Good Directions to Tony's Rental Car Facility, Santorini

We are planning to rent a car or quad ATV from Tony's in Fira on Santorini. I've seen his little map, plus read directions from someone who has rented from him, and I'm still pretty confused. I know the roads aren't always marked, or marked well, on Santorini, and on Santorini map, so I'm wondering if anyone has any advice on how to find the place? If not, does anyone know of a very detailed map I could use? I think the hardest part will be getting to the main road. Also, about how long does it take to get there from the top cable car station, assuming we don't get lost?!

roothy123, just replied the same question on another thread. Yes, Tony's map isn't very clear at all. The main road is about 5 minutes from the cable car station in Fira, but we were asked to take a narrow lane to the left before the main road. You need to walk quite a bit along this lane, then you come to a sort of fork where you turn right, the road goes down quite steeply, Tony's is there on your left. We took close to 15 minutes I think, especially since we were stopping to ask along the way. There aren't many shops, etc on this lane and it was sort of quiet first thing in the morning, maybe there's more activity later in the day. But I do think there must be a sorter way if you take the main road, though this lane must have run more or less parallel to it. Am sure some of the others will be able to tell you, enjoy your time in Santorini:)

Thanks. I am still confused when I look at a map, plus Google Earth, as to what route I'm supposed to take, but I'll figure it out (hopefully, anyway!)

I appreciate the help.

Oh, never mind. I think I got it. I used your instructions, google maps with "what's there?" feature, and found Tony's and the route. The mapping software says it's 8 min. walking via the main road or the road you walked. It shows the cars in a dirt lot across the street (water side). This sounds pretty easy/fast now. In snooping around, I also saw a Sixt (a bit closer to the cable car but not on the main road), a Hertz and a Budget on the main road, a bus stop, and a taxi stand!

Thanks again.

The mapping software may say 8 mins but we took 12+ mins IMO, especially since we stopped to ask for directions several times. One time we turned back thinking we were going the wrong way, then turned back and walked on. Maybe you should find someplace closer, Hertz or one of the others perhaps? But except for the initial hiccup we had absolutely no problems at all, the car was newish, in good condition and the aircon worked very well.

Does anyone have a map they can share? I can't seem to get one. Thanks!

I can send you one this evening. Think I have figured it out pretty well. On Google use hotel thira.

Here is info for people wanting to rent from Tony's:

I'm going to send the map from Tony in a second post, as I don't have it on this computer. Info on the map is as follows: If you make a reservation, Tony should send you this map. I may have cut off a bit to the east, but where you want to go in order to get to Tony's (at Hotel Thira - but NOT Hotel King Thira, not far away!) is right up in the corner of the map. If you keep going on that street pointing to the right-most corner of the map (in other words, after turning right at the primary school, it goes a very short distance past Hotel Thira/Tony's and ends up on one of the primary driving streets in Fira, 25 Martiou. Although Martiou is a primary street, it's a small one, lined with businesses, with little place to park and not much more space to walk. Tony's directions are taking you on a walking path to the west of 25 Martiou, although you could just go out to Martiou from the cable car station, turn left on Martiou, walk up to when you see Hotel Thira on a street coming in on your left. I was able to pull up some Google "what's here" street views and it looks like it's pretty easy to see Tony's from the street.

OK, the attachments to this post are 1) Hotel Thira with Tony's sign and 2) Google map that shows the area. You can pull up the map in maps.google.com, hit directions, and then put in "Santorini Cable Car Thera Greece" as the "from" and "hotel thira, main street, fira 84700" as the "To" to get 3 different choices of routes. Make sure you've pressed the "walking" option (perhaps a person?)

I read various people's instructions and was confused, as some mentioned steps, and others just a long path. When you look at these maps, especially Tony's, it makes sense.

Google says it takes 7 to 9 minutes depending upon which route you take, but I'm planning on at least 10 to 15!

Hope this helps; Tony's map coming in a minute or two!

I attached Tony's map but it is difficult to read. I'll see what I can do later to make it better.

Hope this shows up better. If not, nothing I can do about it, I guess, as Cruise Critic compresses photos down to nothingness!! See attachment.

Hope this shows up better. If not, nothing I can do about it, I guess, as Cruise Critic compresses photos down to nothingness!! See attachment.

Thanks! It is kind of tiny...can you email it to me at Jolinda"@"jolindababcock.com? Thanks so much!

OK, just sent it to you!

