Stunning island trip - Great day trip to get an experience of santorini. Tour guide was very knowledgable and really added to the day.

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.

Rush rush rush! - We went on an organised trip to Santorini from Rethymno via transfer from Chania. We got picked up at 6am from Talos Square in Chania old town. Transferred by car, then bus to Rethymno . Got our tickets for sea jet from the port, and boarded. The catamaran left promptly, and it took us around 2.5hrs to reach Santorini. There we were greeted by a guide who led us to our coach to transport us to Oia. Once at Oia, we were told we had 1.5 hrs to explore. It was so so busy. So hot. Just not enjoyable. I’ve stayed on Santorini before at Pyrgos, but my hubby had never been. We got back on the bus, then spent half an hour travelling to Fira. We stopped for lunch, and had a not so nice meal at El Greco…on our guides recommendation. I’d give it a miss next time! Then we had about 40 minutes to look around Fira. It was just rush rush rush. I did not enjoy it. Back on board the sea jet at 4.45. Left the port at 5. It took 3.5 hrs for our return journey. A long long day, for 3.5hrs on Santorini. €180 each inc the transfers. Would I do it again that way? A hard no!

Rushed but got the experience of Santorini - Should have listened to the other reviews. We wanted to see Santorini and with our limited time this seemed like the best choice. We hoped going in May was still early in season, but it’s still crowded. It is not a small tour and there was no option to go to the black beach as advertised. Very misleading. The tour guide did her best trying to wrangle 50 people. We did see highlights but if you want to experience Santorini you need at least 2 days.

Extremely busy and rude people - All the pictures you see show those beautiful white houses with blue domes. If you take the ferry from Rethymno to Santorini you will arrive at the port where you can only go to Fyra by shuttle bus or taxi. Taxi takes 15 minutes and will easily cost you around €35. The village mainly consists of jewelry stores (some are very pushy) and tourist souvenirs. The streets are narrow, so it quickly becomes very busy. The many stairs are not convenient for people who cannot walk smoothly. Very honest, I have never encountered such rude people. From the police officers upon arrival at the port, restaurant employees and shopkeepers. Also keep in mind that it is very expensive. Sometimes 2 to 3 times as expensive as on Crete. This is also the case with restaurants, especially if you want a sea view. Tzaziki that costs €14?! Just to give an example. Maybe we should have done a better job of preparing, but based on this I wouldn't go back anytime soon. Especially because the boat (Seajets) was very expensive and both crossings took over an hour longer than planned, which limited our time in Santorini. Last boat is already at 5 p.m.

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.

Rush rush rush. - Just don’t do it. We left early from Chania, two modes of transport to get us to Rethymno for the ferry. Queues at the port to get tickets. We weren’t sat together on the boat, even though we booked our tickets together. Lovely boat though, with a great snack bar on our level. Good choice of refreshments. Once we docked, we were picked up by a coach and an English speaking guide. We went to Oia first. Parked just outside the main area, and wandered into town. I believe we had 1.5hrs at this stop, which was no time at all. Oia was absolutely rammed . Not pleasant at all. I’ve previously spent a week on Santorini staying in Pyrgos. That was much better. Had a coffee, looked in one or two shops as that’s all we had time for. Then we headed back to the bus. Then we went to Fira. Our guide recommended somewhere for lunch. As time was of the essence again, we just went where he recommended. It was average fayre at best. The guide ate there, so maybe he got a freebie for taking us day trippers there. Fira is lovely, but again, too rushed. Then it was off back to the ferry terminal for our trip back to Rethymno. The ferry took an hour longer getting back. By the time we got back to our hotel it was around 9pm. Made it a very long day. Everything was just so rushed. I wouldn’t do it again.

Santorini- Save your money! - The first thing to say is, I wouldn't do this again. Or visit Santorini in high season again. I booked the day trip to Santorini from Rethymno in Crete with visitcrete.com. The first issue was the seating on the ferry. The seats are in two's and you are allocated seat numbers on your tickets. We are a family of four, two adults and two kids, and yet we are seated 1,2,1. The ferry sailing time is approx 2hrs 40 mins. There is a decent cafe on board but I would recommend bringing your own entertainment of some kind. Once at Santorini, you all board coaches, the number of the coach you board, again, pre allocated on your ticket. There were at least 25 coaches waiting. They all set off as they fill up, all heading for the same place, Oia. Once at Oia, they all park up just below the village. Everyone in those 25+ coaches disembarks and follows a pathway up to the village like a trail of ants. The village is packed! Nearly every street is shoulder to shoulder, not helped by the contents of the three cruise ships in the bay. We only had about 1 hour and 30 minutes in Oia and were always aware that we had to be back at the coach for the designated time. We found ourselves trying to find the best places to take photographs amongst everyone else. There was no time to look around the little streets or enjoy the location. We found a place for a quick drink overlooking the caldera. One black coffee, one iced tea, two soft drinks and two ice creams, 50 GBP. Everything seemed to be twice the price of similar items on Crete. Of course, there was one family late back, delaying our departure by 15 mins and hence reducing our time in the next village, Fira. Again, in Fira, the coaches park just outside the village and everyone follows the person in front to the town. This village is a little larger so not quite so crowded. Only 1 hour and 45 minutes here before getting back on the coach for the ride back to the ferry port. The whole visit feels very rushed and not enjoyable. A total of 5 hours 20 mins on the ferry and 3 hours and 15 minutes on Santorini ( not including transfer time and waiting for latecomers to return ), at a cost of over 600GBP for the four of us. OK, so I can say I've been to Santorini, but it wasn't how I imagined it would be. I won't be returning.

Not a good price-performance ratio - Transfer and pick-up of boat tickets was very uncoordinated. Tour guide was not really useful. Very crowded on site and little time to explore the places. Overall not worth the money

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.