Santorini: Who It Suits, and the Caldera From the Water

Santorini sits at the southern end of the Cyclades and is built around one view: a ring of cliffs around a volcanic caldera, with white villages along the rim and two volcanic islets in the middle. It is also the island where the visitor rules of 2025 and 2026 reach furthest, and both belong in the decision.

What the island is like

The Greek National Tourism Organisation (GNTO) treats Santorini, ancient Thera, as a group of islands: Thera itself, Thirasia, Aspronisi, Palea Kameni and Nea Kameni. The municipality goes by Thira, which is how some ferry timetables list it. Successive explosive eruptions shaped the caldera, and the villages sit on its rim: Fira, the capital, then Firostefani, Imerovigli and Oia. The 2021 census counted 15,480 residents.

Its beaches are black, red or white sand, GNTO says. The sunset is the best-known sight. GNTO calls it “undoubtedly the most renowned sunset in Greece”, names Oia, Fira and Imerovigli as the places to watch it, and singles out the island’s Vinsanto wine.

On land, the prehistoric town at Akrotiri, destroyed by an eruption in the 16th century BC, is the main archaeological site: €20 (€10 reduced) in 2026, and even in season it closes at 15:30 on Mondays and Thursdays. The caldera path from Fira to Oia, about 10 km and three to five hours one way, needs no permit or fee. Between Fira and its Old Port you take the cable car, €10 one way since 2025, or walk the 587 steps that the Port Fund counts.

Who Santorini suits, and who should pick another island

All five sources in our check (GNTO, Lonely Planet, CN Traveller, Condé Nast Traveler and Rick Steves) name Santorini for couples or romance, and GNTO says couples choose it for weddings and honeymoons. Lonely Planet adds that most first-timers to the Cyclades home in on Santorini and Mykonos, and its budget guide files the pair as the “A-lister” islands; the cheaper islands guide covers the alternatives.

So Santorini suits a first trip to the islands, a honeymoon, or anyone whose list is the caldera, the sunset, the wine and Akrotiri. It suits less well if crowds decide your trip: 1,203,052 cruise passengers landed in 2025. For fewer people, Lonely Planet suggests Folegandros, which the quieter islands guide covers.

Pick Milos or Naxos for beaches. Milos has 80 beaches by GNTO’s count and more than 70 by Lonely Planet’s; GNTO calls Naxos the largest and most fertile island of the Cyclades, with long sandy beaches at Agios Prokopios, Agia Anna and Plaka.

Pick Mykonos if the evenings matter more than the view. The same five guides all name it for nightlife, and Santorini or Mykonos sets the two side by side. Pick Crete for a longer stay on a much bigger island: both Condé Nast editions name it for families, Blue Star and SeaJets sail between Heraklion and Santorini, and Crete or Santorini weighs the pair.

What changed in 2025 and 2026

On 27 January 2025 an earthquake swarm began in the sea about 10 km north-east of Santorini and moved towards Anydros and Amorgos over more than a month. Officials first called it tectonic; peer-reviewed studies later in 2025 attribute it to a magmatic dike intrusion. The largest shocks were about magnitude 5.2 to 5.3. More than 10,000 residents and visitors left in early February, and a state of emergency declared on 5 February was extended four times, the last on 2 July 2025.

Most of what closed has reopened: Akrotiri on 11 April 2025, the cable car and the Old Port on 15 May. The decision now in force (KYA 1166/2026) runs to 31 March 2027. Under it the Old Port, the cable car, Armeni, Korfos on Thirasia, Ammoudi village and the Ammoudi–Oia path are open. Still closed are the footpath from Ammoudi to Cape Agios Nikolaos and one section of the Old Port, “area A”. The Ammoudi road is closed to vehicles apart from supplies, Thirasia traffic and a small municipal rota, a rule that dates from landslide precautions in May 2024. Any of this can change after strong seismic or weather events.

Red Beach has been closed to visitors since August 2013 because of rockfalls, by mayoral decision since 2017, and a large rockfall on 4 February 2025 destroyed the path. Both catamarans on this page show it from offshore.

Cruise passengers landing on Santorini have paid a fee since 21 July 2025, whatever their age: €20 from June to September, €12 in April, May and October, €4 from November to March. Ferry and air arrivals do not pay it. The Port Fund caps cruise arrivals at 8,000 passengers a day and from 2026 counts each ship at full capacity rather than 80 percent; since July 2026, ships certified for more than 1,000 passengers must land 70 percent of them at the Old Port and 30 percent at Athinios. Hotels and rentals add a per-room climate resilience fee, at higher rates since 2025. Airport passengers fell 16 percent in 2025 and were back up 4.5 percent from January to August 2026.

Getting there

GNTO puts the flight from Athens at 50 minutes, into Santorini airport (JTR), which Fraport Greece runs. Ferries use Athinios port; the Old Port below Fira serves cruise tenders and most volcano boats. By sea, SeaJets’ Worldchampion Jet took 5 h 35 from Piraeus on its 2025 schedule, Golden Star takes 5 h 30 from Rafina, close to Athens airport, and Blue Star’s conventional ferry takes about eight hours via Paros, Naxos and Ios.

From the neighbours, SeaJets lists Naxos at 1 h 10 to 1 h 30, Paros at 1 h 30 and Milos at 1 h 55; Golden Star’s Ios leg takes 40 minutes. The Greek weather service describes the meltemi as blowing from early May to mid-October, most often in July and August. Operators cancel or reschedule for weather, and SeaJets advises a buffer day before a flight in July and August.

How long to stay

No official body recommends a number of days. Three full days covers the island: one on the water, one walking the caldera rim from Fira to Oia, one for Akrotiri and a black-sand beach. A fourth is worth having from May to October, when a windy day can move a boat trip.

The tours

The featured day is Sunset Oia’s catamaran, from $84 when we checked and rated 4.6 from 7,314 reviews. Hotel pickup and drop-off are included, or you meet the red catamaran in Ammoudi port by 2:15 p.m. The five-hour cruise stops at the hot springs, offshore at Red Beach and off White Beach, with a barbecue and unlimited white wine and soft drinks on board; beer and towels are extra. Cancellation is free up to 24 hours before.

You can see the caldera for nothing from the path on its rim. What the catamaran adds is the view from the water, the hot springs, a swim off a beach you cannot walk to, and dinner. For a reader who chose Santorini for the caldera, that is the day to book.

See dates for the catamaran →

santorinicalderacruise.com goes through the caldera catamaran cruises in more detail.

The same operator’s smaller catamaran (from $124, 4.8 from 4,386 reviews) takes no more than 20 guests, with an open bar, in the morning or at sunset below Oia. NST Santorini Tours’ volcano cruise (from $35, 4.3 from 11,601), the cheapest day here, leaves Athinios port on a wooden boat of up to 150 guests. It lands on Nea Kameni, where you walk to the crater on your own (the listing says the €5 entrance is paid in cash and not included), and stops at the springs off Palea Kameni, whose water can stain light swimwear.

NST’s coach day with hotel pickup (from $58, 4.7 from 3,600) covers Profitis Ilias, Pyrgos, Emporio, Perissa’s black beach, a three-wine tasting and the Oia sunset; food and drinks are extra. Its three-hour cooking class on Kamari’s black beach (from $82, 4.9 from 587) includes lunch and Santorini wine and is not for children under 10. Santorini Day Tours’ sunset wine tour (from $203, 4.9 from 916) picks up around 4 p.m. from May to October for three wineries and 12 wines, with no more than 10 guests, and ends at Santo Wines for the sunset.