Full-Day Santorini Island Exploration: Guided Day Trip from Rethymno by Luxury Catamaran
3.4
23 Ratings
Rethimno
Embark on a full-day guided trip from Rethymno to Santorini by luxury catamaran. Explore the clifftop villages, soak up the caldera views, and stroll through the streets of Oia and Fira.
Duration: 12 hours
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • Santorini - Experience the beauty and romance of Santorini on a day trip from Crete. Set sail from the Port of Rethymno, and then take a guided tour by air-conditioned vehicle on arrival. Marvel at the blue and white buildings typical of the island.
What's Included
  • Air-conditioned transportation on the island
  • Multilingual professional guide available
  • Inclusive of boat tickets
What's Not Included
  • Food and drinks
  • Hotel pick-up and drop off
  • Personal expenses
Additional Information

Join a guided full-day excursion to the cliffside towns of Santorini, overlooking the Aegean Sea. Commence your trip from Rethymno with a smooth transfer to a high-end Catamaran. Enjoy the mesmerizing Caldera scenery, witness the candy-colored houses of Oia, and walk through the lanes of Fira.

Begin at Rethymno port, spotting the iconic blue & white edifices defining the island as you head to the dock.

Board a high-speed luxury Catamaran embarking on a journey to Santorini. Upon reaching Athinios harbor, partake in an in-depth island tour. Gain insights into the past and present of one of Greece’s most love-soaked islands from the knowledgeable guide.

Take a scenic country ride to Oia, a village perched at the island’s farthest northern edge. Renowned for its blue and white houses nestled on a volcanic caldera rim, it presents a spectacular sight.

Next, visit Fira, where you’ll have ample opportunity to explore the island’s capital on your own. Meander down the picturesque alleys with enchanting views of the typical Aegean architectural style.

In the evening, head back to Crete, concluding your journey at Rethymno port.

