Three formats

Catamaran, volcano boat or speedboat: choosing a Santorini boat tour

8 min read

Three different products. The big volcano boats are cheapest, carry forty to eighty people, and land you on Nea Kameni for the crater walk. Sailing catamarans stay small, run five hours, cook lunch on board and have shade. RIB speedboats take eight, do about twenty knots, and have neither.

Most people booking a Santorini boat tour do not yet know they are choosing between three different products. They compare headline prices across formats that are not doing the same job, book the cheapest, and then feel short-changed by a boat that was never trying to give them what they wanted.

Here is what each format actually is, what the market charges for it, and when the cheap one is the right one. Sometimes it is.

The numbers

The three formats, side by side

	Volcano and caldera boat	Sailing catamaran	RIB / speedboat
Group size	Large. Commonly 40 to 80 aboard; one Viator caldera listing sets its maximum at 130 travellers (viator.com, seen 25 August 2026).	Ours takes 15 shared and 17 private, and stops there. Market listings commonly show 18 to 25.	Eight, private hire only, with two crew.
Length	About three to five hours.	Five hours, or ten on the full-day private charter.	Two to five hours, set by you.
Does it sail?	No. Motor.	Partly. Wind, traffic and the clock decide how much — the engine does a fair share of any Santorini day.	No. About 20 knots on the engines, against the catamaran's 12.
Volcano landing	Yes. This is the whole point of the format. You walk the marked path to the Nea Kameni crater rim.	No. We anchor offshore and swim. Walking the volcano is not part of any cruise we sell.	Some operators bundle a landing. Ours does not.
Hot springs	Yes, usually the one swim of the trip.	Yes, at Palea Kameni, sea state permitting.	Yes, if you ask for it.
Food	Rarely cooked aboard. You eat ashore on Thirassia, or you bring it.	Cooked on board while you swim: BBQ chicken and shrimp, Greek salad, pasta, dolmades and the dips.	Snacks and cold drinks. Lunch is eaten ashore and is not in the price.
Drinks	Sold from a bar, or bring your own.	Santorini wine, beer and water, in the price.	Cold drinks and beer, in the price.
Shade	Some, on a covered deck shared with everybody else aboard.	Shaded cockpit, a saloon inside, a wide and level deck.	A bimini over the console, and that is all.
Toilet	Yes.	Marine heads inside the hulls.	None.
Swim stops	One, usually the springs.	Four on the day cruise, sea state permitting.	Two or three, wherever you point it.
Best for	A budget traveller who wants to stand on the crater rim.	Most visitors: swimming, eating, and sitting still for five hours.	A tight clock, more coastline per hour, or eight people who want the boat to themselves.

These formats are not competing on one axis. A volcano boat is a walk with a boat ride attached. A catamaran is a day on the water with a cook on it. A RIB is a fast private hull. Comparing their headline prices without that in mind is how people end up disappointed by a boat that did exactly what it said.

What each format costs in 2026

Every market figure below was observed on 25 August 2026 and carries its source. A low, a median and a high across the listings counted — not a promise of what you will pay, because a "from" price is the cheapest date on the cheapest option.

Format	Market low	Market median	Market high	Basis
Volcano or caldera boat, no meal cooked aboard	from €25.50	about €35–38	about €50	Market: 5 listings on viator.com, per adult
Shared catamaran, day cruise with a meal	from €60	about €100–110	about €150	Market: 14 listings on viator.com, per adult
Shared catamaran, sunset cruise with a meal	from €79	about €110–120	about €150	Market: 11 listings on viator.com, per adult
RIB, speedboat or motorboat, private	from $234	about $496–572	about $1,851	Market: 10 listings on getyourguide.com, mostly per group
Ours	€100 per person shared, five hours	€1,200 for the whole boat with up to eight guests	RIB and water taxi by quote, priced per route	Published in full on prices

Two things the table cannot show. The volcano ticket does not include the Nea Kameni park fee, and it usually does not include lunch. And one water-taxi listing advertising a market price of €175 discloses a €50 per-booking fuel surcharge inside its excluded list — read the exclusions on any format before you compare. The full picture is in what a boat tour costs in 2026.

When the volcano boat is the right buy

Often. We are not going to pretend otherwise.

If what you want is to stand on the rim of an active crater, the volcano boat is the only one of the three formats that does it. Our catamaran does not land on Nea Kameni. Walking the volcano is not included on any cruise we sell, and it never has been.

