Private Santorini tour which does not include the cable car

[bhoffman]

We will have a group of 6 with a day in the Santorini port. I am trying very hard to avoid the mess of the cable cars. Is it possible to have a private guide meet you before needing to get on the cable cars and transport us by car or boat? If so, could you please share and contact info? 

[MeHeartCruising]

Generally (always?) if you do NOT purchase a ship excursion, you will be tendered to shore at the base of the cable cars.  There is no wheeled vehicle access to this location.  However, there IS boat access.  You could theoretically purchase a private excursion that picked you up by boat at the small pier near the base of the cable cars.  I have no idea if such excursions exist, but it would physically be possible.

 

 

[Hlitner]

2 hours ago, bhoffman said:

We will have a group of 6 with a day in the Santorini port. I am trying very hard to avoid the mess of the cable cars. Is it possible to have a private guide meet you before needing to get on the cable cars and transport us by car or boat? If so, could you please share and contact info? 

No.  Lets, again, talk about how it all works in that port.  Those on some cruise ship excursions will be tendered into the small ferry port of Athinios (about 8 km from Fira).  That port does have road access so folks can meet buses or other excursion transportation.  However, to the best of our knowledge, no cruise line allows independent cruisers (i.e. those not on the cruise line excursions) to go to that port.  That means, for private tours, you must tender into the small port located just below Fira, where there is no direct access to a road.  From that port the only way out is by boat, by cable car, by donkey, or by walking up a steep hill with lots of steps (and donkey poo).

 

If you can arrange for your guide to meet you with a boat, you have it made :).  Otherwise, I guess a guide could come down to that small port and escort you up on the cable cars, donkeys, or by foot.  Also keep in mind that it is difficult to know exactly when you would get ashore.  Each cruise line has their own tender policies and, if you are on a large ship, you will possibly be subjected to some delay.  Small ships have fewer problems with long tender queues.  All the tenders in Sanorini are shore-based and operated.  The good news is that they are larger then the ship's own tenders.

 

Hank

[CruiserBruce]

There have been discussions here about buying the standard cruise line transfer to the center of town, and meet your guide there. You would have to know that the return trip doesn't involve the tram, which seems to happen occasionally,  but not very often.

[erby2283]

There is a tour company called Sandra's (something - google sandras tour santorini) that offers tours that bypass the cable cars in both directions. However, someone on our cruise boards recently did her tour and said the beginning of the tour was pure chaos - not being able to find the guide, and people walking around aimlessly not knowing where to go.  So it cut into their tour time.  She sent an email to the tour company and the tour company replied that she is trying to work on the situation.  Hopefully we get some better reviews in the next few months. Is chaos during the beginning of a tour better than a 2+ hours wait at the cable car? That is the question. 

[CCJack]

On 11/6/2023 at 3:27 PM, erby2283 said:

There is a tour company called Sandra's (something - google sandras tour santorini) that offers tours that bypass the cable cars in both directions. However, someone on our cruise boards recently did her tour and said the beginning of the tour was pure chaos - not being able to find the guide, and people walking around aimlessly not knowing where to go.  So it cut into their tour time.  She sent an email to the tour company and the tour company replied that she is trying to work on the situation.  Hopefully we get some better reviews in the next few months. Is chaos during the beginning of a tour better than a 2+ hours wait at the cable car? That is the question. 

Yes, if you hear more about this let us know..   i did look up the website and you board a boat at the old port and they take you to the new port, where you board their bus (van).  then you bus to Oia, then to winery, then to Fira, then to new port and board boat  back to old port where you can tender back to ship.  In theory this would work.  I am hesitant from your comments above about chaos as well as their website which isn't very good.   It only allowed me to choose Carnival ship port dates, and only a few dates available.  Bad websites make me nervous.    Maybe we will hear more about this option.

  

[mapleleaves]

13 hours ago, CCJack said:

Yes, if you hear more about this let us know..  

  

Sandras looks to be a broked; similar to Viator in that they don't DO the tour themselves, they contract out to local tour operators to lead the tour.  So your tour will be as good as the tour operator, and you won't know who that operator is.

