Santorini - A review of cable car vs. path walk vs donkey

[mtempelaar]

I figured I would post my own experiences on Santorini and how you get down to the ship from Fira.  

 

I've been to Santorini a few times at this point, and will be going back there in 2023.  I told my husband I'm not sure we will even get off the boat this time due to the debacle of coming down from our last trip, but we are going in November when there will be a lot less people.

 

There are essentially 3 options to come down from Fira to the tenders:  cable car, walk the path, ride the donkey.

 

1) Cable car.  If you went on a shore excursion, you were probably provided a voucher.  If you go on your own, you will likely need to pay.    The cable car is easy and relatively fast once you get on it, but getting on it is the real challenge.  In peak season you can literally wait hours for your turn.  When I was there pre-pandemic, it was peak season.  The line was 3-4 hours long.   I've been there non-peak when it was 15 minutes.   If you intend to take the cable car, you absolutely must take crowds into consider, watch the line towards the end of the day and don't wait too long.  It's safe and easy but it's also really easy to miss your ship.

 

2) Walk the path.   This is a very long path, strewn with donkey droppings.  💩  It's slippery, and if you are going down at night you cannot really see much.  There are basically no useful lights.   You will be walking down next to the donkeys.    You absolutely have to wear the right footwear here, regardless of time of day.  No sandals, only sneakers.  People slip and injure themselves all the time so you need to step cautiously and take your time (go slow!!), and it's a very long walk so leave enough time.  It's doable, but aim to go down in daylight so you can see where you are going and where you are stepping.  

 

3) Ride the donkey.  The donkey ride has cruelty aspect that you should keep in mind, but you may be in a position that you have been left with little choice, as I was last time.  In Spring 2019 the cable car line was 4 hours, I tried to walk and I kept slipping, it was night and I knew I wouldn't make it down so I took donkey for what I *thought* was the rest of the path.  It wasn't.   Keep in mind the donkeys are operating on the same conditions as you - slippery path strewn with 💩 that they are also slipping on, in the dark possibly depending on when you are going down.   The donkey operators don't care if you are comfortable or need to stop for a minute to adjust your seating.  If you are off balance, you will remain off balance for the remainder of the trip.  They are just going to keep going, but they are going to have you get off before you actually reach the bottom. So you still have a bit of a walk.  Close the end, but not truly the end.  This was a horrible experience on the way down, the donkey was slipping the entire time, the donkey owners kept hitting the donkey, I spent the entire trip down waiting to fall and have a nasty head injury.  I was sore afterwards.  Only do if no other viable option.

 

Basically - there's no great and reliable way down that is predictable.  I highly recommend the cable car as long as you leave enough time for a line.  Plan to go back to the ship way before the ship leaves.  Fira can easily a lot longer to get back to the ship compared to any other port.  

 

 

[Susanb10567]

Any recent cruisers with experience with the cable car…we have a private tour booked for 9/5 (sailing on Celebrity Edge) we arrive at noon that day…I told the tour company we would meet at 1:30…now I’m thinking that is not enough time…

 

It is supposed to be a 6 hour tour…our ship leaves at 10…so hopefully we are alright getting back to the ship…

[pdmlynek]

9 hours ago, mtempelaar said:

2) Walk the path.   This is a very long path, strewn with donkey droppings.  💩  It's slippery, and if you are going down at night you cannot really see much.  There are basically no useful lights.   You will be walking down next to the donkeys.    You absolutely have to wear the right footwear here, regardless of time of day.  No sandals, only sneakers.  People slip and injure themselves all the time so you need to step cautiously and take your time (go slow!!), and it's a very long walk so leave enough time.  It's doable, but aim to go down in daylight so you can see where you are going and where you are stepping.  

 

Thank you for the review.  This will likely be very helpful to people visiting Thera (Santorini) by cruise ships.  A couple of comments.

 

(a) The path is not "very long".  It is only 1 km long, with 600 stair steps, and 210 m elevation gain.  Google maps says that the walk up is 20 min, but for us, in late 50s and in no great shape, during 30 C hot weather, it took about 35 minutes.  Yes, it was almost twice as long, but really, no big deal.  

 

(b) The walk down in the evening is a pleasure.  A pleasurable evening stroll.  It took us 20 minutes because we kept stopping every turn to take pictures of the sunset.  I am sure that it could be easily done under 15 minutes.  

