Santorini, independant trip

[gmadvm]

we were on cinnamon's sailing and hiked to oia. we were off on the first tender about 7:30 and quickly on the cablecar to the top. The hike to Oia was fun, great views, a little taxing in places, but nothing compared to that mad bus ride back. I think we were waiting for the 1 or 1:30 bus and when it came, it was the craziest thing I have ever seen. A scramble to get on the bus, little old ladies pulling at you trying to get you out of the doorway. I got separated from my husband and just barely made it on the bus. I was the 3rd from the last person who made it on. He was way at the other end. We had been what I thought was the front of a line, but when the bus stopped somewhere in the middle, the wrestling match began with people pouring on from all directions.

 

Then we started to drive, and the money taker made his way down the aisle to collect the fare. Literally just plowing into you to get past. One poor guy dropped his coins and the bus employee was so mad. I'm not sure what he said, because I don't speak Greek, but he wasn't pleased. Trying to stay upright with one hand holding on to the bus and one hand holding my bag, taking all those turns and corners and quick stops to avoid hitting oncoming traffic took more out of my knees than that little 8 mile hike to Oia ever did. I wish we had just taken a taxi. There were about 5 of them at the bus stop.

 

And then when we got back to Fira, the cable car line stretched out so far it doubled back on itself, so we instantly decided to walk down the donkey stairs. We figured we had been walking all day, why stop now. That was an interesting experience. Make sure you have proper footwear. We saw an older woman being helped down by two gentlemen and she was barefoot and looked to be in a lot of discomfort. guess she only had flip flop like shoes which will not cut it on those slick steps. especially going downhill.

 

But it was certainly an experience, and that makes travel all the worthwhile. :)

[rr1954]

My wife and I, along with our daughter, love the idea of taking a boat back from Oia. Question: If we walk at a leisurely pace, about how long will it take to walk the "trail" from Fira to Oia? Any input is appreciated. We will be there in 3 weeks on the Equinox. Thanks in advance!

[Bewer]

Hi lovesthebeachx4

 

I was about to ask you the same question. I've only sent one email via the contact on their website. That was several days ago and like you I haven't had a reply. I'll try again and keep you posted. In the meantime anyone out there in CC land ever managed to make contact with them?

 

Further to this posting, I have managed to make contact with Dakoutros It seems he did not get my original contact message via the website. I found an email address tours@dakoutrostravel.gr . If you use this you will get a response.

 

 

This is the information he has given me: First of all this trip in order to travel needs at least 15 participants. It costs 20 euro per person and we start from the old port at 10.00 . The boat takes you to the port of Ammoudi in Oia , a mini bus will pick you up from there , take you up to the village where you will have about 90 minutes to walk around and visit Oia , and after that we return back to Fira. All boat trips depend on the weather.

 

I am going to see if I can get 15 together on my roll call.

[Anguillafan]

we were on cinnamon's sailing and hiked to oia. we were off on the first tender about 7:30 and quickly on the cablecar to the top. The hike to Oia was fun, great views, a little taxing in places, but nothing compared to that mad bus ride back. I think we were waiting for the 1 or 1:30 bus and when it came, it was the craziest thing I have ever seen. A scramble to get on the bus, little old ladies pulling at you trying to get you out of the doorway. I got separated from my husband and just barely made it on the bus. I was the 3rd from the last person who made it on. He was way at the other end. We had been what I thought was the front of a line, but when the bus stopped somewhere in the middle, the wrestling match began with people pouring on from all directions.

 

Then we started to drive, and the money taker made his way down the aisle to collect the fare. Literally just plowing into you to get past. One poor guy dropped his coins and the bus employee was so mad. I'm not sure what he said, because I don't speak Greek, but he wasn't pleased. Trying to stay upright with one hand holding on to the bus and one hand holding my bag, taking all those turns and corners and quick stops to avoid hitting oncoming traffic took more out of my knees than that little 8 mile hike to Oia ever did. I wish we had just taken a taxi. There were about 5 of them at the bus stop.

 

And then when we got back to Fira, the cable car line stretched out so far it doubled back on itself, so we instantly decided to walk down the donkey stairs. We figured we had been walking all day, why stop now. That was an interesting experience. Make sure you have proper footwear. We saw an older woman being helped down by two gentlemen and she was barefoot and looked to be in a lot of discomfort. guess she only had flip flop like shoes which will not cut it on those slick steps. especially going downhill.

