Most comfortable ride: April, May & October
Warmest sea: August
The main guided ATV season runs from spring through autumn, with far fewer scheduled tours in winter. Most rides last three to four hours on open quads, so temperature and wind make a real difference. In busier months, expect more traffic on the roads and fuller viewpoints.
April, May and October offer some of the most comfortable riding weather, with much milder temperatures than July and August and fewer visitors to the island. April is the start of the guided season, so check that tours are running.
If the ATV tour is part of a wider beach holiday, September is particularly strong. The sea is still warm and days are cooler than in midsummer, though the island stays busy. Plan beach time separately, as most guided ATV tours don't include a swim stop. August has the warmest sea, but July and August are also the hottest months, with peak visitor numbers and the steady summer Meltemi wind.
If your dates fall in summer and your tour has both a morning and a late-afternoon departure, choose between them on heat. A morning tour starts cooler but can finish around the hottest part of the day; a late-afternoon tour starts warmer and becomes more comfortable as the sun gets lower.
Use the date checker below to see the expected temperature, wind and sunset time for your date before you book.
What you want → when to go
The ATV-Quad Experience Tour runs both a morning and a late-afternoon departure, so the timing advice below is something you can book.
Pick a date and this reads the forecast where one exists, and eleven years of airport readings where it does not.
Showing the typical conditions for mid-July, measured at Santorini airport between 2015 and 2025.
Mid-July rides hot. Both departures sit near 28.6°C, so choose on direction: the late-afternoon ride finishes as the heat eases, while the morning ride starts cooler and ends in the early-afternoon heat. Check the wind forecast for your departure.
Check both departures for your date
ride night allWhatever the season, popular additions to an ATV riding day include a catamaran sunset cruise from Ammoudi Bay or the Old Port below Fira, a guided wine tour through the Megalochori estates and Santo Wines clifftop winery, and a morning boat trip to the Nea Kameni volcano.
Temperature, rain and wind measured at Santorini airport, 2015 to 2025. Passenger counts are the airport's own, for 2024.
| Month | Daily high | Sea | Rain days | Daylight | Airport passengers | Riding verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 15.0°C | 17.9°C | 13.0 | 9h 56m | 27,965 | No guided program published |
| February | 15.3°C | 17.0°C | 9.7 | 10h 52m | 31,558 | The windiest month of the year |
| March | 16.6°C | 16.9°C | 9.8 | 11h 55m | 56,185 | Cool and wet for an open quad |
| April | 19.5°C | 17.4°C | 3.3 | 13h 06m | 178,946 | Season opens; fresh but rideable |
| May | 23.5°C | 19.2°C | 3.5 | 14h 05m | 318,035 | Among the best for the ride; cool sea |
| June | 28.2°C | 22.2°C | 0.9 | 14h 38m | 418,862 | Warm and dry, longest evenings |
| July | 30.4°C | 24.1°C | 0.4 | 14h 25m | 509,677 | Hottest; the north wind at its most persistent |
| August | 30.1°C | 25.3°C | 0.3 | 13h 34m | 514,055 | Busiest, and the warmest sea of the year |
| September | 27.7°C | 24.7°C | 1.4 | 12h 27m | 425,342 | Rides well, but busier than June |
| October | 23.5°C | 22.4°C | 3.9 | 11h 18m | 293,622 | Among the best for the ride, and the quietest of the season |
| November | 20.1°C | 20.5°C | 9.0 | 10h 15m | 65,533 | Season winding down; rain returns |
| December | 16.4°C | 18.6°C | 11.8 | 9h 42m | 37,342 | No guided program published |
Most travelers choose their Santorini dates for the island as a whole, not for the ATV tour alone. May, June, September and October are all strong months for sightseeing, with less extreme heat than July and August. Once your dates are fixed, the main ATV decision is whether the morning or the late-afternoon departure suits the weather and the rest of your day better.
Reading the passenger column: it counts everyone flying in and out of the island, which is an indicator of how busy Santorini is, not a headcount on the south-island roads the tour rides. It leaves out cruise passengers entirely, and those concentrate on Fira and Oia in the north.
