For a few decades now (since 1979) there has been a cable car (aerial tram) connecting the port of Skala to Thira high on the cliffs above.

The alternative to using the tram (€7.00 each way) is to either walk up the steep and endless steps to the town above or hire a ride on a donkey - which for us is out of the question.

The tram offers spectacular views of the island and the lagoon below and takes 3 minutes to reach the top.



Six pods with a capacity of 4 people run almost continuously and transport 600 people per hour in each direction. You don't have to be a genius at maths to work out that, inevitably, there can be quite a bit of waiting tims when there are more than a couple of cruise ships in port unloading hundreds of cruise ship passengers for their daytrip to Santorini.

It may be better to take a TUI excursion to jump the queues and also be taken to Oia and Thira as a package trip stopping for lunch along the way.

At the time of writing there are no excursions on offer for our cruise until next year

Also Oia is the place to view the blue domed churches of Santorini