 

But it was certainly an experience, and that makes travel all the worthwhile. :)

Just wondering...what does "taxing" mean? Is that tiring, or is that scary?

[Anguillafan]

The 200 euros is for 2 hours on the boat. It accommodates 12, so our cost per person is @17euro. Our plan for the day is to do the Celeb excursion that goes by separate tender to Athinios port, then to a winery/Oia where we will ditch the shorex, wander around, and then head down to Ammoudi port for lunch at Dimitri's or Katina's for a fresh-caught, choose-your-own fish.

 

Our roll call has been very active, so I knew of at least 6 others who had a plan similar to our group of six, and asked if they wanted to join us and return to Fira port via boat with a cruise thrown in. All of us had been concerned about getting back to Fira from Oia via bus/taxi and the cable car queue, so they were glad to have this alternative.

 

There are quite a few steps from Oia to Ammoudi, but not nearly as many as from Fira to the ship tenders, and with you two being 'hikers' (my initial plan had been for DH and I to hike from Fira-Oia, but the tender/cable car issue led to the plan described in paragraph 1) those steps are nothing!

I haven't heard back from Stathis yet. What, based on your experience, is a reasonable time frame to expect a response? I'm really hoping this works out.

[TMLAalum]

I haven't heard back from Stathis yet. What, based on your experience, is a reasonable time frame to expect a response? I'm really hoping this works out.

 

I emailed him early Sat. the 19th and had a reply late Sun. the 20th. It took a little longer for our roll call mates to get a reply from him on restaurant recommendations- maybe 3 days.

 

Hope it works out for you, too!

[gmadvm]

It wasn't scary at all. I meant taxing as tiring because it was a warm day and there was a point where we were hiking up hill on black volcanic pebbles which the sun heated up a bit, just at a point where there is a wall which blocked the nice cross breeze. But it was only about 400-600 yards and I'm not in great shape with bum knees and I managed it. We took about 3 hours to do the hike, but we took a million pictures and stopped to play with every dog and cat along the way. It was fun and I would recommend it if you are getting into port early. We started the trail at 7:50 which was nice since we were at Oia before it got really hot. There is a part where you have to walk on the highway for about 100 yards, but I jogged that part to get back on the trail more quickly.

[sstepson]

It wasn't scary at all. I meant taxing as tiring because it was a warm day and there was a point where we were hiking up hill on black volcanic pebbles which the sun heated up a bit, just at a point where there is a wall which blocked the nice cross breeze. But it was only about 400-600 yards and I'm not in great shape with bum knees and I managed it. We took about 3 hours to do the hike, but we took a million pictures and stopped to play with every dog and cat along the way. It was fun and I would recommend it if you are getting into port early. We started the trail at 7:50 which was nice since we were at Oia before it got really hot. There is a part where you have to walk on the highway for about 100 yards, but I jogged that part to get back on the trail more quickly.

 

We are very excited for this hike. I have a couple questions for you, though...when you get off the cable car, how did you find the trail? Is the trail well marked, for the most part? By looking at maps, it looks like the trail between Fira and Firostefani is largely through built-up areas (houses, hotels, etc...) Is the trail pretty obvious through these areas?

 

I look forward to any information you can give!

[gmadvm]

Just take a right when you exit the cablecar station and it basically starts right there. You can see Oia in the distance, and you just keep the water on your left hand side and you will get there. The beginning in Fira is paved and not 'trail-like' and there were some points where it was not 100% clear, but we just kept the water on the left and kept going. At one point 'Ia' is painted on the paved path to help you on your way, and another point 'Oia' is painted on a rock with an arrow. This was helpful as far as gauging our progress along the way.

 

http://www.cycladen.be/Fira-calderaEngFrame.htm

 

and this one has pictures. http://www.foxysislandwalks.com/Santorini-Walks.html

 

hope this helps! feel free to ask any questions.

