Sail between Aegean islands on a 10-day journey through volcanic vineyards, family farms, and artist studios. Discover the flavors and craft traditions of the Cyclades during this private wine tour in the Greek islands.
Greek Islands Volcanic Wine Tour: Santorini, Milos & Sifnos
Tour Highlights
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Carbon-neutral sustainable tour
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Private wine tastings on Santorini & Milos
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Private cooking class on Sifnos
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Private pottery workshop on Sifnos
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Private geology tour on Milos
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Shared Santorini sunset cruise with BBQ dinner and wine
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4-star hotel accommodations on Sifnos, Milos, Santorini
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Fast ferries between islands (tickets included)
Tour Overview
This 10-day discovery of Greek island wines, culinary traditions, and creative culture embarks from Athens, travelling by ferry through the Cyclades from Sifnos to Milos, before ending with Santorini’s famous sunsets. Each of these Aegean islands offers its own ambiance but remains connected by the volcanic geology that has shaped life in the Cyclades for millennia.
The tour includes private transfers between every hotel, ferry port, and airport; inter-island ferry tickets; accommodation in 4-star hotels on all three islands; private wine tastings; geological explorations; a pottery workshop and a cooking class on Sifnos; a sunset catamaran sail in the Santorini caldera; and most meals with local wines.
Our Greek islands wine tour in Santorini, Milos, and Sifnos highlights human creativity in one of Europe’s oldest civilizations, the Cyclades, where people have expressed themselves through stone, soil, and vine for four millennia.
Contact us to discuss your specific preferences and request customizations.
About the Region
Winemaking on Santorini dates back more than 4,000 years. Winemakers on this Greek island in the Cyclades still work in the same challenging conditions as their Bronze Age ancestors — planting vines in volcanic soil, under the strong Aegean sun, with very little rain and without chemical inputs.
Beneath every Assyrtiko vine lies a layer of aspa: volcanic ash, pumice, and solidified lava left by the great Minoan eruption of 1,600 BC. This porous, mineral-rich soil almost completely free of clay explains why the phylloxera louse that devastated European vineyards in the 19th century never found a foothold in the Cyclades. Many of Santorini’s vines still grow on their own original ungrafted rootstock, some more than 200 years old.
The Aegean island of Milos has more limited, but fascinating wine production. Native Cycladic varietals grow in porous pumice soils, then age in a cave winery carved from natural volcanic rock. This sustainable environment keeps temperature and humidity naturally constant year-round.
Sifnos island tells its volcanic story through pottery and food more than wine. Its pottery tradition dates to the Middle Cycladic civilization of 2000 BC and is inseparable from the island’s food culture. Its distinct volcanic clay cooking pottery gives Sifnian cuisine its unique character.
Tour Dates & Pricing
This tour is available May – September. Contact us to request dates and check availability. Pricing is based on your travel dates, group size, and tour customizations. Contact us for a free quotation to get started.
Tour Itinerary
Arrival in Athens & Ferry to Sifnos
What’s Included:
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Ferry to Sifnos
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Private transfers
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Three-course welcome dinner with wine
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4-star hotel accommodation in Sifnos
Your private Greek Islands wine tour begins in Athens, with a private transfer from the airport or your Athens hotel to the port of Piraeus. Board your ferry to Sifnos (tickets included) and watch the mainland dissolve into open Aegean water as the islands emerge on the horizon.
On arrival in Sifnos, meet your driver for private transfer to Hotel Niriedes, a tranquil seaside property styled in traditional Cycladic whitewash. Relax this evening with a three-course welcome dinner combined with island wine. This is your first taste of what Sifnos has been cooking in clay vessels and wood-fired ovens for centuries.
Hotel Niriedes Sifnos
Your home for three nights on Sifnos is the 4-star Hotel Niriedes, a boutique retreat with sweeping Aegean views and easy access to seaside tavernas and cafés. Perched above Platys Gialos, one of the longest beaches in the Cyclades, its suites blend Cycladic architecture with contemporary comforts, spacious layouts, sea‑view balconies, and kitchenettes.
Start your days with a generous homemade breakfast on the terrace overlooking the bay. Hotel amenities include a serene pool with hydromassage and cozy indoor lounges for relaxation.
