White Beach, Santorini, seen from the water
Pumice cliffs published at more than 20 m above the shingle, and no road to the sand. All five of our catamaran cruises anchor here, sea state permitting.
€100 per person · 10:00 - 15:00 · Shared seats
White Beach sits on the south coast west of Red Beach, under a pumice wall more than 20 m high. There is no road and no path worth the name, so a boat is the way in. We anchor offshore and you swim to the shingle.
Ten minutes west of Red Beach the cliff loses its rust and turns bone pale. That wall is what people mean by White Beach. The shore underneath it is black.
Stop 2 of 7 on the Semi-private day cruise · the boat is here around 11:15
What you see from the deck
The boat comes round the point from Red Beach and holds off a narrow cove with a pale wall behind it.
The wall is pumice and tephra — ash and stone thrown out by the eruption, packed down and then cut back by wind and sea. Published heights put it at more than 20 m above the shore. From deck level it reads as one bleached face, almost lunar, with darker rock showing at its foot.
The water below it is clear and usually sheltered. That is why we treat this as a snorkelling stop rather than a photograph, and why the gear lives in the locker by the swim steps.
There is no jetty here. No boat may land where there is nothing to land at, so we anchor off and you go in from the swim platform at the stern. The swim is short and the cove is enclosed.
White Beach and Red Beach, side by side
The two coves are ten minutes apart on the same coast, and they are not the same kind of stop.
| White Beach | Red Beach | |
|---|---|---|
| The cliff | Pale pumice and tephra, published at over 20 m above the shore. | Rust-red to crimson. The colour is oxidised iron — haematite — in the volcanic rock. |
| The shore itself | Black and dark grey pebble. Not white sand. | Dark red-black pebble and coarse sand. |
| Getting there by land | No road to the sand. The only route on foot is the Red Beach cliff path. | A 10–15 minute scramble directly under a face engineers judge cannot practically be stabilised. |
| Getting there by sea | Boat only, in practice. Taxi boats from Akrotiri harbour, or a cruise. | Boats hold off in open water and you see the whole red section at once. |
| The water | Clear and sheltered. A genuine snorkelling stop. | Swimmable. The hazard here is the cliff above, not the sea. |
| How busy | Quiet. One source counted under 20 people on a good day in early June. | The most photographed beach on the island. |
| What we do | Anchor off, swim in, snorkel along the rock. | Hold off the beach for the full cliff, then swim. |
Neither cove has a jetty, so the boat anchors offshore at both. Nothing on this coast is a step-ashore stop.
The name is about the cliff, not the sand
People arrive expecting white sand. It is not there. The shore is black and dark grey pebble, sometimes coarse dark sand, and the only white thing at White Beach is the wall above you.
Saying so in advance is worth more than a photograph. Guests who already know the beach is dark spend the stop looking up at the cliff, which is the thing worth looking at.
Sources disagree about whether umbrellas and sunbeds are set out here in a given season, and there is no shop and no tap. Water, towels and snorkelling gear come off our boat, so on a cruise it does not matter. If you are arriving on a taxi boat under your own steam, carry water.
Which cruises stop here
White Beach is on the south-coast leg, and all five catamaran cruises sail it. On the semi-private day cruise you are usually anchored here late morning, after Red Beach and before Mesa Pigadia.
The semi-private sunset cruise covers the same coast later, with the light coming across the wall rather than down onto it. The private day, private sunset and full-day private cruises pass here too, and on a private boat you can ask to stay longer.
Whether we stop is a decision about the sea, made on the morning. A northerly meltemi usually leaves this coast sheltered; a southerly makes it unworkable.
Want this coast on your date?
Send us the day and how many of you there are. We reply the same day with what is free.
Call the harbour office+30 698 977 1888
Common questions
Do boat tours stop at White Beach?
Most south-coast boat routes do, ours included. We anchor offshore and you swim the last stretch in, because there is no jetty and no boat may land where there is none. Treat it as a swimming stop under white cliffs, not a beach visit with sunbeds.
How do you get to White Beach?
By boat, in practice. There is no road to the sand. The one land route is the cliff path from Red Beach, which is the same unstable path that keeps closing for rockfall. Small taxi boats run from Akrotiri harbour for about €15 return; a cruise anchors off it.
Is the sand at White Beach actually white?
No. The shore is black and dark grey pebble with some coarse dark sand. The white is the cliff above it — pumice and ash from the eruption, published as standing more than 20 m over the shingle. People who expect white sand are reliably disappointed.
Can you walk to White Beach from Red Beach?
Guide sources say the two are linked on foot, but the link is the Red Beach cliff path. That path runs directly under a face with a long rockfall history, restricted since 2013, with falls reported in 2018, 2023 and 2025. We would not send you along it.
Santorini Boat Tour - Water Taxi is a catamaran cruise and water taxi operator based in Fira, Santorini.
Updated August 2026