How to cruise around Europe cheaply: Book a ferry instead. Photo / Getty Images
Looking for a cheap alternative to a European cruise? There are ferry rides across Europe that not only take you from A to B, but do it in style and with a lot of great views along the way, writes Ulrike Lemmin-Woolfrey
Europe is a great continent to explore by cruise. There are three seas, an ocean, and large rivers winding their way through historical cities. But cruises can be expensive, lengthy, and don’t allow you time to spend along the way in places you might want to linger a little. The good thing is so many waterways also means there are connections between main hubs by ferry, allowing you to hop on and off a ferry, at your leisure and even take your car, if you are on a road trip. You get that cruise feeling for a while, with plenty of great sights along the way and save money while you are at it.
READ MORE: Explore European cities on a Mediterranean cruise
Here are some of the most scenic ferry connections in Europe, from north to south.
Scotland is a rugged region and best explored either by car or by boat. It’s even better if you can use both to get into the nooks and crannies, as they say up there. With some 900 islands off the coast of Scotland, split into four main groups – the Inner and Outer Hebrides, Shetland and Orkney Isles – there are a lot of islands to choose from. But, because people need to connect with the mainland, most islands are connected with each other or with the mainland by ferry, making a plan-it-yourself cruise by ferry one of the best adventures to be had in this northern European country.
Not only do the ferries allow you to reach faraway isles in reasonable, if sometimes somewhat rough comfort, but also you get to see birds, seals and even whales along the way.
The overnight trip joining the Swedish capital of Stockholm with the Finnish capital of Helsinki can nearly count as a mini-cruise. Viking Line and Tallink Silja Line take the route between Stockholm and Finland, with an extra leg to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, if you so wish. The first leg is overnight and you can book a cabin with all the comforts, stop off in Helsinki for sightseeing, and then head across to Tallinn, a mere 2 hour, 45 minutes hop, a few days later.
The big ferries come with all the cruise comforts you may expect, such as restaurants and shops, but also with a sauna and more. Leaving Stockholm, manoeuvring through the Swedish archipelago is the most scenic stretch of the journey and the views as you arrive in Helsinki are also impressive.
For hardy travellers, taking the trip in winter is gorgeous. Don some warm clothing because the Baltic quite often freezes over, not enough to stop the ferries but enough to make for a spectacular journey.
River cruises on Europe’s large rivers are a popular holiday, especially along the Danube, which runs through several historic capital cities. But the cruises take time and come at a price. So, why not simply hop on a ferry from Vienna to Bratislava, the Slovakian capital? A mere one hour, 15 minutes down the river and you reach Bratislava. Not that cheap, at around €150 ($276), but you can bring a car.
There used to be a commuter ferry to Budapest but sadly the connection has stopped and been replaced with a tourist hydrofoil connecting Budapest and Vienna, offering a day’s sightseeing, a night’s stay, and return trip.
Short and sweet, this is a true local commuter trip, even if many tourists have by now cottoned on to the fact that this is also one of the most beautiful ways to connect some islands in the Venetian Lagoon. Take the Vaporetti 12 and 14, which leave from either San Zaccaria (near St Mark’s Basilica) or the Fondamente Nove, toward Burano, the picture-perfect island filled with colourful fishermen’s houses. Along the way, the boat stops at the glass-making island of Murano, and the islands of Mazzorbo and Torcello. At Murano, most tourists get off and you’ll be surrounded by locals who have gone shopping in Venice and are returning home.
The trip takes around 45 minutes, with the boats leaving every 20 minutes in either direction, and is admittedly short, but also the best way to enjoy Venice and some of its islands, other than using a touristy tour.
Want to cruise across the Mediterranean Sea from Barcelona to Mallorca in the Balearics? Then you have options. There is a fast connection, taking you across in a mere 3.5 hours, or, you can take it easy, and go overnight, with crossings taking up to 8.5 hours, allowing you to have dinner on board and sleep in a cabin. Depending on your schedule, using both options for a return trip might make for a good mix of cruise and ferry, and both companies allow you to bring the car. Once in Mallorca, you can connect, again by ferry, with the smaller Menorca or the party island of Ibiza.
Starting off in Cadiz in Andalucia, you can embark on a fabulous island cruise: After a roughly 36-hour ferry trip down to Gran Canaria, off the African coast, you can then spend days on each of the volcanic Canary Islands, connecting to each with a short ferry ride. Hop from Gran Canaria to Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Tenerife and onwards, with the individual islands a couple of hours from each other. For ease, you can take the car from Spain, allowing you the freedom to road trip across the islands, exploring remote corners. The ferries don’t necessarily have a daily schedule, requiring a little advance planning but there is the possibility to make this into a ferry cruise around the Canary Islands, and back to the mainland.
Maybe too short to count as a cruise alternative, but certainly one of the most scenic hops mentioned here, is the connection between Algeciras in southern Spain in Europe and Tangier, Morocco in Africa. The ferry takes you past the rock of Gibraltar, close enough to spot some monkeys, and then across the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean connecting continents and seas along a historic and unique route.
One way only takes 1.5 hours, making a day return utterly feasible, and you can turn this trip into a picture-perfect cruising day with lunch in Africa. Not something you can do anywhere else.
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