[sstepson]

Just take a right when you exit the cablecar station and it basically starts right there. You can see Oia in the distance, and you just keep the water on your left hand side and you will get there. The beginning in Fira is paved and not 'trail-like' and there were some points where it was not 100% clear, but we just kept the water on the left and kept going. At one point 'Ia' is painted on the paved path to help you on your way, and another point 'Oia' is painted on a rock with an arrow. This was helpful as far as gauging our progress along the way.

 

http://www.cycladen.be/Fira-calderaEngFrame.htm

 

and this one has pictures. http://www.foxysislandwalks.com/Santorini-Walks.html

 

hope this helps! feel free to ask any questions.

 

Excellent....thanks for the info!

[scdemers]

Just take a right when you exit the cablecar station and it basically starts right there. You can see Oia in the distance, and you just keep the water on your left hand side and you will get there. The beginning in Fira is paved and not 'trail-like' and there were some points where it was not 100% clear, but we just kept the water on the left and kept going. At one point 'Ia' is painted on the paved path to help you on your way, and another point 'Oia' is painted on a rock with an arrow. This was helpful as far as gauging our progress along the way.

 

http://www.cycladen.be/Fira-calderaEngFrame.htm

 

and this one has pictures. http://www.foxysislandwalks.com/Santorini-Walks.html

 

hope this helps! feel free to ask any questions.

 

We were thinking of taking this hike. The pictures are GORGEOUS! It does look pretty desolate though. Is there anywhere to stop along the way? Three hours is a long time without "facilities".

[khfl]

Hello there. You have posted very helpful info. A few of us on a different cruise date are planning ammoudi port back to fira old port by boat charter too. Hoping you can give a little guidance on a couple of questions. First, do you know how long it typically takes to make that little voyage straight from ammoudi to fira old port (not doing tour on the way back to fira). Guessing about a half hour. Second, were your ships' "all aboards" one hour prior to listed sail time? That's what we were told.

 

Thank you all so much for your help.

 

KH

[TMLAalum]

Hello there. You have posted very helpful info. A few of us on a different cruise date are planning ammoudi port back to fira old port by boat charter too. Hoping you can give a little guidance on a couple of questions. First, do you know how long it typically takes to make that little voyage straight from ammoudi to fira old port (not doing tour on the way back to fira). Guessing about a half hour. Second, were your ships' "all aboards" one hour prior to listed sail time? That's what we were told.

 

Thank you all so much for your help.

 

KH

 

The company we booked with (santoriniseatrips@yahoo.co.uk) does a minimum 2 hour charter but Stathis may be willing to do a straight shot from Ammoudi to Fira for the same price as a 2 hours charter or maybe less!! It doesn't hurt to email him your wishes and get his response because it just may be doable. As far as I recall from previous tender ports, one hour prior to departure seems about right. But if you are in line for a tender by that time you should be ok.

 

Barb

[khfl]

The company we booked with (santoriniseatrips@yahoo.co.uk) does a minimum 2 hour charter but Stathis may be willing to do a straight shot from Ammoudi to Fira for the same price as a 2 hours charter or maybe less!! It doesn't hurt to email him your wishes and get his response because it just may be doable. As far as I recall from previous tender ports, one hour prior to departure seems about right. But if you are in line for a tender by that time you should be ok.

 

Barb

 

Barb,

Thank you for the reply. He emailed us back promptly and was terrific in answering our questions. I would certainly recommend him so far to anyone. However, our "little group" has grown and we are now barely over their 12 person limit. We're trying to figure out if two trips in order to accommodate everyone would work. Thanks again for the info. Have fun!

[gmadvm]

I didn't see any facilities along the way. I waited until we got to Oia and paid my 50 cents at a facility in the center of the pedestrian strip. I also didn't drink a whole lot of water for this exact reason. My husband on the other hand got to use the great outdoors facility. And I got to stand guard. :)

 

Along the way in the populated areas, there are many little cliffside villas and hotels, and in the morning we saw a lot of employees outside cleaning the rooftop decks probably from the night before. I guess if you were desperate and they had a nice face, you could ask, but we never did.

[Anguillafan]

I emailed him early Sat. the 19th and had a reply late Sun. the 20th. It took a little longer for our roll call mates to get a reply from him on restaurant recommendations- maybe 3 days.

 

Hope it works out for you, too!

Thank you so much with your idea on this, and, I agree, it was great that cinnamon got the ideas flowing on this.

