/
Greece
/
Santorini
/
Tours & Activities
/
Santorini Private Scenic Shore Excursion: Oia, Mt Profitis and Ilias Monastery
4h30
Private
About this activity
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.
Read more
Show less
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.
Included
- Port pickup and drop-off
- Professional guide
- Transport by private vehicle
- Worry-Free Shore Excursion Guarantee
- Cable Car Transfers roundtrip
Not included
- Gratuities
- Food and drinks, unless specified
- Entrance fees (approx. 3 euros)
- Boat to Fira harbor
Additional
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking, unless booked within 5 days of travel. In this case confirmation will be received within 48 hours, subject to availability
- At time of booking, Cruise Ship passengers must provide the following details under Special Requirements: Ship name, docking time, disembarkation time and re-boarding time
- Please enter your preferred pickup time in the Special Requirements box at the time of booking, and reconfirm 48 hours prior to the tour’s departure time
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Near public transportation
- Infants must sit on laps
- Infant seats available
- Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
Features
Tourism
100%
Cultural
60%
Aquatic
30%
Reviews
You may also like
See all 15 Collections
Click to discover other experiences
See all
Collections
Cruise
40 Activities
Collections
Walking Tour
31 Activities
Collections
Gourmet
33 Activities
Collections
Sunset
40 Activities
Collections
Wine
56 Activities
Collections
Catamaran
28 Activities
Collections
Volcano
7 Activities
Collections
VIP and Luxury
8 Activities
Collections
Akrotiri Tour
12 Activities
Collections
Cooking Class
9 Activities
We enjoyed our tour in Santorini and our guide Marina was very good. The day was very hot and crowded with tourists but she managed to get us to the best locations with the least people and we took some beautiful photos. She provided just the right amount of information and manged to get us into a nice restaurant for lunch after the tour. Thanks!
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.
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!
Zina was excellent and new everything about this beautiful island. I wish we could of had her longer though. She even called ahead and got us a amazing table for lunch
Wonderful and informative. The only way to see and experience the island
Guide was 'ok'... Not too much info provided, was pleasent.. Too much money for this tour! Not worth it.
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.
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.