Travel to Santorini


There are 2 ways to Santorini: by ferry or by plane. A standard flight from Athens to Santorini by plane is about 45mins.

The ferry trip from Athens to Santorini takes about 5 hours (fast-Seajet Ferry) to 8 hrs (slow-Blue Star Ferry) depending on which line you choose.

  • A great website for ferry prices and timetables is Let’s Ferry.
  • Athens has 2 ports with ferries to Santorini: Piraeus (PIR) and Rafina (RAF). Piraeus is the largest port with more ferry options but Rafina is closer to the Athens Airport (Venizelos).
  • Between April-October there are more than 7 ferries a day from Athens to Santorini (from Piraeus port) and 2 ferries a day from Athens to Santorini (from Rafina port) ; there are far less ferry options in the winter (November-March) 
  • How much does it cost to take a ferry from Athens to Santorini: the slowest ferry (Blue Star) costs 40 euros and the fast ferry (Seajet Ferries) can cost up to 80 euros.
  • You can book your ferry online but you always have to get the ticket printout from the ferry kiosk in Piraeus port (Athens port) or any other Greek travel agency – AKTINA TRAVEL AGENCY is in Athens Airport
  • Best Way to go from Athens Airport to Athens main port (Piraeus) to take any ferry is by taking the Athens Airport Bus X96 (X96 Bus Route – X96 Bus runs every 20-30 mins) – X96 Bus ticket costs 6 euros (adult) and 3 euros (kids) or buy an ATH.ENA Card.
  • Best Way to go from Athens Airport to Rafina Port is by taking another bus (called KTEL) that runs every 1 hour from the Airport.
  • Direct International Flights from Athens to Santorini: only from major European cities and only between April-October.

Santorini’s Airport Website

  • Athens Airport Code is: ATH (Athens)
  • Santorini’s Airport Code is: JTR (Thira – Santorini’s official name)
  • Every plane that lands on Santorini, takes off after 40 minutes to fly back to Athens.
  • The exact times of the flights change and they are not the same throughout the year, so make sure you get the right times from Expedia as it will give you all the available flights immediately.
  • There are more flights from Athens to Santorini between April – October (high season)
  • If you book your tickets well in advance (6 months) you could probably find some very good deals with return tickets.
  • The cost of the flight from Athens to Santorini may come up to 200 euros during the high season (April-October) 

The airlines that fly from Athens to Santorini in 2021 (April-October) are:

  • Aegean Airlines (the same airline with Olympic Air)
  • Ryanair
  • Sky Express
  • Ellinair
  • Volotea

The airlines that fly directly to Santorini from major European cities in 2021 (April-October) are:

  • Laudamotion , Eurowings, Austrian Airlines (from Vienna)
  • Thomas Cook (from Birmingham, Gatwick, Manchester, Brussels)
  • Thomson (from Birmingham, Gatwick, Manchester, Bristol)
  • Volotea , Blue Panorama, Iberia (from Venice, Bari, Naples, Palermo)
  • Germanwings (from Cologne)
  • Norwegian (from Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm)
  • Transavia (from Paris, Amsterdam)
  • British Airways (from London Heathrow, London City)
  • Condor (from Munich, Hamburg, Stuttgard, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt)
  • Aegean (from Russia, Italy, Cyprus)
  • Easyjet (from Rome, Milan, Geneva, Manchester, Gatwick)
  • Vueling (from Barcelona, Bilbao)
  • Jetairfly (from Brussels)
  • HolidayJet (from Zurich)