Can anyone please let us know if we should buy tickets for a ferry in advance or just wing it? We leave in two days and are staying in a hotel 2 hours from the ferry port in Villa San Giovanni. We can get up super early and make the drive to get there early but we also want to know how easy it will be to roll up with frequent ferries going over to Messina. It will be my husband and I and our two kids and a pet dog. Also, isn't the ferry about a half hour or less? Thank you for all the help!
Posted by
76 posts
Hi, Cierra! We traveled using the ferry in October 2017. It was very simple and realtively cheap. It's about 20 minutes. If you are going during "shoulder" times, spring and fall, I think it would be pretty easy to do what we did and just drive up about an hour before, purchase your ticket and get in line. If it is summer, it might be more difficult due to higher traffic, not sure.
There are two ferry lines that do this.
AFerry https://www.aferry.com/messina-villa-san-giovanni-ferry.htm
OKFerry https://www.ok-ferry.com/en/sicily/ferries-villa-san-giovanni-messina.aspx
Either will allow you to purchase your ticket ahead of time.
Posted by
Fairfax, VA
763 posts
Yes, but do see other threads in this forum. If you're driving, it appears that a rental car might not be covered by insurance. Some contracts expressly prohibit it. We're currently trying to figure out what parking might be available. I will post the info here if I find it.
Posted by
76 posts
We just did this trip in October. The cheapest of the ferries that we found was Caronte https://carontetourist.it/en It was recommended by Vagabonda on TripAdvisor and after doing the research, we confirmed this was the best deal. Buy a roundtrip ticket if you are coming back this way. The ferry takes about 20 minutes to cross and they come every 20-30 minutes. You can walk around the boat, go on the decks, enjoy the view and the breeze. You can buy a snack on the boat.
I think another blog answered the question about insurance. We had no problems with this at all. Don't forget, everyone is in the same "boat" so to speak, so everyone is careful.