Getting to Corsica by Ferry

Unless you fly or have a private boat, you will have to use a ferry to get to Corsica. Four companies operate ferries between the island and France or Italy.

Ferries to Corsica depart from French ports Marseille, Toulon and Nice, and from Italian ports in Savona, Genova, Livorno and Civitavecchia. Corsican harbours are in L'ille Rousse, Calvi, Ajaccio, Propriano, Porto Vecchio and Bastia. The shortest routes -- less than four hours by a fast boat -- connect Nice with Calvi and Livorno with Bastia. These two lines are also the cheapest ones.

Routes

The map below shows all ferry routes connecting Corsica with France and Italy.

The most frequent lines from mainland France and Italy are also listed in the following table:

Port	Bastia	Ile Rousse	Calvi	Ajaccio	Propriano	Porto Vecchio
Marseilles	SNCM, La Méridionale	SNCM		SNCM, La Méridionale	SNCM, La Méridionale	SNCM
Toulon	Corsica Ferries, SNCM, Moby	Corsica Ferries		Corsica Ferries, SNCM	SNCM
Nice	Corsica Ferries, SNCM	Corsica Ferries, SNCM	Corsica Ferries, SNCM	Corsica Ferries, SNCM
Savona	Corsica Ferries	Corsica Ferries	Corsica Ferries
Genoa	Moby
Livorno	Corsica Ferries, Moby					Grimaldi Lines
Civitavecchia	Grimaldi Lines					SNAV, Grimaldi Lines
Porto Torres				SNCM	SNCM

Another short route lead from Northern Sardinian port of Santa Teresa di Gallura to Bonifacio in Southern Corsica. Medmar used to sail between Naples (Napoli) and Porto Vecchio, but this line desn't seem to be operated any more. Also the routes operated by Grimaldi Lines from Civitavecchia were probably discontinued in 2011.

Rates and Booking

Use the booking form on the right to check available crossings and up to date rates. Price depends on season, number of people going together, your car's length etc. In addition, ferry operators offer various special discounts. Return tickets may be purchased for different routes there and back. For instance we arrived to Calvi from Nice, departed from Bastia to Livorno, and paid about 350 EUR for four people and a car.

I recommend to book a ferry through the Internet in advance, because the ferries are quite full and the tickets may not be available right before your journey. If you haven't booked your journey in advance though, try come to the port early in the morning and look for a yellow Corsica Ferries office or a blue SNCM one.

Ferry operators

If you don't find your preferred route in the booking form above, you can try to buy ferry tickets on-line directly on the web site of a particular operator.

• Corsica Ferries / Sardinia Ferries (available in English, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Spanish and Corsu)
• SNCM (in French only)
• La Méridionale (CMN) (available in English, French, Spanish and Italian)
• Moby Lines (available in English, French, German, Italian and Dutch)
• Grimaldi Lines (available in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish)

I used Corsica Ferries and was satisfied with them. Their website offers an English version with a timetable and a useful ferry booking wizard. The shortest crossings are between Nice and Calvi or Livorno and Bastia. The journey in these two routes takes about four hours and the ferries go at least twice a day even during the low season.

Which port should you depart from

When choosing the best route, you should consider:

1. Your final destination in Corsica.
2. Which port in the continent is your closest one.

If you are going to stay in the Western coast of Corsica, ferries from Nice to Calvi, Ajaccio or Propriano seem to be the best option. If you come from Spain or Western France, departing from Marseille or Toulon will save you some drive, but the ferries are more expensive there. If you go to Bastia, Corte or Eastern coast of Corsica, Livorno is the best starting point followed by Savona and Nice.

The closest port from your home is another question. The table below gives some distances (just the shortest ones for every place of departure):

	Marseilles	Toulon	Nice	Savona	Genoa	Livorno	Civitavecchia
Madrid	1,105 km	1,168 km
Barcelona	505 km	568 km	661 km
Paris	776 km	839 km	932 km	921 km	912 km
Zürich				445 km	421 km
Geneve	461 km			388 km	379 km
Milano				169 km	145 km
Rome						413 km	82 km
Brussel	1,076 km			1,074 km	1,050 km
Amsterdam	1,275 km			1,240 km	1,216 km
Frankfurt am Main				832 km	808 km
München				729 km	705 km	739 km
Berlin				1,199 km	1,175 km
Linz				879 km	855 km	889 km
Wien					997 km	946 km
Gratz				837 km	813 km	761 km
Prague				1,031 km	1,007 km	1,124 km
Bratislava				1,087 km	1,063 km	1,012 km
Budapest				1,118 km	1,094 km	1,042 km
Zagreb				789 km	765 km	713 km
Ljubljana				657 km	633 km	581 km
Krakow				1,588 km	1,564 km	1,420 km
Warsaw				1,752 km	1,728 km	1,643 km

I recommend Google Maps or ViaMichelin route planner for finding the best driving directions.