The economics are plain too. Shared caldera boats start at a market price of about €35 per adult against our €100. If €100 each is a real strain on your budget, take the cheap boat and spend the difference on dinner. Nobody is being cheated in that transaction.

What you give up: a meal cooked on board, wine and beer in the price, three swimming stops instead of one, shade you are not queueing for, and a headcount in the teens rather than the dozens.

What you take on: the Nea Kameni park fee, most commonly published at €5 per person and collected in cash by rangers at the trailhead. There are no card facilities on the island. Boats typically allow about ninety minutes ashore, which covers the climb to the rim and back.

And what the walk is actually like: a marked gravel path, roughly 130 m of climb, no shade, no water and no shelter anywhere on the island. Loose volcanic scree underfoot and heat coming off the rock. Closed shoes, a hat and water, not flip-flops. The Nea Kameni page has the rest of it.

When the RIB is the right buy

A RIB is a rigid inflatable with big engines. Ours carries eight, private hire only, at about 20 knots. No cabin, no galley, no toilet.

It wins on two things: reach and the clock. Twenty knots covers coastline a catamaran cannot fit into one afternoon, and a private hull starts when you say so. That is why it is the boat for a cruise-ship day with an all-aboard time printed on your card.

It loses on comfort, and there is no polite way around that. You brace, you hold on and you get wet. There is a bimini over the console and nothing else. In a chop it is hard work, and on a hot day with no shade it is harder.

The Santorini market for this format is thin. Most listings we counted carry fewer than fifteen reviews and several are marked as new activities (getyourguide.com, seen 25 August 2026). There is no dominant operator, which cuts both ways. Ours is on RIB boat tours.

The catamaran, and what it is not

A catamaran is a twin-hulled sailing boat. Two hulls give a wide, level deck with far less roll than a single hull, plus trampolines forward and a shaded cockpit. That stability is why catamarans dominate the Santorini day-cruise fleet.

It is not a fast boat. About 12 knots. It is not a volcano tour. And it does not land anywhere: no swimming stop on this coast has a jetty, so you go in from the swim platform at the stern.

It also does not sail for five straight hours. Wind, traffic and the schedule decide, and on many days the engine does a good share of the work. Any listing implying a full day under sail is promising you weather nobody controls.

Ready when you are

Not sure which one you want?

Tell us what you are after — the crater walk, the swimming, or the speed — and how many hours you have. If the honest answer is a cheap volcano boat, we will say so and point you at the format rather than sell you ours.

Check availability & book

Call the harbour office+30 698 977 1888

Common questions

What is the difference between a catamaran and volcano tour?

A volcano tour lands you on Nea Kameni for the crater walk and is usually a large shared boat. A catamaran cruise stays on the water: sailing, the crater swim beside the lava, and a meal cooked on board. Different trips entirely, and the two are constantly confused at the booking stage.

Do catamaran cruises land on the volcano?

Ours do not. We anchor off Nea Kameni and swim at the hot springs on neighbouring Palea Kameni. A landing needs the national park fee and about ninety minutes ashore, which would take the afternoon out of a five-hour cruise. If the crater walk is the point, book a volcano boat.

Which Santorini boat tour is cheapest?

The big shared caldera and volcano boats. Market listings start around €25.50 and cluster near €35 to €38 per adult (viator.com, seen 25 August 2026), against €100 for a shared catamaran seat. You get a bigger crowd, no cooked lunch and one swim stop, plus the crater walk.

Is a RIB tour rough?

It can be. A rigid inflatable at 20 knots slams in a chop, and you get wet. Inside the caldera the water is short-fetch and usually kind; the rough part is the southern corner in open sea. If you are prone to motion sickness, take the catamaran, in the morning.

Which boat tour works if I only have a few hours?

A RIB, or a volcano boat. A five-hour catamaran cruise plus two road transfers rarely fits a cruise-ship all-aboard time. Send us the ship name and the time printed on your card and we will tell you honestly whether the hours work. Sometimes they do not.

What's the difference between a catamaran and other boat tours in Santorini?

Deck space and stability, mainly. Catamarans carry fewer people per square metre than the big volcano boats, cook a proper meal on board and roll less. Speedboats and RIBs are faster and cover more ground, but give you a wetter, bumpier ride and almost no shade.

Do Santorini catamarans actually sail?

Partly. The sails go up when the wind and the traffic allow it, and the engine does the rest. Nobody on this island runs five hours under sail to a timetable, and a listing implying otherwise is promising weather. We would rather you knew that before you booked.

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

Updated August 2026