Santorini Volcano Tours: the Caldera, Nea Kameni and the Springs
A basin 12 by 7 km, cliffs over 300 m high, 385 m of water in the middle and two lava islands at the centre. Everything here leaves from the rim.
Santorini is not an island with a volcano on it. Santorini is the rim of a volcano that blew its middle out, and the shape you see from every terrace in Fira and Oia is the inside of the crater. The caldera measures about 12 by 7 km. The cliffs stand more than 300 m above the water on three sides, and the sea inside them reaches 385 m deep, which is why cruise ships anchor offshore instead of docking. At the centre sit two black islands that did not exist when the Romans arrived. Everything sold here as a volcano tour is a way of getting closer to those two, or of looking at the wall they sit inside.
This page is about the volcano and how a day on it is organised: which port a boat leaves from, what the crater landing costs on top of the ticket, why the same-looking trip carries three different prices. The two groups below split by what you actually do. Volcano & Hot Springs means going ashore on Nea Kameni and swimming at Palea Kameni. Caldera Cruises means staying on the boat, with the sunset and a meal as the point. The seven experiences listed on this page do neither: they take the rim itself, by road, on foot, on a quad or in a kayak.
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Volcano Travel Experiences in Santorini
Three, Four or Five Hours out of Ammoudi, Open Bar Aboard
Three, four or five hours from Ammoudi Bay with an open bar and a BBQ on the sun deck. The Red and White beaches only come on the longer two. Private boat.
Three Wineries, a Tomato Factory and a Front Table at Santo
Gaia in a converted tomato factory, Gavalas in its fourth generation, and a front-row table at Santo Wines for the sunset, with cheese and local plates.
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