 

(c) Regarding footwear: wear your light hiking boots.  Yes, sneakers might be fine, but it is much easier and safer to wear proper footwear with good traction instead of sneakers.

 

(d)  If you are going to be on Santorini in the evening, consult your charts for the time of the sunset, civil twilight, nautical twilight, and astronomical twilight.  Because the path is western facing, you should not have much problem during the civil twilight.  But if you get any later than that, you'll need to use your headlamps.  

 

(e) Yes, you are going to be stepping into donkey poop and pee, when walking on the path. That's nature.  Don't sweat it.  That is another reason why you need hiking boots; mere sneakers will more likely slip on pee.

 

(f)  If you are walking down, please take some time to clean your shoes.  Please do not track donkey feces onto the tender, then onto the ship, into your room, etc.   

 

Good luck!

 

[mapleleaves]

Are there 2 lines at the cable car when you're ready to come down?

One for people buying tickets and a 2nd line for people who got tickets with their excursion?

[John Bull]

21 hours ago, mtempelaar said:

 

 

2) Walk the path.   This is a very long path, strewn with donkey droppings.  💩  It's slippery, and if you are going down at night you cannot really see much.  There are basically no useful lights.   You will be walking down next to the donkeys.    You absolutely have to wear the right footwear here, regardless of time of day.  No sandals, only sneakers.  People slip and injure themselves all the time so you need to step cautiously and take your time (go slow!!), and it's a very long walk so leave enough time.  It's doable, but aim to go down in daylight so you can see where you are going and where you are stepping.  

 

 

  

According to googlemaps, the walk down is about 20 minutes (if you reverse the route to go up, it says 26 minutes - so googlemaps does know something about the terrain 😉)

We've only done it twice - down both times, late in the day, & neither time in the dark or in wet weather.

 

Very, very few donkeys after mid-afternoon - like most four-legged creatures, they find it far more challenging to walk down than up, and there's nothing like the same demand for them as there is for going up.

Ergo, very very  little fresh donkey-poo, and by then the earlier stuff has dried to dust.

 

Slipperiness here and there is due to some stones being super-smooth rather than poo - those super-smooth stones are pretty easy to see - they glint in the sunlight. Nonetheless, best to steady yourself with one hand on the wall altho I rate "people slip and injure themselves all the time" as something of an exaggeration. Yes, footwear with some grip is essential, same as it is in wet weather on super-smooth sidewalk. And closed footwear if you're concerned about poo, whether fresh or dry

 

We're now of a certain age and we'd prefer to go down by cablecar, but if the line is long we'd have no hesitation in walking down the zig-zag path.

[carlmm]

11 hours ago, mapleleaves said:

Are there 2 lines at the cable car when you're ready to come down?

One for people buying tickets and a 2nd line for people who got tickets with their excursion?

In my experience, no. 

Yet  I never experienced such long lines as quoted above, at most maybe 30 minutes. 

Maybe the handling is different in really bad peak times.

[pdmlynek]

3 hours ago, John Bull said:

  

According to googlemaps, the walk down is about 20 minutes (if you reverse the route to go up, it says 26 minutes - so googlemaps does know something about the terrain 😉)

....

 

 

Yeah, I noticed that too.  (The numbers are a little different from mine, since we likely had a different end points of the path).

 

I do not trust Google Map's time estimates.  Here or other places.  They are just too optimistic. Or maybe I am getting too slow in my old age.  

 

Secondly, 20 min down and only 26 min up?  No way.  Given the terrain, i.e., steep smooth grade with low profile stair steps, a person should be able to skedaddle down at about twice the speed as walking up.  I'd say, if you can do 26 min up, then 13 min down, or 40 min up and 20 min down. 

[pdmlynek]

3 hours ago, John Bull said:

  

....

altho I rate "people slip and injure themselves all the time" as something of an exaggeration.

....

 

 

I agree.  The cruise lines seem to actively discourage people from walking by parroting this line. I suppose that there are several reasons for this.

 

Firstly, it is likely that the cruise lines do not to be held liable if someone falls and seriously hurts self.

 

Secondly, it is likely that advertising the gondola brings more money to the island, making the island based companies happy, and in turn making the cruise lines happy.

 

Thirdly, the cruise lines do not want passengers tracking poop and pee onto the ship.

