CAR FERRY FROM ITALY MAINLAND

The shortest ferry from Italy to Sicily (straits of Messina) certainly does take vehicles and leaves every 20 min.

This link gives you  other ferries running in the Med.
http://www.cemar.it/ferries.html

Solerno to Polermo is another route that we have used.

Terry

Thanks Terry, believe it or not when I've done a simple google search that didn't come up.

Not the shortest line for sure, but we're taking Grimaldi Lines from Livorno to Palermo in June. They've got special offers at the moment (30 % off if you book until the end of January), so probably worth checking out

Bernie

This seems ok any issues let me know http://carontetourist.it/v3.0/timetable … omobiles/.

we took the ferry from  sothern italy to SIcily and then Ferry Pozzalo to Valleta

The other route that ai know was only open last year was Genoa to Palermo and Grimaldi ferries were not running.

Also check that the ferries havent stopped for a feq weeks for maintenance  and the weather, many people got stranded last year for 3/4 days a time because the weather and ferry issues.

I have read that there is a new company starting soon a ferry service between Malta and Italy. Cannot find any confirmation, though. Anyone knows about it?

Andreas O. wrote:

I have read that there is a new company starting soon a ferry service between Malta and Italy. Cannot find any confirmation, though. Anyone knows about it?

Hi everyone, just saw an ad on facebook about this new ferry service, apparently it started yesterday.
Check out gollchershipping.com for info - apparently there's a ferry from Genua (with a stopover in Palermo) once a week. They don't have any information about prices on their website, but the vessel looks quite nice - and huge!

Edit:
Just checked their facebook page and found this statement in the comments: "It is true the ferry welcomes both passengers and cargo. Unfortunately the service has to pass through some local procedures before one can activate passenger traffic."

So not yet available for passengers, but it looks as though finally there will be some competition for the - imo overpriced - only ferry connection to Italy with Virtu ferries...

http://www.gollchershipping.com/cargo-f … mo-naples/
Thanks Bernie you settled in now I got to Gozo without RA thank god in may

I sent them an email - yeah they cant take passengers at the moment but are working on it.

I'm intending to also drive to Malta from the UK, through France then ferry from Genoa to Palermo, drive across Sicily  then ferry to Malta. Thought this best option, but any advice/help would be appreciated.

DerekRP wrote:

I'm intending to also drive to Malta from the UK, through France then ferry from Genoa to Palermo, drive across Sicily  then ferry to Malta. Thought this best option, but any advice/help would be appreciated.

We did kind of the same thing this June: we went from Livorno to Palermo, drove across Sicily,  then took the ferry from Pozzallo to Malta - worked fine.

In Pozzallo we stayed in Mare Nostrum Hotel - really nice owners, the room was fine, the price was good, and it's close to the harbour (we had to catch the ferry early in the morning).

3 weeks ago we wanted to catch the ferry back from Palermo to Livorno but missed it, so had to drive all the way through Italy. It is possible, but the ferry is more comfortable and probably cheaper, too.

Thanks for your experience  & thoughts, I'll try the hotel.

Are there still no direct ferry connections from Malta to Genoa for car and passenger?

I recently got information from Grimaldi, Gollcher and Tirrenia that they operate only cargo-ferries from Malta to Genoa directly, but no passengers allowed.

Of course, there are alternatives such as Malta-Pozzallo and Palermo-Livorno resp. Palermo-Genoa, but this sums up with ticket costs and also wastes a lot of time.

I've done Pozzallo-Vienna overland in 2 days, but that*s very exhausting. Genoa-Vienna is possible in one day. But any option with ferry sections will take at least 4-5 days. Is there anything faster?

The last time I checked (this summer), there was only the Malta-Pozzallo and Palermo-Livorno option... Gollcher looked promising in the beginning (this spring they said they were negotiating so they could also take passengers on), but my guess is that the bosses of Virtu ferries know some influential people...

We did Malta-Pozzallo-Innsbruck in 2 days last year (with a short overnight stop in Florence), but only because we missed the ferry from Malta to Sicily on Saturday, and there was no ferry from Sicily to Livorno the next day - but I needed to be at work in Innsbruck on Monday evening... In the end we drove for a total of about 15 hours on the first day, and another 6 hours the next day - with two small kids on the back seat... Definitely wouldn't do that again!

I drove Malta-Pozzallo-Vienna and return two times - driving alone is even worst 
Especially since I had to get up already at 4am to get the ferry  ... for the return way I drove through the night, that's much faster and there's less traffic.