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Igoumenitsa ferry reservation

Does anyone know how important it is to make a reservation ahead of time (online) for taking oneself and one's rental car (ACR) on one of the ferries from Igoumenitsa to Corfu? My husband and I will be driving from the Athens airport starting out at about 2 PM or 2:30 and want to stop at at least the Corinth Canal on the way to the ferry, if not also a meal (having been in Naxos for our first 4 nights in Greece just prior to flying back to Athens). The drive appears to take roughly 5 hours without any breaks, so we're guesstimating we might get there around 9 PM. I'm concerned about making a 9 PM ferry reservation should we for some reason arrive even later. (10 PM looks like the next later option).

At that late time of night, would we be ok not having made a reservation ahead of time? Worst case scenario, if we missed all the late ferries, I'm sure we could find a place to stay for the night, but I'd rather not have to spend that money since we have a place rented in Corfu for that night and two additional nights and would much rather be spending those nights there.

And then of course we'll ultimately be returning to the mainland via the same ferry route in reverse, but we won't have that same time pressure (as we head to Meteora).

Thanks in advance for any input!

Posted by
8415 posts

Time of the year and day of the week maybe make a difference, and if it is a holiday, but generally there is plenty of room on ferries.

You do need to be there early for loading, for a 9 PM sailing, you can't pull up at 8:55. I would hope the website of the ferry company would provide info

Posted by
2676 posts

Depending on traffic, the trip from ATH Airport to Igoumenitsa can take 5 to 6 hours. If you pickup the car at 2:30 PM you should be fine, even with a short stop at the canal.

In mid-May, the last ferry to Corfu is at 10:30 PM with Kerkyka Lines.

Check the schedule: (change the week if necessary)

http://www.openseas.gr/IGO/CFU/2025-05-21/2025-05-21/itineraries

If you are taking your car on the ferry, I recommend being at the dock at least 30 minutes before the ferry departure, you will see other vehicles lining up.

All passengers other than the driver must exit the car.

Booking tickets in advance for passengers only is not essential, but be aware that car spaces are more limited. 115 vehicles with Kerkyka Seaways (ferry Agia Erini), and 100 vehicles with Kerkyka Lines (ferry Alkinoos)

If you book a ticket for the car and do not know the car's license plate, enter something like RENT123 in the license plate field.

Kerkyka Lines timetables:

https://kerkyralines.com/en/route/corfu-igoumenitsa/

Kerkyka Seaways:

https://www.kerkyraseaways.gr/en

Posted by
26 posts

Thank you, Paul and JoLui. I had previously looked up both ferry sites, JoLui, and taken note of the times, but thank you for sending the links. Your suggestion of "RENT123" is very helpful.

What we're trying to figure out is if so late at night the ferries still tend to fill up with cars (in which case we would have to set our reserved time ahead of time). We'd prefer to have time-flexibility, but wonder if that would be prudent.

Does anyone have enough experience with this ferry route to advise? Right now, we're leaning toward the 21:30 ferry just so we have the flexibility to eat a meal on the way, but that gets us into Corfu quite late.

Thank you!

Posted by
2676 posts

Since it's impossible to predict availability to have a place for the car on one of the last two ferries of the day, and having no experience with this ferry connection, I'll tell you what I would do (not what you should do).

I wouldn't book the ferry in advance.

I would stop overnight somewhere between Athens and Igoumenitsa (for example, Mesolongi) in order to be in Igoumenitsa in the morning.

Once in Igoumenitsa in the morning, I would buy my ferry tickets for the first available ferry.

Mesolongi:

https://www.greeka.com/sterea/mesolongi/

Posted by
26 posts

Thank you, JoLui, for your creative idea. My guess is that we'll want to actually wake up in Corfu on the 15th in order to maximize our brief time there, but I will discuss your idea with my husband. I actually booked the ferries in both directions between Igoumenitsa and Corfu today, having missed your posting until just now. These can be cancelled, however. Kerkyra Seaways was, to my great surprise, completely booked for any of the times we were interested in, so we reserved via Kerkyra Lines which had tons of openings for two people with a rental car.

Again, thank you so much for all of your help with this!

Posted by
26 posts

JoLui - (Addendum to what I just replied) - It'a actually the Kerkyra Seaways schedule from Corfu to Igoumenitsa that was completely booked, not the one headed in the reverse direction. But the times available to Corfu wouldn't give us enough"error" time for getting to the port in case we stopped for a meal on the way. That's why we chose to go via Kerkyra Lines.