[WESTEAST]

We've been to Santorini twice and once we walked down - if you take your time and have good shoes it isn't too bad. That said, on our last visit, we chose the cable car. One must be mindful to go in advance of the time to catch your tender to avoid the large crowds mentioned. If there are many large ships in port, going early is recommended.

[suec12]

On 8/4/2022 at 4:55 PM, Susanb10567 said:

Any recent cruisers with experience with the cable car…we have a private tour booked for 9/5 (sailing on Celebrity Edge) we arrive at noon that day…I told the tour company we would meet at 1:30…now I’m thinking that is not enough time…

 

It is supposed to be a 6 hour tour…our ship leaves at 10…so hopefully we are alright getting back to the ship…

I THINK if you are taking a cruise ship tour you will get off the ship at a different port / dock where there is no cable car. After the excursion passengers get off, the ship will then move to the port where the cable car is. When your excursion is finished, you will tender to where the cable car is down and not have to deal with the cable car / donkeys at all unless you want to go up to Fira. Read the description of your excursion closely and see if that is not the plan. It is for many of the cruise lines.

[Hlitner]

54 minutes ago, suec12 said:

I THINK if you are taking a cruise ship tour you will get off the ship at a different port / dock where there is no cable car. After the excursion passengers get off, the ship will then move to the port where the cable car is. When your excursion is finished, you will tender to where the cable car is down and not have to deal with the cable car / donkeys at all unless you want to go up to Fira. Read the description of your excursion closely and see if that is not the plan. It is for many of the cruise lines.

Been there several dozen times and have never seen any cruise ship tender folks back to their ship from Athinios.  They always end the excursions at Fira from where folks only have the options of walking down that sometimes slippery path or taking the cable car.  Rarely have we seen anyone riding a donkey down hill although I guess there are some brave souls.  You will often see the donkey handlers taking more than a dozen empty animals downhill.

 

I have long wondered why some of the excursions do not return to Athinios so that folks can be tendered back to the ships from that small ferry port.  It would certainly help deal with the capacity/crowding problem that often happens at the top cable car station.

 

Hank

[suec12]

I really wonder why Santorini does not try to resolve the cable car scrum. I do think on my upcoming Azamara cruise we are doing an excursion (Panoramic Santorini) that does return to Athinios, then tender back to ship. It is especially promoted for those with mobility issues and avoiding the cable car scrum - I thought other cruise lines might do that too. I think the day we visit there will be 9000! passengers in port - we may stay on the ship. That is way too many for an enjoyable day.

[marazul]

2 hours ago, suec12 said:

I THINK if you are taking a cruise ship tour you will get off the ship at a different port / dock where there is no cable car. After the excursion passengers get off, the ship will then move to the port where the cable car is. When your excursion is finished, you will tender to where the cable car is down and not have to deal with the cable car / donkeys at all unless you want to go up to Fira. Read the description of your excursion closely and see if that is not the plan. It is for many of the cruise lines.

The cruise ship anchors in the caldera. Tenders take pax either to the cablecar/donkey port or to Athinios, the ferry port.  Athinios is reserved for the large ferries which are the main form of transportation for people, vehicles and goods to the islands. There is frequent commercial traffic to that port and they cannot have cruise ships tied up there all day. They don't have the capacity for them. It is a small island with no adequate harbor possibilities.  You'll see when you are there.

Edited August 7, 2022 by marazul

[John Bull]

3 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Been there several dozen times and have never seen any cruise ship tender folks back to their ship from Athinios.  They always end the excursions at Fira from where folks only have the options of walking down that sometimes slippery path or taking the cable car.  Rarely have we seen anyone riding a donkey down hill although I guess there are some brave souls.  You will often see the donkey handlers taking more than a dozen empty animals downhill.

 

I have long wondered why some of the excursions do not return to Athinios so that folks can be tendered back to the ships from that small ferry port.  It would certainly help deal with the capacity/crowding problem that often happens at the top cable car station.

 

Hank

 

2 hours ago, suec12 said:

I really wonder why Santorini does not try to resolve the cable car scrum. I do think on my upcoming Azamara cruise we are doing an excursion (Panoramic Santorini) that does return to Athinios, then tender back to ship. It is especially promoted for those with mobility issues and avoiding the cable car scrum - I thought other cruise lines might do that too. I think the day we visit there will be 9000! passengers in port - we may stay on the ship. That is way too many for an enjoyable day.

