How To Avoid Crowds In Santorini

Cruise ship crowds are becoming a real problem in Santorini, Greece. During tourist season, between 9,000 and 12,000 cruise ship passengers disembark into Santorini’s port each day. When you take into account the thousands of tourists who are staying on the island on any given day, it has become extremely crowded. Santorini is still absolutely worth visiting, but don’t make the mistake of not strategically planning your stay to avoid the cruise ship crowds.

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Understanding Santorini’s Layout

In order to avoid crowds in Santorini, it’s important to understand the layout of the island.

Western Santorini: The Caldera

The western part of the island is comprised of the Caldera. The Caldera is a massive volcanic crater that was formed by an eruption over 3,000 years ago. The eruption caused the center of the island to collapse, creating a large, crescent shaped lagoon with cliffs that rise up from the water.

The Caldera is exactly what you picture when you think of Santorini. The white washed and blue dome buildings perched atop cliffs overlooking the Aegean Sea with views of the surrounding islands. The sun sets on the this side of the island, creating absolutely gorgeous sunset views along the Caldera.

The Caldera has become one of the most iconic natural landmarks in Greece and is a major reason why Santorini is such a popular tourist destination.

Eastern Santorini: The Beaches

The eastern side of the island is where Santorini’s beaches are located. The sun rises on this side of the island. There are several resorts located in the beach towns, as well as many seaside restaurants and shops.

Nea Kameni Volcano

The Caldera of Santorini overlooks both the Nea Kameni volcano and the island of Thirassia. Nea Kameni volcano, located in the center of Santorini’s Caldera, is an active volcano with its last eruption in 1950. Visitors can take boat tours to the volcano, where you an hike along the craters.

Just off the coast of the volcano are natural hot springs. The mineral-rich waters are said to have therapeutic benefits and many boat tours stop there so passengers can take a dip in the warm waters.

Thirassia Island

Thirassia is a small, quiet island located just across the Caldera from Santorini. It’s often considered the “sister island” of Santorini due to its close proximity and similar geological origins.

What parts of the island are the most crowded?

The Caldera is the most crowded part of the island. The main towns of the Caldera, in order of location are Fira, Firostefani, Imerovigli and Oia. Fira and Oia are the most crowded towns in Santorini.

Oia

Oia (pronounced EE-UH), is the most popular of the Caldera towns. Most of the photos that you have seen of Santorini were taken in Oia. Oia is famous for its blue domed churches and stunning sunsets overlooking the Aegan Sea. Due to its popularity, Oia is the most crowded town in Santorini at anytime but especially at sunset.

Fira

The first town along the Caldera is Fira (pronounced Fear-ah). Fira is where Santorini’s port is located. Earlier, I mentioned that up to 12,000 cruise ship passengers disembark into Santorini on any given day during tourist season. Well, those 12,000 passengers are all emptying out into the town of Fira, making it very congested.

Besides the cruise port, Fira is most known for its night life. If you are interested in bars and nightclubs, Fira is where you will find most of that in Santorini. It is also the location of some of Santorini’s top restaurants.

What about Imerovigli and Firostefani?

While the “bookend” Caldera towns of Fira and Oia are the most crowded, the two towns in between offer a much quieter experience. Firostefani and Imerovigli both have the gorgeous Caldera sunsets and blue dome buildings with far fewer crowds. We stayed in Imerovigli and absolutely loved it!

How to Avoid The Cruise Ship Crowds

The most important step to take to avoid the cruise ship crowds is to look up the Santorini port schedule in advance. Visit cruisetimetables.com. Click on the “port schedules” tab at the top, then select Santorini. Put in the month and year that you will be visiting the island. This website will tell you how many cruise ships will be in port each day, as well as how many passengers those ships hold. It will also tell you what time the ships arrive and depart.

Strategically Plan Your Days

After looking up the cruise port schedule for your visit, it is important that you strategically plan out your days so that you are avoiding the Caldera side of the island on the busiest port days, especially avoiding the towns of Fira and Oia.

What to Do Instead of the Caldera

On the busiest port days, there are several options for things to do outside of the crowded Caldera.

Beach Days

As I mentioned earlier, the beaches are on the opposite side of the island from the Caldera. Spending the day at the beach is a great way to avoid the Caldera cruise ship crowds. Kamari and Perissa are two charming beach towns, with several seaside restaurants. There are sunbeds and umbrellas on the beaches for rent. Some of the restuarants will let you use their sunbeds if you order food and drinks. The beaches are rocky, so be sure to bring water shoes. We also brought our snorkel masks and enjoyed snorkeling in the turquoise water.

The Santorini “hop-on, hop off” water taxi takes you to the Red Beach, the White Beach and the Black Beach. It is 15 euros roundtrip, and the boats come every half hour. The water taxi departs from the port in Akrotiri. Strangely, there is no website for the water taxi. There is a Facebook page, but little information. We found out about it through word-of-mouth. Since there is no address, we found it a little hard to find, but if you put “Hotel Akrotiri” in to GPS and it will take you directly to the port. Once you get to the port, there is a large sign for the water taxi dock. Beach hopping on the water taxi was one of our favorite things we did in Santorini!