Sifnos Pottery Workshop
What’s Included:
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Breakfast
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Private transfers
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Private pottery workshop
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4-star hotel accommodation in Sifnos
After breakfast, embrace your creative side with an immersion in one of the Cyclades’ oldest artistic traditions. Sifnos once supplied pottery to the entire Mediterranean. The island’s craftsmen became so synonymous with the trade that a potter anywhere in the Cyclades was simply called a Sifnios, regardless of where he was born.
This morning visit a working studio where the wheel still turns the way it has for centuries. Your private pottery workshop traces every stage of production: the fire-resistant local clay that made Sifnian ceramics uniquely suited to cooking vessels, the techniques for throwing and glazing, the wood-fired kiln.
After this morning’s pottery workshop, the afternoon is free to relax and explore the island at your own pace.
Sifnos Pottery Traditions
For millennia, Sifnos has produced functional pottery like cooking pots, jugs, braziers and the island’s famous mastelo. This ancient craft is still a living tradition, thanks to the island’s unique refractory clay, rich in argil and metals that make pottery from Sifnos extremely fire resistant. The clay’s heat‑resistant quality made Sifnian ceramics prized across the Aegean. Today, more than a dozen active workshops keep the craft alive, blending time‑honored techniques with contemporary design.
Sifnos Farm Visit with Greek Island Cooking Class
What’s Included:
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Breakfast
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Private transfers
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Sifnos farm visit
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Private cooking class with lunch & wine
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4-star hotel accommodation in Sifnos
Start your day by visiting a working family farm, walking the kitchen garden where the herbs and vegetables for your cooking class grow in the rocky soil. Your hosts will demonstrate five traditional recipes, chosen for what each represents in Sifnian food culture.
Depending on the season, recipes might include Revithada, a chickpea dish soaked overnight, then slow-baked in a sealed clay pot for six hours; mastelo, lamb marinated in red wine and dill, rested on a grid of vine twigs inside its clay vessel and slow-roasted for hours; Mizithropita, the island’s honey-sweet cheese pie.
Enjoy a farmhouse lunch to follow, paired with Greek wines.
The remainder of your day is free to relax and explore on your own.
Sifnos Culinary Traditions
Sifnos earned a reputation as the gourmet island of the Cyclades long before the Greek islands became a major tourist destination. Nikolaos Tselementes, the chef and influential cookbook author credited with modernizing Greek cuisine, was born here in 1878. Today, his last name, Tselementes, is synonymous with cookbooks in Greece.
Sifnos’s centuries-old pottery tradition still defines its cuisine today. Heat‑resistant clay pots like the mastelo slow‑cook goat, fish, legumes and vegetables, concentrating flavors and keeping food moist. Families and tavernas still use hand‑made ceramics in wood‑fired ovens and on stovetops.
Ferry to the Island of Milos
What’s Included:
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Breakfast
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Ferry from Sifnos to Milos
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Private transfers
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Dinner
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4-star hotel accommodation in Milos
Enjoy a final breakfast by the sea in Sifnos before your private transfer to the ferry port.
The fast ferry crossing from Sifnos to Milos takes about 45 minutes (tickets included).
Meet your driver on arrival to the port of Adamas in Milos for private transfer to the 4-star Santa Maria Village Resort & Spa.
Relax and enjoy the rest of the day at leisure until your included welcome dinner this evening (wines purchased locally).
Santa Maria Village Resort & Spa
Located on a hillside just above Adamas, the main port of Milos, Santa Maria Village Resort & Spa is within easy walking distance of restaurants, shops and the waterfront. The hotel combines a Cycladic aesthetic with modern 4-star comforts, offering bright rooms and suites with private balconies or terraces. Its large central pool, surrounded by loungers and landscaped paths, creates a relaxed atmosphere without being far from the energy and conveniences in Adamas.
Milos Geology Tour
What’s Included:
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Breakfast
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Private transfers
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Private geology tour
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Light lunch
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4-star hotel accommodation in Milos
Milos is one of five active centers of volcanic activity in Greece. The island emerged from the Aegean floor roughly 3 million years ago as a series of eruptions built it from the seabed up. As a result, Milos is geologically rich in volcanic stone.
Before the invention of bronze, Milos was the main source of obsidian (volcanic glass) that Neolithic traders exported throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. The ancient Miliotes were the first people in the Aegean to mine and trade on a regional scale. Your private Milos geology tour travels deep into the past, tracing the island’s volcanic formations through colorful landscapes and 10,000 years of mining history.
Understanding the island’s volcanic soil will also help inform your appreciation of local viticulture during tomorrow’s Milos wine tasting.