 

My understanding is that in 2019 Celebrity experimented with returning their excursions via Athinios, thus avoiding the melee on the pier under Fira.

Of course the whole world stopped for the next two summers, and I've yet to learn whether this year they're continuing with that, or whether that's prompted any other line to follow suit.

 

Azamara are no longer in the same stable as Celebrity, having been sold off last year, but mebbe (hopefully) the idea has rubbed off on them - advertising their excursion/s for mobility-impaired folk seems to suggest it has.🤞

 

BTW  suec,  ships do try to co-ordinate their arrival & departure times to avoid clogging the cablecar bottleneck, so try to find out the other ships' times in port. For instance if yours is 10am to 5pm, a ship arriving at 2pm & leaving at 10pm won't impact that bottleneck.

And bear in mind that Santorini is very popular as a vacation destination in its own right, so differences in cruiser numbers perhaps don't make a huge difference elsewhere on the island.

 

JB 🙂 

[biksgirl]

my family was in Santorini on July 22. We ended up walking down the stairs. Never again!! OMG, it was horrible. Maybe it would be better when its not so hot, but I wore running shoes and I slipped many times. My legs were shaking I was so scared of slipping and falling on my ass LOL. Plus the donkey's were rushing by at one point...made it scarier.  Btw I'm 48, DH 51 and kids are teens. We all slipped and in the end wished we had waited for the cable car.  

[dani negreanu]

On 8/5/2022 at 5:41 AM, mapleleaves said:

Are there 2 lines at the cable car when you're ready to come down?

One for people buying tickets and a 2nd line for people who got tickets with their excursion?

 

One line. We had vouchers, and I asked.... Had to wait in line with all the "others"....

 

But, with many of us having vouchers, the line moved quickly, since they just "exchanged" our vouchers with tickets, instead of processing a credit card/ cash.

 

[Koliver63]

On 8/4/2022 at 10:32 AM, mtempelaar said:

I figured I would post my own experiences on Santorini and how you get down to the ship from Fira.  

 

I've been to Santorini a few times at this point, and will be going back there in 2023.  I told my husband I'm not sure we will even get off the boat this time due to the debacle of coming down from our last trip, but we are going in November when there will be a lot less people.

 

There are essentially 3 options to come down from Fira to the tenders:  cable car, walk the path, ride the donkey.

 

1) Cable car.  If you went on a shore excursion, you were probably provided a voucher.  If you go on your own, you will likely need to pay.    The cable car is easy and relatively fast once you get on it, but getting on it is the real challenge.  In peak season you can literally wait hours for your turn.  When I was there pre-pandemic, it was peak season.  The line was 3-4 hours long.   I've been there non-peak when it was 15 minutes.   If you intend to take the cable car, you absolutely must take crowds into consider, watch the line towards the end of the day and don't wait too long.  It's safe and easy but it's also really easy to miss your ship.

 

2) Walk the path.   This is a very long path, strewn with donkey droppings.  💩  It's slippery, and if you are going down at night you cannot really see much.  There are basically no useful lights.   You will be walking down next to the donkeys.    You absolutely have to wear the right footwear here, regardless of time of day.  No sandals, only sneakers.  People slip and injure themselves all the time so you need to step cautiously and take your time (go slow!!), and it's a very long walk so leave enough time.  It's doable, but aim to go down in daylight so you can see where you are going and where you are stepping.  

 

3) Ride the donkey.  The donkey ride has cruelty aspect that you should keep in mind, but you may be in a position that you have been left with little choice, as I was last time.  In Spring 2019 the cable car line was 4 hours, I tried to walk and I kept slipping, it was night and I knew I wouldn't make it down so I took donkey for what I *thought* was the rest of the path.  It wasn't.   Keep in mind the donkeys are operating on the same conditions as you - slippery path strewn with 💩 that they are also slipping on, in the dark possibly depending on when you are going down.   The donkey operators don't care if you are comfortable or need to stop for a minute to adjust your seating.  If you are off balance, you will remain off balance for the remainder of the trip.  They are just going to keep going, but they are going to have you get off before you actually reach the bottom. So you still have a bit of a walk.  Close the end, but not truly the end.  This was a horrible experience on the way down, the donkey was slipping the entire time, the donkey owners kept hitting the donkey, I spent the entire trip down waiting to fall and have a nasty head injury.  I was sore afterwards.  Only do if no other viable option.

