Ferries between greece and italy

I've done the Istanbul to UK return 3 times. Usually the Ancona-Igouminitsa, but also Bari to Igouminitsa too.
I believe there are two companies to choose from. but very little in it in terms of quality etc. You can check out the boats in detail from their websites

As they are overnight ferries, you need to decide what you'll do for sleeping:
1) Deck space for camping out. This is ok, but prime spots get taken early and you have to trust that no-one will nick your stuff when you go for some food. Also can be very humid at night
2) Aircraft style seat. Basically a standard train/airplane seat along with 50 others in one part of the boat. Cheap, but not comfy or quiet.
2) Dormitory. For 6-8 international lorry drivers (usually). Male and females are in different parts of the boat. Cheap if you can sleep through the snoring and smells.
3) Cabin. The way to go in my opinion. Get a shower, relax properly, your own loo, sleep in a bed etc. Splash out for a window view too!

As for the route. It is certainly doable riding from the UK to Ancona in one hit to get the 10pm crossing. Its a long day in the saddle mind and you need to catch a 4am Eurotunnel!

Other recommendations: From Ancona, head directly west through Umbria for some great roads and typical Italian countryside.
From Igouminitsa, use the old E92 (a wide single carriageway) which was replaced by the super slick motorway back in 2009ish (thanks to EU money!). The old E92 is a fantastic riding road with very little traffic on these days and it will take you over the mountains rather than through them like the motorway does!
 
I've done the Istanbul to UK return 3 times. Usually the Ancona-Igouminitsa, but also Bari to Igouminitsa too.
I believe there are two companies to choose from. but very little in it in terms of quality etc. You can check out the boats in detail from their websites

As they are overnight ferries, you need to decide what you'll do for sleeping:
1) Deck space for camping out. This is ok, but prime spots get taken early and you have to trust that no-one will nick your stuff when you go for some food. Also can be very humid at night
2) Aircraft style seat. Basically a standard train/airplane seat along with 50 others in one part of the boat. Cheap, but not comfy or quiet.
2) Dormitory. For 6-8 international lorry drivers (usually). Male and females are in different parts of the boat. Cheap if you can sleep through the snoring and smells.
3) Cabin. The way to go in my opinion. Get a shower, relax properly, your own loo, sleep in a bed etc. Splash out for a window view too!

As for the route. It is certainly doable riding from the UK to Ancona in one hit to get the 10pm crossing. Its a long day in the saddle mind and you need to catch a 4am Eurotunnel!

Other recommendations: From Ancona, head directly west through Umbria for some great roads and typical Italian countryside.
From Igouminitsa, use the old E92 (a wide single carriageway) which was replaced by the super slick motorway back in 2009ish (thanks to EU money!). The old E92 is a fantastic riding road with very little traffic on these days and it will take you over the mountains rather than through them like the motorway does!

Thanks for the heads up. My guess is to get a bed you need to book in advance though i have heard of someone getting a cabin direct from the purser once on board....cash!
 
The first time I got a cabin, I bought the relevant ticket from the port in Igouminitsa. It was a good job as I got an 'orrible case of the squits there too, so thankfully spent most of the night in the comfort of my own cabin/en suite.
 
Chaps - just looking at booking ferry from Bari to (hopefully) Durres on 2nd May 2023 :)

We'll be getting the ferry Newcastle - Amsterdam, and then winding our way South through the Mosel area (Cochem way), the Black Forest, the Alps, Tuscany and then to Bari. Planning to use the Albania (Durres) option as it looks most interesting and has best choice of ferries on the dates we're looking for. It'll depend on how the 4 of us get on with our insurance etc, which may force us to go Dubrovnic instead (at least one of our team won't want to risk insurance at the border)... Still to be confirmed, however we're all bought into getting a ferry from Bari, it's just that it will hopefully be to Durres in Albania, but the back-up plan is Dubrovnic...