Two things in that table tend to surprise people. September is often sold as the quiet month, and it is not: at about 425,000 passengers it came third in the year, ahead of June, and the same order held in 2025. And May and October land on the same daily high of 23.5°C, which makes them close substitutes for the ride itself. The tie-breaker is what you want beside it. May has nearly three hours more daylight and a cool sea at 19.2°C. October has a sea still at 22.4°C and far fewer visitors to the island than summer, but less daylight. The sea also lags the air by about two months: June is 4.7°C hotter than October to ride in, for a sea that is no warmer. If the ride is part of a wider beach holiday, September gives you the warmer sea without July's heat.
Many tours offer both. Averaged over the hours each one rides, they are closer than they look.
Your travel month sets the temperature and how busy the island is. Within it, you still choose which part of the day to ride, morning or late afternoon, and you can make that choice after your flights are booked.
In summer, the morning departure starts in cooler conditions but can finish around the hottest part of the day: across a July ride the airport temperature rises from about 27.9°C to 29.2°C. The late-afternoon tour starts warmer and becomes more comfortable as the sun gets lower, falling from about 29.4°C to 27.7°C. Choose the later tour if evening light is part of the appeal, and the morning if you would rather start before the day's strongest heat.
A cooler, calmer start, at the cost of finishing nearer the hottest part of the day. It also leaves your afternoon and evening free for other plans.
You start in the warmth of the afternoon and finish as the sun gets lower and the temperature drops. In spring and autumn this departure moves earlier as sunset advances.
The late-afternoon ride can catch low sun on the south-island viewpoints. It depends on the cloud on the day, so treat it as a bonus, not a reason to choose the slot.
Greece moves off summer time on the last Sunday in October, October 25 in 2026. The late-afternoon departure shifts an hour earlier overnight, so check the start time on your booking.
Persistent is not the same as strong, and the windiest months are not the ones you would guess.
The Meltemi is the dry northerly that blows across the Aegean through the summer, and on Santorini it is the thing people worry about when they book an open vehicle. The airport's own readings put it in proportion.
It is genuinely persistent in high summer: 82% of July readings blow from the northern sector, and 76% in August. But persistence is not strength. Mean wind speed at the airport peaks in February at 23.0 km/h, ahead of July's 21.4 km/h, and readings of 41 km/h or more, the sort that make an open ride unpleasant, turn up in 1.3% to 3.5% of readings between May and October, against 8.0% to 11.3% from January to March. In other words the summer wind is a steady breeze you will feel on your arms and hear in your helmet, and rarely the reason a tour moves.
Cancellations do happen, and operators make that call on the morning. Depending on the weather and the sea, a departure may be moved to the other slot or to another day, so it is worth booking the ride for the first or second day of your trip rather than the last. That way a weather call costs you a rescheduled morning and not the experience.
Morning and late-afternoon departures, so you can ride the window that suits your date.
Why we recommend it: the highest-rated ATV tour on the island runs both departures, so the timing advice on this page is something you can act on, with training, a guide, fuel, helmet, hotel pickup and a wine stop included.
The south-island loop runs from Perissa to Emporio's Venetian kastelli, the windmills and vineyards of Megalochori with a wine-cellar tasting, a caldera viewpoint, a cave chapel and an off-road descent to Vlychada. In spring and autumn the late-afternoon departure starts earlier as the light goes sooner.
Weather-dependent: a departure can be moved for wind or rain. Check live dates and book on the right.
Recent verified reviews from travelers who booked the featured tour.
"One of my favorite experiences in Santorini! Hotel pickup, ATV training, and an incredible route through beaches, villages, vineyards and scenic dirt roads. Our guides, Alex and Pablo, were knowledgeable and patient."Jacqueline · United States · June 2026
"I loved the scenery, and how patient and helpful the guides are. This tour is a fantastic way to see the island before exploring on your own. 10/10 recommend!"Latrina · United States · June 2026
"What an amazing tour with wonderful hosts. One of the main guides, Alex, went above and beyond when we got into a traffic concern. The whole tour was perfectly orchestrated as they worked as a team."Gary W · United States · June 2026
"Had a great day, would definitely recommend. The guys were fun and professional, with safety at the forefront throughout. A nice little stop off for snacks and a drink at a local cafe."Jacqueline · United Kingdom · June 2026
Rating reflects 300 verified GetYourGuide reviews of the featured ATV-Quad Experience Tour, checked on September 13, 2026.
Months, departures, summer heat, the Meltemi, the sea and winter.
