As natural-born islanders, we think we know all about ferries. But once beyond
the Channel ports, we are much less sure of our sea legs: our holidays in
the Mediterranean are largely chosen according to where we can get to by
air, rather than where we can go by water.
Yet ferries offer so much potential. They are the jugulars of the Med, plying
between the big ports but also linking the tiniest islands — places where
their arrival is the social and commercial highlight of the day. For nervous
flyers, they offer an alternative approach to the best of the region. For
everyone, they are a boon for touring — allowing you to explore Sicily or
mainland Greece in your own car, for example, without having to drive all
the way through Italy or Serbia.
By ferry, you can scoop up a constellation of islands on a single trip. You
can create an all-new, innovative European Grand Tour. And, moving around at
a more relaxed pace, you can put that endangered commodity called “travel”
back into the holiday experience.
First, though, set your mind at rest. Of course there are still a few
rust-tubs out there, battling against the stomach- churning meltemi chop and
heaving to the lively swells of the Adriatic. But the newest ferries in the
Med — operated by companies such as Minoan and Superfast — now stand gunwale
to gunwale beside the best of those in the Channel in terms of speed,
facilities, onboard service and safety. They mean you can now hop around the
Med with all the comforts of cruising, but at ferry prices. Here is a
selection of the holiday options that open up when you make ferries part of
your plans. All prices are based on July sailings.
1: FERRY-DRIVE TO GREECE
The route: Ancona to Igoumenitsa and Patras.
The reason: by far the biggest network of international ferry
connections in the Med operates between Italy and Greece. Anyone who has
spent a holiday in the northeastern corner of Corfu, where the straits
between Greece and Albania are no more than a mile wide, will have gazed in
disbelief at the number of passing ferries, some as big as cruise ships,
heading down the Adriatic from Venice, Ancona, Bari and Brindisi to the
Greek mainland ports of Igoumenitsa and Patras.
For British motorists who want to tour Greece, they are the only practical
approach, avoiding the still dubious route via the former Yugoslavia or the
enormous distance involved in driving through Bulgaria. Several companies
ply the Adriatic, which means competitive fares. But which one is best? On
balance, taking into account ease of travel, fares, on-board comfort and
capacity on the route, we’d pick Superfast Ferries, the youngest and fastest
fleet in Europe. It’s the same company that operates ferries between Rosyth
and Zeebrugge, and also runs services out of Ancona.
The journey: twice daily; 15 hours to Igoumenitsa, 19 hours to Patras.
The cost: about £155pp to Patras, plus £71 for the car, return (booked
45 days in advance).
The company: Superfast Ferries (0870 234 2211, www.superfast.com); book
direct or through Viamare Travel (0870 410 6040; www.viamare.com).
The alternatives: Anek Lines, Minoan Lines and Blue Star
Ferries all sail from Ancona (Anek ships also stop in Corfu). In addition,
you can sail to Greece from Brindisi, with Agoudimos Lines, Blue Star
Ferries, Medlink, Fragline and MyWay (which also calls at Cephalonia);
Trieste, with Anek Lines; and Venice, with Blue Star Ferries and Minoan
Lines). The shortcoming of sailing from Venice or Trieste is that the ships
tend to be crowded — they’re heavily booked by Germans and eastern Europeans
— while Brindisi entails a long, long drive down the leg of Italy. All these
routes can be booked through Viamare (see above).
2: MAJORCA BY WATER
The route: Sète to Palma.
The reason: last month, Medmar launched a brand-new service from
southern France to the Balearics, sailing from the port of Sète to Palma.
For British travellers, it makes better sense than sailing from Barcelona,
which is 200 miles further south.
Motorists can scurry all the way from Calais by autoroute, but it is also an
easy journey from the UK by train. From Waterloo (or Ashford) you travel by
Eurostar to Lille, then take a TGV to Montpellier, followed by a local train
to Sète. It sounds like a schlep, but for train-lovers, nervous flyers and
those who’d sooner just take their travelling time, it’s a great option — a
journey of about eight hours, costing about £115 return. The trip can be
booked through Rail Europe (0870 584 8848, www.raileurope.co.uk).
The journey: the ferry runs three days a week and takes 15 hours
(overnight).
The cost: £128pp return, based on two sharing a two-berth cabin, plus
£155 for a car.
The company: Medmar (00 33 4 67 65 95 13, www.euromer.net). Book direct
or through Viamare (see above).
The alternatives: for the first time, a fast ferry (4&189;
hours) now runs from Barcelona to Alcudia. This may interest people staying
in the north of the island — and, as Alcudia is the port of departure for
ferries to Minorca (Ciudadela), it also makes twin-island touring an easy
option. Book through Viamare.
3: A GRAND TOUR
The route: Barcelona to Genoa.
The reason: if you’re keen to divide your time between Italy and Spain,
this voyage bypasses the crowds that often clog the arteries along the
French Riviera — and also enjoys some of the Mediterranean’s largest, most
up-to-date and most luxurious cruise ferries, operated by Grandi Navi Veloci
(GNV).