 

As far as Stathis goes, it turns out that my first request was not received. For anyone else trying this, you get a confirmation when your request goes through. I didn't get the confirmation the first time, hence the reason I didn't hear back from him :) He was very responsive on my second attempt...which for him was the first time he heard from me.

 

We're taking a three hour trip from Oia back to the tender, and he's suggesting it include Thirassia island as well as swimming in the hot springs.

 

Our day will be the hike, lunch in Oia, swimming off an island in Greece, and getting to the tender without the cable car line. Thanks for all the advice/ideas. I'm very excited.

[Anguillafan]

It wasn't scary at all. I meant taxing as tiring because it was a warm day and there was a point where we were hiking up hill on black volcanic pebbles which the sun heated up a bit, just at a point where there is a wall which blocked the nice cross breeze. But it was only about 400-600 yards and I'm not in great shape with bum knees and I managed it. We took about 3 hours to do the hike, but we took a million pictures and stopped to play with every dog and cat along the way. It was fun and I would recommend it if you are getting into port early. We started the trail at 7:50 which was nice since we were at Oia before it got really hot. There is a part where you have to walk on the highway for about 100 yards, but I jogged that part to get back on the trail more quickly.

 

 

Thank you. This is basically what I had envisioned. It sounds wonderful.

 

You had a 7 am arrival, right? I'm surpirsed you were able to get such an early start. I thought that the boat makes it's first stop for the excursions, and that you couldn't possibly get through the tender and up on the trail until 9.

[lovestx]

Just wanted to mention that, at the suggestion of folks who have already been to Santorini in 2012 on Celebrity, we have arranged with NST tours to pick up a group of 23 of us in Fira, take us to Oia and bring us back again to Fira after 3 1/2 hours there. The cost is 14 Euros per person. We arrive at 2 p.m. and the ship departs at 10 p.m. We know that it will take a long time to tender to the port. We have agreed (our group of 23 that is) to all get on the tender line at 9:30 so that we get one of the earliest tenders (they start giving tickets out at 10 a.m.). We have arranged a 4:00 p.m. pick up by NST to give stragglers a chance to get there.

[wassup4565]

cinnamon, -

 

Just want to make sure I understand. You did not do this trip as part of a pre-booked group, is that correct? I think you said you just saw the sign, walked up, bought a ticket, and took a boat that filled up with other paying passengers, right? We are only two people, and I don't want to organize a group for a pre-arranged tour.

 

Could we just find Dakoutros and do what you did?

[24butterfly]

Thank you so much with your idea on this, and, I agree, it was great that cinnamon got the ideas flowing on this.

 

As far as Stathis goes, it turns out that my first request was not received. For anyone else trying this, you get a confirmation when your request goes through. I didn't get the confirmation the first time, hence the reason I didn't hear back from him :) He was very responsive on my second attempt...which for him was the first time he heard from me.

 

We're taking a three hour trip from Oia back to the tender, and he's suggesting it include Thirassia island as well as swimming in the hot springs.

 

Our day will be the hike, lunch in Oia, swimming off an island in Greece, and getting to the tender without the cable car line. Thanks for all the advice/ideas. I'm very excited.

 

Don't know when you're going, but don't wear a good bathing suit--the sulphur or whatever u call it gets in/on your suit and u can't get it off/out....

[Anguillafan]

Don't know when you're going, but don't wear a good bathing suit--the sulphur or whatever u call it gets in/on your suit and u can't get it off/out....

 

Thanks for the info.

[lanabanana]

Just wanted to mention that, at the suggestion of folks who have already been to Santorini in 2012 on Celebrity, we have arranged with NST tours to pick up a group of 23 of us in Fira, take us to Oia and bring us back again to Fira after 3 1/2 hours there. The cost is 14 Euros per person. We arrive at 2 p.m. and the ship departs at 10 p.m. We know that it will take a long time to tender to the port. We have agreed (our group of 23 that is) to all get on the tender line at 9:30 so that we get one of the earliest tenders (they start giving tickets out at 10 a.m.). We have arranged a 4:00 p.m. pick up by NST to give stragglers a chance to get there.

 

 

I'm very interested to hear about this upon your return. Please come back and report! Thanks so much.

