FERRY ROUTES WORLDWIDE
Every island has a ferry. Find yours.
Island hops, harbour shuttles and open-water crossings on six continents — the Greek isles and the Canaries, San Francisco Bay and the Andaman Sea, the Strait of Gibraltar and Cook Strait. Reviewed, ranked and ready to book.
The great crossings
Three ferries worth travelling for.
A boat to the next island is one thing. These are crossings people plan whole trips around — one joins two continents, one stitches a country together, one runs the most beautiful bay in Italy.
Europe to Africa
The Strait of Gibraltar
Fourteen kilometres of fast water separate two continents, and the ferry out of Tarifa closes the gap in about an hour. You leave the white houses of Andalusia behind and step off into the medina of Tangier, two worlds joined by one short crossing that travellers have made for three thousand years.
- 1 From Tarifa: Tangier Day Trip with Lunch and Ferry
- 2 Cultural excursion for one day to Tangier with ferry included
- 3 From Costa del Sol: Tangier Full-Day Tour by Ferry
Between two islands
Cook Strait
The Interislander is less a ferry than a three-hour voyage: out through Wellington Harbour, across the open swell where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific, then into the still green water of the Marlborough Sounds. It is the seam that stitches New Zealand’s two islands together, and one of the great scheduled crossings anywhere.
See all 2 →The island shuttle
Naples to Capri
From the Molo Beverello the hydrofoils fan out across the bay all day long, to Capri, Ischia, Procida and down the Amalfi Coast. Forty minutes of blue water with Vesuvius over your shoulder, and the Faraglioni rocks rising as you come in. The whole bay runs on these boats.
- 1 From Naples: Capri Guided Tour with Ferry Tickets & Minibus
- 2 From Naples: Capri and Anacapri Small Group Tour + Ferry
- 3 From Naples: Ferry to Amalfi and Positano
Start with the standout
The crossing more travellers book than any other.
Out of every ferry trip on the site, this is the one the most people choose — a safe place to start if you only do one.
The most-travelled
The world's most popular ferry trips.
Capri and Santorini, Alcatraz and Robben Island, Sausalito and Tangier. The crossings that fill the most boats, all year round.
Where to begin
Find your sea.
The Aegean and the Canaries, the Caribbean and the Andaman, San Francisco Bay and the Bay of Naples. Six of the busiest stretches of water on the site — start with the one you’re sailing.
Spain to Morocco
Three ways to cross to Africa.
The Strait of Gibraltar is the shortest hop between Europe and Africa, and how you make it depends on where you’re staying and how long you’ve got. From the bare crossing to a door-to-door day out.
The Caribbean
Turquoise water, twenty minutes out.
Half the best beaches in the Caribbean are on the island you can’t drive to. The fast cat from Cancún drops you on car-free Isla Mujeres, the Fajardo boat runs to the bioluminescent bays of Vieques and Culebra, and the Bahamas are a day-trip ferry from Florida. The crossing is short; the change of pace is total.
See the best Caribbean ferry trips →The Canary Islands
Eight islands, a ferry between each.
The Canaries are a short Atlantic hop apart, and the ferry is how locals island-hop. From Corralejo on Fuerteventura it’s minutes to the dunes and the wild beaches of Lobos; from Lanzarote, a quick crossing to tiny La Graciosa, where the roads are still sand. Volcanic islands, year-round sun, and the boat that links them.
See the Canary Islands crossings →The Mediterranean
A whole sea you cross by boat.
No corner of the world runs on ferries like the Mediterranean. The Cyclades are stepping-stones across the Aegean; the hydrofoils of the Bay of Naples reach Capri before lunch; from Malta a boat slips across to Gozo and the Blue Lagoon. Pick an island and there is a deck heading for it.
Sail the Greek islands →San Francisco Bay
The best of the city is on the water.
From the Ferry Building the boats fan out across the bay: to the cell blocks of Alcatraz, under the Golden Gate to the bayside village of Sausalito and the redwoods at Muir Woods, and out to wild Angel Island. The skyline view back from mid-bay is the one that stays with you.
- 1 Muir Woods and Sausalito (Return by Bus or Ferry)
- 2 San Francisco: Alcatraz Ticket, Ferry, & Self-Guided App
- 3 San Francisco Golden Gate To Sausalito Bike Tour
New York Harbor
Past the Statue of Liberty, by boat.
There is no better introduction to New York than from the water. The cruise to Liberty and Ellis Islands lands you at the foot of the statue and the great hall where twelve million arrivals were processed; the free Staten Island Ferry runs the same harbour for the price of nothing at all.
See all 19 harbour crossings →By coastline
Pick a stretch of water.
The Aegean for the Greek islands. The Strait of Gibraltar for the hop to Africa. The Caribbean for turquoise day-trips. The Andaman for Thailand’s islands. Rottnest off Fremantle, and Sydney Harbour end to end.
Further afield
More seas to cross.
Gozo and the Blue Lagoon off Malta, the Bosphorus between two continents, the Balearics, the Great Barrier Reef, the cold-water crossings of the Baltic and the Irish Sea, and the islands of the Pacific Northwest.
Worth the trip alone
Three crossings to plan a trip around.
Some ferries are transport. These three are the reason to go — short rides to islands you can only properly reach by boat.
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