Ferry Service to Malta

Hi,

I looked at an older thread on this from 2012 and wondered if ferry service is still lacking. It would be cheaper and more interesting for me to fly to mainland Europe from Alaska and travel overland to Italy, but at some point I will need a ferry or an airplane to get to Malta. Is there a good ferry system? Or maybe small/commuter plane service?  Does anybody who lives there have an opinion on this, or is it best to fly directly to Malta?

There are some sites that look a little too good to be true on the ferries. And it's as hard for me to find good information about local plane service in Malta as it is for outsiders to Alaska to know who crashes the most up here. So that's probably true everywhere in the world. (would prefer ferry - hate to fly).

I have wanted to visit Malta for what feels like forever - especially the archaelogical sites, and am finally getting to where I have time.

Thanks to anybody who has read this far.

Duffy

Hi Duffy,

just forget the way you travel in Alaska!

Fly directly to London,Frankfurt,Paris,Madrid or any other international airport and from there to Malta. That will be the cheapest option with the least hassle. Any other way that means changing to a ferry,car train or whatever will increase the cost and the time needed.

If you want to visit another EU country you can always stopover there. Your entry visa is valid for 3 months for travel within the Schengen area.

Cheers
ricky

And in terms of the ratio of plane-crashes, the EU-zone is he safest place on the face of the earth  ;)

Thank you Ricky and Miko!  My biggest issue was choosing an airport. I also want to visit Slovakia while I'm there. And that is good news about air safety. Nearly everyone here knows someone who has been in a plane crash - I know 3 (one survived). Thanks again

Duffy

Alaska to Malta?
Sublime to ridiculous?

duffydoodle2 wrote:

(would prefer ferry - hate to fly).


I think your best choice is to just search for a flight route with the less layovers as possible.

Anyway if you really want to avoid an extra flight and reach Malta by ferry, you can maybe flight from the US directly to Rome, from Rome you can then get a ferry from Civitavecchia to Sicily (Termini Imerese or Palermo), by land from the North of Sicily to the South of Sicily and finally by ferry from Pozzallo to Malta.

From Milan (Malpensa Airport) you can also go by land to Genoa, get a ferry from Genoa to Palermo, by land from Palermo to Pozzallo and by ferry from Pozzallo to Malta.

Hi Duffy,

the German charter airline operate a (seasonal) flight from Anchorage to Frankfurt/M. via Fairbanks with return prices starting around 800 €.

From there you can fly Airmalta or Lufthansa to Malta.

Otherwise for example Anchorage-San Francisco-Munich-Malta is an option.

As you will have a long flight from Alaska to Europe anyway you might as well just get to Malta by plane as quick as possible.

Cheers
Ricky

Hi,

if you want to visit Slovakia as well then your best options are Vienna or Budapest, easy to reach by train or bus from anywhere in Slovakia (Vienna airport is very close to Bratislava) and Airmalta operates direct flights from both capitals, also there are some low budget options during the summer season.

Evi

one random other idea is you can now fly from Anchorage to Iceland, and then Icelandair has quite a lot of summertime European destinations.

Looks like the fastest route with less layovers is the one Ricky proposed. Since you do not like to travel by plane you may want to go by land to Fairbanks from Anchorage and get only 2 flights:

Fairbanks to Frankfurt Int. ([airline: Condor]
(layover)
Frankfurt Int. to Malta [airline: Lufthansa or Air Malta]

Thank you *very* much for all the good ideas - I didn't expect so many suggestions and will check on them all. Ricky's route (the charter by Condor) is one I'd thought about to get to Europe because it flies over the pole and is a shorter flight.  I'll look into Icelandair too - didn't realize they flew into Anchorage now, so I just learned something about my own city. But Malta is where I want to spend most of my time, with a side trip to eastern Slovakia.

The ferry sounds more fun, but since most people who were kind enough to answer seem to think it would be better to fly the whole way instead, I probably will.  It seems silly to ask for advice, then ignore it. Maybe I can go for a ferry ride when I get there. 

BTW - just curious - don't want to argue:  but what is "ridiculous" about Malta? (Re the comment about "from the sublime to the ridiculous"?) Alaska is very beautiful once you get out of Anchorage itself. We had a bore tide that was close to ten feet last month, just had a beautiful summer, and I love Alaska, so I can see calling much of it sublime. But Malta doesn't sound ridiculous; it sounds interestingly quirky and charming, with a lot of history.  I've wanted to visit for a few years now but couldn't because of family issues.  Now I can.

Thanks again,

Duffy

try website search flights this gives you a wide choice of airports and flights to help you with your travel plans.

duffydoodle2 wrote:

The ferry sounds more fun, but since most people who were kind enough to answer seem to think it would be better to fly the whole way instead, I probably will.


The "problem" is that to reach a port you need to take another flight or to travel 800 kilometers (500 miles) by land from Frankfurt to Genoa before getting several ferries.