 

 

[mapleleaves]

There was a trip report in mid October where someone took a 'taxi boat' from OIA to the tender dock below Fira.   They kinda stumbled upon this service by accident.  It wasn't the same ferry that goes from the tender dock to Oia;  those boats are quite large, maybe 75-100 pax, cost 30E and include a bus ticket to Fira. This was a different operation.... hopefully an enterprising group who realized money could be made by providing the return trip, especially when people want to avoid the cable car wait to their tender.  

 

The trip report stated that they took the cable car up to Fira, had lunch, then ubered to Oia.  After awhile they decided to take the staircase at Oia down to the water.  They saw a small boat with a TAXI sign and it was taking pax back to the tender dock below Fira!  The cost was 20E.  These boats were much smaller than the other company; only 15-20 pax.  And they took reservations.

 

Hopefully this will become a regular service!  It would be such a relief for cruiseship pax. But, like the other ferry boat, this boat doesn't appear to have a company name or phone number, so there's no way to know if it's running on any given day.  I guess if you took the ferry from Fira to Oia you'd see if the small boat was at the dock and could make arrangements for a return trip.  OR, you could walk down the staircase while you're in Oia and be prepared to walk back up if there's no service available.    Anyway, just thought I'd pass along what could be an interesting development.

 

 

[kerogenki]

On 11/13/2023 at 1:34 PM, mapleleaves said:

There was a trip report in mid October where someone took a 'taxi boat' from OIA to the tender dock below Fira.   They kinda stumbled upon this service by accident.  It wasn't the same ferry that goes from the tender dock to Oia;  those boats are quite large, maybe 75-100 pax, cost 30E and include a bus ticket to Fira. This was a different operation.... hopefully an enterprising group who realized money could be made by providing the return trip, especially when people want to avoid the cable car wait to their tender.  

 

The trip report stated that they took the cable car up to Fira, had lunch, then ubered to Oia.  After awhile they decided to take the staircase at Oia down to the water.  They saw a small boat with a TAXI sign and it was taking pax back to the tender dock below Fira!  The cost was 20E.  These boats were much smaller than the other company; only 15-20 pax.  And they took reservations.

 

Hopefully this will become a regular service!  It would be such a relief for cruiseship pax. But, like the other ferry boat, this boat doesn't appear to have a company name or phone number, so there's no way to know if it's running on any given day.  I guess if you took the ferry from Fira to Oia you'd see if the small boat was at the dock and could make arrangements for a return trip.  OR, you could walk down the staircase while you're in Oia and be prepared to walk back up if there's no service available.    Anyway, just thought I'd pass along what could be an interesting development.

 

 

Following, That would be an excellent alternative. Will be sailing Royal Caribbean and they are only offering one excursion from Santorini. 

[budmeister]

On 11/2/2023 at 3:03 PM, MeHeartCruising said:

Generally (always?) if you do NOT purchase a ship excursion, you will be tendered to shore at the base of the cable cars.  There is no wheeled vehicle access to this location.  However, there IS boat access.  You could theoretically purchase a private excursion that picked you up by boat at the small pier near the base of the cable cars.  I have no idea if such excursions exist, but it would physically be possible.

 

 

This is what we did.  We did a sail excursion and they arranged for a taxi to bring us to them from Port where we got off ship.

[tobyt]

I will be curious if anyone successfully bypasses the dreaded cable car on a private tour. I searched and searched with no success. We had no priority tender but planned accordingly and were very early off the ship. Delightful day with Skyline Tours. We did wait in a scary long line for the cable car down but it moved along Ok.

Our plan b had always been to hoof it up, understand it is not always an option.

We spoke with several people who had delayed or missed tours because the cable car stopped running due to electrical issues.

A boat would solve part of the issue but suspect the cable car drama saves even more extensive tourists coming from the cruise ships so maybe the island is fine with the limits it puts on daily attendance.