April, May and October offer some of the most comfortable riding weather: Santorini's airport averages a 19.5°C daily high in April and 23.5°C in May and October, against 30.4°C in July. In April, check that tours have started on your dates. If the ATV tour is part of a wider beach holiday, September is particularly strong: the sea averages 24.7°C and daily highs are nearly 3°C lower than in July. August has the warmest sea at 25.3°C, but also peak summer heat and peak visitor numbers.
It rides well at 27.7°C, but it is not the quiet month it is often described as. September was the third-busiest month of the year at Santorini's airport in both 2024 and 2025, busier than June. If you want fewer visitors to the island, October is the quieter choice, and the sea is only about 2°C cooler.
In summer, a morning tour starts in cooler conditions but can finish around the hottest part of the day: across a July ride the temperature rises from about 27.9°C to 29.2°C. A late-afternoon departure starts warmer and becomes more comfortable as the sun gets lower, falling from about 29.4°C to 27.7°C. Choose the later tour if evening light is part of the appeal, the morning if you would rather start before the day's strongest heat.
Yes. They are the hottest and busiest months, with daily highs of 30.4°C and 30.1°C at the airport and peak visitor numbers, but rain is almost unknown and strong winds are uncommon. Book one to two weeks ahead, because quads and popular departures sell out.
Santorini is breezy all year, and the windiest months are actually in winter. The Meltemi, the dry northerly of high summer, is more persistent than it is strong: 82% of July observations at the airport blow from the north, but winds of 41 km/h or more are recorded in only 1.3% to 3.5% of observations between May and October, against 8% to 11% from January to March.
August, at about 25.3°C off Santorini, with September close behind at 24.7°C. The sea lags the air by roughly two months, which is why June at 22.2°C is no warmer than October at 22.4°C, and May is the cool one at 19.2°C.
Far fewer guided tours are scheduled. None of the operators we checked publishes a winter program, and one steers winter date searches towards the summer, so treat winter as possible but not dependable. Self-drive quad rental is a different product and may remain available year-round, though November to March brings 9 to 13 days of rain a month and the airport's windiest weather.
Weather and wind. Temperature, wind speed, gusts and present weather come from the surface observations recorded at Santorini (Thira) national airport, ICAO LGSR, WMO station 16744, at Monolithos on the island's south-east coast. We used 156,484 observations covering the eleven complete years from 2015 to 2025, archived by the Iowa Environmental Mesonet. The Hellenic National Meteorological Service does not publish a downloadable monthly normal for a Santorini station, and Santorini is not among the Greek stations carried by the WMO's World Weather Information Service, so these are computed from the station's own readings rather than quoted from a published normal. They are station observations, not a model grid.
The hours we averaged. The morning and late-afternoon figures cover 09:30 to 13:00 and 17:00 to 20:30 local time, which is when the tour is actually out. A daily average would have folded in the night and flattened the difference that matters.
How busy the island is. Monthly passenger counts are published by Fraport Greece, which operates Santorini airport. We used 2024 and 2025, and the ranking of the six main-season months is the same in both.
Sea and daylight. Sea temperatures are NOAA's Optimum Interpolation Sea Surface Temperature for the grid cell off Santorini, averaged over 2021 to 2025. Daylight is computed for 36.4°N.
Where the numbers stop. The passenger series is a proxy for how busy the island feels: it does not count cruise passengers, who arrive by ship and concentrate on Fira and Oia in the north, and it cannot tell you how many quads will be at a viewpoint in the south on your particular morning. The airport is a deliberately exposed site, so its wind readings run a little above a sheltered inland lane and a little below the caldera rim. An average daily high does not prevent a hot day, and eleven years of readings are not a forecast: for your own date, use the planner above. Sea temperature is an open-water average and does not measure a shallow black-sand bay, which warms faster on a calm afternoon. Prices and departure times change; we checked the featured tour on September 13, 2026 and link to live availability rather than repeating a price that will drift.
Settle the other questions, or browse well-rated ATV options.
Read next
Our verdict on whether a Santorini ATV tour is worth the money — who it suits and who should skip it.
Our worth-it guide Read the verdict
Read next
On a port day? Our one-day plan times the tour around the tender and the Fira cable car.
Our cruise-day plan Read the plan
Read next
A full review of the ATV-Quad Experience Tour — the route, what's included, the price and the downsides.
Our top-tour review Read the review
For the late slot
How the late-afternoon and after-dark rides compare, and when in the season each one works best.
Our evening-ride guide Read the guide