Ferry fares increase in 2025: Here’s how to save money on Europe’s most popular routes
Ferries can supply glorious worth for cash.
As the top of the 12 months approaches, ideas start to show to plans for subsequent summer time and a welcome getaway to a different nation. Travelling by ferry is a well-liked choice, with the European ferry sector transporting some 794 million passengers a 12 months.
Ferry route-finding website FerryGoGo has crunched the numbers to seek out out what we could possibly be paying for our ferry journeys in 2025. On common, a crossing with two individuals and a automotive within the excessive season will set travellers again €1,017, barely lower than the €1,097 evaluated in 2024.
A part of that is right down to the inclusion of eight new routes within the examine this 12 months, a few of that are shorter and subsequently cheaper. Co-founder of FerryGoGo, Jan Willem van Tilburg, famous that, though the general common price has lowered, worth for cash is getting worse.
He tells Euronews Journey, “The worth per mile has elevated by seven cents per mile, probably because of inflation and the inclusion of shorter routes. As an example, routes corresponding to Portsmouth to Caen and Portsmouth to Jersey are cheaper total as a result of they cowl fewer miles, however they’re much less environment friendly and subsequently costlier per mile. An analogous sample is seen with routes like Barcelona to the Balearic Islands.”
What’s the costliest ferry crossing in Europe?
In line with the examine, the most costly ferry crossing in Europe in 2025 is from Denmark to Iceland. Priced at €2,222 for 2 individuals, a cabin and a automotive on a round-trip itinerary in excessive season.
Crusing simply as soon as per week, Smyril line sails the M/S Norrona from the Danish fishing city of Hirtshals, passing the Shetland Islands and docking briefly in Torshavn on the Faroe Islands. The ultimate leg sees the ship arriving within the small Icelandic city of Seydisfjordur an entire 66 hours after leaving Denmark.
Onboard are the same old ferry facilities, corresponding to cinemas, a kids’s playroom and a fitness center. As well as, the Norrona gives an indoor pool, open deck scorching tubs and a soccer pitch, in addition to a large number of first rate eating places to select from.
Though the associated fee for this crossing continues to be the very best in Europe, on a per kilometre foundation, it’s really superb worth. FerryGoGo identified that, per hour, this mini-cruise prices beneath €17 per individual, or €0.73 per kilometre.
In comparison with 2024, the price of the Hirtshals-Seydisfjordur crossing has decreased by 19.7 per cent – down €546 from this 12 months’s value of €2,768.
The most effective and worst worth ferry crossings in 2025
By way of bang in your buck, the most effective worth available for the space travelled is the 854 km route from Barcelona to Rome. Costing €755 return for 2 and a automotive, it really works out at simply €0.44 per kilometre.
Different crossings that are available at nice worth, all beneath €0.70 per kilometre, embrace the 40-hour journey from Sete in southern France to Nador in Morocco, Germany’s Travemunde to Helsinki and Bilbao in France to Rosslare in Eire. All three of these crossings are over 1,000 kilometres lengthy, requiring one, possibly two nights on board too.
“Normally, we’ve noticed that the longer the crossing, the cheaper it’s per mile,” explains van Tilburg.
“For instance, crossings from Eire and the UK to Spain are comparatively low-cost when you think about the associated fee per mile. Equally, the crossing from Barcelona to Civitavecchia-Rome is without doubt one of the most cost-effective crossings per mile.”
By way of the worst-value crossings, the most costly per kilometre is the favored route from Barcelona to Palma, Mallorca. Masking simply 270 km and costing over €1,000, it really works out to a charge of €1.89 per individual, per kilometre. Up there with the costly journeys can also be Barcelona-Ibiza and the shortest route on the record, the six-hour hop from Rostock in Germany to Trelleborg in Sweden.
The Harwich to Hook of Holland ferry has seen the most important value enhance
Throughout the surveyed routes, some companies had largely remained at an identical value to 2024, however many didn’t. Almeria to Nador was the service with the most important fall in value, dropping 29 per cent to €586 this 12 months.
Travemunde-Helsinki and IJmuiden-Newcastle additionally dropped in value by round 20 per cent, whereas Hirtshals-Seydisfjordur and Bilbao-Rosslare are round 15 per cent cheaper this 12 months.
Of the routes the place value rises have been seen, essentially the most dramatic enhance is on the Harwich to Hoek van Holland service, the place costs are up nearly 60 per cent. From a value of beneath €400 final 12 months, this 12 months’s report places the fare at €620.
The Liverpool to Belfast ferry additionally elevated in value considerably, going from €500 to €768. Different routes had average rises of round 20 per cent, though van Tilburg famous that using dynamic pricing means costs should still go up.
Dynamic pricing is broadly utilized in transportation and works by growing the fares on explicit companies as extra of the seats promote out. January is a key month for ferry bookings, subsequently the costs quoted within the report might nicely change within the new 12 months, says van Tilburg.
“If you happen to’re travelling with a automotive, it’s finest to e-book early,” he notes. “Parking decks on ferries are likely to replenish rapidly because the season approaches, resulting in speedy value will increase. Reserving earlier than January also can make it easier to save – Stena Line, for instance, typically gives low cost codes.”
