SANTORINI OFF THE BEATEN PATH PRIVATE TOUR
Santorini
All year round
220
5 Hours
Culture Tour
Private Tour
Highlights
- Experience off the beaten path Santorini by exploring amazing fortified medieval villages and unspoiled beaches with lunar beauty
- Sip coffee with a spoon sweet in a cute traditional kafenion and get a glimpse of locals’ everyday life at a fortified citadel.
- Reveal your Lara Croft & Indiana Jones instincts while discovering hiding tunnels from pirates.
- Taste authentic Santorini through a private 4 glasses wine tasting session in an old school winery
- Explore the magnificent black beach
- Walk through one of the most traditional villages in Santorini Emporio
- Visit Fira, Oia, Emboreio, Vlyhada, Megalohori
Tour snapshot
Santorini may have phantasmagoric, worldwide known spots, however, many gems are best-kept secrets for those who really want to uncover and experience authentic Santorini. Hit the road together with us and discover the purest side and finest beauty of Santorini away from tourist hordes. Explore off-the-beaten-track villages with postcard-pretty whitewashed back alleys, discover the lunar-like landscape of a unique beach, and taste mouth-watering seasonal tapas and local wines. Here is the uncovered side of Santorini, enjoy it!
Local impact — How you help the local community by joining this tour:
- By visiting off-the-beaten-path places, you are helping over-tourism get reduced, especially in Santorini’s main towns. Instead, during this tour, collaboration with smaller local communities that follow a more traditional way of life is supported.
- This tour encourages conservation around cultural heritage as you visit an unknown underground church of great cultural importance in a tiny village, as well, the elderly keyholder who preserves the church is supported.
- Young artists and local shop owners are promoted, helping them to preserve local art, increase their income during Greece’s economic problems, and promote the creativity of new generations.
- During your visit to a historic factory turned into a museum, you support a local foundation responsible for preserving Santorini’s unique culture.
Full Itinerary
You’ll start our Santorini Uncovered tour from Fira, the capital and bustling center of the island. Bypassing the tourist traps, you’ll discover Fira’s artistic hinterland. Walk through the town’s whitewashed back streets and meet local artists such as painters, sculptures, and artisans in their workplaces and showrooms.
Next, you’ll visit the mesmerizing village of Oia, Santorini’s highlight where you’ll explore the cliffside laneways as well, the back alleys of a pastel-colored old neighborhood with its captains-ship owners’ and merchants’ houses, a neighborhood that you might never find without a local by your side!.
Before leaving Oia, we’ll discover the smallest bookstore in the world. Housed in a stunning whitish traditional building, it’s easy to fall in love with this place even if you aren’t the biggest book lover in the world. In any case, it’s not a coincidence that The New York Times, The Guardian, just to name a few, have given the bookstore the best write-ups while National Geographic has mentioned it as the best bookstore worldwide.
Afterwards, you’ll uncover the best-preserved castle-village of Emporio, one of the island’s least visited places, where the buildings are still inhabited. Explore this away-from-crowds settlement, by winding your way through its narrow pathways with medieval charm. Before leaving the village, you’ll stop for a coffee and a traditional “spoon” sweet in one of Santorini’s most traditional corners.
Continuing your tour, it’s time to reveal your adventurer instincts. Lara Croft by Angelina Jolie may have discovered the lost treasure of Alexander the Great in Santorini, but it’s now your turn to discover the hiding grounds of the locals during the pirate raids. Pass through nature pathways with your local guide by your side, and explore a local rock-carved church hidden from plain view, which will surprise you.
Then, you’ll head to the secluded White beach where you’ll admire its lunar-like yellow landscape. A true spectacular gem of the island!
In our next stop, you’ll get your feet wet at the Black beach! On your way discover Archaic tombs cut in the mountain whose rich finds—statuary, votive gifts, and funerary urns—are on display in the Archaeological Museum in Fira.
Before the tour is completed, you’ll experience authentic Santorini through its wines and tastes! In an old-school traditional winery, you’ll participate in a four-glass wine tasting, including the famous, locally-originated Vinsanto as well as, other local wines made the traditional way, and pair them with delicious seasonal local mezedes (local tapas).
With so many suggestions and tips from your local guide, you’ll likely have a myriad of things you’ll want to do next!
Language: English
Inclusions: Local English-speaking guide, transportation, one coffee, one local sweet, four glasses of wine (wine tasting), local seasonal tapas
Exclusions: Additional food and drink, souvenirs and items of a personal nature, tips and gratuities for your guide