Who will benefit most? Motorists who want an interesting grand tour, down
through France, across the Pyrenees and into Catalonia, then back through
the French, Swiss or Austrian Alps. Or those who crave a simple tale of two
cities, flying out to Barcelona with EasyJet (0870 600 000,
www.easyjet.com), then home from Genoa with Ryanair (0871 246 0000,
www.ryanair.com), with a relaxing cruise in between.
This ferry is also proving popular this year with touring Americans, by the
way, as they can fly into Spain and home from Italy without having to set
foot on French soil.
The journey: ferries run every other day and take 18 hours.
The cost: £146pp return, based on two sharing a two-berth cabin, plus
£134 for a car.
The company: GNV (00 39 010 209 4591, www.gnv.it), a division of
Grimaldi (part of the Monaco dynasty). Book direct or through Viamare (see,
The best of the rest, below).
4: ISLAND DOUBLE
The route: from Genoa to Bastia, Bonifacio to Santa Teresa di
Gallura, then Cagliari to Civitavecchia.
The reason: Corsica and Sardinia, two of the biggest islands in the
Med, are not only linked by ferry — between Bonifacio and Santa Teresa di
Gallura (with Moby Lines) — but are each served by scores of ships from the
French and Italian mainlands.
The best approach is to take a ferry from Genoa — or the nearby port of Savona
— which can be reached by motorway more or less all the way from Calais.
Alternatively, you could sail from Toulon or Nice, but it’s a longer drive
and the French autoroutes will cost you nearly twice as much.
From the northern town of Bastia, the most scenic drive through Corsica is not
along the east coast, despite appearances on the map, but right through the
mountainous heart of the island to Ajaccio, then south, via the beaches of
Propriano, to Bonifacio.
Cross the straits to Santa Teresa di Gallura and you can drive along the
glitzy Costa Smeralda and through the mountains to Cagliari, from where
ferries leave for Naples, Civitavecchia (for Rome) or all the way back to
Genoa.
The journey: at least once a day; total sea time for all three ferries
is about 20 hours.
The cost: roughly £70pp, plus £80 for a car, for each of the Genoa to
Bastia and Cagliari to Civitavecchia legs of the trip; the hop from
Bonifacio to Santa Teresa di Gallura costs about £5pp, plus £15 for a car.
The companies: Moby Line, Corsica/Sardinia Ferries and
Tirrenia. Book through SMS Travel (020 7244 8422, www.sms.com.mt).
The alternative: from Sardinia, you could sail to Palermo, in
Sicily, and complete an island trilogy.
THE SICILIAN CONNECTION
The route: from Genoa to Palermo.
The reason: Sicily is an island to tour. All its great treasures — the
Greek ruins at Selinunte, the temples at Agrigento, the baroque splendours
of Noto and the fireworks of Etna — are well spaced out and take an age to
tour by public transport. The obvious way to do it in your own car is to
drive all the way down to the toe of Italy for the mini crossing from
Calabria. Don’t. It’s one hell of a trek, and will leave you with little
energy or appetite for the treats to come. Instead, take a break from the
wheel and some refreshing breezes by catching a ferry to Palermo from
further up the coast — Genoa or Livorno (both with GNV), or Naples (with
SNAV Ferries).
The journey: Genoa is our favoured option — it saves the most driving.
The ferry sails daily and takes 18 hours.
The cost: £87pp, plus £80 for a car, one-way.
The company: GNV (00 39 010 209 4591, www.gnv.it). Book direct or
through Viamare (see, The best of the rest, below).
The alternatives: to ring the changes on the return journey,
pop across to Malta, by sailing from Pozzallo or Catania to Valletta (Virtu
Ferries: 00 356 318854), then back to Genoa from there. Or sail from Catania
to Ravenna, on Italy’s east coast (Adriatica: 020 7244 8422).
THE SICILIAN ISLAND-HOP
The routes: too many to list here. Sicily is surrounded by smaller
islands, which are served by an armada of ferries and nippy hydrofoils.
The reason: British travellers tend to ignore Sicily’s satellites. It’s
very rare to find an island from the Egadi group, or one of the lonely
castaways such as Pantelleria or Ustica, in a UK tour operator’s brochure,
and only a handful of firms feature the popular Aeolians. Each one has its
charms, however.
The Aeolians are best for an island-hopping holiday, as they are linked by
scores of hydrofoil and ferry services. Lipari is the hub of the group, and
Milazzo, on the Sicilian coast, is its main contact with the rest of the
world — although there are also high-season services from the resort of
Cefalu and from Messina, while a long-haul hydrofoil runs from Palermo and
there’s an overnight ferry from Naples (both book-able through SMS, see
above).
The journey: with dozens to choose from, we’ve plumped for a two-week
package in the Aeolians. Fly from Heathrow to Catania, transfer to Milazzo,
spend three nights each on Lipari, Salina (star of Il Postino), fashionable
Panarea and volcanic Stromboli, and two nights on Vulcano.
The cost: £1,172pp, B&B.
The company: The Sicilian Experience (020 7828 9171,
www.thesicilianexperience.co.uk).
CROATIA ON SEA
The route: Ancona to Zadar and the islands, then down to Dubrovnik,
returning to Bari.
