As an adventure traveler, I am always trying to sniff out the next activity that is a bit off-the-beaten path and perhaps a little daring. I initially expected to have a pretty typical, touristy time in Santorini—but then I discovered something unexpected!
I anticipated from photos of Santorini that my short 3-day stay would consist only of sunset views, resort culture, wineries, restaurants, and nightlife. As I looked deeper, I found there was more to Santorini than meets the eye.
Turns out, the Santorini island group is made up of the most historically destructive volcanic activity in the world! And I just had to get a closer look.
Wait, Santorini Has A Volcano?!
View from Nea Kameni, a volcanic island of Santorini
Santorini actually has volcanoes (plural)! Santorini got its crescent shape from an eruption during the Minoan period about 3600 years ago.The island was once round but this eruption caused a portion of it to submerge—the caldera—and form several remaining islands including the two volcanic islands you can visit by boat—Nea Kameni and Palea Kameni.
This eruption famously inspired the legend of Atlantis.
The Santorini caldera is designated a Decade Volcano. One of only 16 in the world, Santorini received the decade volcano designation because of its highly valued scientific relevance and historical destructiveness as it sits in such close proximity to a densely populated area.
The densely populated Santorini town of Oia
The last Santorini volcanic eruption occurred in 1950. Scientists say that a future eruption is not an if but a when. Mostly there was small seismic activity and venting of ash during the eruption but no destruction occurred.
In 1956, the area experienced a 7.7 earthquake then a 7.2 earthquake followed by a tsunami. This activity significantly impacted the island of Santorini with hundreds of home demolished or damaged and 56 people killed.
I wanted to mention the Santorini earthquake especially because of Greece’s proximity to Turkey…
2023 Earthquake in Turkey & Syria
As I write this, Turkey and Syria are in a state of emergency and great need as they faced multiple over 7.0 earthquakes this week with tens of thousands dead and structural damage at an unbelievable scale.
If you’re able to, I recommend making a donation to AFAD relief efforts- Turkey’s official disaster and emergency management authority. Or make a donation to UOSSM relief efforts - which provide independent and impartial relief and medical care to victims of war in Syria and is calling for aid in the aftermath of the earthquakes.
How To Book A Santorini Volcano & Hot Springs Tour
Okay, so how the heck do you get there? I wondered that, too. And I made some near-mistakes along the way that give me some insight into how to plan the tour right.
First of all, don’t try to book it in advance online. Even during peak season, I was able to book the tour in person the morning of our tour. You are much more likely to overpay if you book in advance. I actually booked something online first because I got anxious. Then I paused and was like, “wait, why am I being so stupid.” As soon as I investigated a bit further I cancelled my booking (thankfully I got a full refund!).
Carolina and I woke up in the morning and headed to where the cable car brings people up and down the cliffside from the docks below.
We wandered into a small office nearby on a random corner. I don’t even know the name of the place because it wasn’t really marked that way! But there was a very nice woman inside who confirmed for us that we could just book with her and hop aboard same day.
We paid for the tour—about $26 each—and decided to take the long way down the cliffside. Some may opt to take the cable car down for €6 one way. But we were happy to get some exercise in and we had over an hour to kill.
Getting On The Boat
We had to find the start of the path down the cliffside, which was a bit away from the cable car area. Once we got there, we headed down, down down.
Along the way, we started seeing signs for donkey rides. But before we saw the signs we smelled the donkey rides. This immediately became a theme of our walk down. We not only had to navigate the incoming donkey riders, clopping and cantering their way up stairs toward us on narrow paths. We also had to navigate their droppings. Ooof!!!
The walk down took a surprising amount of time—about 20-30 minutes. I took photos of the donkey riders but I won’t share here because I don’t believe these rides are ethical. These poor donkeys are ridden up and down all day. There’s a ton of them at the bottom but its so hot and I first-hand witnessed the guides hitting them to direct them around.
I understand tourists choose this as a fun adventure to engage in, but they honestly never seemed happy to be on those donkeys. The riders I saw were always scared or a bit grossed out by the smells. I think if they knew in advance what it was really like and what the experience is for the animals, they’d choose to ride the cable car!
Once at the bottom, there was a large crowd of people waiting on the docks for various boat pickups to go on tours in the area. Some of these tours would go where we were going, others would circle the whole island, others would take people back to cruise ships or to other activities.
This was a bit of a nightmare experience for me, personally. After all the donkey chaos, now there were far too many people! And everything felt very disorganized with the boats. We asked several different people working the area where we needed to stand for our “Dakoutros” boat (that’s what our ticket said). But none of them knew for sure or they incorrectly directed us.