Last week when were on Santorini there was traffic gridlock. People in rental cars were struggling to drive anywhere near Oia. The Quad bike riders had no helmets! Crazy.

Last week when were on Santorini there was traffic gridlock. People in rental cars were struggling to drive anywhere near Oia. The Quad bike riders had no helmets! Crazy.

Oh boy, don't like hearing that. However I sometimes check the Santorini Boatmen site and see there are 5 ships there on the same day in summer. If you add in people who come by ferry it can be a mess. I think there is a second way into Oia, so drivers may want to see if parking options are different if you come in from the north and west.

Oh, and just read your review of the cruise and visit to Santorini - thanks!

After looking at several maps, I'm not so sure that using Tony's will be fail safe for walking. I have one map that shows that one of the major roads/paths in Fira/Firostefani does not go through around the big Catholic Church complex there, and I'm worried about having to navigate myself through the church. Therefore, I'm planning to try the 6 minute Google map routing, which goes up the clifftop path a tiny bit, then turns right to get onto another street/path to go up north to Tony's. While I doubt this will take only 6 minutes, it seems to be the most fail safe of routes to take.

Just thought I'd throw that out in case anyone has the same misgivings as I do. And if anyone has used the map recently and found it to be failsafe, let me know and I may reconsider!

For people driving, you may want to look at santorini.gr - fabulous site.

Just in case anyone is renting from Tony's and wants a little bit more information on how to get there:

I found a wonderful map. It's here: skymap.gr

Click on the Fira map and zoom. It's great because it was done by an actual person, which probably makes it more accurate than google or other maps done by satellite. It also shows steps in addition to roads (and there are a lot of steps in Fira, Santorini!) which is useful. It also shows more clearly that Fira is truly a town with different "levels" set against the cliff. What looks easy on a 2-dimensional map may not turn out to be so straightforward when you get there and see all the steps!

After looking at Skymap, I've decided I WILL take the route suggested by Tony, since I can now see a better representation of what's where. If you go pretty far to the left, you can see the cable car markings, the path along the cliff, the streets that Tony suggests using, and a couple key landmarks. I see the "archway" on one street on the way to Tony's, and that also explains why one map I looked at showed a break in the street. No, you can't drive a car down that street, but you can certainly walk.

I have also been looking to find a particular cliffside church near the cable car that I want to photograph. It's on the map, too, although perhaps not named.

In any case, the instructions I now plan to follow to get to Tony's are as follows:

Exit cable car onto Nomikou, the part of Nomikou that is solid street, not the stepped cliffside walk that is also called Nomikou. This cliffside walk goes all the way up to Oia (in 3 hours) - someone has documented the walk in a number of YouTube videos! It looks pretty interesting for a ways (through Imerovigli).

Anyway, turn left when you exit the cable car station onto Nomikou and walk a short distance to the Archaeological Museum. Turn left after the museum onto the walking path known as E. Stavrou. Go up that street, passing the Catholic complex off to your left (great photo opps if you like belltowers!), Gyzi Museum, through an arch, until you reach the point shown on Tony's map with primary school and a road (or possibly just a path) running both ways across Stavrou. This looks to be the first time on Stavrou that the road will be on your left AND right. Now your off the Skymap, but Tony's shows a right turn on that road, which looks to be Agiou Ioannou/Ioanni depending on which map you look at. ("Agiou" by the way is a very common street component in Greece. It means "saint.") After you make this turn, it is just one block or so downhill to where the street ALMOST runs into 25 Martiou, the main street through Fira. On your left you'll see Hotel Thira and Tony's. If you continue walking you'll end up at a school or daycare center that is on 25 Martiou.

On the walk back after you've returned the car, you may want to take a slightly different walk back, via the cliff walk, or perhaps just come back the same way but keep going at the cable car building until you run into the cliff and its stepped, rather primitive cliffside walk. In about 2 minutes you'll be able to see what appears to be a pretty Greek church called St. Stylianos. Of course, the pictures make it look fabulous (google and you'll see, or look in the back of the picture I'm attaching) but I can't guarantee it still looks like that today, as I don't know when the picture was taken. I'll also attach a picture of the beautiful St. John the Baptist church in Fira.

Couple other things: 1) Recently I learned how to do screenshots using Windows 8.1. It's great for copying parts of maps. 2) Skymap also has a map for Oia.

See below for photos, and good luck!

This is awesome! Thanks Roothy123!!!

Karen