Hiking from Fira to Oia

Perhaps one of the best experiences I’ve had on the island. Why? It was so fun, exciting and most important, free! (although also a bit tiring but definitely worth the effort and you’ll see my reasons below).

There are plenty of fun things you can do in Santorini, but to be honest, most of them can be quite pricey. For this experience, you don’t have to pay anything, and if you also like adventures, then this is for you. Although there are so many tourists in Santorini in July, not many were doing this hike at the time we were doing it. So this made it feel even more special because we could enjoy the views for as long as we wanted to, without people queuing behind in order to take photos (like in Oia for example).

I found out that you can do this hike from Fira to Oia while reading other travelers’ advice for the island. You can very easily take the bus for Oia, but then it won’t be as fun. Of course, you can take the bus on the way back from Oia because it can get quite late if you stay there to see the sunset. Then I found this pretty useful guide that explains the whole trail, so looking there from time to time, we made sure we weren’t lost. Although most guides and Google maps say it takes between 2 and 4 hours to do this hike, for us it took 7 hours… maybe I took too many photos or too many breaks along the way, and we also took about 1-hour break at a cafe so considering all these, we doubled the expected time. But it’s not like we were rushing anywhere or something and that yummy frappe from the cafe located in the middle of the distance, was a real energy booster!

We started at 9 am and arrived in Oia around 4 pm. Had lunch and then went to look for a good spot to see the famous sunset. Sadly, by the time we got there, it was already very crowded. The Castle of Oia is the most popular place to watch the sunset, so better arrive there a few hours before the sunset if you want to secure a place. People were having dinner there, drinking champagne, and so on. Of course, there are also many restaurants that offer a “sunset view” but most of them require a reservation in advance.

From my own experience, here are some tips for the hike:

Start early. In summer, it can get pretty hot by 11 am, so maybe 7-8 am would be a good choice.
Don’t forget your sun cream.
Bring water. You will find some shops in the cities along the way but from the middle, there will be no shops anymore. Also, if you start early, most shops might not be open at that hour.
Bring your hat if you have one (or you might get some headaches from the sun).
You can return by bus after seeing the famous sunset in Oia, but it can get very busy, so don’t wait until the last bus if you choose this option because there might be no seats available.

Here are some main spots along the trail:

Fira-Firostefani-Skaros Rock-Imerovigli-Cafe Monopati-Church of San Antonio-Church of Ekklisia Profitis Ilias-Oia

Maybe the photos below will convince you to try this experience when you go to Santorini 🙂

Thanks for reading! Efharisto!