  • At the time of booking please mention your hotel name and location. You will be notified by email about the pickup point and time
  • Pickup cost ΕΧΤRΑ begins up to 60 minutes before tour starts and is done from central meeting points near the hotels, only in the areas of Panormo, Scaleta, Adele, Platanias, Missiria, Rethymno town, Atsipopoulo, Kavros and Georgioupoli
  • The cruise departs from the Port of Rethymno. Please arrange your own transportation to the port
  • Please be at the port at least 30 minutes before the scheduled departure time
Location
Rethymno Port Parking
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
3.4
(23 Ratings)
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Jane_a
Jul 27, 2023
Stunning island trip - Great day trip to get an experience of santorini. Tour guide was very knowledgable and really added to the day.
Review provided by Viator
Nikos
Nov 24, 2021
I Love the personal service - Marcos and Vagelis are friends of mine!!! Except this are 100% professional and many years in the tourist industry!!! I trust them in all my tickets , boat or airplanes!!! The new office is mor beautiful than the old one The smile still the same
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Popitravel7
Nov 16, 2021
The best Travel Agency in Crete! - Unforgettable experience! Totally recommend it! Fully organized tours, stick to timetables. Very kind and helpful staff, always happy to assist to any request we had. Thank you Platanos Tours and see you again next year!!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Eleni_k
Dec 6, 2020
the best trip i ever been - this trip was the best trip i ever been amazing island the tour at santorini was perfect and the guide
Review provided by Viator
Heather
May 31, 2023
Great Day Trip - It was a great way to see Santorini for a day. Now I know I don’t need to spend any more time there. Too many people. I personally liked Crete better. To each there own. The tour guide was great though.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Tove_h
Jun 15, 2022
Santorini - Viator is attentive and has given us good information and seems professional. It was quite an expensive tour including only the boat trip and bus / guide. A meal could have been included for the price, NOK 4200,- for 2 persons. The boat trip was longer then expected. The guide Marco and the bus driver did a great job. Santorini was lovely, though it was very crowded. The docking experience at the bay could have ended ln tragedy as the landing fell down. The boat was not moored when we went onshore. Security must be tightened! Luckily it all went well!
Review provided by Viator
Lotti_m
Aug 26, 2021
Rushing but beautiful - I read very bad review a about Platan tours so I was a bit afraid, but we had a great time. I would recommend not to request hotel Pickup, myguess is that is the reason for so many bad reviews. The tour was a bit rushing, but for young adults it’s bearable. The transportation was fine, the ferry took almost 3 hours. Our guide Lucy was very professional, we learned a lot. Santorum I is beautiful, we had 1,5 hour in Oeia, and depending on your choice 3/4 to 3 hours in Fira. We chose the volcanic tour, it was something worth to visit. Overall we were statisfied
Review provided by Viator
Troy
Jul 26, 2023
You may be better off going it alone and renting a taxi for the day. - This is probably directed more at the tour company than the staff on the tour at the time, but I find it a poor choice to offer two city visits, given how tight traffic is…particularly during a heat wave. The tour guide was very hurried because she had to be. Everything was rushed to the point of not being able to keep up. Obviously, the time crunch is because it is a day trip where the ferry schedule rules overall….but just a trip to one of the cities would have been a better pace.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Anonbrit123
Jun 7, 2023
Rearranged at short notice so we couldn’t go - I was terribly disappointed this week. I had booked this tour and fully paid months in advance, with the tour scheduled for Thursday 8th June. I was contacted on the afternoon of Monday 5th June to inform me that the tour would take place on Saturday 10th June - but we are leaving Crete in the evening of Friday 9th June. I have cancelled and received a full refund, but I am so very sad as this was a once in a lifetime holiday that we will not be able to repeat. I understand that the ferry now only runs on Tuesday and Saturday but I wish the provider had notified me further in advance so that I could rearrange my bookings. Now I will never get to visit Santorini.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sergiog0211
Aug 5, 2022
Awful experience - Santorini Day Tour from Rethymno sold by Platanos Tours - I list below the many problems and disappointing experiences that my family and I faced during this tour - Day trip to Santorini by boat from Rethymno - sold to us by Platanos Tours: There was a massive delay in the ferry journey with Seajets (company running the ferry) from Rethymno to Santorini. It took 4hours and 15 minutes to do this journey. That's almost double the time when compared with the 2hours and 30 minutes advertised in the tour agent website. This was very distressing to our young children that are only 5 and 7 years old and were awake since 5:30 in the morning on that day. During the ferry trip to Santorini, I went to speak with the Seajets crew to try to obtain some information regarding the reason for the delay, expected time of arrival and my concerns regarding my young children. I had my five year old daughter with me at the time. While one member of staff was polite and informative explaining that the delay was due to a mechanical problem with the ferry, another member of the crew that was next to us, started singing/ humming, clearly ridiculing me and my concerns. This was completely unacceptable, unprofessional behaviour from a member of the crew. I pointed that out to him, saying that his behaviour was even made worse by the fact that there were young children involved. His colleague, that was trying to explain me the reason for the delay, was equally shocked by the way he had behaved. Despite his appalling behaviour and me expressing my shock at it, he didn't offer any apology or showed any regret for his attitude. Later in the same journey another member of the Seajets team responsible for the tour, came to speak with me. She had been made aware of the incident that occurred earlier and came to offer her apologies. She said it was absolutely my right to make a formal complaint if I wished so. Throughout the entire bus ride from the port of Santorini to Oia and from Oia to Fira, our guide insisted that we should not try to eat in Oia and should instead have lunch in a restaurant she highly recommended in Fira much later on in the day. She insisted on this quite strongly, despite the massive delay in the ferry arrival at Santorini. She didn't give any recommendations or tips at all to try to eat something in Oia at a normal time for lunch. This meant having lunch at 3pm in a restaurant in Fira where she basically took us to and where she knew all the staff and also had lunch. There was no concern at all for the fact that we had young children with us that obviously should not have lunch so late. On the bus from Oia to Fira. The guide spent a large part of the journey saying how amazing the restaurant in Fira she knew was, a proper family run, traditional place, and that we should definitely have lunch there. She even recommended certain dishes in the menu. Unfortunately her priority was clearly to convince us to have lunch in this place. She didn't spend any time giving us any useful tips on where to go, what to see and visit during our free time in Fira. That should have been her priority has a guide. My partner and I had to find our way around in the town with our two small children trying not to get lost. The restaurant "highly recommended" by the guide in Fira was actually a big disappointment. Overpriced food in a busy and not very nice street with pushy staff trying to sell more than what we wanted. We were even brought two burgers with raw meat that we had to send back to be cooked properly. I would classify this place as a typical "tourist trap" where you may end up if you don't know any better. A good, honest guide should never try to convince so forcefully her clients to go to a place like this. Because of the overall delay caused by the mechanical problem in the Seajets ferry in the morning we were offered a basic complimentary dinner meal on our way back to Rethymno in the same ferry. It turns out my chicken meat in this meal was also raw and not fit for human consumption - See photo. Despite the mechanical problem in the ferry apparently being fixed, the journey back still took 3hours and 15 minutes, significantly more than the time you advertise in your website. This meant that I and my family, including our small children were back at our hotel at 10:30pm exhausted and very hungry, having missed dinner time at the restaurant of our hotel. Platanos Tours advertises this tour as including a trip in a luxury catamaran. The ferry we went in should be best described as a standard modern passenger ferry with comfortable seats, nothing more than that. On both journeys we had to board and exit the ferry by foot via the car and cargo deck. Not surprisingly this area of the ferry had lack of ventilation, fumes and a strong smell of diesel. On both journeys all the passengers were crowded in this area waiting to exit the boat for about 15 minutes each time. This is certainly not what you expect in a "luxury catamaran experience" - See photos. We only got a guide in the short bus trips in Santorini giving some basic, very general information and above all trying to convince us to go and have lunch in a "tourist trap". The trip felt very impersonal, with little guidance, with lots of people coming from different hotels in different buses to join the same ferry to them be divided again in many buses in Santorini. We didn't see anybody from Platanos Tours. We didn't know what was Seajets responsible for. We didn't know who the guide was working for. We didn't even have anybody guiding us properly to where to go when we first arrived at the Port of Rethymno to catch the ferry in the morning. Considering the price charged per person, and the way this tour is described in the tour agent website, I would expect a much better service to be provided. This was overall an awful experience. I feel particularly sorry for my young children that had to go through this during their holiday. I understand that the tour agent cannot predict mechanical problems causing a delay in the ferry journey, but there was much more wrong and predictable in this trip that should never have happened. Some of the staff didn't look after and didn't care properly about the clients interests and needs. The advert for this tour is misleading and misrepresents what is actually offered on the day. I contacted Platanos Tours directly and made a formal complaint about everything that went wrong in this tour, but they have not bother to reply to me yet. The poor service customer continues even after the tour.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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up to 15 guests
1 Adult
June 2024
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