Day trips from Santorini: into the caldera, and off the island

We name the trips and describe what each is; we do not print boat times, ferry schedules or prices, because those change every season and a printed timetable is the fastest thing on a travel page to go wrong. Where the current detail matters, check it with the operators on the day.

The volcano and the hot springs

The classic Santorini boat trip crosses the caldera to the volcanic islets in the middle of the bay. You land on Nea Kameni, the black, barely-cooled cone that is the youngest land in the Aegean, and walk up to the still-steaming craters at the top; the trips then anchor off Palea Kameni, where you swim from the boat into the warm, rust-coloured water of the sulphur springs.

It is the one day that shows you Santorini from the inside of its own crater, which no clifftop view can do, and most versions end back at Oia for the sunset from the sea rather than the rim. Take it as a half or most of a day, and know that the volcano walk is bare, dark rock with no shade, so it is a morning trip in high summer rather than a midday one.

Thirassia, the quiet half of the caldera

On the far side of the caldera, facing Santorini across the water, sits Thirassia, the piece of the old volcano that was cut off when the crater flooded. It is what Santorini was before the hotels: a single cliff-top village, a small port, a handful of tavernas and almost no one, reached by the local boats from the north of the island.

It is the antidote to a busy few days on the rim, a slow half-day of the same drowned-crater scenery with none of the crowd, and it pairs naturally with the volcano trip since both live on the same water. Go for the quiet and the view back at Santorini, not for sights, because the point of Thirassia is that there is almost nothing there.

The neighbouring Cyclades, by fast ferry

Santorini sits at the southern end of the Cyclades, and the fast ferries make a day on a calmer island genuinely possible. Ios, the nearest, is a short hop and a complete change of register; Naxos and Paros, a little further, trade the cliffs for long sandy beaches and green interiors; Anafi and the smaller islands to the east are the quiet extreme.

A day-ferry to a sandier island is the trip to take if the caldera starts to feel like one long photograph, and it is also a preview of the pairing that many trips make permanent, spending the second week somewhere flatter and calmer. How that pairing works, and why it suits so many people, is in Santorini versus Naxos; the sailing logic for any of these hops is in Greek island ferries.

How to choose

If you have one spare day, take the volcano, because it is the trip that only Santorini can give you and it reframes everything you have seen from the rim. If you have two, add either Thirassia for quiet or a fast ferry to a sandier island for contrast. And whichever you choose, take the boat on the calmest day of your stay, because every one of these trips is better on flat water and the exposed crossings are the first thing the weather closes. The main island itself is laid out in the Santorini guide and planned day by day in the Santorini itinerary.

Quick answers

What is the best day trip from Santorini?

The volcano boat trip, for most people: you land on the black volcanic islet of Nea Kameni and walk to its steaming craters, then swim in the warm sulphur springs off Palea Kameni, usually ending with the sunset from the sea. It is the one excursion that shows you Santorini from inside its own flooded crater, which no view from the rim can match.

Can you do a day trip to another island from Santorini?

Yes. Santorini sits at the southern end of the Cyclades and the fast ferries make a day on a neighbouring island practical: Ios is the nearest and quickest, Naxos and Paros trade the cliffs for long sandy beaches, and the smaller eastern islands are quieter still. It is the trip to take for a change from the caldera, and a preview of pairing Santorini with a calmer island for a longer stay.

Is the Santorini volcano trip worth it?

For the perspective, yes. Walking up the bare, still-warm cone of Nea Kameni and swimming in the warm springs off Palea Kameni gives you Santorini from inside the crater and a sense of the eruption that shaped it. It is not a lush landscape, it is black rock with no shade, so treat it as a morning trip in summer, but it is the day out the island is built to offer.