Santorini, Milos and Kimolos 2024: Trip Planning Update

Introduction

It’s less than 24 hours before departure on my upcoming trip to Santorini, Milos, and Kimolos. Following up on my previous trip planning post, I’ve refined my itinerary a bit, so I thought it was worth updating.

Santorini Arrival and Hike to Oia

My flight will land in Santorini at 13:50. According to the bus timetable, buses from the airport to Fira depart at ten past the hour. Since I’m unlikely to be out of the airport in time to catch the 14:10, I’m planning on walking to my hotel instead of waiting for the 15:10 bus. This depends on how on-time my flight is, of course, but the walk to the hotel (Hotel Lodos in Karterádos) is only 4 kilometres and should take less than an hour. Assuming that I only just miss the earlier bus, walking will get me to my hotel ahead of the next bus and save a couple of Euros, too.

My original plan after arriving at the hotel was to take a bus to one of the western beaches (Kamari or Perissa) and then a bus to Oia to see the sunset. However, I’ve decided to attempt the hike from Fira to Oia instead. It’s about 11 kilometres from my hotel and should take between 2.5 and 3 hours.

There’s an excellent video on the hike that goes into great detail about where it starts and how to avoid getting lost. This might be ambitious, given that I’ll have been awake since 3am, but the weather is still pretty mild in Santorini (about 20 degrees), and I’m quite athletic, so I don’t expect it to be too challenging. I’m hoping to set off by 4pm once I’ve dropped my stuff off at the hotel and changed out of my travel gear, so with some luck, I’ll be in Oia by 7pm.

I don’t actually plan to hang around for the sunset, knowing it will be extremely busy (I saw it on my first visit back in 2017), but I want to get some videos and photos of the village. Depending on how hungry I am, I’ll grab some food and then take the next available bus back to Fira and return to my hotel for an early-ish night.

Santorini Day 2 – Argyros Winery Tour, Kamari and Akrotiri

I’ve pre-booked a wine tour with Estate Argyros for 11am to coincide with the 10:45 bus from Fira to Kamari. This stops at the winery on the way and should get me there just in time. I won’t have time to visit Akrotiri beforehand, as I’d originally planned, so instead, I will get up early, have breakfast and explore Fira before the bus leaves.

The tour should take about 45 minutes, so I’m planning to take the midday or 12:30 bus to Kamari for lunch and to get some content from the resort. Ideally, I’ll walk up and visit Ancient Thera, but it may depend on how much time I’ve got and whether to prioritise getting back to Fira to see Akrotiri. I’d like to make the 16:00 bus, but that entails catching the 15:15 or 15:45 bus back to Fira, which would only leave me with a couple of hours in Kamari. Alternatively, I could take the 16:20 or 16:45 bus to Fira and the 17:30 bus to Akrotiri. The last bus back from Akrotiri is at 20:20, so I wouldn’t have to rush around.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I’ve seen Akrotiri before and wasn’t overly impressed (it being completely indoors ruins the atmosphere for me), so I’m just going to film the exterior and then walk down to Red Beach. I’ll then take the bus back to Fira for dinner and some sunset photos/videos from the capital.

Milos as Planned

My plans for Milos haven’t changed much, although I still need to plan to visit some more sights like the Catacombs and Klima. I might try to hire an e-bike for both full days (Saturday and Sunday) and use it to explore Milos and Kimolos as an alternative to a moped or quad bike. I’ll still use the e-bike for Kimolos either way.

Summary

I can’t wait to set foot on Greek soil once again–the Mythos Beer and Greek Salad is calling! Watch this space for trip updates.

Yammas!