CampervanLife Official

Getting the ferries around Europe…

There are loads of Ferry booking websites to use but I’ve used DirectFerries.com three times from UK to Dunkirk, DFDS ferries (£44), Patras, Greece to Brindisi, Italy, Grimaldi Lines (159 Euro) and Palermo, Sicily to Naples, Italy, Tirrenia ferries (105 Euro). The ferry from Villa San Giovanni, Italy to Messina, Sicily was booked at the port with Carotone & Tourist. ( A whopping 55 Euro for a 20 minute ferry).

On all these bookings I’ve been classed as a campervan 6m long and 2.6m high. All these ferries offer onboard accommodation for extra, or seating to sleep on for free. The ferry from Greece to Italy was going to be 13 hours and I managed to get 4 seats and lay down as the ferry was that quiet, then after 6 hours the boat stopped and collected some refugees up which took 2 hours extra and they all piled into the room we were in, so I packed my sleeping back and went down to my van and slept down there for the rest of the trip…in peace and quiet.

The Ferry from Sicily to Naples was a nicer ferry so I walked up to the deck and noticed the showers, so I took a hot shower and went back down to my van before we set off and slept again in the van for the overnight journey. I have also noticed the section you park your van in on the ferry gets very warm and heats the van, this must be the heat from the engine of all the cars, vans and lorries cooling down, plus the heat from the ship engine.

This isn’t normally allowed but I can’t sleep upright and have to be laid flat so this is why I wanted to go back to the van.

You just have to be quiet and not move a lot in case staff are walking about. I understand this is for safety but trust me I’d be the first to be at the top if the boat came into trouble. I set my alarm for the expected time of arrival and wait for the other people to return to the vehicles.