Santorini Shore Excursion: Private Scenic Tour of Santorini, including Oia and Mt Profitis Ilias Mon

Santorini, Greece

While you’re in port in Santorini, discover the beauty of the island on a private shore excursion. Your private guide will lead you around the island on a scenic sightseeing tour, showing you rocky landscapes, vineyards and fabulous views of the beautiful coastline. Visit the highest peak of the island, Profitis Ilias, where a monastery of the same name sits. Discover the small village of Oia, built on a steep slope of the volcanic caldera, and wander around its little shops that offer traditional, handmade products. Then in Fira, the capital of Santorini, enjoy a short cable car ride to the pier.

When you arrive in the Santorini port, meet your local guide for a private shore excursion around the island. Your tour starts as you board a small boat and head toward Fira port, where your private guide will be waiting.

In Athinios, a private car will be waiting to take you on a short trip to Profitis Ilias, Santorini's highest peak. Admire the rocky landscapes and vineyards as you drive to the top of the mountain. At 1,853 feet (565 meters) above sea level, the monastery boasts great views and is one of the oldest monasteries on the island. Beginning in 1806, the monastery ran a Greek school for almost 40 years. Today, it holds an important collection of bibles and icons of the Greek Orthodox religion.

Next, proceed to the northernmost tip of the island to visit Oia. This small, dramatic village, built on a steep slope of the caldera, is home to dwellings that are nestled in niches hewn into the volcanic rock. As you walk through its narrow cobbled streets with your guide, you will come across many shops that offer a varied collection of handmade ceramic art, paintings and jewelry. Perched on the edge of the cliffs, Oia also offers spectacular views of Fira (Santorini's capital) and the volcano that gave birth to the island. Finally, make your way to Fira, where you’ll enjoy a short cable car ride down to the pier, where your ship is docked.

Worry-free Shore Excursion:
We will ensure your timely return to the Santorini port for this activity. In the rare event your ship has departed, we will arrange for transportation to the next port-of-call. If your ship is delayed and you are unable to attend this activity, your money will be refunded. See our terms and conditions for full details.

USD $117.00

Traveler Reviews

Review by:   Jeanie,    November 2017
An awesome tour. Our guide met us at the bottom of the cable car with out ticket for the ride up. A short walk to our driver and van. Andrea was a very knowledgeable guide and did an excellent job!

Review by:   Alicia B,    September 2017
Great excursion

Review by:   marina s,    July 2016
Constantina was an amazing tour guide. She made us feel like family. Santorini was the highlight of our vacation thanks to her. I would highly recommend Viator and ask for Constantina. You will not be disappointed.

Review by:   sbclark@ameritech.net,    June 2016
Santorini is a beautiful island but with 4 cruise ships in port on the same day, it was overwhelmingly crowded. We started our tour in Fira and took the cable car to the top of the cliff to reach the town. Our tour guide met us at the bottom and we rode up to meet the driver. It was early in the morning and our first stop was Mt. Profitis Ilias, the highest point and the location of a monastery. As we are driving for about 30 minutes, there was a lot of fog and once we reached the top, we could see nothing! The tour guide also told us that she had never been to the monastery when it was open so she wasn't sure we could get in. She should have told us this and offered another alternative than going to some spot with fog and nowhere to go! That was very disappointing. We would have preferred to spend the time in beautiful Oia. Oia was the highlight of the tour but it was very crowded due to the number of ships in port. The trip was also scheduled to last 4.5 hours but she took us back to Fira after 3 hours. She seemed to be in a hurry to leave us! Once in Fira, we had a wonderful lunch on our own overlooking the water and left to catch the cable car around 2 pm. The line was probably at least 2 hours so we walked down the donkey trail to catch the tender boat at the bottom. That was horrible! The smell and the number of donkeys was unbearable. The trail is also uneven and difficult to navigate, trying to avoid donkeys and their deposits along the route! Santorini is beautiful but these annoyances will probably be what we remember the most!

Review by:   Susan G,    November 2015
Zina was excellent and new everything about this beautiful_br/_ island. I wish we could of had her longer though._br/_ She even called ahead and got us a amazing table for lunch

Review by:   Kathleen G,    October 2014
Wonderful and informative. The only way to see and experience the island

Review by:   SANGEETA S,    July 2014
Guide was 'ok'... Not too much info provided, was pleasent.. Too much money for this tour! Not worth it.

Review by:   pennysue,    October 2013
Simone is an excellent guide: courteous, informative, and sensitive to our needs. He met us on the pier at 8.30am (we were scheduled at 9.00am). Santorini is a "tendered" port so we took a boat early enough to make it by 9.00am. We rode the aerial tram up to Fiar and walked through the town (shops) to the van waiting for us at the bottom of the hill ( I was thinking that the hill was a breeze going down but the trip back would be hard and that is correct). We drove first to the highest point of Santorini and visited the chapel there looking over spectacular scenery....you can see the entire island which is actually one edge of the caldera. Then on to Oia (eea). This is where most of the pictures that are seen worldwide are taken of the white buildings and churches with the blue domes sitting on a side of a cliff with the blue, blue, Aegean Sea in the background. Fantastic scenery. Again, not easy for the walking challenged but well worth going through the efforts. The gelato there is mahvelous. Back to Fiar for lunch and shopping. Ate at the Volcano Blue restaurant and finally had a taste of authentic Spanakopita which interestingly, they called Spinach Pie. Portions were huge and tasty. More shopping and back to the ship by aerial tram where the tender is waiting to take you back to the ship.

Review by:   scott r,    November 2012
Although tour and guide were good, we were very disappointed that it was not as advertised._br/_ Excursion was supposed to begin with a boat ride from harbor to Actinios. We specifically chose this excursion for that reason, to avoid the cable car ride (or donkey ride, or walk) up to Fira. When we arrived, our guide, Simone, claimed to know nothing about the boat ride, and we took the cable car to the top._br/_ Very disappointing.

Review by:   houstonkiki,    September 2012
Our tour guide was a nice man named Simone - It was over 100F but we had a nice Van with A/C to take our group of 6 around to the sites. The guy was very patient with our shopping wanderings and was very knowledgable about the areas - a great tour I would recommend highly.

Review by:   Magali,    July 2012
Guide was very good and had good knowledge of the island; a very pleasant experience in this beautiful place!

Review by:   Sander L,    June 2012
It was a very wonderful experience. Our tour guide was professional and give us a lot of photo opportunities!

Review by:   John S,    June 2012
Communication between Viator was VERY poor. We were at the dock at 8:15am , early since our tour was scheduled at 9:00am and excited to see and spend time on the island, but no one showed up from Viator until almost 11:00am. I will call Viator because we did not get the tour we payed for. We did not start the tour with a "private shore excursion around the island." Your guild were very good but there was a major mix up as to where we were meeting, several trips up and down the Tram at 4 euros/ person, and lots of frustration and time wasted on this beautiful island. We were left with limited time to spend on our own to shop.

Review by:   John S,    May 2012
Communication between Viator was VERY poor. We were at the dock at 8:15am , early since our tour was scheduled at 9:00am and excited to see and spend time on the island, but no one showed up from Viator until almost 11:00am. I will call Viator because we did not get the tour we payed for. We did not start the tour with a "private shore excursion around the island." Your guild were very good but there was a major mix up as to where we were meeting, several trips up and down the Tram at 4 euros/ person, and lots of frustration and time wasted on this beautiful island. We were left with limited time to spend on our own to shop.

All Traveler Reviews...