Top Santorini landmarks

Best of Santorini, Private 4 hour Island tour, Oia, winery, Pyrgos, Caldera

Recommended by 94% of travelersSantorini, Greece

Santorini Private Guided Half Day Island Tour

4 hours (approx.)
Pickup offered
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

Explore our promoted experiences

Likely to Sell Out

Private Santorini Flying Dress Photoshoot 2 hours & Video

Santorini, Cyclades Islands

4.2

(5)

Private Santorini Flying Dress Photoshoot 2 hours & Video

from $631

Per group

Santorini local private tour for small group

Santorini, Cyclades Islands

5.0

(3)

Santorini local private tour for small group

from $540

Per group

Special Offer

Flying Dress Photoshoot in Santorini & Video

Santorini, Cyclades Islands

5.0

(2)

Flying Dress Photoshoot in Santorini & Video

Viator earns higher commissions on experiences featured here

Overview

Discover the best of Santorini on a private 4-hour tour with an informative driver. Settle into an air-conditioned vehicle and witness everything from the island’s whitewashed villages to its spectacular coastline, with a flexible itinerary tailored for you. Depending on your preferences, admire the sparkling caldera from the cliff-perched village of Oia; visit the mountaintop Prophet Ilias Monastery; explore the former capital of Pyrgos, and stop at a traditional winery to learn about Santorini’s wines. Choose a morning or afternoon departure with included hotel or port pickup and drop-off.

Private 4-hour best of Santorini island tour
Soak up spectacular caldera views from the clifftop village of Oia
Visit the Prophet Ilias Monastery on Santorini’s highest peak
Hear about the history and culture of Santorini from a private driver-guide
Check out the old capital of Pyrgos with its beautiful houses and Venetian fortress
Visit a winery to learn about and taste some island wines
Enjoy a customizable itinerary and the undivided attention of a private driver-guide

What's Included

Experienced local English-speaking driver/guide
Hotel pickup and drop-off
Private tour
Local taxes
Transport by private vehicle
Pick up at the top end of the cable car for cruise ship passengers
Flexible departure time
Flexible itinerary - ask us if you want to make changes

Food and drinks
Wine-tasting
Gratuities

Meeting and Pickup

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Pickup details

We pick up from your hotel, villa, airbnb Pick up for cruise ship passangers is from the top end of the cable car Santorini airport (JTR): we will meet you at the arrivals hall

Start time
.09:00 am

What To Expect

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking, unless booked within 2 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 information at time of booking: ship name, docking time, disembarkation time and re-boarding time
Tour will depart at your preferred time. Please inform us of the time you wish to be picked up from the port (for cruise ship passengers) or your hotel
Not wheelchair accessible

Infants must sit on laps
No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Reviews

4.8

34 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

We perform checks on reviews

Showing 1-10 of 34 reviews

Amazing ‘Best of Santorini’ Tour

Jennifer_S, Aug 2023

My nephews and I had an amazing tour of Santorini. Themis our host and driver was amazing, showing us the best parts of the island (Oia, Red Beach, Pyrgos, a winery, etc.) and sharing the history along the way, which we loved to learn. Themis is so friendly and offered to take pictures, and he always ensured he got the best views behind us, which was appreciated. My 21 and 18 year old nephews loved the tour as much as I did, and we would highly recommend it!

Wonderful experience

MarieBeth_H, Jul 2023

Great tour. Christos was very knowledgeable and helped us make the best of our day in Santorini. We enjoyed the small villages with less crowds and the wine tasting is one not too miss. Thank you

Santorini discovered

emele70, Jul 2023

Thank you Christo for an unforgettable tour of your beautiful island of Santorini! Our day started with a private pickup in a spacious, luxury van from our hotel. Christo customized the itinerary based on our feedback. His knowledge of the island brought history to life throughout the tour. I strongly recommend booking a tour with someone that has this vast knowledge. Christo kept my teenage daughters engaged during the walking tours and even taught my daughter the Sirtaki! The final stop was Santo winery where we were treated like VIP. It is clear that Christo is well known and loved in his island. This was a trip of a lifetime and we’re blessed to have met him!

Can’t beat it! Beautiful place and Tour guide was so professional!

