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Santorini Private Tour: Worth the cost?


CruiseCat99
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We will be visiting Santorini next year, and I have seen that that the day we will be in port there will be a port-load of about 6,000 people, plus whatever ferry traffic. We have nearly 15 hours in port, and are looking to possibly hire a private tour guide for an 8 hour tour to explore what we want (just 2 of us), eat local, drink local, and attempt to avoid the crowds. We have been quoted 400 Euros for this tour by a reputable private tour guide.

 

My question is this: Is that worth the money? Is it even possible to see everything and avoid the crowds? Is it worth the price to have the piece of mind to arrange someone else to be in charge of the day and we can be worry free?

What would you do?

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I am guessing that you will want to stop in Oia. Unless you get there very early it will be hard to beat the crowds. How will you get back to the ship. If you need to take the cable car, it will also be difficult to avoid crowds there. For the rest of the time the guide can show you places others will not get to see. I can't tell you whether it is worth your money. Here's to helping you get in the mood.

 

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Santorini is a tender port. If there are a number of ships arriving at approximately the same time, it can take quite a while to get to Fira. For that reason, many people choose to do a ship's tour in Santorini as you will get off the ship first. The earlier you get off, the less crowed the island is . We did a ship's tour that went to the Akotiri ruins, then Oia and ended in Fira where we were able to spend as much time as we wanted.

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I would say that a private tour will give you the chance to see so much more than Fira and Oia

we had a guide who drove us around the island and showed contrast between high cliff like area t the other side where is flat and slopes down to the sea

can see where is a collapsed area where central area was flooded

city of Atlantis parallels according to our guide

he showed us houses built into the porous volcanic rocks and a beach area popular with locals

 

Oia will always be crowded during the day but he was able to show us the short cuts to viewpoints and back in Fira he did an impromptu side trip to the church he himself was married

so I would say a private guide would be worth it especially if you could get another couple to share cost via your roll call

 

one caveat you will still have to get to top of cliff in Fira to meet your guide which could involve a long queue for cable car unless you are prepared to walk up the donkey path[avoiding their "gifts"

of course there will be those offering you the chance to ride those same donkeys[or mules to be precise] up that path

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Thank you for the responses, and hopefully a few more people will chime in.

More information: We are on Silversea cruise line, and our ship is in port at 9am, while most ships will be there earlier. We stay in port until 23:59, so basically midnight.

The guide we are looking to hire will pick us up at the bottom of the cable car and drive us the entire day. We would only take the cable car down, which would be much later, after the other ships have left port.

My main concern is that we hire a driver and still don't avoid the crowds. I am more than willing to pay for the personalized experience and local education. I am not willing to pay the additional if we will still be fighting crowds and could have done it on our own.

 

I guess bottom line: If I can avoid crowds I will pay extra. If that is impossible, I guess I would rather fight the crowds exploring on our own and skip the added cost.

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Thank you for the responses, and hopefully a few more people will chime in.

More information: We are on Silversea cruise line, and our ship is in port at 9am, while most ships will be there earlier. We stay in port until 23:59, so basically midnight.

The guide we are looking to hire will pick us up at the bottom of the cable car and drive us the entire day. We would only take the cable car down, which would be much later, after the other ships have left port.

My main concern is that we hire a driver and still don't avoid the crowds. I am more than willing to pay for the personalized experience and local education. I am not willing to pay the additional if we will still be fighting crowds and could have done it on our own.

 

I guess bottom line: If I can avoid crowds I will pay extra. If that is impossible, I guess I would rather fight the crowds exploring on our own and skip the added cost.

 

I'm a bit confused by your statement that the guide will pick you up at bottom of cable car and then drive so you would only take the cable car down at the end of the day

 

There is no road access from tender port up to top

only via cable car or the donkey path with steps

 

There is another drop off point further along the coast where there is a road to the top and that is where the ships tour coaches wait after they use a different tender point from private tours/independents

but that is not at the bottom of cable car

 

I'd check with your potential guide exactly where he will meet you with the car

He may mean he will meet you at bottom of cliff and walk/travel with you on the cable car to his car at top

or like our guide who met us at top of cliff after we had queued to get on the cable car

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We will be visiting Santorini next year, and I have seen that that the day we will be in port there will be a port-load of about 6,000 people, plus whatever ferry traffic. We have nearly 15 hours in port, and are looking to possibly hire a private tour guide for an 8 hour tour to explore what we want (just 2 of us), eat local, drink local, and attempt to avoid the crowds. We have been quoted 400 Euros for this tour by a reputable private tour guide.