[Over from NZ]

Getting up the cable-car isn't a big problem.. it's coming down later in the day that can be a delay (we've never had a long wait though, even with a few ships in port). However, getting down via the donkey-trail as an alternative if the cable-car is busy.. is a relatively easy scenario unless you're elderly. 

[CruiserBruce]

47 minutes ago, Over from NZ said:

Getting up the cable-car isn't a big problem.. it's coming down later in the day that can be a delay (we've never had a long wait though, even with a few ships in port). However, getting down via the donkey-trail as an alternative if the cable-car is busy.. is a relatively easy scenario unless you're elderly. 

Getting up the cable car can DEFINITELY be a problem, depending on the number of ships and their arrivals. Its been calculated that the cable car can transport 600 people per hour. In our case, we were the first off our ship at 8:30ish, there was one other ship in port at the time (2 others arrived later) and the wait was already 20-25 minutes at 8:30. Imagine what it was for the third or 4th tender off our ship?

[mapleleaves]

14 hours ago, Over from NZ said:

Getting up the cable-car isn't a big problem.. it's coming down later in the day that can be a delay (we've never had a long wait though, even with a few ships in port). However, getting down via the donkey-trail as an alternative if the cable-car is busy.. is a relatively easy scenario unless you're elderly. 

 

Disagree!   We waited TWO hrs for the cable cars going up.  Had ZERO wait going down.

As PP stated, it all depends on how many ships are in port with you and their arrival/departure times.

[Over from NZ]

5 hours ago, mapleleaves said:

 

Disagree!   We waited TWO hrs for the cable cars going up.  Had ZERO wait going down.

As PP stated, it all depends on how many ships are in port with you and their arrival/departure times.

Ok. There was 3 ships in our last time and 2 the previous. We went ashore as early as possible and had no problem. 

[Coolcruise02]

At 3:30 he explains about taking a water taxi to Oia.

[mapleleaves]

55 minutes ago, Coolcruise02 said:

At 3:30 he explains about taking a water taxi to Oia.

 

Yes, but you still have to use the cable cars to get back down to the dock for your tender.   

The water taxi takes you to Oia and provides a bus back to Fira, but in Fira you either use the cable car or the donkey steps to get to the tender. 

 

The OP is looking for a way to avoid the cable cars.

 

(and the video fails to mention that the water taxi doesn't leave until it's full.  You might sit there for an hour waiting for enough pax. )

[cpl100]

On 11/21/2023 at 11:34 AM, budmeister said:

This is what we did.  We did a sail excursion and they arranged for a taxi to bring us to them from Port where we got off ship.

What tour company did you use that provided this please?

[Hlitner]

49 minutes ago, cpl100 said:

What tour company did you use that provided this please?

I have no clue what that person was talking about, but it is simply not true.  If you tender ashore, independently, you will be let off the tender at the small port below Fira.  The only ways out of that port are: 1.  The cable car, 2. Taking a donkey up to Fira, 3.  Walking up to Fira or 4. Taking a boat somewhere.  That is it.  End of story.

 

Once you are up at Fira you can walk to the road, the bus station, the big taxi parking area (near the bus station) or to various rental car agencies.

 

Hank

[budmeister]

On 2/25/2024 at 9:00 PM, cpl100 said:

What tour company did you use that provided this please?

Is true. We took the Oia on your own excursion, that went to a different port , and informed the bus driver that we would not be getting on the bus. The sailing excursion company that sent us a taxi to pick us up at that little port was Vista Yachting. There was a restaurant with outdoor seating to sit at and have coffee or breakfast .

[budmeister]

On 2/25/2024 at 9:53 PM, Hlitner said:

I have no clue what that person was talking about, but it is simply not true.  If you tender ashore, independently, you will be let off the tender at the small port below Fira.  The only ways out of that port are: 1.  The cable car, 2. Taking a donkey up to Fira, 3.  Walking up to Fira or 4. Taking a boat somewhere.  That is it.  End of story.

 

Once you are up at Fira you can walk to the road, the bus station, the big taxi parking area (near the bus station) or to various rental car agencies.

 

Hank

It is true. The whole post that the quote came from provides context.