Anyway - back to the point - Reviving this thread for a quick bit of advice please... I will book cabins and pre-book before leaving UK as per advice from experienced friends... We'll probably book the ADRIA ferry as that seem to get best reviews and prices are similar anyway between the varous operating companies...

But - can anyone confirm whether to take our own Ratchet Straps please? Do they make a good job of tying down, or is it just a bit of damp, smelly old rope like you sometimes get? I'm tempted to pop one in anyway, but just looking for guidance...

Any other suggestions/tips?

Cheers
 
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Chaps - just looking at booking ferry from Bari to (hopefully) Durres on 2nd May 2023 :)

We'll be getting the ferry Newcastle - Amsterdam, and then winding our way South through the Mosel area (Cochem way), the Black Forest, the Alps, Tuscany and then to Bari. Planning to use the Albania (Durres) option as it looks most interesting and has best choice of ferries on the dates we're looking for. It'll depend on how the 4 of us get on with our insurance etc, which may force us to go Dubrovnic instead (at least one of our team won't want to risk insurance at the border)... Still to be confirmed, however we're all bought into getting a ferry from Bari, it's just that it will hopefully be to Durres in Albania, but the back-up plan is Dubrovnic...

Anyway - back to the point - Reviving this thread for a quick bit of advice please... I will book cabins and pre-book before leaving UK as per advice from experienced friends... We'll probably book the ADRIA ferry as that seem to get best reviews and prices are similar anyway between the varous operating companies...

But - can anyone confirm whether to take our own Ratchet Straps please? Do they make a good job of tying down, or is it just a bit of damp, smelly old rope like you sometimes get? I'm tempted to pop one in anyway, but just looking for guidance...

Any other suggestions/tips?

Cheers

It's rope !

Worth taking even 1 ratchet strap but the problem usually being finding somewhere secure to attach it...sometimes it's worth waiting until the cars are loaded as well and then use one or two alloy wheels as anchor points :augie
 
Chaps - just looking at booking ferry from Bari to (hopefully) Durres on 2nd May 2023 :)

We'll be getting the ferry Newcastle - Amsterdam, and then winding our way South through the Mosel area (Cochem way), the Black Forest, the Alps, Tuscany and then to Bari. Planning to use the Albania (Durres) option as it looks most interesting and has best choice of ferries on the dates we're looking for. It'll depend on how the 4 of us get on with our insurance etc, which may force us to go Dubrovnic instead (at least one of our team won't want to risk insurance at the border)... Still to be confirmed, however we're all bought into getting a ferry from Bari, it's just that it will hopefully be to Durres in Albania, but the back-up plan is Dubrovnic...

Anyway - back to the point - Reviving this thread for a quick bit of advice please... I will book cabins and pre-book before leaving UK as per advice from experienced friends... We'll probably book the ADRIA ferry as that seem to get best reviews and prices are similar anyway between the varous operating companies...

But - can anyone confirm whether to take our own Ratchet Straps please? Do they make a good job of tying down, or is it just a bit of damp, smelly old rope like you sometimes get? I'm tempted to pop one in anyway, but just looking for guidance...

Any other suggestions/tips?

Cheers

Personally I always have my own ratchet strap. Wrapped in a Velcro band.
Put it In 1st gear on side stand.
Strap over seat.
Velcro band wrapped around brake lever and bars.
Bikes going no where. :D
 
I recall a North Sea crossing in bad weather where some, for lack of supplied lashing points, roped their bike to the chassis of adjacent HGVs. As the vehicle bodies heaved and rocked during the passage many bikes were totalled and unable to be ridden off the vessel …
 
I did those crossing several times. For me Superfast was a far nicer experience than Anek lines.

I preferred the Bari-Igoumenitsa route (the road down from Ancona to Bari being far more entertaining than the trawl across Lombardy from Milan to Ancona.

Whilst you can sleep on deck (or in the bar) I wouldn't recommend it. The bilge waters washing over our sleeping bags at 0300hrs as the ferry docked in Corfu en-route to Igoumenitsa took the shine off that experience.

