Santorini tickets open the gates of Akrotiri and Ancient Thera, carry you up the caldera cliff on the Fira cable car and take you across the Aegean by ferry or plane. More bookable tours across the country are listed on Greece Tours.
Read on for each ticket type, where to buy it and what each one covers.
What are Santorini tickets?
Santorini tickets are the passes a visitor buys to enter sites, ride transport or reach the island. They cover archaeological site entry, museum entry, the Fira cable car, ferry crossings and flights. Each type serves a different part of a trip.
Santorini is the largest island in a small ring of islands formed by its volcanic caldera. Fira is the capital of Santorini island and holds its central bus station.
The main Santorini tickets fall into five groups:
- Archaeological sites: entry to the Bronze Age town of Akrotiri and the ruins of Ancient Thera.
- Museums: entry to the Museum of Prehistoric Thera in Fira.
- Cable car: a ride between Fira and the Old Port at Skala.
- Ferries: seats on boats from Athinios port to other islands and Crete.
- Flights: seats on planes to the island airport.
Site and museum Santorini tickets give entry to places on the island. Ferry tickets and flights take you to and from it. The cable car is a transport ticket used within the island.
Which Santorini tickets can you book online?
The Santorini tickets you can book online include Akrotiri entry tickets with audio guides. Ferry tickets with hotel transfers to Mykonos, Crete, Paros or Naxos are also on sale. A day trip from Crete comes with ferry tickets included.
Six GetYourGuide listings show what online Santorini tickets include:
- Akrotiri Entry Ticket and Audio Guide: entry to the ruins with a guided audio tour on your phone, valid for 1 day.
- Akrotiri Ticket with Optional Self-Guided Audios: entry to the site for 1 day; the audio is an add-on.
- Santorini to Mykonos Ferry Ticket and Hotel Transfer: a one-way e-ticket and a transfer from your accommodation to the port; listed at 3 hours.
- Santorini to Heraklion Crete Ferry Ticket and Hotel Transfer: a one-way e-ticket to Crete with a hotel-to-port transfer; listed at 2 hours.
- Ferry Ticket to Paros or Naxos with Hotel Pickup: a one-way ticket with a transfer to Athinios Ferry Port; listed at 2 to 3 hours.
- From Crete: Santorini Guided Day Trip with Ferry Tickets: a guided day of 10 to 11.5 hours in Oia and Fira with caldera views. Pickup is available, and a volcano boat trip is optional.
Pick Santorini tickets for site entry when you stay on the island and want to walk through Akrotiri. Pick transport tickets when you move to another island or visit for a day from Crete. The ferry bundles add a transfer from your accommodation to the port. With a bare ferry ticket, you arrange your own ride to Athinios.
The three ferry bundles need booking at least 3 days ahead, and the Crete day trip needs 10 hours of notice. All four offer free cancellation. Among the Santorini tickets above, the first Akrotiri pass needs 1 hour of notice and the second needs 10 minutes. Both are listed as wheelchair accessible.
How do Santorini tickets for Akrotiri and Ancient Thera work?
Santorini tickets for Akrotiri and Ancient Thera are separate entry tickets, one for each site. You buy each ticket at that site’s own ticket office. Akrotiri is the buried Bronze Age town, and Ancient Thera is the hilltop city on Mesa Vouno.
Akrotiri entry
Akrotiri is a Bronze Age town named after the nearby village of Akrotiri. Its art and Linear A writing link it to the Minoan culture of Crete. A volcanic eruption buried the town in ash. The ash kept houses standing more than one storey high, along with wall paintings, pottery and furniture.
Diggers found no bodies of victims in the town, which suggests the people left in an orderly way. Today a protective roof covers the excavated streets and houses.
Santorini tickets for Akrotiri give entry to this roofed site. The GetYourGuide cards on this page pair the entry ticket with an audio guide. Our page on Akrotiri tickets covers ticket types and visit tips in depth.
Ancient Thera entry
Ancient Thera stands on Mesa Vouno, the limestone hill between Kamari and Perissa. Doric settlers from Sparta founded the city. People lived there through Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine times. Its ruins include the agora, the Basilike Stoa, a theatre for about 1,500 people and the temple of Apollo Pythios. The city also had courtyard houses with water cisterns.
A winding road climbs to the site from Kamari, and footpaths rise from both sides of the hill. Santorini tickets for Ancient Thera are sold at the hilltop site, apart from Akrotiri entry. Read more about the ruins on our Ancient Thera page.
Which museum Santorini tickets can you buy?
Santorini tickets for museums open two collections in Fira, the island’s capital. The Museum of Prehistoric Thera shows finds from Akrotiri. The Archaeological Museum of Thera shows pottery from the Archaic to the Roman periods. Each museum sells its own entry ticket.
The Museum of Prehistoric Thera stands on the site of the old Ypapanti Church. It holds finds from Akrotiri and the nearby Potamos site. Highlights include Akrotiri wall paintings, a pitcher painted with swallows, jewellery and Early Cycladic marble figurines.
Its displays span from the Late Neolithic period to the Late Cycladic I period. A visit here pairs with Santorini tickets for Akrotiri, since the wall paintings came from that town.
