Michael_F, aug. 2021
My wife and I were only staying in Santorini for 2.5 days, and this tour seemed like a perfect way to see a large portion of the island in a single tour, and for a price cheaper than a round trip taxi from our hotel. The description promises a hotel pick-up/drop-off, and time in a variety of locations, including Akrotiri, Red Beach, Thira, and Oia. It seemed too good to be true, and in a lot of ways it was. Here's how our day played out:
1. Despite the promises of the description, we were instructed to find a way to get to a bus pick-up spot over a kilometer from our hotel 40 minutes before the tour's advertised 11:45 AM start time. We were the first ones on the bus, and spent the first hour plus picking up about 20 other guests at their hotels in various locations across the island.
2. The first two stops were a monastery on top of the island (which was closed, but still a beautiful picture spot) and a church that was up a ton of stairs. Each stop was supposed to be 20 minutes, but stretched longer because it was a 10+ minute walk to and from these locations once the bus parked. Also, during the ride to these locations, our guide was mostly silent.
3. From there, we took another mostly silent ride to Akrotiri. The description promises this location is a stop before Red Beach, but our guide informed us once we got there that we had to choose either Akrotiri or Red Beach, but could not do both. My wife and I chose Akrotiri, which is a nice spot and well worth a visit. Also, although it was after 2:00 PM, our guide told everyone not to eat, as there would be more lunch options in Thira, which was our next stop.
4. At this point, it was nearly 4:00 PM, and we were starving. We were told we'd have over 2 hours in Thira of free time to eat and take pictures of the caldera from an overlook. However, our guide then instructed us to follow her and hustled us to a restaurant. Everyone sat down, thinking it was included with the tour. When I asked her though, she said it wasn't, but told us that if we went somewhere else, she couldn't lead us to the caldera overlook. The restaurant didn't look great, so my wife and I went elsewhere, and found our own way to the caldera viewpoint (it was 5 minutes away walking). It rubbed us the wrong way that the guide tried to trick our group into eating somewhere with zero explanation. Thira is a beautiful town with shopping and a lot of restaurants.
5. From there, the tour went to Oia for the sunset. We were on our own here for about 2 hours, and had no issues, although at sunset time the crowds were packed in to get pictures.
6. They packed our bus at around 8:45 PM to take people home. Numerous people were dropped off at their hotels. When we asked to be taken to our hotel, as it was a dark 1+ km walk back, the driver and guide refused and said they couldn't go there. We paid for a taxi to take us back instead.
Overall, we did get to see a large portion of the island, and had wanted to go to Akrotini, Thira, and Oia, so the tour succeeded in that way. But numerous things rubbed us the wrong way and made for a stressful day: no pick-up, rushed stops, super late lunch, lack of guided narration, and no drop-off.
If you treat this tour as a glorified cab, it's probably worth it. If you want something more, you should look elsewhere.