NidhiT, Oct 2022

Such a beautiful experience with an experienced and thoughtful tour guide, Christos! He was just awesome and so knowledgeable so make sure to ask for him. Even went out of his way to call us after the tour to make sure we knew the cable car line was vicious and to be careful we don’t miss our embarkation time. The winery was over the top and we hope to return. We hit everything we wanted to within 4 hours with time left over to stroll and shop.

Perfect private tour

Amy_Q, Oct 2022

This tour was perfect to get to see the villages and hear the history of the island. Make sure you wear your most comfortable shoes, there's a lot of walking. Would absolutely recommend this to get the full experience

This was a great tour. ...

David_J, Jun 2022

This was a great tour. Guide Bobby was amazing. Loved her. We customized how we wanted. Appreciated the water.

Worth the money!

Suzanne_C, Oct 2019

We thoroughly enjoyed this tour which is customizable. Our guide was Christos and was very knowledgeable and informative. He took the time to listen to our wants and gave some history behind the white and blue buildings, shapes, etc. He made jokes and was very attentive, friendly and genuine. Our driver, also named Christos, was a gentleman, friendly and great driver. I would recommend this tour to everyone, especially if you are only staying for a short time like us.

All depends on the guide I guess.

Timothy_H, Aug 2019

I rarely write a review but feel compelled to write on now to save some of you some of your time and money and not make the mistake we made. We were SO looking forward to this tour. And it flopped. Pretty much a total waste of time and money! I guess Michael (our driver) didn't wreck the over heated and poorly air-conditioned van that literally rattled out teeth out whenever sitting there idling (which we did for over 2 hours in traffic of the 4 hour tour), so that's what led to my very generous rating of two stars. He barely said 10 words the whole "tour" which was probably ok since his English speaking was very very limited and difficult to understand. Here's an example of how it started: we arrive in Santorini (having never been anywhere in Greece before) and he says, "So where do you want to go?" Well isn't that what THE GUIDE is for? He was really nothing more than a very expensive driver in a beat up van that was uncomfortable. In general a very disappointing day with Michael and our VIATOR cruise. Don't waste your money on this one. (Oh... as a side note, I even requested a particular guide when we set up the tour and VIATOR said they "couldn't guarantee anything.") If I could give "Two thumbs down" for VIATOR I certainly would do that. And that would STILL be a generous rating.

Our tour with Panos

Richard_R, Jul 2019

This tour was fantastic and we owe it all to our tour guide Panos. He was knowledgeable and friendly and understood the island well enough to ensure we missed "most" of the crowds when he took us to Oia. Oia is stunning with its white buildings and small path ways, however, it has become an "instagram" nightmare. There are so many people all trying to get that one perfect picture that it almost takes away from the beauty of the place. Panos took us there first and we were able to walk around relatively easily, however, as we were heading out it seemed like a zoo with all the tour buses and streams of people trying to get in. My advise would be get there as early as you can to really enjoy the beauty. Panos took us to various other spots on the Island which we loved and he was an absolute pleasure to talk to as we were driving place to place. Our last stop was the winery, which is a must. We only had a few minutes left on our 4 hour tour but we really loved the winery and asked Panos if we could stay and have lunch. He readily agreed and let us extend the tour so that we could enjoy the scenery and fantastic food and wine. Thank you Panos for a wonderful day in Santorini!

We covered a lot of area however our...

Angela T, Aug 2017

We covered a lot of area however our tour guide, pleasant as he was, was not very informative or perhaps very shy. We had to ask him what some of the sights were and probed him by asking questions. Had we not asked questions, it would have been a very silent scenic drive.

Fantastic - another Viator gem...

Ken W, Jul 2017

Fantastic - another Viator gem. MakisPronounced Marcus without the R in English was super He took us to all the sites, gave us so much information about the wonderful island of Santorini, took us to the top of the island at the monastery and we had lunch on oure own at Santo Winery. We had him join us for lunch he was such a nice guy. Even showed us his house from the mountain top. The other people on the cruise took an excursion from the ship on a huge bus and actually had very little time because of the traffic congestion. ships were in the caldera that Day, can be up to 7. Makis knew every short cut on the island giving us so much more time than those who booked thru the ship and we were only 6 people in a 12 passenger van - so basically a private tour. We even screwed up by leaving the top of the cable cars area looking for him but with one phone call he tracked us down. Just besure to give yourself plenty of time to get down on the cable cars depending how many ships are in port and what time they are leaving. Took up almost 2 hours and we thought we had given our selves enough time. Don't take the Donkeys or the trail, smelly, slippery 30 minute walk. people that did it said it was nasty and someone actually feel and broke a leg. Plus I read the Donkeys are not treated well at all. Once again Viator was great Makis Was fantastic tour guide - I highly recommend Viator!

