Santorini-which excursion?

[SAVVO]

we are on the Discovery from 6th Sept for 2 weeks & one of the places we really want to see is Santorini. There are 2 excursions available- OIA Village or Megalochori & Pyrgos Village. Anyone been on either of those and could suggest which one is best? 

[Miller Cruiser]

We really enjoyed Oia village coupled with a wine tasting session. On the way back we were dropped off in Thira, and a cable car pass was provided for us to make our own way down to board the tender when ready.

[Jayneykul]

We did the same as you Miller really enjoyed it 

[Pensioncruiser]

The only problem we had was that it was over an hour queue for the cable car back down so just keep checking. 👍

[Broomeboy48]

SAVVO Hi, also on same cruise doing a back to back. I was looking at Oia excursion had heard long wait for cable car so thought might walk slowly down.

Barry

[SAVVO]

I have read you can get a boat to & from OIA & would avoid the cable car which may be good for us as I don't think my husband would be keen (plus q's are lengthy) I also read that its quite easy to get a bus independently.

 

Problem I find with excursions is that its a whistle stop tour of several places and not enough time in all of them.

[Miller Cruiser]

1 hour ago, Broomeboy48 said:

SAVVO Hi, also on same cruise doing a back to back. I was looking at Oia excursion had heard long wait for cable car so thought might walk slowly down.

Barry

Walked down once in August. Never again. Far too hot and too many deposits left behind by the donkeys.

[Jayneykul]

That is very true Pensioncruiser had forgotten about that!

[2BACRUISER]

Whichever one you do dont ride the donkeys. Poor bloody animals; carrying great fat lumps who cant be arsed to walk, up those steep steps in all that heat. 😤😤its heart wrenching.

Edited July 17, 2019 by 2BACRUISER
Punctuation

[kruzseeka]

On 7/16/2019 at 4:15 PM, SAVVO said:

I have read you can get a boat to & from OIA & would avoid the cable car which may be good for us as I don't think my husband would be keen (plus q's are lengthy) I also read that its quite easy to get a bus independently.

 

Problem I find with excursions is that its a whistle stop tour of several places and not enough time in all of them.

If you get the boat independently from the place where the tender drops you, they take you to Ammoudi (the small port at the bottom of the cliff from Oia) they provide a minibus or some sort of vehicle to take you up to the village.  You then have free time then I think they take you to Thira via minibus where you have free time - I believe they then arrange a time to take you to Thira where they leave you to make your own way back down via the cable car to the tender point (they may include the ticket price though).  Check this out but I believe this is the way it works, but in this case it doesn't avoid the return trip down from Thira to the tender and possible cable car queues.  As others have said don't attempt the donkeys - we've seen people who have had serious injuries after being thrown off and it is dangerous walking down competing with the donkeys on the slippery and fouled path.  And that doesn't cover the animal welfare aspects!  

I've just found this link to the service.

 

http://www.aegeantravellersantorini.com/transfer-to-oia-by-speedboat-private-bus-back-to-fira/

 

The ship's trip to Oia takes you to a different port (not where the tenders take you for the cable car) and this has road access so coaches then take you to Oia.  The guide usually does a short walk, then you have free time before the coach takes you to Thira where you decide how long to spend there and get the cable car down to suit you.  Again, possibility of queues.

 

One thing to watch out for is which other ships are in port and what their departure times are - you can find this on sites such as http://www.cruisecal.com/portal/ItineraryLookup/tabid/2918/Default.aspx  or https://www.cruisetimetables.com/ 

Often American ships leave quite early so you get high demand to get down the cable car at certain times in the afternoon.  If there are a lot of ships in there are pressure points.

 

Having said all that we love going to Oia and if you are concerned about the queues, it may be worth leaving Thira earlier rather than later provided the queue isn't too long.  But unless you do an excursion which doesn't take you to Thira at the end, unfortunately I can't see how you can avoid the cable car, walking down or donkeys to get from Thira to the tender.  

 

You can get the local bus to Oia which we prefer to do.  You can look up the timetable beforehand - I think they run every 20 or 30 minutes.  We try to get off the ship as early as possible, go up the cable car walk to the bus station and spend a couple of hours at Oia then making our way back to Thira.  

 

https://santorinisecrets.com/santorini-bus-schedule/

 

 

[Tony1878]

We got off the ship, paid for the cable car and spent the time in Thira.

Plenty to see and do without going off on some tour with TUI.