The reason: although tourism is now nudging back towards prewar levels,
one problem facing potential British visitors to Croatia this summer could
be the limited number of flights. The solution is a cheap flight to Italy,
followed by a ferry. We’ve created an open-jaw itinerary, flying to Ancona
and back from Pescara with Ryanair (0871 246 0000, www.ryanair.com; from £47
for both legs of the journey).
Croatia’s coastline is studded with 1,000 islands, so it’s no surprise to find
a big fleet of ferries linking about 40 islands and 60 coastal resorts. Most
are operated by Jadrolinija, and can only be booked locally, but the single
best island-hopping ferry can be booked in the UK.
The route runs from Rijeka, in Croatia’s far north, but your ferry from Ancona
connects with the hopper further down the coast, at Zadar or Split. From
there, you steam down to Hvar, Korcula, Mljet and finally Dubrovnik, taking
in the best of one of Europe’s most beautiful coastlines. From the pearl of
the Adriatic, a regular ferry runs over to Bari in Italy, and a quick
three-hour hop by rail takes you from there to Pescara — Rail Europe (0870
584 8848, www.raileurope.co.uk) has one-way fares from £29 — and home.
The journey: sailing times and connections vary, but allow 8-10 hours
for the Adriatic crossings. Deck-class passengers on the island-hopper can
jump on and off at ports along the way using the same ticket, but if you
want a cabin, you need to buy individual sectors.
The cost: from £58.50pp for a deck ticket for the whole trip, rising to
nearly £200pp for a superior cabin.
The company: Jadrolinija (00 385 51 666111, www.jadrolinija.hr). Book
through Dalmatian and Istrian Travel (020 8749 5255) or Viamare (see,
The best of the rest, below).
An essential guide to Mediterranean ferries is the Thomas Cook European
Timetable (£10.50). To order, call 01733 416477
The best of the rest
There are plenty more ferries operating around the Med. Some of the most
interesting include:
- Spain to Morocco — sail from either Algeciras or Tarifa to Tangier; or from
Malaga or Almeria to Melilla, in Spanish Morocco.
- Italy to Turkey — either Brindisi to Cesme, or Venice all the way round and up
to Istanbul.
- Greece to Crete — from Piraeus (Athens) to Chania, Rethymno and Iraklion, with
Anek Lines, the longest Greek ferry ride of all.
All these routes can be booked through Viamare Travel (0870 410 6040,
www.viamare.com).
Hop to it: create your own maritime adventure in the Greek islands
ISLAND-HOPPING in Greece is one of the last great travel adventures on the
Mediterranean. More than 80 islands are linked by regular ferries,
including fast hydrofoils and speedy catamarans, with many others
accessible by excursion boat during the summer.
Most ferries operate out of Piraeus, the port of Athens, and if you want to
move along a line of islands — down the eastern or western Cyclades, or
from one Dodecanese island to the next — they are ideal. But they often
don’t work if you want to travel from one island group to another, or
zip around on a whim.
The most practical approach is to focus on a tight group of islands, giving
you the option of easy hops along the line or day trips from a single
base. In the Sporades, for example, Skiathos, Skopelos and Alonnisos
form an intimate team no more than an hour apart. Holiday on one and you
can have three islands for your money, each with distinctive
characteristics. Even remote Skyros, with looks more Cycladic than
Sporadic, can be reached on a day excursion.
Which is the single best ferry for island-hopping? Arguably one of the Blue
Star ships — including two new vessels, the Paros and the Naxos — which
sail daily from Piraeus along the Cyclades, calling at Tinos, Mykonos,
Syros, Paros, Naxos and Santorini, or permutations thereof.
From Piraeus, you can also tour the Dodecanese, the longest single chain of
islands, calling at Patmos, Leros, Kalymnos, Kos and sometimes Tilos and
Rhodes. Nisyros and Symi are also easily incorporated. One of the perks
here is the proximity of Turkey, with easy day trips offered from
several islands. However, as with all excursion boats, you won’t find
them listed in the ferry timetables.
Note that there is no such thing as a Greek hopper ticket. Each leg of a
journey requires a separate ticket: these can be booked as you go. You
may need to visit two or three ticket offices in a port to get the full
picture of what’s available; and note that timetables sometimes use the
names of ports or towns rather than the islands themselves. Also, a
ferry named after an island may well be going somewhere quite different.
Given all the pitfalls involved, you might prefer to have your hopping
adventure booked in advance, with flights, accommodation, transfers and
ferry tickets included, as well as a local agent in each port to advise
on any changes in schedule (not a rare phenomenon in Greek waters).
Greek Sun (01732 740317, www.greeksun.co.uk) has a number of options:
its “Island Wandering” two-weeker, for example, starts with a flight via
Athens to Santorini (three nights), then ferries to Naxos (two nights),
Paros (two), Syros (two), Tinos (one) and Mykonos (three), flying home
via Athens. Prices in July start at £935.
An essential companion for freewheelers is the Thomas Cook guidebook Greek
Island Hopping (£12.99). Useful websites include www.ferries.gr,
www.greekferries.gr and www.gtp.gr.
