Nea Kameni volcano, from the boat
3.4 km² of black dacite lava, 114 m at its highest point, and the youngest land in the eastern Mediterranean. Nine eruptions built it. The last one was in 1950.
€100 per person · 10:00 - 15:00 · Shared seats
Our cruises anchor off Nea Kameni rather than landing on it, so the crater walk is not part of the day. What is part of the day is the swim: every cruise anchors here, and you swim inside the flooded crater itself. The springs at Palea Kameni follow when the sea allows.
Nea Kameni is the black island in the middle of the caldera. It is uninhabited, about 2 km across, and it is younger than most of the churches you will walk past in Fira.
This page is mostly about what we do not do. If walking to the crater rim is the reason you are booking a boat, we would rather tell you now than at the anchorage.
Stop 5 of 7 on the Semi-private day cruise · the boat is here around 12:50
From the water, or up to the crater
Two different days out, sold as two different trips. Neither is better; they answer different questions.
| From the water, with us | Walking to the crater rim | |
|---|---|---|
| Time it takes | An anchored stop mid-loop, between the lighthouse and the Fira panorama. Nothing extra comes out of your day. | Boats that land usually allow about 1.5 hours ashore. The climb is 20–30 minutes each way; the full marked circuit runs 45–75 minutes. |
| What it costs | Inside the €100 cruise. There is nothing to pay on the island, because you do not go ashore. | A separate national park ticket, collected in cash by rangers at the trailhead. €5 per person is the figure most sources publish, and we could not verify it for the 2026 season, so carry a little more than that. |
| What you get | The lava shore at close range, the 114 m cone above it, the caldera wall behind you — and a swim inside the flooded crater, with the springs after when the sea allows. | A marked gravel path up about 130 m to the rim, fumaroles venting steam over yellow sulphur, and the caldera seen from inside it. |
| The ground under you | A deck, then the water. Shade under the bimini, and the swim off the stern at the anchorage. | Loose black scree. No shade, no water and no shelter anywhere on the island. Closed shoes, a hat and a full bottle. |
| Who it suits | Anyone who came for a day on the water, and anyone travelling with small children or a bad knee. | People who came for the geology and do not mind an uphill walk in full sun. |
If the crater rim is the thing you want, book a volcano excursion rather than a catamaran cruise. They are different boats with different tickets, and the two get confused at the point of booking more than anything else in Santorini.
Nine eruptions, and what each one built
The present shape of the two Kameni islands was set by nine eruptions above the waterline. This is the list, from the peer-reviewed work of Nomikou and colleagues.
| Eruption | What it did |
|---|---|
| 197 BC | The first of the nine. The Kameni islands begin to appear inside the flooded caldera. |
| AD 46–47 | Palea Kameni takes its shape. In antiquity the island was called Hiera. |
| AD 726 | A submarine explosive eruption at Palea Kameni. |
| 1570 / 1573 | A recorded eruption in the centre of the caldera. |
| 1707–1711 | Nea Kameni proper surfaces and grows. The name means the new burnt island. |
| 1866–1870 | The Georgios dome is built. |
| 1925–1928 | The Daphne crater is formed. |
| 1939–1941 | A further recorded eruption. |
| 1950 | A small lava-dome extrusion, and the most recent eruption to date. |
Nothing since 1950. The volcano is quiescent and continuously monitored by ISMOSAV, the institute set up to watch it. Nobody on a boat in the caldera is worried, and the island is a protected scientific site as well as a park. We wrote the long version of this in the volcano from the water.
What actually happens at the volcano
You round the Akrotiri lighthouse at about 12:10 on a 10:00 departure and the caldera opens in front of you. Nea Kameni is straight ahead, low and black, with the cliffs of Santorini rising behind it on the right.
We run down the lava shore close in. The rock is dacite, dark and broken, in flows you can tell apart by colour and texture once somebody points it out. Some of what you are looking at is three hundred years old. Some of it is seventy.
Then the anchor goes down and you swim — inside the flooded crater itself, in deep, still water with the rim standing all the way round — while the grill works behind you. On the way home from the Fira panorama, the boat wraps round the island and threads the channel to Palea Kameni for the springs, sea allowing. That is the volcano's part of the day: about an hour of it, none of it uphill.
No cruise on this site lands on Nea Kameni — the walking excursions run on their own dedicated boats, and the park ticket is paid in cash at the trailhead. Give the walk its own morning and keep the boat day for the water; the two do not fit inside one afternoon.
On the full-day private cruise the volcano stop simply runs longer, at golden hour, with no clock on the swim.
What we could not confirm
The fee. €5 per person is what most sources publish, with reduced rates reported for over-65s, students and children aged 5 to 12. We could not verify the official 2026 figure, so treat ours as an estimate rather than a price.
The opening hours. One source gives 09:00 to 18:00 daily. Another says there are no formal hours and boats simply run between about 10:00 and 17:00. We do not know which is right, so we are not going to publish either as fact.
If either of those matters to your plan, message us and we will check it for your date rather than guess.
The volcano, the springs, and lunch on deck
Five hours on the water at €100 per person, transfers and lunch included. Tell us the date and how many of you there are.
Call the harbour office+30 698 977 1888
Common questions
Will we reach the volcano?
Yes — every cruise anchors beside Nea Kameni's lava shore, and you swim there, inside the flooded crater. The springs at Palea Kameni follow when the sea allows. What no cruise of ours does is land: the crater walk is a separate excursion on a different boat, with its own park ticket.
Will I be able to walk on the Volcano during my catamaran cruise?
No. Volcano hiking is not included on any of our catamaran cruises, and the boat does not put guests ashore at the beaches either. If the Nea Kameni crater is on your list, book a separate volcano excursion. It is a different trip, on a different boat, with a different ticket.
How much is the Nea Kameni entrance fee?
Nea Kameni is a national geological park with a landing fee collected in cash by rangers at the trailhead. €5 per person is the figure most sources publish, though we could not confirm the official 2026 rate. There are no card facilities on the island, and the fee is not inside any boat ticket of ours.
How long is the volcano hike?
Boats that land typically allow about 1.5 hours ashore. The climb to the crater rim is 20 to 30 minutes each way, rising roughly 130 m, and the full marked circuit takes 45 to 75 minutes. The path is loose black gravel with no shade at all. Closed shoes, a hat and water.
What is the difference between a catamaran and a volcano tour?
A volcano tour lands you on Nea Kameni for the crater walk and is usually a large shared boat. Our catamaran cruise stays on the water: sailing, the crater swim, lunch cooked on board, and no volcano hiking. Different trips at similar headline prices, and they are confused constantly.
Is the Santorini volcano still active?
Yes, but quiescent. The most recent eruption was a small lava-dome extrusion in 1950, and nine eruptions above the waterline built the islands you see. ISMOSAV monitors the volcano continuously and the island is a protected scientific site. It is watched more closely than almost anything else in the Aegean.
Santorini Boat Tour - Water Taxi is a catamaran cruise and water taxi operator based in Fira, Santorini.
Updated August 2026