A boat tour from Imerovigli, and the cliff you are standing on
Imerovigli is the highest part of the caldera rim, about 350 m above the water against roughly 260 m at Fira. There is no harbour underneath it, so the whole journey to the boat is by road — included both ways.
€1,200 covers 8, then €100 each · 14:30 - 19:30 · The whole boat
Imerovigli has no harbour below it, so a boat tour from Imerovigli begins by road. Pickup and drop-off are included on every catamaran cruise, from the nearest point above your hotel's steps. The private sunset catamaran runs 14:30 to 19:30, €1,200 for up to eight guests.
Imerovigli is the quiet stretch of the rim between Fira and Oia, and the highest. Its name comes from the job it used to do: the daytime lookout, watching for pirates.
There is no way down to the sea here
Oia has Ammoudi at the bottom of its cliff. Fira has the Old Port. Imerovigli has Skaros Rock and then deep water — no harbour, no quay, no stepped path to a boat.
That is not a problem to solve, because road transfer to the boat and back is in the price of every catamaran cruise. It does mean the whole of your journey to the water is by road, and it starts with steps.
Steps, luggage and an early pickup
Hotels here are built down the face of the rim rather than along the top of it. Reception is at the road, your room is some number of flights below, and the only thing connecting them is a stepped walkway.
Two consequences worth planning for. Luggage first: this is the village where arrivals go wrong, so ask your hotel about a porter before you land, not while you are standing on the road with a suitcase.
Pickup second: no vehicle reaches your door, so we collect from the nearest point on the road above. For a 14:30 private sunset departure that means being at the top of your own steps before the car arrives, rather than starting up them when it does. Climbing forty steps in August takes longer than you would guess.
Imerovigli, in figures
| Detail | |
|---|---|
| Height | About 350 m above the sea, the highest part of the caldera rim. Fira is roughly 260 m. |
| Below you | Skaros Rock: a promontory jutting into the caldera, with no harbour and no landing. |
| Skaros on foot | From the church of Agios Georgios, roughly 550 m to the top of the rock and 650 m to the Panagia Theoskepasti chapel on its seaward side. Free. The last stretch is genuinely unsafe. |
| The castle | One of Santorini's five kastelia and the island's medieval capital until the 18th century. The earthquakes of 1701–1711 are credited with its abandonment. |
| Walking to Fira | The rim path runs south through Firostefani into Fira, off the main road. Coming home is the uphill direction, by about 90 m. |
| Your cruise | Private sunset catamaran, 14:30–19:30, €1,200 for up to eight guests, then €100 for each guest after that. |
Your exact meeting point at the water is confirmed with your booking. Nothing in this table is it.
You will sail past your own hotel
The run home on a sunset cruise goes north up the caldera to Oia, then back south along the rim. Imerovigli comes first, on the high point, then Fira, then the Old Port going by underneath.
From the water Skaros reads as a detached brown mass standing in front of the white line of Imerovigli, with the Theoskepasti chapel a white dot at its foot. Your hotel is somewhere in that white line, and you will be able to point at it.
That is the argument for the private boat rather than a shared seat here. A private cruise buys the timing: the captain can sit off Skaros while the light works, instead of moving on because eleven other people are ready to. It costs more per head than €100 — €150 each at eight, €124 at seventeen — and what you are buying is the clock.
Tell us the date and how many of you
Send your hotel name too. We will confirm the pickup point on the road above it, and the time, the same day.
Call the harbour office+30 698 977 1888
Common questions
Do you pick up from Imerovigli?
Yes. Road transfer between your hotel and the boat is included on every catamaran cruise. It covers every village on the island, and nothing is added for distance. Send us the hotel name on WhatsApp and we confirm the point and the time in writing.
Our room is a long way below the road. How does the pickup work?
We collect from the nearest point a vehicle can reach, which in Imerovigli is almost always the road above your hotel. We name that point when we confirm. Give yourself ten minutes to get up there with a bag, and more if you are travelling with children.
Can we see Skaros Rock from the boat?
Yes, and it is one of the better moments of the afternoon. Skaros stands out from the rim as a brown mass in front of the white line of Imerovigli, with the Theoskepasti chapel visible at its base. From the sea you get the shape of it, which the walking path never gives you.
Can I fly a drone from the boat?
Not over the caldera rim. The airspace above Fira, Imerovigli and Oia is a designated no-fly zone, and Greece requires a flight notification filed days in advance on top of EU operator registration. Chartering privately changes none of that. We wrote the detail on our drones and photography guide.
How long is the transfer from Imerovigli?
Longer than from Fira, shorter than from Oia — you sit between the two on the rim. We do not publish a figure, because it depends on the day, the traffic and where else the car is stopping. Your confirmed pickup time already has that built into it.
Santorini Boat Tour - Water Taxi is a catamaran cruise and water taxi operator based in Fira, Santorini.
Updated August 2026