Ferries in the Mediterranean
Photo: Franzfoto, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
This page gives an overview of ferry services in the Mediterranean, including associated seas such as the Adriatic, Black Sea and Sea of Marmara. It provides only basic details, with more detail on the "Get in" pages of the relevant ports. Ferry frequencies referred to are for "shoulder season" of late spring / early autumn; obviously there are fewer in winter and more in the summer holiday season. See also the Ferryhopper Ferrroutes.com, (map) Ferries.gr and Direct Ferry websites, which give operators, times and fares for all but the most local routes.
Lots of people nowadays fly, but ferries remain an important part of Mediterranean life, especially for small islands that can't support an airport. Trucks use them, to shift stuff that is too bulky to fly yet too small for a freighter consignment, and islanders depend upon them. The fastest ferries are hydrofoils for foot-passengers only, but these are prone to cancellation in bad weather, and may not sail in winter. Conventional ships are slower but carry vehicles and sail year-round. Those that sail overnight have restaurants, bars and cabin accommodation, cramped but clean. They're a great way to travel and a link to classical times: Theseus and Ulysses would have disliked the throb and stink of diesel ships, but they would share that feeling of going up on deck in the morning to see a port appearing out of the mist, with its palm trees, towers and public buildings slowly coming into focus, and a new land opening its portals to the wayfarer.
Alboran SeaThe Strait of Gibraltar, which divides Europe from North Africa and connects the Med with the Atlantic, is only 14 km across at its narrowest point.
West MedThe Balearic Islands are a Spanish archipelago 100-300 km east of Valencia. Ibiza (Eivissa) lies closest to the mainland, then Mallorca is the largest with its ports at Palma and Alcudia.
North Med and Ligurian SeaThe mainland ports are Sète, Marseille, Toulon and Nice in France, and Savona, Genoa, Livorno and Piombino in Italy.
Tyrrhenian SeaThe Tyrrhenian Sea is bounded to the east by mainland Italy, to the west by Corsica and Sardinia, to the north by the Tuscan Isles, and to the south by Sicily.
Adriatic SeaThe Adriatic Sea is bounded to the west by Italy, with the ports of Venice, Cesenatico, Ancona, Bari and Brindisi; Pescara and Trieste no longer have ferry services.
Greece and its islandsGreece has the most extensive ferry system in the Med, to connect its scattered islands.
Black Sea and East MediterraneanSea of Marmara lies south of Istanbul. It's connected north to the Black Sea by the Bosphorus, and south to the Med by the Dardanelles, so it's an important shipping route.
Sources and licences
- Guide text adapted from the Wikivoyage article "Ferries in the Mediterranean" by its contributors, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikivoyage · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo: Franzfoto, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons