Before you pack

What to wear and bring on a Santorini boat tour

6 min read

Wear your swimsuit under light clothes, and bring a dark one for the hot springs. What is already on board: towels and snorkelling gear. Add high-factor sun cream, a hat with a cord, sunglasses on a strap, and a light jacket for the afternoon wind. Shoes come off on deck.

Five hours, three swim stops, a grill going at lunchtime and a car both ways. The packing question is smaller than people think, and two of the items most guides put at the top of the list are already in the locker by the steps.

The numbers

The day bag, item by item

The third column is the one worth reading first. Towels and snorkelling gear are on the boat and in the price, so the bag you pack is smaller than the internet suggests.

Item	Why	Already on board?
A dark swimsuit	The hot springs at Palea Kameni run ochre with iron. Pale fabric marks, and it does not always wash out.	No. Bring it. This is the one item people get wrong.
A second, dry swimsuit	There are three swim stops on the day cruise, plus the springs when the sea allows. The last one is better in something dry.	No
Sun cream, high factor	Light comes off the water as well as out of the sky. Reef-safe if you can find it.	No
A hat with a chin cord	An unstrapped hat lasts until the first gust. We do not turn the boat round for a hat.	No
Sunglasses on a strap	Same reason. The sea keeps what it is given.	No
A light jacket or windproof	The breeze builds through the afternoon. On the sunset cruise the deck cools fast once the sun drops.	No
A dry bag or a zip pouch	Spray reaches the cockpit. A phone loose on the trampolines is a phone at risk.	No
Seasickness tablets	They work taken before you sail. Taken at the first swell, they are too late.	No
Cash, in euros	Gratuities are not included and there is no card machine at sea. Tipping is optional.	No
A hair tie	Long hair, open deck, afternoon breeze.	No
Towel	One each, dry, already folded.	Yes. Included.
Mask and snorkel	In the locker by the steps.	Yes. Included.
Lunch and drinks	Cooked on board while you swim. Santorini wine, beer and water are in the price.	Yes. Included.
White or pale clothing	It meets hot-springs water, or it sits on a deck covered in wet swimsuits.	Leave it at the hotel.
Hard-soled shoes and heels	Shoes come off on deck. Hard soles mark the gelcoat and grip worse than bare feet.	Leave them at the hotel.
A suitcase, a cool box, a pram	A catamaran has nowhere to stow hard luggage, and the deck is shared with everyone else's things.	Leave them at the hotel.

Towels and snorkelling gear are included on our catamaran. Across the island they are not always, and inclusions vary widely between operators — read the inclusions line rather than assuming it, whoever you end up sailing with.

What you actually wear

Put the swimsuit on at the hotel. The car arrives before the boat does, and there is no good moment to change once you are under way.

Over it, wear whatever you would wear to walk to breakfast: shorts and a T-shirt, a linen shirt, a dress. That is the outfit. Nothing about the day asks for more, and a boat is an unkind place for anything that needs ironing.

Shoes come off when you step on deck. Hard soles and heels mark the deck, and bare feet grip a wet surface better than any sandal. Bring something you can slip off in one movement and forget for five hours.

The layer is not optional after lunch. There is shade under the bimini and no shade anywhere else, so the jacket you brought for the wind is also your cover at 12:30 when the sun is straight overhead. On the sunset cruise it earns its place twice, because the deck cools within minutes of the sun going behind the rim.

On board

What is already on the boat

In the price

Return road transfer between your hotel and the boat
Greek and English speaking crew
A meal cooked on board: BBQ chicken and shrimp off the coals, Greek salad, pasta in tomato sauce, vine leaf rolls, and Greek dips with bread
Santorini white wine, cold beer, soft drinks and water
Snorkelling gear
Towels
Captain, crew, fuel, insurance and port fees

Not included

Walking on the volcano (the boats anchor offshore)
Nea Kameni national park entrance fee
Gratuities

Four things worth getting right

The dark swimsuit. The springs at Palea Kameni are coloured by iron oxide seeping out of vents under the seabed. It marks pale fabric, sometimes permanently. We wrote the whole swimsuit rule because it is the single most common regret on the boat.

The hat cord. Santorini is windy, and the caldera funnels it. A hat without a strap is a donation to the sea.

The tablet, taken early. Motion-sickness medication works before it is needed, not after. Take it before you sail and follow the instructions on the packet. If you are prone to it, take the morning cruise: the water is flattest before noon and the breeze builds through the afternoon. There is more in seasickness and sea conditions.

The dry bag. Nothing on this boat is behind glass. Phones, keys and paper money all end up somewhere damp unless you give them somewhere dry to live.

Children on board

Tell us the ages when you book so the right life jackets are aboard. Small children want more sun cover than adults do, and there is a lot less shade on a boat than on a beach. A long-sleeved rash vest solves most of it.

The one-bag test

Everything above fits in one soft bag the size of a daypack. That is the test. If it does not fit, something on your list is doing a job the boat already does.

What we cannot tell you from here is whether you will want your own towel anyway, whether you need a plug for a camera battery, or what the sea will be doing on your date. The first is taste, the second is not published on this site yet, and the third the captain decides on the morning. Send us a message and we will answer the ones we can.

Ready when you are

Sailing with us, or still deciding?

Send the date and the number of guests. The shared cruise is €100 per person, five hours, with lunch, transfers, towels and gear in the price. We reply the same day.

Check availability & book

Call the harbour office+30 698 977 1888

Common questions

Are towels provided on a Santorini catamaran?

On ours, yes. Towels are on board and included in the €100, so you do not need to carry a hotel towel to the pier. Across the island it varies by operator, and some charge for them. If you like your own towel, bring it anyway — nobody minds.

Do I need to bring my own snorkel?

No. Snorkelling gear is on board and included, kept in the locker by the steps. If you have a mask you know fits, bring it, because a mask that fits is worth more than a mask that is free. For children, tell us the ages when you book.

Do I need to remove my shoes?

Yes. Shoes come off when you board. Hard soles and heels mark the deck, and bare feet grip better on a wet surface than any sandal does. Bring something you can slip off in one movement, and expect to spend the five hours barefoot.

Can I wear white on a Santorini boat tour?

Wear what you like on deck, but not in the water at the hot springs. The iron in that water marks pale fabric and does not always wash out. White swimwear is the thing to genuinely avoid. A white shirt that stays dry on the boat is fine.

What should I bring with me?

A dark swimsuit, a spare dry one, high-factor sun cream, a hat with a cord, sunglasses on a strap, a light jacket, a dry bag and some cash for tips. Take seasickness tablets before you sail if you need them. Towels and snorkelling gear are already on board.

Is there shade on the boat, and somewhere to change?

There is shade under the bimini over the cockpit, and none on the foredeck or the trampolines. There are cabins and a heads below, so changing is straightforward. Bring more sun protection than you would for a beach day, because the water reflects as well.

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

Updated August 2026