[lovestx]

I'm very interested to hear about this upon your return. Please come back and report! Thanks so much.

 

We returned from our FABULOUS Equinox trip to the Eastern Med and cannot rave enough about what a great trip it was. Only disappointment was that we had strong winds in the Greek isles and they closed the port of Mykonos for two days. Our Captain detoured to Crete where we had a nice town/beach day. But I had really wanted to see Mykonos and visit the St. John resort. Oh well.

 

Here's the info from our Santorini day. I tried to keep good mental notes so I could share info here:

 

Tender tickets were going to be available at 10 a.m. We got in line at 9:30 a.m. and I would say there were 30 to 40 people in front of us. Some folks got in line at 7 a.m.! They started giving out tickets at 9:55 a.m. We got Tender #7 and were told it would leave at 2:30 p.m. We probably anchored at Santorini (which was so cool!) around 1:30 p.m. We missed the call for our tender (just after 2 p.m. I'm guessing) as the announcement cannot be heard in your room. So we went down and got on the next tender at 2:15 p.m. We were at the top of the funicular at 3:05 p.m. The funicular line was quite long (almost back to where we got out of the tender) but it probably only took 20 to 25 minutes to get through it).

 

Our entire group of 23 people were incredibly on time and all made it over before our 3:30 meeting time. Too bad that the NST bus driver was about 10 minutes late but it was o.k.

 

Had a great trip over to Oia, walked around the town, had drinks (it was hot) at the very southern end of the walk, did some shopping and then had a lovely dinner overlooking the water. Oia is as charming as everyone says and it was even more so as the evening wore on and the other four boats who were in port departed.

 

We arranged to meet our NST driver at 7:30 p.m. for the return trip to Fira (about a 15 minute drive). Got a bit lost looking for the cable car station and found a bit of a line for the ride down. But at 8:00 p.m. at night, it only took 15 minutes to get to the front of the line, ride the cable car down, catch the tender and get back on the boat.

 

We found that many people did not eat dinner in Oia and had dinner on the ship. We truly enjoyed our dinner looking out over beautiful Oia.

 

Hope that's helpful to future planners.

 

And I had considered doing the hike and, upon seeing how long it really was once we got there, I am glad we arranged for the bus. It was hot on Santorini and it would have been a long slog with teens in tow!

[TMLAalum]

Although our cruise ended 6/24, we just returned home from Europe last nite. The boat ride back from Oia to Fira was a wonderful, relaxing way to end our day on Santorini. It was quite warm that day, and the hike down the steps to Ammoudi port was challenging for some in our group, but lunch at Katina's (that restaurant and the Sunset bar are the nearest to the base of the stairs) was excellent and the difference between Oia and Ammoudi port was a great contrast.

 

Stathis was on-time and we did make a brief stop to leave his boat and climb to a little chapel on one of the volcanic islands. I think Angiulla fan will definitely enjoy his extended boat trip with a dip in the hot springs.

 

There is definitely a niche on Santorini for scheduled boat service between Fira and Ammoudi port!

[Steppy08]

Although our cruise ended 6/24, we just returned home from Europe last nite. The boat ride back from Oia to Fira was a wonderful, relaxing way to end our day on Santorini. It was quite warm that day, and the hike down the steps to Ammoudi port was challenging for some in our group, but lunch at Katina's (that restaurant and the Sunset bar are the nearest to the base of the stairs) was excellent and the difference between Oia and Ammoudi port was a great contrast.

 

Stathis was on-time and we did make a brief stop to leave his boat and climb to a little chapel on one of the volcanic islands. I think Angiulla fan will definitely enjoy his extended boat trip with a dip in the hot springs.

 

There is definitely a niche on Santorini for scheduled boat service between Fira and Ammoudi port!

 

We were on Anguillafan's trip and it was great! A very relaxing way to get back to the port at Fira.

 

Stathis took us to Thirassia for a bit, then to the hot springs, then back around to Fira. We got to see the island from all perspectives. I highly recommend this method of returning to Fira! We jumped off Stathis' boat and into the tender line. No stress/hassle of the cable cars.

 

Note: the walk down to Ammoudi port is not for people with difficulty on stairs, or issues with donkey poo. It was a very rustic experience! But we have great pics!