Time for shore excursion and visiting Oia

[smileon]

We will be in Santorini on 2nd June with Splendour of the Seas.

 

We are considering doing the "Volcano hot springs tour" which leaves at 08.30 and lasts 3 hours. We are returned to Fira and wondered if we would have time to take the cable car and then get a taxi to Oia for a look round and photographs before we sail at 17.00?

 

Any thoughts wouuld be appreciated.

 

Also anyone done the Volcano hot springs excursion and can give feedback good or bad! We will have a 15 and 11 year old with us .

 

Thank you in advance

[tom_uk]

The 'Volcano hot springs tour' is actually on an island (Nea Kameni) in the middle of the caldera. At the end I would assume you'd be taken to the dock below Fira, i.e. at the bottom of the cable-car. This would presumably be somewhere around 11:30 or 12 o'clock. That might well be a good time for the cabecar: the morning rush should have died down. So with luck you ought to be in Fira by 1 o'clock at the latest, perhaps a bit sooner.

 

To be honest I think you'll be pushing it to get to Oia and back in time (unless you hire a car). First, I would imagine that you'll want to have some lunch around mid-day; the kids especially. Delaying lunch until you get to Oia while you look for taxis or wait for & struggle on & off buses sounds like a stressful time, especially if you're hungry. Then there's getting back to the ship: I would expect that 'last boarding' is going to be about 4:30, and this in turn means that from 3pm onwards the cablecar will be very busy taking people down. If you got back from Oia at 4 o'clock or so expecting to get on a cablecar quickly, you might be disappointed.

 

Here's a suggestion: get up the cablecar and grab some lunch. Then have a stroll round Fira town. Then perhaps you and your wife might want to find a caldera-edge bar and have a drink, while enjoying the views? In the meantime the kids can enjoy themselves exploring the nearer bits of the town - lots of little alleyways & passages, with lots of interesting shops. There are in fact plenty of cheap 'souvenir' shops in Fira town, as well as more serious shopping opportunities, and the kids might well enjoy finding some little souvenir. Then down the cablecar and back to ship well before sailaway.

 

It's very tempting to try to do an awful lot on these island calls, and there's no doubt that Oia is incredibly beautiful. But so is Fira, and Fira is also busier and more interesting, perhpas, for adolescents.

 

One last thought - the kids might well really enjoy the donkey ride....

[CintiPam]

You will have plenty of time to go to Oia; it's only a 20-minute ride from Fira!

 

With four, I suggest you pre-arrange a rental car from Fira; only 40 Euros for as long as you want it, and parking is very easy everywhere but in Fira itself.

[smileon]

Thank you both for your replies - we will give it some more thought. it may be we see how things go on the day and just try to be flexible!!

Sometimes easier said than done!