I also recommend the "old" road from Igoumenitsa through Ioannina and Veria than the newer motorway; however, in recent years lack of maintenance has caused the surface to deteriorate so you do have to be on your game.
 
Just FYI, I just booked the Bari - Igoumenitsa ferry on the ANEK FERRIES website (direct) was a lot cheaper, and there's a 20% discount just now :okay
 
Chaps - just looking at booking ferry from Bari to (hopefully) Durres on 2nd May 2023 :)

We'll be getting the ferry Newcastle - Amsterdam, and then winding our way South through the Mosel area (Cochem way), the Black Forest, the Alps, Tuscany and then to Bari. Planning to use the Albania (Durres) option as it looks most interesting and has best choice of ferries on the dates we're looking for. It'll depend on how the 4 of us get on with our insurance etc, which may force us to go Dubrovnic instead (at least one of our team won't want to risk insurance at the border)... Still to be confirmed, however we're all bought into getting a ferry from Bari, it's just that it will hopefully be to Durres in Albania, but the back-up plan is Dubrovnic...

Anyway - back to the point - Reviving this thread for a quick bit of advice please... I will book cabins and pre-book before leaving UK as per advice from experienced friends... We'll probably book the ADRIA ferry as that seem to get best reviews and prices are similar anyway between the varous operating companies...

But - can anyone confirm whether to take our own Ratchet Straps please? Do they make a good job of tying down, or is it just a bit of damp, smelly old rope like you sometimes get? I'm tempted to pop one in anyway, but just looking for guidance...

Any other suggestions/tips?

Cheers

We arrived in Durres this morning from Ancona on an Adria lines boat. It left Ancona bang on 7pm as scheduled and docked in Durres about 15mins late. Boat was ex-Stena line with Bar, posh restaurant and self service. Reasonable prices but below average food. The 4berth Cabin was small and warm ok for two but access to shower and loo well worth it. Other customers were mainly east European truckers it seemed. Not as comfy or as nice as a Brittany ferries ferry but perfectly ok.

We were one of the first off so quickly through passports and no queue for insurance: 15 Euro for 15 days. Then into chaotic roads.

The bike wasn’t tied down, there were no straps or ropes and I didn’t have any straps but I did put the Roadlok in to stop it moving. The crossing had only the slightest of swells so all was good. I suspect the Eurotunnel rocks the bike more than this crossing. In bad weather I may be reporting something different though.

We’ve Checked into an apartment/hotel in Durres for a couple of nights and to plan our time in Albania before crossing into Greece. Kosovo and Macedonia may be diversions we also want to take.

Take or get cash when you get to Albania. The three places we’ve been so far don’t take cards, even the hotel we’re in. It’s cheap here.
 
Took the Anek Lines ferry from Venice to Patras last june, and rode back home through Greece, Northern Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria and Germany.
Booked the tickets directly at Anek.gr, which was cheaper then using any travel agency like Directferries.

Camped on the very good campsite (https://www.campingfusina.com/en/) in the harbour in Venice, directly nextto the ferry terminal.
Shaded campingground, no fixed pitches for tents, and a nice restaurant onsite.

Boarding protocol was quite chaotic. Parking on a (quite small) parking place in front of the office, where every passenger had to go inside to get their boarding cards.
On board only some oily ropes to secure the bikes, so bring your own straps!

Breakfast and dinner are simple and quite cheap, our 2-bed cabin was good. Departure through the Venice Laguna was nice, short stops at Corfu and Igoumenitsa nice change of scenery on
this 33hour trip.

Arriving in Patras at 21:00 and finding a campsite means you'll have to pitch your tent in darkness, luckily for us the ferry arrived a bit earlier, and I already
located a campsite a few kilometers south of Patras, so we still had some daylight.

I think next time I'll disembark at Igoumenitsa where the ferry arrives early afternoon; from there its a 3 hour trip to Patras, with the ferry it takes another 6 hours.
 


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