Independent ferry guides
Ferry crossings, explained step by step.
Which port and which gate, how early to check in, what the ticket includes, and what happens when a sailing is cancelled.
Start here
Crossings in detail
United Kingdom to France · up to 30 sailings a day
Greece · daily in summer, thinner in winter
Greece · about 26 a week in summer, ~3 in winter
Italy · very frequent, year-round
Croatia · car ferry 5–7 a day; catamarans seasonal
Spain · daily overnight; fast ferry seasonal
Shortlists
Ranked shortlists
The best ferry routes in the Mediterranean for a first crossing
Five crossings worth taking for their own sake, ranked by how easy they are to plan, how often they sail and what you get for the fare.
Best ferry routes in Europe if you are travelling on foot
Crossings where walking on is genuinely easy: frequent sailings, a terminal you can reach without a car, and a real walk-on fare instead of a car ticket with the car missing.
Ferry operators in the Mediterranean: who to book with, and for what
Not a ranking, but a map of what each operator is good at: reliability, speed, car capacity, foot-passenger friendliness.
Before you book
Tickets, check-in, cars and cancellations
Ferry travel as a foot passenger
Walk-on travel is the cheapest way to cross water, and the easiest to get wrong: not every sailing takes foot passengers, and the ones that do often leave from a different terminal.
How to book a ferry ticket
How to book a crossing without paying for changes you will not use, or skipping the flexibility you actually need.
Taking a car on a ferry
A car ticket is not just a more expensive foot passenger ticket. The check-in window, the loading procedure and the rules on what stays in the vehicle are all different.
Missing a crossing?
Tell us the route and the month you are travelling, and we will look at it.