Santorini

That is not a typo. Santorini licenses roughly thirty taxis (published counts range from 25 to 40) in total, for an island receiving several ferries and a cruise ship on the same summer morning. When two boats dock within the hour, the rank at Athinios can take 30 to 60 minutes in July and August.

If you land late, or with luggage, or on a schedule, arrange transport before you sail. This is the detail that turns a smooth arrival into a two-hour one.

• Public bus to Fira — about 25 minutes, under €3. Buses meet the ferries, but they fill in the order people reach them, and a delayed late arrival means one bus for several hundred passengers.
• Bus to Oia — there is no direct service from the port. You take the bus to Fira, then a second bus onward. The Fira–Oia route is among the busiest on the island and boarding it with suitcases is genuinely difficult.
• Pre-booked transfer — from roughly €37 for a car up to four, €49 for a minivan, €65 for a minibus of twelve.

For Oia specifically, a transfer or hire car is the realistic option rather than the luxurious one.

Departures here change at short notice and are weather-sensitive in a way the airport is not. The caldera funnels wind, and the port sits exposed on the southwest shore.

Two habits follow. Never plan a tight connection off an Athinios departure — not a flight, not a booked tour. And check the sailing the evening before rather than trusting a ticket bought weeks earlier: the time may have moved.

Below Fira sits the old port at Skala, reached by cable car, on foot down 588 steps, or by donkey. It handles cruise tenders and small excursion boats to the volcano and Thirassia — no scheduled ferries dock there.

If a booking says "Santorini port" without naming Athinios, confirm which one is meant before planning the transfer.

Santorini is a hub in its own right, though the frequencies vary widely. From our timetable:

• Syros — 5 sailings, about 3 hours, Blue Star and SeaJets.
• Milos — 2 sailings, roughly 2 hours, Fast Ferries and SeaJets.
• Rhodes — a single long crossing of over 15 hours with Blue Star, the link between the Cyclades and the Dodecanese.

Naxos is a little over an hour away and Mykonos not much more, which is why some travellers base themselves further north and visit Santorini rather than the other way round.

The same Piraeus routes run in both forms: high-speed catamarans at roughly half the journey time, and conventional Blue Star ships that are slower, cheaper and considerably steadier.

On this island the choice carries extra weight because the arrival is already complicated. A cancelled fast boat does not just cost you the crossing — it costs the transfer you booked, the check-in you timed, and possibly the night. In the meltemi season of July and August, the conventional ferry is the ticket that behaves.

The full timetable belongs to June through September, when the fast craft add several daily options on the main routes. Outside that the network thins to the year-round Blue Star sailings.

May and late September give the same connections with materially less pressure at Athinios — fewer simultaneous arrivals, a taxi rank that moves, and buses you can actually board with a suitcase.