Boat Trip to the Volcano Reviews - Boat Trip to the Volcano, Santorini, Greece

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Boat Trip to the Volcano

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Editor Pick

Boat Trip to the Volcano

  • July 4, 2025
  • Rated 4 of 5 by MichaelJM from Nottingham, England

There were many local booths offering trips across to the volcano but as we had not come prepared for a trip to the hot springs (that is we didn’t have swimwear with us) we were happy to go with one guy who could arrange a crossing to the volcano and back. The round trip would take a couple of hours and that seemed just perfect and he even offered to reimburse the cost if we returned on another day to take up the trip to the island of Palea Kameni (i.e. he would only charge us the additional 5 euro).

So we paid our 11 euros and as we'd only got 10 minutes to wait sat on a seat overlooking the harbour enjoying both the view and the beautiful sunshine. Of course the boat didn’t arrive on time but we didn’t really care and when it finally turned up (about 15 minutes after its due time we clambered aboard with another dozen people who were going to check out the volcano. The crossing itself was fairly quick and trouble free but we had time to appreciate the view of Fira from the sea and of course snap a few photos of the photogenic island of Santorini.

The boats that take you to the island of Nea Kameni are fully rigged out with sails, although we were actually on motor power for the whole of the crossing, and so there’s a great feel to the journey and when it came to mooring at the island we had to be attached to another boat and disembark onto that boat before hitting the dry land of Nea Kameni.

I was a bit surprised when the tour party got on the island as then we all had to pay the 2 euro admission charge to the park (I’d assumed it was all part of the tour deal). The park is known as the national Geological Park of Nea Kameni and we were only going to be there for about an hour. This, according to the guide, meant that we all had to stick together and we had about 40 minutes to make the ascent and around half an hour for the descent. She strode off at a rate of knots and the rest of us tried to keep up.

The terrain is difficult and it’s real hard keeping a sure footing on the route, but it was very clear that our guide was a “woman on a mission” and she was going to make real sure that we made our target time. By the time we made it to “site A” she was heralding her party together and I was able to hear her narration about the facts that we were now “standing near the oldest part of Nea Kameni” and the crater that was created out of the 1570 eruption. Indeed the volcanic island of Santorini first started its life and was documented by Strabo, a Greek geographer, in 197BC. Since the emergence of the island there have been 8 subsequent eruptions all having a significant impact on the shape and structure of Santorini.

We weren’t always able to keep up with our guide and sometimes we missed some of her story but we’d picked up a real useful leaflet at the entrance to the park so I could catch up from the leaflet. The craters themselves aren’t overly photogenic but there are some great views from the island and volcanoes themselves have a certain mystic about them.

The central twin crater of Nea Kameni is still active and along the eastern rim the fumaroles (hot gas vents) are still pushing out that unforgettable aroma of hydrogen sulphide (rotten eggs as I recall from school boy chemistry). Additionally a scratch just below the surface will release some of the heat of this dormant active volcano. It last erupted as recently as 1950, but this was not a sensational event, but no one is predicting when it will next explode or indeed how big an event that might be. Perhaps a stutter or even a re-shaping of the island of Santorini.

From journal A Day in Fira

Editor Pick

Boat Trip to the Volcano

Sit back and relax as you take a boat tour from Thira Port to "the Volcano" in a glass-bottom boat.

The two small islands in the center of the Santorini caldera, Palea and Nea Kameni, "the Volcano" to the local people, are the youngest volcanic lands in the Eastern Mediterranean. Palea Kameni (Old Burnt Island) is less than 2,000 years old, while Nea Kameni (Young Burnt Island) began to form only 425 years ago, and its youngest lavas are less than 50 years old. These two islands represent the volcano's most recent activity--which can still be experienced today.

You can explore the volcano and other unique volcanic activity on a boat trip to Santorini's Volcano. With a 1.5-hour stop, there is enough time to walk to the crater and observe the smoke with traces of sulphur that is emitted from a number of spots. In other spots, you'll find that the ground and stones are too hot to touch. After leaving the volcano, some tours will take in the Hot Springs--thermal mud baths and an interesting place to go swimming. Most boat tours finish their tour at the village of Oia, just in time for the most spectacular sunset in the Cyclades.

Travellers are really spoiled for choice, as there are many different companies offering this type of tour. Some are more basic (Volcano only), while others take in all that I outlined above and more (the archaeological site of Akrotiri). The most reliable tour companies can be found on the main strip in Thira Town, and don't be afraid to shop around for the best deal--especailly in the shoulder seasons.

From journal Falling in Love with Santorini

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