The Archaeological Museum of Thera is a separate museum, also in Fira. Its collection includes Geometric and Archaic pottery and amphorae from the ancient cemetery of Thera. One Attic black-figure krater shows four ships painted around the inside of its rim.
We found no official source that confirms a combined ticket for these sites and museums. So plan a separate ticket for each site and museum. Opening hours change by season, so check the current hours before you buy your Santorini tickets.
How do ferry Santorini tickets work?
Ferry Santorini tickets carry you to and from Athinios, the island’s ferry port on the west coast. You book a standard ferry or a high-speed catamaran online, then show your e-ticket and your ID when you board.
Santorini has two ports: Athinios for ferries and Skala, the old port. Ferries link Athinios with Piraeus every day of the year, with up to five direct crossings in summer. Standard ferries take about 7 to 9 hours from Piraeus, and high-speed catamarans take about 4 to 5 hours. Santorini tickets for island hopping cover routes to these ports:
- Piraeus and Rafina, the ports near Athens
- Paros and Naxos, on the route from Piraeus
- Mykonos and Ios in the Cyclades
- Folegandros, Milos and Sifnos in the western Cyclades
- Heraklion on Crete, daily in high season
- Rhodes and Kos in the Dodecanese
Two crossings have their own pages: the Santorini to Mykonos ferry and the Santorini to Crete ferry. Book your Santorini tickets online and keep each e-ticket on your phone. The company Fast Ferries is the exception, as it asks for a printed copy. A booking does not always include a seat, since seats can cost extra.
A ferry ticket lists the departure port, the arrival port and the vessel number. Printed Santorini tickets can be collected from outlets at the departure port. Arrive at least one hour early with an ID card or passport. Sea crossings depend on the weather. Buses meet each ferry at Athinios and reach Fira in about 15 minutes.
How do cable car Santorini tickets work?
Cable car Santorini tickets cover the ride between Fira and the old port of Skala, about 220 metres below the town. You buy them at either station, since they are not sold online, and the ride takes 3 to 5 minutes.
The Santorini cable car is a gondola lift owned and run by the Municipality of Thera. Each cabin carries six passengers in two rows of three, and the system moves 1,200 passengers an hour. No road reaches the old port. Children and luggage have their own fares.
Cruise ships anchor off Skala, and local boats carry passengers to the pier. The lower station serves them, so queues for Santorini tickets grow long on cruise days. Ride early or late in the day to skip the crowds. On very windy days the cable car closes. Two other ways link Skala and Fira:
- On foot, up a zigzag path of about 600 steep steps, in 1 to 1.5 hours
- On a mule or donkey, a ride that draws criticism from animal rights groups
The steps are narrow in parts, with only low walls, and the animals use them too. Skala is also the start point for tour boats to Nea Kameni and other spots around the island. For cruise visitors and locals alike, the cable car is the main link between the port and Fira.
Where do you buy flight Santorini tickets?
You buy flight Santorini tickets from the airline’s own website or from a flight booking site. Every flight lands at Santorini (Thira) International Airport, just north of Kamari village. Aegean Airlines and Sky Express fly there from Athens all year.
The airport sits about 6 kilometres southeast of the centre of Thira, the island’s main town. Aegean Airlines adds seasonal flights from Heraklion, Rhodes and Thessaloniki. In spring, summer and autumn, scheduled and charter flights arrive from cities such as London, Paris, Frankfurt, Vienna and Dublin. Our Santorini airport page covers arrivals in full.
Booking sites show Santorini tickets from different airlines on one screen, so you can compare flight times. Buying from the airline itself means you deal with one company if a flight changes. Either way, check these three points before you pay:
- the date, the time and the flight number
- your name, spelled exactly as in your passport
- the cabin bag and hold bag allowance, which each airline sets for itself
From the airport, you reach your hotel by bus, taxi, hotel pick-up or hire car. Book the pick-up or the car when you buy your Santorini tickets, so a ride waits when you land. Give the hotel your flight number so the driver can track a delay. Our page on how to get to Santorini covers the full trip.
What do travellers ask about Santorini tickets?
When do you book Santorini tickets?
Book flight and ferry Santorini tickets as soon as your travel dates are fixed. Summer seats sell first, so early booking gives you a wider choice of departure times. For sites and museums, buy entry once your daily plan is set, since each site on the island keeps its own opening days and hours.
Are Santorini tickets for sites cheaper online?
Each site sets its own entry price and shows it on its official ticket page, so compare that page with any reseller before you pay. Online Santorini tickets let you skip the line at the ticket desk. A tour that bundles entry with a licensed guide costs more, since the guide’s fee is included.
Do children need Santorini tickets for sites?
Rules for children depend on the site and on the child’s age. The official ticket page of each site or museum lists who enters free and who pays a reduced rate. Check that page before you buy Santorini tickets for the family, and carry a passport or ID card that shows each child’s age.
Can you change Santorini tickets for ferries?
Each ferry operator sets its own rules for changing a date or a time. Read the operator’s terms before you pay, since a change can carry a fee or a fare difference. To change Santorini tickets for a ferry, contact the operator or the booking site you used, and have your booking reference ready.