How much time to get to the top of Santorini?

We really want to do the Oia to Fira hike in Santorini. I'm really not interested in doing any of the cruise ship excursions. We will be in Santorini from 8am to 5pm.

My question is as follows, if we dock at 8am, and they let the people off the ship who have purchased excursions first, what time should we expect to be at the top of the island? Since we are doing the hike, I prefer to take the gondola up. If that's too crowded, I will walk up. I really don't want to take the donkey ride up.

I think the hike takes about 4 hours and I want to make sure that we have enough time to do it and not be stranded on the island.

Thanks,

Monica

We really want to do the Oia to Fira hike in Santorini. I'm really not interested in doing any of the cruise ship excursions. We will be in Santorini from 8am to 5pm.

 

My question is as follows, if we dock at 8am, and they let the people off the ship who have purchased excursions first, what time should we expect to be at the top of the island? Since we are doing the hike, I prefer to take the gondola up. If that's too crowded, I will walk up. I really don't want to take the donkey ride up.

 

I think the hike takes about 4 hours and I want to make sure that we have enough time to do it and not be stranded on the island.

 

Thanks,

Monica

Just to clarify, the gondola takes you up to Fira. So using that, unless you use transportation to get to Oia, you're hike will be Fira to Oia. Not the other way around. You might consider looking at other threads on here about arranging for boat transfer from the ship to Oia, and then walking back to Fira. The delays with riding up in the Gondola will be determined by the number of ships letting off passengers at the same time as your ship -- this varies day to day-- plus your ability to get on an early tender boat or not (sometimes controlled by passenger priority on your cruise line)

Ok, swap that. We plan to hike from Fira to Oia hike and take a cab back.

The Jade has about 2200 people on it. We are in port with the Mac orchestra and celebrity reflection. Celebrity doesn't get in until 2 so we should be ok with that. Orchestra also gets there at 8 and holds 2500 people. So we are looking at 4724 people converging on the island at one time.

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Ok, swap that. We plan to hike from Fira to Oia hike and take a cab back.

 

The Jade has about 2200 people on it. We are in port with the Mac orchestra and celebrity reflection. Celebrity doesn't get in until 2 so we should be ok with that. Orchestra also gets there at 8 and holds 2500 people. So we are looking at 4724 people converging on the island at one time.

 

 

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There is no way to accurately predict how long for the cable car. This depends on your ship's tender operations, whether you have priority tendering or have to wait in a long queue aboard, and how long the queue is when you finally get ashore and walk over to the cable car station.

Also keep in mind that there is never a guarantee there will even be taxis just waiting at Oia. If there are no taxis, taking the bus back to Fira (they sometimes only run once per hour) is an alternative plan. And the bus is a lot less expensive then the taxis (who usually want 25€ or more).

Hank

Do not know how the Jade operates but on our recent Royal visit the ships excursions tenders loaded at one door while others loaded elsewhere. We were off at about 8:20, tendered quickly and went up the CC with no line so that we had to wait awhile for our 9:00am guide and he was early. Remember the actual time on the cable car is only 2 1/2 mins. That's from a ship with 3600 passengers

Do not know how the Jade operates but on our recent Royal visit the ships excursions tenders loaded at one door while others loaded elsewhere. We were off at about 8:20, tendered quickly and went up the CC with no line so that we had to wait awhile for our 9:00am guide and he was early. Remember the actual time on the cable car is only 2 1/2 mins. That's from a ship with 3600 passengers

After I posted this, my husband found some info on the Santorini port and it's exactly as you say. This makes me feel a lot better. I was thinking that all the people doing excursions were going to have to wait for the gondola along with everyone else. That would be a nightmare.

We should be fine, then. I expect that Norwegian will have a similar process as RC.

Thanks so much!

Do not know how the Jade operates but on our recent Royal visit the ships excursions tenders loaded at one door while others loaded elsewhere. We were off at about 8:20, tendered quickly and went up the CC with no line so that we had to wait awhile for our 9:00am guide and he was early. Remember the actual time on the cable car is only 2 1/2 mins. That's from a ship with 3600 passengers

Which Royal ship were you on? We are on the Jewel. Arrived at 1.30 and did not manage to get off until almost 3. Tender tickets were available from 12.15 but some one told us later that people were lining up at 10am. We really wanted to go to Oia but were uneasy about getting back in time as the boat operator said they have a bus once an hour. We are on the Rhapsody next year and I am really hoping for a full day.

Which Royal ship were you on? We are on the Jewel. Arrived at 1.30 and did not manage to get off until almost 3. Tender tickets were available from 12.15 but some one told us later that people were lining up at 10am. We really wanted to go to Oia but were uneasy about getting back in time as the boat operator said they have a bus once an hour. We are on the Rhapsody next year and I am really hoping for a full day.

My bad I should have said Royal Princess as the identifier. Sorry to hear that your experience was not as good. It may have helped that when we arrived no other ships had yet ported so more of the local tenders could be dedicated to us.

In case you think about walking up or down instead of doing the Cable car.

It is an experience!! You are walking on the same pathway as the donkeys and will probably be sharing the path with donkeys and their passengers. Also- the smell can be quite pungent. Also-could be slippery! The path is quite steep. It is doable but a challenge. About 30 minutes each way. Have done it-would do again as a experience but be prepared. Just so you know.

When you get back from Oia and are ready to head down again-give yourselves plenty of time-the lineups at the Cable car can be very long. When we were there we went up on the donkeys and walked back down.

In case you think about walking up or down instead of doing the Cable car.

It is an experience!! You are walking on the same pathway as the donkeys and will probably be sharing the path with donkeys and their passengers. Also- the smell can be quite pungent. Also-could be slippery! The path is quite steep. It is doable but a challenge. About 30 minutes each way. Have done it-would do again as a experience but be prepared. Just so you know.

When you get back from Oia and are ready to head down again-give yourselves plenty of time-the lineups at the Cable car can be very long. When we were there we went up on the donkeys and walked back down.

Thanks for the info!

Here's a suggestion that will save you a lot of time.

Take the water taxi from the Tender Dock to Oia for €15. Fare includes a shuttle up the cliff into Oia and a bus ticket back to Fira. But if you want to take that hike just walk to Fira instead. Following the clifftop trail and pathways you will eventually pass right by the Cable Car building for the ride back down to the Tender Dock.