Today’s experience lasts about 5 hours, during which a light lunch is included (wines purchased locally).
The remainder of the afternoon is free to relax at the hotel, go to the beach, and explore independently.
The Volcanic Beauty of Milos
Rising from the sea floor in the South Aegean Volcanic Arc, Milos is a tapestry of lava domes, ash layers, and hydrothermal vents that created its palette of white, red, and sulfur‑stained cliffs. Its geology produced valuable minerals such as bentonite, perlite, and kaolin, which have been mined since antiquity and remain major exports in the modern era.
Today, geology still underpins Milos’s identity, but while mineral extraction continues on a smaller scale, the island’s volcanic beauty calls visitors to discover its otherworldly landscapes. The moonlike coves of Sarakiniko, the steaming coastal vents at Paleochori, and its colorful mineral strata make Milos one of the most visually striking islands in the Cyclades.
Private Tasting at Milos Cave Winery
What’s Included:
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Breakfast
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Private transfers
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Private visit and tasting at a cave winery
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4-star hotel accommodation in Milos
Compared with Santorini, Milos is not a significant wine producing Greek island, but it does have one of the most ingenious wineries in the Cyclades. This small production family winery near Pollonia cultivates indigenous Cycladic grape varietals Assyrtiko, Monemvasia, Malagouzia. Mavrotragano, Aidani, Mandilaria, Savatiano and Roditi in small plots next to a naturally formed volcanic cave. The cave’s constant temperature year round allows for natural thermal regulation during vinification and aging.
Begin your visit with a guided walk through the vineyards, learning the family’s techniques for growing vines in Milos’s arid conditions, then continue to the winery where you’ll discover the family’s process of vinification and aging inside a volcanic cave.
Your private tasting will include eight different wines, a local grappa, local cheeses and other local products.
The rest of your day is free to relax and enjoy the island.
Indigenous Cycladic Varietals
The Cyclades archipelago preserves multiple indigenous grape varieties adapted to dry, windy conditions and volcanic soil. Assyrtiko is the best known. It thrives on pumice and volcanic ash to produce high‑acid, mineral wines with excellent aging potential. Athiri and Aidani are lighter, aromatic whites commonly blended with Assyrtiko to add floral and fruity lift.
Among red grapes, Mandilaria is widespread. It yields deeply colored, tannic wines used for blends and rosés. Mavrotragano, once nearly extinct, produces concentrated, age‑worthy reds with dark fruit and spice. Lesser known varieties like Serifiotiko and Potamisi contribute fresh, saline, and herbaceous profiles that reflect micro‑terroirs.
Fast Ferry from Milos to Santorini
What’s Included:
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Breakfast
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Private Transfers
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Ferry from Milos to Santorini
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4-star hotel accommodation in Santorini
Meet your driver in the hotel lobby this morning for transfer to the ferry in Adamas (fast ferry tickets included).
Relax on board the ferry for the approximately two-hour journey to Santorini. As the island comes into view, the visual contrast between the deep blue Aegean Sea and white-washed houses show why Santorini is one of the most photogenic of all the Greek islands.
What remains of Santorini today is one semi-circular half of an ancient volcano that blew itself apart during a massive eruption in approximately 1,600 BC. Its cone collapsed into an undersea caldera, creating the dramatic westward-facing cliffs that bless Santorini with its famous Aegean sunsets.
On arrival in Santorini, meet your driver for private transfer to the 4-star El Greco Resort & Spa, located within walking distance of Fira and the caldera rim. Settle in and spend the rest of the day at your leisure. Dinner tonight is under your own arrangement. We will be happy to make recommendations and assist you with reservations.
El Greco Resort & Spa
Just south of Fira in a quiet area within walking distance of Santorini’s principal town, the 4-star El Greco Resort & Spa spreads across whitewashed buildings in classic Cycladic style, creating a village‑like layout with terraces, gardens, and relaxing lounge areas.
The hotel’s standout feature is its network of large outdoor pools, smaller semi‑private clusters, and dedicated sun decks giving guests plenty of space to relax, even in peak season. El Greco’s spa adds a wellness focus, offering a full menu of massages, facials, body treatments, and hydrotherapy experiences, along with an indoor pool and sauna.
Two on-site restaurants serve a substantial breakfast and Mediterranean meals, while the poolside bar provides lighter dishes, cocktails, and all‑day refreshments.
