! We used Gold Street Travel too.Aren't they awesome?You were so lucky to get married in SantoWinery!We did wine tasting there!Kiwi_cruiser don't miss the wine tasting!

Annabel4 congratulations on your wedding! We used Gold Street Travel too.Aren't they awesome?You were so lucky to get married in SantoWinery!We did wine tasting there!Kiwi_cruiser don't miss the wine tasting!

Do you need reservations for tastings at Santo (or other Santorini wineries) or can you just stop in?

Do you pick it up where the tenders dock (below the cable car) or at the far dock away from the cable car? Seabourn charging $79 PER PERSON so 20 euro sounds excellent.

 

Thanks

Yes, as you get off the tender the kiosk that sells it will be very obvious, just a few yards away. The whole thing takes exactly 3 hours and you get about an hour on the volcano and around 45 minutes to swim.

Do you need reservations for tastings at Santo (or other Santorini wineries) or can you just stop in?

No we didn't reserve anything,we just made a stop while on the tour,sat on a table and ordered.

Yes, as you get off the tender the kiosk that sells it will be very obvious, just a few yards away. The whole thing takes exactly 3 hours and you get about an hour on the volcano and around 45 minutes to swim.

Is that just one operator or are there several to choose from? Looking at Caldera's boat and trying to decide to reserve with them or just walk on to a boat when we arrive.

We rented a car from Hertz and drove to Oia. In 2009, we took the city bus to Oia which was fine too. We had four of us this time so decided the car would be worth it for us this time. We got an international drivers license ahead of time because it is supposedly required in Greece, but they never asked to see it.

We stopped at the Santo winery before dropping off the car back in Thira. It was a bit of a zoo because of a bunch of bus tours when we first arrived, but managed to find a table and had a really nice tasting there. Then the tour people left and it was nice and quiet. We split a 12 glass wine tasting package (good sized pours!) which also included bread, tapanade and cheese.

Yesterday we had a 5 hours private tour visiting Akrotiri,SantoWinery,Firostefani,Imerovigli ,Oia with Gold-Street Travel.Had very good reviews in the forums and proved to be a great company, with very professional & careful drivers.We didn't have any issues in paying with credit cards or cash.(Even the cafeterias accepted our credit card for small amounts like 9 euros)!

We got on the first tender to town and rented a car from Tony's. We drove the island at our leisure. We went to Oia first before all the tour buses got there (we were the only ship in port, luckily). We spent a few hours in Oia, then drove to some of the wineries, beaches, stopped at a beer brewery, then back to town to drop the car off. We took the last tender back to the ship.

Is Tony's easy to get to? I have a reservation with them in a few weeks. Also, what wineries did you hit?

Chris

Thank You everyone for the information :)

We were just in Santorini last week (Sept 2nd). If you are looking to do something very inexpensive and on your own with no reservations, I would recommend taking one of the boat trips that take you from Fira to Oia. You can tour Oia in the early afternoon (beautiful place) and then take the bus back to Fira to watch the sunset. The cost for both the boat and bus back to Fira is 10 euros per person. It is not the glamour tour because it is just transportation to get where you want to go, but for the price, it was well worth it. Then after sunset, we just took the cable car down and only waited about 5 minutes. Cost of cable car was 5 euros per person. You will see these boat tours available right when you get off the tender from the cruise ship.

So, it's a good way to avoid cable car?

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We were just in Santorini last week (Sept 2nd). If you are looking to do something very inexpensive and on your own with no reservations, I would recommend taking one of the boat trips that take you from Fira to Oia. You can tour Oia in the early afternoon (beautiful place) and then take the bus back to Fira to watch the sunset. The cost for both the boat and bus back to Fira is 10 euros per person. It is not the glamour tour because it is just transportation to get where you want to go, but for the price, it was well worth it. Then after sunset, we just took the cable car down and only waited about 5 minutes. Cost of cable car was 5 euros per person. You will see these boat tours available right when you get off the tender from the cruise ship.

You are right this is a option. We also did it Sep. 2nd, btw we paid 20 Euro (??). Warning: a lot of confusing little roads, we couldn't find our way back

to the bus in time (shame on me). Fortunatly some greek locals helped us

to call the office of this boatsmen company, they picked us up with a

Mercedes and brought us back to Fira, otherwise we may me would have

missed our ship. thank you very much. Lines at the cable car were very long at 7.30 pm so we walked down and survived, donkeys were tired and

not aggressive. Enjoyed the evening on the ship very much.

To Captain99 - you are not going to totally avoid the cable car because eventually you have to go back down from Fira to the cruise ship, but taking the the small ferry from the Fira port to the town of Oia was a great way to avoid the cable car going up. We watched the sunset (which was at about 745) and then made our way to the cable car shortly thereafter. We were actually there on September 1st (a Tuesday) so maybe there were less ships in port that day??? But we literally had a very little wait going down. And if there is a wait, you can always walk down. We talked to someone who did walk down and they said it was about 30 minutes, but it was messy.

We didn't have much trouble finding our way back to the bus but we just backtracked. I can see where the pathways get confusing but I have to admit, I just followed my husband -- he has a great internal compass!! LOL

A great website, if you are not aware of it, is: http://ships.cruisett.com/

This lets you know what ships are in port the same time as your own so you can get an idea of the port load that day.