We were even scolded a few times for standing in the wrong place or we were told by one of the mates off a newly arrived ship that we were meant to look for a wooden sail boat. That was actually some helpful direction. Now we would wait for the wooden boat.
This was one of those moments where Carolina and I could have been easily frustrated but we made lemonade out of lemons. As we waited, we began laughing hysterically over the accent of the woman who told us about our wooden boat. She said to me, “You want to wait for the HOOOO-den boat.” So we just kept saying to each other “The HOOden boat! Yes, we shall wait for the HOOden boat! Is that our HOOden boat coming now?” LOL. Okay, maybe you had to be there but we really needed the laugh! And this became a reoccurring inside joke for the rest of our trip.
And then all of a sudden, our chariot… the HOOden boat of our dreams…
The… Luke Warm Springs?
All aboard the HOOden boat named the “Odysseas,” we were off to our first stop on the tour. Nope, not the volcano! We were on our way to some hot springs on Palea Kameni.
Carolina and I scored seats at the center of the ship in the shade. So we had a comfortable, breezy ride across the caldera to Palea Kameni.
As we approached the hot springs, the captain announce that we would spend about 30 minutes there. We could jump off the boat and swim about 100 meters into the cove.
Right away, we could see the edge of the thermal springs marked by its bright orange discoloration in the water near the shore. This was a beautiful contrast against the turquoise waters and backdropped by the black volcanic rock.
In the photo above you see a white building on this otherwise mostly uninhabited island. Legend has it, a man named Sostis has lived on Palea Kameni for over 40 years. He isolated himself there after a woman he fell for did not love him back. In his hermitage, he raised livestock, grew a few crops, and got everything else he needed from Santorini. In doing so, he inspires stories and poems about him.
The cloudy orange springs are lukewarm at best. Rich with minerals like sulfur, iron, and manganese, some believe these springs heal certain ailments. Although the waters were tepid, I still vibed with it and found my float.
Meanwhile, others vibed with the muddy orange bottom. Some spread it all over themselves, not realizing the mud stains!
Pro-Tip: Wear a dark-colored swim suit for this tour!
I didn’t engage in the mud bath but I did take the opportunity to finger paint the surrounding rocks (it washes off naturally!).
The HOOden boat blared a horn to call us back to the ship. One by one we boarded up a ladder on the side of the ship and then we were off to our next destination.
Nea Kameni Volcanic Island Hike
About a 15 minute ride too us over to Nea Kameni island. The boat pulled up to a dock, joining a few other tour boats. These boats grouped together all looked so picturesque!
We lined up at an entrance booth and paid a $5 fee to begin the 130-meter hike up the volcano. All of the tourists hiking up together in a large crowd like this was definitely not my favorite thing.
But once we reached the top, Carolina and I both split off from the group and found some respite to take in the 360-degree views independently.
At just over a mile wide and nearly round, the hike up to the top of Nea Kameni only took a few minutes. There were many active sulfur vents around the area spewing stinky steam just like I experienced in Iceland and New Zealand. The area also had plenty of summertime grass and succulents spread across a thin layer of soil above the volcanic rock and ash.
There is a huge crater at its top that was reminiscent of other volcanic areas I have hiked. The main area I am thinking about is Mt. Ngauruhoe in New Zealand which is the other volcano I hiked with Carolina! But the steam on Nea Kameni was nowhere at the intensity of the steam atop Mt. Doom!
See below our mirrored volcano peak photos together from Greece and New Zealand—7 years time difference!
Greece - Nea Kameni - July 2022
New Zealand - Mt. Ngaruhoe - February 2015
Eventually it was time to head back to the boat and to the main island of Santorini. On the way down, I noted marked paths showing another way around the island for different views. There is definitely more to explore here and I believe chartering a private boat to experience both the hot springs and the volcano would be a great option if within your budget!
Returning to the main docks, Carolina and I were more than happy to pay the fee for the cable car ride up to the top of the cliffs. At this point in our lives, the money definitely outweighs the time and energy expenditure! Plus, we avoided the donkey doo and got another experience out of the whole deal!
The views going up on the cable car were beautiful and it was almost like a one-direction Ferris wheel experience in our individual car behind and in front of other riders.
In Conclusion
While there were definitely some downsides to such a touristic experience, I would say our adventure to the volcano and hot springs on neighboring Santorini islands was well worth the time and ticket price. We got to mix up our activities in Santorini and have a true little adventure. This was an adventure I certainly did not expect to have while there and I am so glad I did it!