 

My question is this: Is that worth the money? Is it even possible to see everything and avoid the crowds? Is it worth the price to have the piece of mind to arrange someone else to be in charge of the day and we can be worry free?

What would you do?

no its not worth it. How you are planning to avoid crowds? It's a tender port, so first cruise line will let people with excursions our then, people with priority tender out. We had beautiful excursion from cruise line. Winery-Oia-Fira.

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I am assuming he means he will meet us where the coaches are and drive to Oia... but since I am sill learning about the island, I could be wrong.

 

at least with NCL only the ships tours are tendered to the point where the coaches pick up

independents are tendered to the point below cable car which has no vehicular access from the sea level

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I am on Silversea, so it is very possible that we tender to somewhere different, specifically to avoid the crowds.

 

Silversea stop at same place where other ships stops. There is no way you will avoid crowds no matter how much you pay , every person goes on same street. to go back on ship you will stay in same line to cable car they don't have VIP lines :*

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no its not worth it. How you are planning to avoid crowds? It's a tender port, so first cruise line will let people with excursions our then, people with priority tender out. We had beautiful excursion from cruise line. Winery-Oia-Fira.

 

I also took this excursion. One can argue that we could have DIY for less. However, it eliminated us having to drive/park or worry about getting from Oia to Fira. Not for everyone but it worked for us.

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I am on Silversea, so it is very possible that we tender to somewhere different, specifically to avoid the crowds.

 

Many people don't realize the logistics on Santorini are the result of its geography. The island (as we know it today) is actually the cone of a volcano that massively erupted about 1800 or so years ago. Where the ships stop is actually the caldera (or mouth) of the volcano. The island has very steep cliffs and for visitors there are only a few ways to get up to the top where the villages (Fira, Oia) are.

 

Ships cannot simply tender to a different point to drop off guests. Thus......gridlock. :eek:

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  • 2 weeks later...

We toured with Iliana from Santorini Wine Trails and I highly recommend the tour. I planned the day with Iliana to fit our group's (4 people) desires. We went to wineries, hiked around a lighthouse, walked along a black beach and had an amazing lunch. The only crowds we found all day were in Oia and Fira which are two great places to visit but there is so much more on the beautiful island.

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We toured on a bus starting at the “other” dock, first stop the Santorini wine (best T-shirt’s), then on to Oia and finally Fira for a cable car ride back to dock. [emoji33][emoji33][emoji33][emoji33] this was in early May before the busiest part of season.

 

There is no avoiding crowds. Period. If I had to do it again, I would get a car and guide. Being on a tour, there as no stopping for a picture of that “gasp” beautiful view.

 

Start as early as you can, stay as late as you can, and pray the other ships leave and you have a less crowded situation.

 

Shopping is the best in the Med. Jewelry is priced well and good quality. Darling white cotton clothing. (Still regret not going back for one for DD.

 

Good luck! It is as beautiful as

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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We toured on a bus starting at the “other” dock, first stop the Santorini wine (best T-shirt’s), then on to Oia and finally Fira for a cable car ride back to dock. [emoji33][emoji33][emoji33][emoji33] this was in early May before the busiest part of season.

 

There is no avoiding crowds. Period. If I had to do it again, I would get a car and guide. Being on a tour, there as no stopping for a picture of that “gasp” beautiful view.

 

Start as early as you can, stay as late as you can, and pray the other ships leave and you have a less crowded situation.

 

Shopping is the best in the Med. Jewelry is priced well and good quality. Darling white cotton clothing. (Still regret not going back for one for DD.

 

Good luck! It is as beautiful as

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

 

 

a0e2ec12c65befe00e2dbb715dfb9a61.jpg

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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  • 1 month later...



 

 

 

The price it's ok i book for 6 hour for 360 euros, now for you it's better maybe found 2 more people and share the price also make new post on CruiseCritic, and link for company when we been in Santorini,

https://www.topsantorinitour.com
We will be visiting Santorini next year, and I have seen that that the day we will be in port there will be a port-load of about 6,000 people, plus whatever ferry traffic. We have nearly 15 hours in port, and are looking to possibly hire a private tour guide for an 8 hour tour to explore what we want (just 2 of us), eat local, drink local, and attempt to avoid the crowds. We have been quoted 400 Euros for this tour by a reputable private tour guide.

 

My question is this: Is that worth the money? Is it even possible to see everything and avoid the crowds? Is it worth the price to have the piece of mind to arrange someone else to be in charge of the day and we can be worry free?

What would you do?

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