For the planned journey on vacation (or the journey IS vacation), the ferry is increasingly becoming an alternative Ship trip or supplement to the mere arrival by road. Well-known routes are ferries from Italy to Greece or Turkey. Many kilometers can be saved here. In addition, with a smart calculation, the journey can be much cheaper due to increased fuel costs and tolls. Last but not least, the journey is often much more relaxed.
introduction
There are countless ferry connections across Europe - at the moment there are probably 1800 different routes that are served by a good 260 different shipping companies. There are connections almost everywhere, some of which are pure passenger ferries, combined ships or just pure cargo ferries. Of course, all these connections have their special features, which must be discussed in advance when choosing the connection.
Freight ferries, for example, cover a much wider area than pure passenger ferries, and also run all year round - the number (or type) of passengers or, for example, the transport of animals (e.g. dogs!) Can be critical here. The "normal" private is certainly lost in this jungle - not to mention the different seasonal rates of the societies. The most sensible way is to seek advice from suitable specialists.
In general, one should try to move away from the ferry as a purely "bad" cost factor, and see this more as an optimal and relaxed form of travel - because most ferries now offer a level of comfort comparable to that of cruises and bring travelers safely and quickly to the goal. And what could be better than combining your vacation trip with a cruise?
Numerous ferry companies, especially in Northern Europe, already offer special short cruises. Here you go on board the ferry in a port, enjoy the extensive on-board offer and after an overnight stay in a modern cabin in another city. There you usually have half a day to a full day to explore the city before boarding the ferry and returning to the original port in the evening. The prices for such short trips are cheap and offer cruise flair at a low price. The following ferry routes, for example, are particularly attractive for short cruises:
- Color Line: Very modern ferries on the route Kiel-Oslo
- DFDS Seaways: The connection between two fascinating Scandinavian cities on the route Copenhagen-Oslo
- Silja Line: Perfectly equipped ferries on the route Helsinki-Stockholm - Here you can also travel by ship for a long time through the beautiful archipelago off Stockholm
Ticketing
For "normal" holiday travelers (normal cars or mobile homes) there are a myriad of providers on the Internet - some with very good, but mostly very bad information pages or misleading offers. The portals of the shipping companies also offer direct bookings.
It becomes really problematic with "special" ferry connections (real freight ferries) or also "special" vehicles, such as mobile homes with truck dimensions or truck types. These crossings or vehicle types can usually not be booked by a travel agency, because either the routes as "travel routes" do not exist in the travel agencies' offer or there is no price scale for the dimensions of the vehicles - since they are actually trucks. Here, too, special agencies such as TSF from Austria offer solutions.
See also
Web links
- Wohnmobilfaehren.de - Very good provider for private individuals (with normal vehicles) from the Euro-Tours travel agency from Mannheim.
- Association of Ferry and Ferry Tourism e.V. with download link for brochure with addresses of ferry companies
