4 hours: choose your main interest
Choose Santorini Essentials for villages and caldera views, Beach Lover’s Paradise for the volcanic coastline, or the shore excursion for a cruise visit. Sightseeing starts at €240 for up to two guests.
Seven private tours. Your own vehicle, your own pace.
Explore Santorini with a private vehicle and a local driver who shares island knowledge along the way. Compare our seven private tour experiences, from a four-hour cruise shore excursion to villages, beaches, historical sites and a private wine tour. Your vehicle is reserved for your own party, with stops and pace arranged around your interests. Cruise guests can check our shore excursion planning guide before choosing a start time.
Sightseeing tours start at €240 for four hours, €300 for five hours or €360 for six hours, including up to two guests; each additional guest adds €50. The wine tour is €200 per person, with a minimum of two guests. Open any tour for its itinerary, inclusions and booking request form.
Choose Santorini Essentials for villages and caldera views, Beach Lover’s Paradise for the volcanic coastline, or the shore excursion for a cruise visit. Sightseeing starts at €240 for up to two guests.
Santorini Highlights visits Firostefani’s blue dome, Oia, Profitis Ilias and Pyrgos, with a Red Beach viewpoint stop. Choose Historical Sites if archaeology is your main interest. Each starts at €300 for up to two guests; check the chosen itinerary for inclusions and site tickets.
The Ultimate Santorini Experience gives you a longer itinerary from Oia to volcanic beaches. It starts at €360 for up to two guests. Choose this when your available time supports a fuller day, not simply to squeeze it into a short cruise stop.
The Wine Tasting Private Tour is €200 per person, with a minimum of two guests. It is priced per person rather than using the sightseeing group price.
For sightseeing tours, each additional guest adds €50 to the total. Your vehicle is private to your party. The driver shares local knowledge but is not a licensed tourist guide. Open the specific tour to see its itinerary and request availability.
Tell us your priorities and any walking difficulties before confirmation. We plan the pace and accessible stops around your needs and the time available. A longer duration does not mean every attraction can be included.
We reach a viewpoint overlooking Red Beach. Walking down is an optional hike chosen by the guest, not vehicle access to the sand. Black Beach visits are at Perissa or Perivolos. Discuss walking difficulties before choosing your itinerary.
Your meeting point is a specific vehicle-accessible spot very close to the upper cable-car station in Fira, with room for the vehicle to stop. We confirm the exact point with you; it is not a pickup from Athinios ferry port or from the tender waterfront.
Start with your ship’s tender arrangements and last tender time, then choose the tour. Allow time to reach Fira before the driving itinerary begins. A four-hour shore excursion is our focused option; a longer island tour needs a larger usable time window.
We recommend being back at the upper cable-car station two hours before your ship’s last tender, ready to descend. Confirm that last tender time with the cruise line and tell our team. This is a planning buffer, not a guarantee about cable-car queues or ship boarding; follow any earlier deadline required by your ship.
Explore the shore excursion or check ferry and airport pickup differences.
Oia and Pyrgos involve considerable walking, with cobbled paths and steps. If walking or stairs are difficult for anyone in your group, tell us before your tour so we can adapt the itinerary.
Options include Perissa, Perivolos and Kamari beaches, selected viewpoints around Akrotiri and Megalochori, the views from Profitis Ilias and a stop for the Firostefani blue domes. We choose specific stops with easier access and level walking areas, then confirm the meeting points and walking involved with you. Access can vary within each location.
Please tell us about any mobility aid or specific access requirement before booking. A lower-walking itinerary is not a guarantee of wheelchair access or a completely step-free route.
We can carry a folding wheelchair in a suitable vehicle when the passenger can transfer into a standard seat. Tell us the folded wheelchair size, passenger count and all luggage before booking so we can confirm space.
Our own vehicles do not have a wheelchair ramp or lift and cannot carry a passenger remaining seated in a wheelchair. If this is required, contact us before booking: we can arrange suitable accessible transport through partners, subject to availability and confirmation. Please do not assume that a standard online booking includes a ramp-equipped vehicle.
Tell us about both vehicle access and the walking route before confirming your tour. A partner vehicle does not make every village path, viewpoint or cruise meeting point step-free.
Yes. Please tell us in advance how many suitcases you will bring so we can arrange a larger vehicle at no extra charge when needed. This policy applies to private tours; the luggage limits and prices in the transfer booking form remain unchanged.
Akis grew up in Santorini and has worked in tourism throughout his working life. His island knowledge helps us plan the stops, timing and pace around your group. Meet the local team behind Essence Tours.
Most people arrive in Santorini with a picture in their head. The blue domes. The sunset in Oia. The cliffs of the caldera. And then they realize something else, the island is busier than they expected, and time moves fast.
If that sounds closer to the experience you have in mind, we can plan your private Santorini tour around it.