Private Guided Highlights Of Santorini

A perfect tour for the first time visitor, with a professionally trained licensed, guide who will give you an in-depth look at the island's fascinating geography, more than 5,000 years of history, and its unique hospitality.

Private Guided Highlights of Santorini

Due to its fascinating geography, more than 5,000 years of history, and its unique hospitality, all of our tours on Santorini include a professionally trained, licensed guide so you get an in-depth experience which you would not receive merely being driven around with a guide book. You will meet your guide on the pier of Fira after you tender ashore. They will escort you via cable car to the town of Fira where you will walk to your transportation. Departing Fira, you will drive to the village of Oia, located on the northern end of Santorini. Oia offers magnificent views of the caldera and the rest of the smaller islands. With its cobblestone streets, beautiful old sea captain's mansions and houses perched on the cliffside, you can admire the traditional Cycladic architecture for which Santorini is so well known. You will have free time for some magnificent photos and to wander the twisting pedestrian streets and their artists' studios.

Then, journey through the colorful terraced hillsides while enjoying panoramic views of the island. You will make your way up to the highest peak of Santorini, Mt. Profits Ilias at 883 feet, where the views are magnificent and on a clear day you can see from one end of the island to the other. After a stop for photos, proceed to the village of Pyrgos which is a traditional village with fine old houses and the remains of a Venetian castle sitting on the hilltop. Join your guide on a walking tour through the narrow ascending streets that encircle the village. Your walking tour will conclude with magnificent panoramic views of the volcanic island, the caldera, and the sea.

Next, we will drive to Fira town where you will end your organized tour. Your guide will lead you to the town's major pedestrian street, and after answering any questions about additional sightseeing, shopping, or eating, will set you free to explore the whitewashed maze of passageways for art, jewelry, or maybe a coffee with a view of the caldera. When you are ready to return to your ship, use your included cable car ticket to return to the tender pier in Fira.

The afternoon tours will visit the winery first and then travel to Oia. Sunset time in July / August is between 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Please Note: The tour duration does not include the time required to tender ashore from your ship or to ascend from the tender pier to Fira Town by included cable car ride. Please be aware that the waiting time for the cable car can be extensive when there are several ships in the port. Groups of ten or more guests will be tendered from the pier at Fira to the pier at Athinios and begin their tour from there. All tours end in Fira and include a return cable car ticket to the tender pier in Fira to be used at your convenience. This tour offers customized departure times between 7:30 AM and 7:00 PM. If your preferred departure time is not listed, please contact us to place your request.

About Shore Excursions Group

More trips from Shore Excursions Group

ABOUT US
Shore Excursions Group was created with one goal in mind: to provide exceptional travel experiences to cruise passengers in the ports they visit around the world. To accomplish this, we have compiled an exceptional array of tours delivered by local experts with decades of experience serving travelers and delivering excellent tours. Our owners and management team are comprised of seasoned travel industry executives who leverage their considerable experience to deliver memories of a lifetime.

We are experts in providing exceptional shore excursions. We understand that in today's fast paced world, vacations have become an increasingly important way to relax, reconnect with family and friends, and experience new and interesting places. With this in mind, we provide the highest quality tours by performing extensive research, and detailed reviews. While other companies also offer excursions, we strongly believe our expertise and approach set us apart. The large cruise lines sell shore excursions - typically in very large groups visiting high traffic sites. We focus on smaller groups visiting more interesting and authentic locations using more personalized local operators. While the cruise lines are experts in delivering cruises, we are experts in delivering shore excursions.

Our Approach
We believe quality service is not only highly valued by customers, but ultimately leads to better experiences and higher satisfaction. Unlike the cruise lines and other tour companies that rely almost entirely on websites, we encourage customers to call us. We want to invest our time answering your questions, providing input, and selecting the excursions that best meet your needs.

