Several pairs of hands reaching across the cockpit table for bread, olives and cheese.

Guides & answers

Santorini boat tour guides: the questions people actually ask

Q: Where do I go if my question is not answered here?

The [FAQ](/faq/) collects the short answers in one place, and the [journal](/journal/) takes the long way round. If neither has it, message us on WhatsApp. A person who works on the boats reads it, and you get an answer the same day rather than a form response.

Twenty-five guides, one question each. Every price in them is ours; every place fact carries a source and the date it was checked. Where we do not know something, the guide says so.

Check availability & book WhatsApp

Twenty-five Santorini boat tour guides, grouped by the question each one answers. A shared five-hour catamaran cruise is €100 per person; the whole boat is €1,200 for eight. Morning water is calmer, sunset light is better. The quick answers sit in the table below, each linking to the guide that works it through properly.

Most people arrive at this site with one question, not twenty-five. So the table comes first: the eight things we are asked most often, answered in a line each, with a link to the guide that goes further.

Below that, everything else is filed by the question it answers rather than by when it was written.

The numbers

Eight questions, eight answers

If one of these is the only thing you came for, take the answer and go. The third column is there when the answer is not enough.

The question	The short answer	The guide
How much is a Santorini boat tour?	€100 per person for a shared five-hour cruise. €1,200 for the whole boat with up to eight guests.	What a boat tour costs in 2026
Morning or sunset?	Morning for calm water and swimming. Sunset for the light and dinner cooked on deck.	Morning vs sunset
Private or shared?	Shared is €100 a seat. Private never costs less per head: from €150 each at eight, down to €124 at seventeen.	Private vs semi-private
What should I wear?	A dark swimsuit for the hot springs, a layer for the wind, and shoes you can take off.	What to wear and bring
Which month is best?	May, June, September and early October: warmer water, lighter wind, fewer boats on the same stops.	Best month, month by month
What if the wind cancels it?	The captain decides on the morning. A weather cancellation is refunded in full or moved to another date.	Weather cancellations and refunds
Will I be seasick?	The meltemi builds through the afternoon in July and August, so morning water is flatter.	Seasickness and sea conditions
How do I get out of Fira Old Port without the cable car?	By sea. The stepped path closed on 28 July 2026 after a landslide and has not reopened.	Cable car vs water taxi

Prices on this page are ours and are the whole price. Everything about the island — the stairs, the cable car, the levy, the sunset times — is sourced and dated inside the guide it belongs to.

Choosing a cruise

Which boat, which half of the day, and whether to do this at all.

Morning vs sunsetLight, wind and water temperature hour by hour, and which one your stomach prefers.Private vs semi-privateWhat €150 a head at eight guests buys that €100 a seat does not.Catamaran vs volcano boat vs speedboatFifteen guests, forty to eighty, or eight in a RIB. Three genuinely different days.Is it worth it?The honest case against a boat tour, and who should keep the €100.

Money

What it costs, what is inside the number, and what happens to your money if the day does not run.

What a boat tour costs in 2026Our prices next to what the market published in August 2026, with the sources beside them.What's includedTransfers, lunch, wine, towels, port fees — and the three things that sit outside every price.Weather cancellations and refundsWho decides, at what hour they decide, and what comes back to you.How far ahead to bookWhy sunset dates in July and August go first, and what is still free at short notice.

What to bring and wear

A boat is not a beach. Four short guides on what to put in the bag.

What to wear and bringThe layer for the wind, the shoes that come off, and the four things people always forget.The hot springs swimsuit ruleIron oxide stains pale fabric permanently. Do not wear the swimsuit you like most.Drones and photographyWhat can fly, what cannot, and where the light sits at each stop.Tipping the crewNot in any price, not expected, and how to handle it if you would like to.

Weather and season

The season runs April to October. The wind decides most of what happens inside it.

Best month, month by monthApril to October: wind, sea temperature and how many boats share your anchorage.Boat tours in OctoberSunset at 19:03 on 1 October, sea around 22 °C, and the season closing behind you.Sunset times by monthFrom 19:40 on 1 April to 20:40 on 1 July, and back to 18:43 by mid-October.Seasickness and sea conditionsThe meltemi builds after midday. What that feels like on a sailing catamaran.

Ports and getting around

Three ports and one cable car, all of which changed in 2026.

Fira Old Port explainedSkala: where the tenders land, and what changed when the stairway closed in July 2026.Athinios port explainedThe ferry port with no town behind it, the switchback road, and how to time a departure.Ammoudi Bay explainedThe small port under Oia, at the foot of about 300 steps, and how to arrive by sea.Cable car vs water taxi€10 and three to five minutes, against a queue widely reported at 60 to 90 minutes at peak.

Who is travelling

Six guides where the honest answer depends entirely on who is getting on the boat.

With a baby or toddlerShade, naps, life jackets, and why a private boat usually wins for the under-threes.Pregnant on a catamaranWhat we can promise and what we cannot, and why the morning cruise is the one to take.Accessibility on boardThe unvarnished version: we anchor offshore, and no swimming stop has a jetty.Vegetarian, vegan and allergiesTell us at booking, not at the dock. The crew shop before they sail and cook on board.Cruise-ship day timingsTender groups, all-aboard, and the two hours the cable car can take out of a six-hour day.Booking last minute24 hours’ notice is enough for us. What is honestly still possible, day by day.

Where else to look

A guide answers one question. Four other parts of the site answer different shapes of question.

The journal is longer and slower: the volcano since 1707, what the crew cooks, what actually happens when the wind comes up. Read it for the island rather than the logistics.

The FAQ is the short version of all of this, on one page, in the order people ask.

Prices carries every number we publish, with what the rest of the Santorini market charged in August 2026 beside it.

Santorini by boat is the fifteen places the boats go, a page each, with what is really there when you arrive.

Ready when you are

Still not answered?

Send the question. A person who works on the boats reads it, and you get a real answer the same day.

Check availability & book

Call the harbour office+30 698 977 1888

Common questions

Can I do a boat tour and still watch the sunset in Oia the same day?

Yes, if you take the morning cruise. It runs 10:00 to 15:00 and you are back on land with hours to spare. The sunset cruise cannot be combined with Oia, because you are on the water while it happens — which is the argument for it, not against it.

How many days in Santorini do I need to fit a boat tour in?

Two full days is the minimum we would plan around. A five-hour cruise plus transfers eats most of one of them, and the captain can cancel for wind on the morning. With two spare days you have somewhere to move the booking to. With one, you do not.

Is one boat tour enough, or should we do two?

One is enough for most people. The south coast, the volcano and the hot springs are on the same five hours, and a second cruise repeats them. The exception is a group that wants both the morning water and the sunset light — then take the ten-hour full-day private cruise instead of two.

Who writes these guides?

The people who run the boats. Every price is ours and every place fact is sourced, with the date it was checked. Where we do not know something — the exact water temperature at the hot springs, how many days a season we stand the boat down — the guide says so rather than guessing. That is the whole editorial rule.

What is the most common mistake people make when they book a boat in Santorini?

Booking the last full day of the trip. Wind cancels cruises in Santorini, the captain decides on the morning, and a cancelled cruise on your last day is a refund rather than a day on the water. Book early in your stay and keep the last day free.

Where do I go if my question is not answered here?

The FAQ collects the short answers in one place, and the journal takes the long way round. If neither has it, message us on WhatsApp. A person who works on the boats reads it, and you get an answer the same day rather than a form response.

Santorini Boat Tour - Water Taxi is a catamaran cruise and water taxi operator based in Fira, Santorini.

Updated August 2026