Private Santorini Wine Tour
What’s Included:
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Breakfast
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Private transfers
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Private Santorini wine tour & tastings
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Lunch
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4-star hotel accommodation in Santorini
Winemaking on Santorini dates back more than 4,000 years. Key to the success of Santorini vineyards is the kouloura — vines trained into a low, spiral shaped basket close to the ground. The kouloures are a centuries-old solution to the island’s two most relentless forces: the Meltemi winds and the summer sun. The grapes (usually Assyrtiko) grow inside the basket, protected from the wind and sun by the vine’s own canopy. The vine’s roots reach deep through volcanic ash and pumice, sometimes 30 feet down, searching for water.
Your private Santorini wine tour visits two or three distinct wineries selected for their commitment to indigenous varietals, and for how their wines express the island’s unique volcanic terroir. Your private Santorini wine tastings will showcase a selection of styles from across the island, including Santorini’s famous Vinsanto. Local cheese and olive pairings are included, along with lunch at one of the wineries or a local restaurant.
Return to your hotel in the late afternoon and enjoy the rest of the day to relax. We will be happy to suggest restaurants in Fira and assist you with reservations.
Santorini’s Volcanic Terroir
The island’s distinctive volcanic soil, known as aspa, puts Santorini’s grape vines and the wines they produce in rare company in Europe. The soil is so porous and so devoid of clay that the phylloxera louse that devastated Europe’s vineyards in the 19th century never established itself here. Santorini’s Assyrtiko vines grow on their own indigenous, ungrafted rootstock. Some kouloura are estimated to be 200 years old, producing tiny yields of fruit with an intensity of flavor that has no viticultural parallel in the world.
Assyrtiko is Santorini’s most important grape variety, but is vinified in multiple styles. The island’s volcanic soils are perfect for producing fresh, mineral-driven, high-acid white wines with a saline finish. Nykteri is one important expression of Santorini Assyritko, typically harvested and pressed at night to preserve its aromatics, and aged in oak. Vinsanto, the famous dessert wine of Santorini, is another. It’s made from sun-dried Assyrtiko and Aidani grapes, concentrating the island’s volcanic intensity into an amber perfection, then aged for years in barrel before release.
Learn more about Santorini’s unique winemaking at Wines of Greece.
Santorini Sunset Sail
What’s Included:
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Breakfast
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Private transfers
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Catamaran sunset sail
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BBQ dinner with wine
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4-star hotel accommodation in Santorini
Today is yours to explore more of Santorini at your own pace before tonight’s farewell sunset cruise.
Depart on a sailing catamaran in the late afternoon, when the Aegean light turns amber and the caldera walls begin to glow. Sail to the volcanic islet of Nea Kameni, the active center of the caldera, where you’ll be able to swim in the sea and the hot springs.
Enjoy a BBQ dinner on board, served with Santorini wines, as you watch the sun set over the Aegean.
The Nea Kameni Hot Springs
The hot springs at Nea Kameni emerge in a sheltered cove where volcanic minerals tint the earth a rusty orange and raise the seawater temperature just enough to feel soothing after the boat ride. Fed by the island’s active geothermal system, the springs mix warm currents with cooler Aegean water, creating a gentle, swirling heat. Swim from the catamaran into the inlet, and float in the living volcanic waters with the black‑lava slopes of Nea Kameni rising above.
Departure from Santorini
What’s Included:
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Breakfast
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Private departure transfer
Savor a final morning on the island before checkout and private transfer to Santorini airport or ferry port.
If you’re not ready for the adventure to end, ask us about extensions. Nearby options include wine tours on Crete, mainland Greece, Italy, Croatia, and Turkey.
Your Greek Islands Wine Tour in Review
Volcanic islands offer not only unique winemaking environments, but dramatic landscapes and complex geology. They are as noteworthy for their distinct wines as for their otherworldly beauty. Volcanic wines express strong minerality, high acidity, lean fruit, and grippy textures — qualities that make them increasingly popular to the contemporary wine-drinker’s palate. But Santorini’s winemakers are not chasing trends. It’s the rest of the world that is catching on to wines the Greek islands have been producing for millennia.
Your 10-day private tour in the Cyclades to Santorini, Milos, and Sifnos has been a discovery of one of Europe’s oldest cultures. With their sculpture, ceramics, gastronomy, and winemaking, the ancient Cycladic people left a creative legacy that lives on today in one of Europe’s most romantic settings.
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