The tour was amazing and that may...

Percy L, Jun 2017

The tour was amazing and that may have been the result of the weather being magnificent. The tour guide was so knowledgeable, friendly and insightful that my wife and I found this to be one of the best excursions that we have ever experienced. We had lunch at a restaurant on the black sand beach and the food was outstanding. The advantage of the private tour over the bus tour, particularly for those with walking challenges, is that the private car tour can get closer to the sites with the best views than the tour buses. There are streets in Santorini that simply cannot be navigated in a tour bus.

We loved the tour and our guide...

Rbscott303, May 2017

We loved the tour and our guide Panos was fantastic! He took us everywhere we wanted to go and we kept moving from the pickup at the old port to the monastery, to the Red and Black beaches, then Santo Winery and on to Ojai. He really took great pride in Greece and his beautiful island home of Santorini. We asked him to leave us in Ojai to explore and we ended up catching the bus back to the old port, but he made sure we got to our Caldera Spa destination first......what service! I give Panos and the tour an enthusiastic 5 Stars and would not hesitate to book again!

Santorini private escorted half day...

Rajiv_P, Apr 2017

Santorini private escorted half day island tour provides quick view of whole Santorini in just 4 hours. Our driver came on time and explained well in English various area of Santorini isalnd. He is local Santorini resident and knowledgeable about the island. He explained us volcanic history of the isalnd and shown various volcanic forms - white, red,and black. Places he showed us - Oia, Black Sand beach, Red beach, Akrotiri we have to buy ticket, Perissa, Wine yard and Monastery Profitis IIias top most point in Santorini from where you can get complete view of the Santorini. He also took to photo spots which we see in magazines, movies. I highly recommend this tour.

Our guide was the best! We were on a...

Fiona_R, Dec 2016

Our guide was the best! We were on a cruise ship and as we weren't taking one of the ships tours we werent given priority with tender tickets to get off the ship even after lining up for tender tickets early. So we were still waiting to get on a tender when our tour was to start. I called and they said not to worry they would wait as this happened often and were so lovely. However we got to the cable car and they wouldn't take a keycard / ATM card to pay for the cable car up to Fira town. So highly recommend having at least 20 pp in cash when you get off a cruise ship and need to use the cable car up to Fira Town as we then had to walk all the way up the steep hill that the donkeys use to take people up. Not pleasant and even thought it was winter it was hot and took us 25 minutes. So get get to then too and it's 11:30am and our lovely guide is still there waiting for us. We couldn't believe it! She'd got the message that we were late so waited. What an awesome lady. We then took a beautiful trip to the highest point of Thira Santorini and got a beautiful view from near the Monastry. Our guide had so much information and we just didn't have any questions as she answered everything before we could ask. We then went down to the other end of the island where all the picture postcard views are and had a lovely time wandering the shops and taking in the views. Again our guide was just sensational and even took some photos of us for us. We then had free time to get some lunch with recommendations on where to eat and what to have. Just a wonderful experience once we got there and highly recommend this tour.

Perfect in every way. Great guide...

Pamela M, Oct 2016

Perfect in every way. Great guide, well-organized and informative tour. We saw Santorini through the eyes of someone who loves Santorini.

great guide who brought us to the...

Helen D, Sep 2016

great guide who brought us to the best places which we would not have found,and also got great photos.

Amazing! Our tour guide Maria was...

Rosa M, Aug 2016

Amazing! Our tour guide Maria was great and the tour was custom to what we wanted. I would recommend this tour to anyone who wants to visit Santorini.

Fantastic tour, loved our tour...

Alina Q, Aug 2016

Fantastic tour, loved our tour guide. Our son wanted to propose to his girlfriend and she took us to the perfect spot at a winery. Gorgeous place. Santorini is a big island so this is the best way to see the entire island, could not have done it without a car. We were 12 people and the van was very comfortable.

The tour hit all of the high points...

Eric_H, Jul 2016

The tour hit all of the high points of Santorini with all of the great points for pictures visited. The guide was very knowledgeable and we learned a lot about the history and architecture of the area.