We're heading to the Greek Isles on a cruise before our Rick Steves Greece tour and the first stop is Santorini. I'm interested in seeing Akrotiri but also is hiking some of the caldera but that would be in the afternoon. How difficult of a hike is this in an afternoon in early September?
Posted by
3020 posts
Do you mean the hike between Fira and Oia? We did it starting at 10 am in late May. It took us 3 hours with lots of pictures. There is no shade.
How much time do you have on your cruise stop? I am just wondering how you would manage all this and get back to your boat on time.
Posted by
OP
Michigan
105 posts
our Azamara cruise ship is supposed to be there from 8am to 8:30pm (unfortunately so are the Royal Explorer of the seas 3000+, MSC Sinfonia 2000+ and Norway Viva 3000+).
They have a Caldera walk excursion at 8:45 but they want $134/pp. I'd rather do their Ancient Akrotiri in the AM for the same price and do the Caldera on our own. But I'm thinking the afternoon it might be very crowded and hot. I did find Santorinidave.com which had a video of the walk.
Posted by
3020 posts
My concern would be how would you get from Akrotiri to Fira and then how would you get from Fira to the cruise ship. We had a car and no cruise ship. There are buses I know from Oia to Fira if that is where your cruise ship will be.
Perhaps you could do the hike on your own in the morning if you are concerned about the heat. You would have to get to Fira from the cruise ship to do that. Perhaps you could then find a tour from Oia to visit Akroteri. We did not have a guide and we would have benefited from one.
Posted by
Walnut Creek, CA
697 posts
I would do the hike from Fira to Oia first in the AM because of the possible heat issues. There is no shade along the route. Then at Oia you could take a bus back to Fira,
https://ktel-santorini.gr/index.php/en/services/timetable-summer/list/15
have lunch, and then take another bus or taxi to Akrotiri.
https://santorinika.com/buses-in-santorini/bus-from-fira-to-akrotiri/
https://ktel-santorini.gr/index.php/en/services/timetable-summer/list/15
FWIW, there is a third party tour that does a caldera hike that is only $115.87 p/p
the actual company that is offering this same tour is Santorini Experts
https://www.santoriniexperts.com/santorini-small-group-tours/
Posted by
A tiny island in Puget Sound WA, USA
168 posts
One thing to be aware of, since there are so many other ships there the same day, is the time it will take you to get back to your ship. If you explore on your own, a tender will probably pick you up at your ship and take you across to the small port at the bottom of the switch backed donkey trail. There is a cable car that you can ride to the top but only so many people can get in at once. I think maybe eight or 10. The first time I was there this is how we got to the top but when it came time to go back to the ship, all the other people from all the other ships were also trying to get back to their ship since we all wanted to maximize our time on Santorini. I was very nervous about getting back to the ship on time. The line for the cable car was hundreds of people long. If you go on an organized excursion, the tender will take you to a different port, which is larger and you will probably board a bus there. One of the advantages of the excursion is if something goes wrong and people are late or delayed. The ship will wait for you if you’re on their own excursion. Have a wonderful trip!