Our Tours
Our goal is to provide customers a wide array of exciting, appealing, and enriching tours. For those customers who prefer to travel in smaller groups with more personalized service, we offer a wide variety of small group tours around the world. These tours generally range in size from 2-12 people compared to larger tours which can number up to 50 people. While exploring the destinations and ports on this website, feel free to search for these "Small Group Tours". For those customers interested in private tours, we offer many outstanding excursions that allow you to travel with your party alone and, in many cases, to fully customize your tour. Search for "Private Tours" if you are interested in this experience. Our "Scenic" tours provide up close and personal access to some of the most spectacular natural environments on Earth from majestic glaciers in Alaska to spectacular reefs in the Caribbean. Our "Cultural" tours allow customers to experience local customs, entertainment and culinary delights ranging from tribal dances in Alaska to an outstanding local meal in Santorini, Greece. Our "Active" tours offer a multitude of exciting and adventurous ways to experience our destinations. Our customers can kayak the turquoise waters of the Caribbean, hike to a spectacular waterfall in Hawaii, or bicycle through quaint villages in France. Our "City" tours allow travelers to see the highlights of great cities around the world with unique insights provided by our expert tour guides.

Our People
In our experience, exceptional travel experiences are almost always delivered by exceptional people. With that in mind, we utilize a comprehensive approach to select and employ the leading tour guides and tour providers around the globe. We hold our people to very high standards which we measure by our comprehensive Quality Control process and, most importantly, by our customer feedback, which we will actively seek from each of our customers.

Our Owners
Shore Excursions Group is owned by seasoned travel executives possessing extensive experience across many sectors within the travel industry.

Bradford J. Miller
Mr. Miller is the former Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer for Abercrombie & Kent, the World's leading luxury travel company. In that role, Mr. Miller was responsible for contributing to Abercrombie & Kent's international growth through the development and acquisition of tour products and travel experiences around the world with a specific focus on cruising and land based experiences. Prior to joining Abercrombie & Kent, Mr. Miller held a variety of executive positions with Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises for more than a decade. These positions included Vice President of Guest Sales & Service, Vice President of Brand Development, and Vice President of Onboard Revenue (which included shore excursions). Mr. Miller also led Celebrity Expeditions, a collection of outstanding and unique tours around the World.

Michael Bonner
Mr. Bonner has over a decade of experience working in the cruise industry in a variety of roles for both Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and Viking River Cruises. Most recently, Mr. Bonner was the Chief Operating Officer for The Scholar Ship, a Royal Caribbean program aimed at providing college students onboard educational programs in conjunction with enriching shore excursions around the world. Mr. Bonner also helped co-manage Viking River Cruises U.S. Operations, and he ran the corporate, strategic, and deployment planning functions at Royal Caribbean. While at Royal Caribbean, Mr. Bonner was responsible for forming Royal Celebrity Tours, Royal Caribbean's land-based tour operation in Alaska, which takes cruise passengers on multiple day tours through the interior of Alaska either before or after their cruises. Prior to working at Royal Caribbean, Mr. Bonner was a consultant for Booz Allen & Hamilton.

from $170.00 (USD)

Per Person

Tour Type

Private

Group Size

Private

Activity Type(s)

Cultural, Active, Scenic

Tour Duration

6 Hours

Activity Level

Moderate

Tour Leaves From

Cruise Ship Tender Pier

Food/Beverage Provided

Not Included

Special Instructions

We recommend wearing comfortable clothing and comfortable, sensible walking shoes. We also suggest sunglasses and sunscreen.

Restrictions

Fira, as well as most of the island's villages, is a hilltop town that consists of mostly pedestrian streets. Many of these "streets" or nothing more than wide sidewalks of smooth stones pushed into cement which makes for a bumpy surface. There are considerable steps involved as well. To reach the town from the tender pier, guests can climb the more than 580 steps, (which are shared with the donkeys), ride one of the donkeys, (which is not recommended for the faint of heart), or ride the cable car to the town which is more than 1,100 feet above the harbor. As most guests opt for the later choice, expect long lines for the cable car.

Terms & Disclaimers

ID:

7622499

Location

Santorini