Santorini Bus Independent transit guide
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Planning guide

Hiking by bus: walk one way, ride back

The best walks on Santorini run along the caldera rim and up the hills behind the beaches, and most of them end at a place with a published KTEL corridor. Walk one way, ride back: the bus turns a there-and-back into a line.

Open the official timetable

The short answer

The rim path from Fira through Firostefani and Imerovigli to Oia is the walk the island is known for; the reviewed destination pages describe it as a paved caldera path from Fira's cathedral through Firostefani towards Imerovigli [Source]. Ride back from Oia (€2.20) or bail out on the Firostefani / Imerovigli corridor; the last bus on each is in the table below [Source, Source]. No walking times are published by any source this site uses, so none are quoted.

First and last published departures — KTEL PDF · Timetable edition
CorridorDirectionFirstLast
Fira ↔ Oia From Fira
Fira ↔ Oia Back to Fira
Fira ↔ Firostefani / Imerovigli From Fira
Fira ↔ Firostefani / Imerovigli Back to Fira

Step by step

Fira to Oia along the rim

Start in Fira, where every corridor begins [Source]. The path passes Firostefani and Imerovigli, which share a corridor back to Fira [Source]. Fira ↔ Oia: Published departures — From Fira: 11; Back to Fira: 11. Timetable edition: 1 November 2026. [Source].

Before you start the rim walk

  • Start early or late. The path runs along the open rim, and the reviewed Imerovigli page asks for real shoes and water in midsummer [Source].
  • Carry water and a hat; buy more in Firostefani or Imerovigli, which are on the way.
  • Plan the exits, not the distance: no source this site uses publishes a walking time. KTEL prints one return column for the Firostefani / Imerovigli corridor, headed "FROM FIROSTEFANI – IMEROVIGLI": one list of departures for the pair, with no separate time for either village and no stop order [Source]. Its last departure, in the table above, is earlier than Oia's.
  • Walk towards Oia and ride back, so the last bus is a known time rather than a guess at your pace.
  • Skaros Rock is an out-and-back from Imerovigli; skip it in the midday heat.

Kamari and Ancient Thera

Ancient Thera sits on the limestone hill of Mesa Vouno above Kamari [Source]. Fira ↔ Kamari: Published departures — From Fira: 10; Back to Fira: 10. Timetable edition: 1 November 2026. [Source]. Perissa lies on the other side of the same hill and has its own corridor back to Fira [Source].

Fira ↔ Kamari From Fira 07:15–19:00 · Back to Fira 07:30–19:15 · €2.20 Fira ↔ Perissa From Fira 07:00–19:00 · Back to Fira 06:30–19:30 · €2.70

Pyrgos and the wine villages

Pyrgos is built amphitheatrically on a hill about 7 km from Fira [Source]. KTEL publishes a €2.20 fare to Pyrgos from Fira and from Athinios port but no departure column [Source, Source], so plan Pyrgos as the walking end of a day and ask at the Fira station which departure serves it. Megalochori, with a €2.20 fare over 10.7 km, has no departure column either, so ask the same question there [Source, Source].

Reading the timetable as a walker

KTEL prints a single column per direction with no weekday or Sunday variants and states no frequency [Source]. The last departure is the only number that matters when you are on foot; carry it, and carry the one before it.

What goes wrong

Walkers arrive at Oia after the sunset crowd has already formed the queue for the bus [Source]. If you finish the rim path in the evening, either eat in Oia and take one of the last departures in the Oia column [Source], or turn around on the Firostefani / Imerovigli stretch, where the queue is shorter but the corridor's last bus leaves earlier [Source].

Not reachable by bus

  • Profitis Ilias summit above Pyrgos: no fare stage; nearest stage Pyrgos [Source].
  • Ancient Thera: no fare stage; nearest stages Kamari and Perissa [Source, Source].
  • Skaros Rock at Imerovigli: on foot from the Imerovigli stage; no separate stage [Source].

Routes in this guide

Places: Oia · Imerovigli · Firostefani · Pyrgos · Kamari · Perissa · Megalochori

Quick answers

Can I walk from Fira to Oia and take the bus back?

Fira ↔ Oia: Published departures — From Fira: 11; Back to Fira: 11. Timetable edition: 1 November 2026. [Source, Source].

Is there a bus to Ancient Thera?

No published fare stage exists for it; Kamari and Perissa are the nearest served places [Source].

Is there a bus to Pyrgos?

A €2.20 fare is published from Fira and from Athinios, but no departure column names Pyrgos [Source, Source].

Carry the timetable

Every corridor offline in the Santorini Bus app

The published KTEL corridors and fares, stored on your phone for the moment the last bus matters and the signal does not.

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Sources