Explore Non-Caldera Towns

Spend a day exploring towns that aren’t on the crowded Caldera. Megalochori, Akrotiri and Pyrgos are all interesting and charming towns. Megalochori and Pyrgos have the blue dome buildings and cobblestone streets. There are even some caves to explore!

Excursions

Another great way to avoid the crowds in Santorini is to do excursions. There are so many fun excursions to choose from.

Boat Tours

There are a few different types of boat tours. Most of the boat tours take you to swim in the hot springs, as well as other snorkeling spots. The views of the Caldera from the sea are stunning, and seeing the Caldera sunset from a boat is amazing.

We did this boat tour and it was fabulous. Our boat tour took us by the volcano (you don’t disembark onto the volcano), we swam in the hot springs (be sure to wear a black bathing suit–the sulphur can dye light color suits). Then we went to Thirassia island where we swam and snorkeled some more before seeing the most spectacular sunset over the Caldera.

Dinner was served on the boat. I am gluten-free and the crew made a special gluten-free pasta for me, they were incredibly accommodating.

Volcano Excursions

Avoid the crowds in Santorini by exploring the Nea Kameni volcano. On this Volcano Excursion, you go by boat to the volcano where you will have time to hike around the volcanic craters, then swim in the hot springs. (Remember to wear a black bathing suit!) One thing to note is that there is no shade at the volcano, and there will be heat coming off of the volcano itself. Where comfortable shoes and bring plenty of sunscreen!

Kayaking Tours

Kayaking tours are another great way to avoid the crowds. Explore sea caves with this kayak tour which includes a picnic as well as swim and snorkeling stops.

Visit Santorini Wineries

Santorini is home to several wineries including Santo Wines, Artemis Karamolegos Winery, Domaine Sigalas, Gaia Wines and Vassaltis Vineyards. The volcanic soil makes for some delicious and unique wine. Most of the wine made in Santorini is from white grapes, but red wine lovers will find some red options at all of the wineries.

We did this Sunset Wine Tour and it was incredible! Our guide took us to 3 wineries on a luxury sprinter bus, where we had private tastings and pairings. The tour ended at Santo Wines, which overlooks the Caldera where we had the most amazing sunset views during our tasting.

Santorini Cooking Classes

Cooking classes are a fun way to avoid crowds in Santorini. Two of the top cooking classes are Petra Kouzina’s Cave House Cooking and the Greek Cuisine Cooking Class.

Avoiding Sunset Crowds

Santorini is known for its gorgeous Caldera sunsets overlooking the Aegean Sea. Unfortunately, sunset is when the biggest crowds form along the Caldera. You can still experience the Santorini sunsets without fighting the crowds.

Stay at a Hotel with Sunset Views

The easiest way to avoid the sunset crowd is to experience the sunset from the privacy of your hotel room balcony. Imerovigli is the least crowded of the Caldera towns and it has gorgeous sunsets. We stayed at the Above Blue Suites in Imerovigli and had a private balcony with a plunge pool overlooking the Caldera.

We watched the sunset from our pool and it was dreamy! Our hotel was wonderful, highly recommend if you are looking for accommodations in Imerovigli!

Be sure to read the reviews for whatever hotel you are staying at. Not all hotels have direct sunset views. Depending on how they are situated on the Caldera, the sunset could be off to the side of your balcony, even in Oia!

Make Sunset Restaurant Reservations

Avoid the sunset crowds by making reservations at one of the many restaurants overlooking the Caldera. Some of the most popular restaurants for sunset are Le Moustache and Onar. Our hotel (Above Blue Suites) was located next to Le Moustache and we ate there for sunset one night. The views were stunning. Be sure to make reservations in advance for any of the sunset restaurants.

Avoiding Caldera Photo Shoot Crowds

When visiting Santorini, you have to explore the Caldera. It is an absolute must and the thing Santorini is most famous for. We have all seen the iconic “Instagram photo spots.” Unfortunately, in reality, people wait in lines sometimes up to 45 minutes to just take a picture at these famous photo spots in Oia.

You don’t have to wait in those crowded lines in Oia. Imerovigli has the same blue domes, the same pink flowers, with half the crowds. We took all of our favorite photos in Imerovigli and never had to wait in a line.

Final Thoughts on Santorini Crowds

It is so important to strategically plan your Santorini trip to avoid the crowds. So many people come to Santorini looking for the romantic and dreamy getaway to be disappointed by being shoulder-to-shoulder in crowds.

We visited the island of Milos before heading over to Santorini. While on Milos, we met several couples on an excursion who had come to Milos from Santorini. They told us how disappointed they were with Santorini because of the crowds. Two of them were on their honeymoon and said they wished they had skipped Santorini altogether. That was disheartening to hear, especially since we were going to Santorini ourselves in a few days.

Luckily, I knew how to avoid the crowds. I had done my research in advance and knew what days to avoid the Caldera. We never fought the sunset crowds and we visited Oia and Fira on days when there weren’t as many ships in port.

We loved beach hopping on the water taxi and experiencing the beaches of Kamari and Perissa. Our boat tour and wine tour excursions were also highlights of our trip.

Santorini is so beautiful and absolutely worth visiting. Just don’t make the mistake of not planning your vacation around the crowds! If you plan accordingly, Santorini will be everything you hoped for and more!

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