 

Basically - there's no great and reliable way down that is predictable.  I highly recommend the cable car as long as you leave enough time for a line.  Plan to go back to the ship way before the ship leaves.  Fira can easily a lot longer to get back to the ship compared to any other port.  

 

 

Oh my goodness! This was so my experience! I April 2018 - probably a 90 minute wait for the cable car to go back down. My husband is not a “Wait in line” kinda guy so we thought well…”Why not take the steps”? I had on cheap Greek style sandals I bought in the US with a very slick bottom but didn’t think much of it. I was 53 and in relatively good shape and hubby was in great shape at 58. I nearly died a million time s walking down. It took us almost 3 hours and you are at a constant angle trying to keep yourself from falling forward. It’s very steep and your thighs are shaking like jello when you get to the bottom. It’s not just walking down steps….there are wide ledges between each step so you walk 5-6 steps (always on an incline) and the go down a wide step on a sharp hairpin curve then do it again. Interspersed on these wide steps and inclines are dried donkey poo with straw strewn about. It makes it extremely slippery and then when you factor in the fresh donkey poo…well there is that to consider. I slipped and slid so much while having a death grip on the rail and my husband…I finally took off my cheap sandals and just walked bare foot in the dried donkey poo to keep from breaking my neck. I could have didn’t one of the donkeys down but they looked more miserable and less sure footed than I was so I decided not to torture a poor animal by asking it to carry me down the side of a sheer island. Going to Santorini again in April 2023 - will wait for the cable car this time! 

[Hlitner]

In case anyone is interested, when the cable car is running properly it can handle about 600 persons per hour in each direction.  So if you get in line and figure there are about 500 in front of you the math is pretty basic ).  

 

Hank

[ninjacat123]

On 8/4/2022 at 10:32 AM, mtempelaar said:

I figured I would post my own experiences on Santorini and how you get down to the ship from Fira.  

 

I've been to Santorini a few times at this point, and will be going back there in 2023.  I told my husband I'm not sure we will even get off the boat this time due to the debacle of coming down from our last trip, but we are going in November when there will be a lot less people.

 

There are essentially 3 options to come down from Fira to the tenders:  cable car, walk the path, ride the donkey.

 

1) Cable car.  If you went on a shore excursion, you were probably provided a voucher.  If you go on your own, you will likely need to pay.    The cable car is easy and relatively fast once you get on it, but getting on it is the real challenge.  In peak season you can literally wait hours for your turn.  When I was there pre-pandemic, it was peak season.  The line was 3-4 hours long.    

 

 

We are planning on cruising to Santorini and other Greek islands October 18 through 28.  Would this be considered "peak season"?  Also any idea about weather and temperatures?  TIA!

[marazul]

9 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

We are planning on cruising to Santorini and other Greek islands October 18 through 28.  Would this be considered "peak season"?  Also any idea about weather and temperatures?  TIA!

Well past the peak season. A little later and restaurants start closing for the winter. It is a good time to go. Cooler, but it could be windy and no longer swimming season.

[ninjacat123]

2 minutes ago, marazul said:

Well past the peak season. A little later and restaurants start closing for the winter. It is a good time to go. Cooler, but it could be windy and no longer swimming season.

So, no swimming.  Pooh.  Thanks!!

[marazul]

Just now, ninjacat123 said:

So, no swimming.  Pooh.  Thanks!!

Only if you like cold water. It will be in the low 70sF. By then many beach facilities have closed. 

It is not the Caribbean. 

[ninjacat123]

7 minutes ago, marazul said:

Only if you like cold water. It will be in the low 70sF. By then many beach facilities have closed. 

It is not the Caribbean. 

You're right!  I thought the water a bit cool in Mallorca and that was beginning of September.  Still warmish air temp, like 70-80 F?

Edited August 10, 2022 by ninjacat123

[marazul]

11 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

You're right!  I thought the water a bit cool in Majorca and that was beginning of September.  Still warmish air temp, like 70-80 F?

That could be optimistic. 60-70 F is more likely. 

[ninjacat123]

1 minute ago, marazul said:

That could be optimistic. 60-70 F is more likely. 

Ok, I better bring layers.  Thanks!!