We run five Santorini catamaran cruises on one Lagoon sailing catamaran. Two are shared seats at €100 per person, five hours, up to 15 guests. Two are private half-days at €1,200 for eight. The fifth is a ten-hour private charter at €2,400 for ten. All include lunch, drinks and transfers.
This is the page to read before you pick one. The boat is the same every time. What changes is who else is aboard, how many hours you have, and where the sun is when you turn for home.
Departures
The five cruises
Prices are the whole price. Road transfer, food, wine, beer, water, snorkelling gear, towels, fuel and port fees are already inside them.
The recommendation is arithmetic, not persuasion: a big group needs the whole boat, and the ten-hour day runs private only. Change an answer and the result follows.
The numbers
All five in one table
Departure times move a little through the season because the sun does. The time on your confirmation is the one that applies.
A private boat is never cheaper per head than a shared seat. At eight guests it works out at €150 each and at twelve €133, falling further as the group grows — but never below the €100 semi-private seat. What the difference buys is the route, the timing and nobody else's music.
How to choose between them
Three things decide this for almost everyone: the water, the arithmetic, and how far you want to go.
Morning water is calmer. The meltemi is a dry northerly that runs the Aegean summer. Sailingissues.com sets out the daily pattern: it comes up in the early afternoon at 4 to 5 Beaufort, 11 to 21 knots, and dies at sunset. Windfinder's long-run statistics for Santorini airport, built on observations since 2000, give a mean of 12 knots from the north-west with mean gusts of 29 knots. This is a windy island. A 10:00 departure sails through the flattest part of the day. It is why we send families with small children, and anyone who goes quiet on a ferry, to the morning cruise.
A private boat is not cheaper per head. It never is. Eight guests on a private catamaran pay €150 each and twelve pay €133, falling further as the group grows. A seat on the semi-private is €100. Private buys control rather than value: your departure time, how long you stay in the water at each stop, your own playlist, and nobody else in your photographs. The full arithmetic is on private vs semi-private.
Ten hours is the only version that reaches the far rim at all. On a five-hour cruise Thirassia stays a shape across the water, because the loop turns for home at the Fira panorama. The full-day private has five hours more to spend, and time ashore at Korfos is what they are for. Tell us what you want from that end of the water and we will tell you honestly what the day allows.
Sunset costs the same as morning on a shared boat. Both semi-private cruises are €100, so this is a preference and not a budget decision. If the caldera wall lit from the west is the reason you came, take the sunset. If you want the warmest swims in clear water and to be back on land by mid-afternoon, take the morning.
On board
What is in the price, shared or private
The same list applies to all five cruises. Nothing is collected at 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
Our prices against the market
We read the published price lists of eleven Santorini catamaran operators on 25 August 2026, together with the Viator and GetYourGuide Santorini category pages the same day. The numbers in the third column are theirs, not ours. GetYourGuide quoted in dollars that day, and its shared five-hour catamaran listings ranged from about $75 to $150 per person.
What you are buying
Ours
The market, 25 August 2026
Where that figure comes from
A shared seat, five hours
€100 per person
Other operators published prices from €79 to €190 per person
Eleven operator price lists, read 2026-08-25
A private catamaran for half a day
€1,200 for up to 8 guests
Market band from €750 to €5,000 for the whole boat
Other operators listed shared catamarans carrying from 10 to 55 guests
Operator price lists and OTA listing cards, 2026-08-25
The crowded middle of the shared market sat between €100 and €130 per person on that date. We are at the bottom of it, and we carry fewer people than most of the boats in it. Every one of our own numbers is on prices.
What is the same on all five
The boat. One Lagoon sailing catamaran: two or three crew, 12 knots under power. We sell 15 shared and 17 private, which is the difference between a seat in the shade and a place to stand. There is more about it on the catamaran.
The loop. Every cruise sails the same caldera circuit out of Vlychada: the south-coast beaches, round the lighthouse, the volcano swim, the Fira panorama, and home — with the warm springs added when the sea allows. What changes between the five is the hour, the light and who is aboard.
We anchor offshore. None of the swimming stops has a jetty, so you go in from the stern of the boat. Nobody is put ashore on a beach, and there is no walk up the volcano on any of these cruises. That is also why the Nea Kameni park fee is not in the price — we do not land.
The captain decides on the morning. He looks at the sea, not at the schedule. If it is not safe he cancels, and a weather cancellation is refunded in full. More often he simply reorders the stops or swaps one for another. Direction matters more than wind speed here: a northerly leaves the south coast comparatively sheltered, a southerly does not.
A car both ways. Road transfer between your hotel and the boat is included on every cruise, so you do not have to find the port yourself. Your exact meeting point is confirmed with your booking.
Send the date, the number of guests, and which of the five you are leaning towards. No payment is taken on this site. A person reads the message and replies the same day with what is free.
What is the difference between a Private and a Shared Cruise?
A shared, semi-private seat is €100 per person and you sail with a handful of other guests. The captain sets the route and the timings. A private cruise is the same catamaran with only your group aboard: €1,200 for up to eight, then €100 for each guest after that.
How much does a Santorini catamaran cruise cost?
With us, €100 per person for a five-hour semi-private cruise, morning or sunset. A five-hour private charter is €1,200 for up to eight guests and €100 for each extra guest. The ten-hour full-day private charter is €2,400 for up to ten. Lunch, drinks and hotel transfers sit inside those numbers.
How many people are on board?
Comfortable on either — a semi-private cruise is capped for comfort, and a private one is the whole boat. We hold seats back on purpose. Crew are two or three on top of the guests. If yours is a large group, message us and we will talk about what is possible.
How long does the cruise last?
Five hours for four of the five: 10:00 to 15:00, 15:00 to sunset, 09:30 to 14:30, or 14:30 to 19:30. The full-day private charter is ten hours, 10:30 to 20:30. Add the road transfer at each end when you plan the rest of your day around it.
Should I take a morning or sunset cruise?
Morning for calmer, clearer water and warmer swims. Sunset for the light on the caldera wall and dinner cooked on deck. The wind in a Santorini summer builds through the afternoon, so if anyone in your party gets seasick, take the morning. Both shared cruises cost the same €100.
Will I be able to walk on the Volcano or walk at any of the beaches during my Catamaran Cruise?
No, on both counts. The catamaran anchors offshore and guests swim from the boat, so nobody is put ashore on a beach. Walking up Nea Kameni is a different excursion with a different boat, a landing permit and a national park fee. It is not part of any cruise here.
What's the difference between a catamaran and other boat tours in Santorini?
Deck space, passenger count and stability. A big volcano boat carries 40 to 80 people and lands them for a crater walk. A speedboat is faster and wetter, with no shade. A sailing catamaran gives you a wide level deck, a shaded cockpit, trampolines forward and a meal cooked on board.
How far in advance should I book?
As early as you can for July and August, when the whole Santorini fleet fills weeks ahead. May, June, September and early October usually need one to two weeks. Semi-private seats go faster than private charters, because 15 seats is a small number and one family can close a departure.
Santorini Boat Tour - Water Taxi is a catamaran cruise and water taxi operator based in Fira, Santorini.
