Santorini Sends Cruise Tours to Athinios After Wall Collapse
Tour groups will tender to Athinios and board buses there, about two point two miles south of the old Fira port and a twenty- to twenty-five-minute drive from Fira.
Santorini has moved organized cruise shore-excursion traffic to Athinios after the Karavolades Stairs connecting the island’s old port with Fira closed following a July 27 wall collapse. The 558-step route, normally one of two direct ways for tendered cruise passengers to reach Fira from the old port, is closed to foot and donkey traffic while local authorities deal with the damaged private wall.
Ships calling at Santorini usually anchor offshore and bring passengers ashore by tender. Fira sits about 250 meters above sea level. No road connects the old port to the town.
Tour groups move to Athinios
Passengers booked on organized tours will now tender to Athinios, Santorini’s main ferry port, and board tour buses there. George Nomikos, president of the Municipal Port Fund of Thira, directed the move after the mayor of Thira, Anastasios Nikolaos Zorzos, ordered the Karavolades route closed.
Athinios is about 2.2 miles south of the old Fira port. The drive between Athinios and Fira typically takes 20 to 25 minutes, and public buses and taxis serve the port, which has basic ferry-terminal facilities including waiting areas, ticket offices, toilets, ATMs, parking and nearby food outlets.
For passengers using the old port, direct access to Fira is now reduced to the cable car, which carries about 600 passengers per hour in each direction. The change did not spell out arrangements for passengers traveling independently.
The shift suspends a June rule that limited Athinios to no more than 30 percent of cruise passengers per day. The Municipal Port Fund adopted that limit to keep roads clear for potential emergencies, but organized-excursion passengers can use Athinios above that threshold while the staircase closure remains in effect.
August brings more than 25 ship calls
More than 25 cruise ships are scheduled to call Santorini in August, including vessels from Royal Caribbean, Princess, Norwegian Cruise Line, P&O Cruises and Celebrity Cruises. Additional planned calls in the coming weeks include ships from Oceania Cruises, Azamara Cruises, MSC Cruises, TUI Cruises and others.
Santorini recorded about 1.20 million cruise passengers on 728 calls in 2025, down from about 1.35 million passengers on 750 calls in 2024. The island also caps cruise arrivals at 8,000 passengers a day. Peak-day volumes in 2023 and 2024 had reached 11,000 to 17,000 passengers.
No cruise line had announced removing Santorini from itineraries because of the tender change. Local authorities have not set a repair schedule for the collapsed wall or a reopening date for the Karavolades route.
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