I have spent hours and hours reading through reviews, questions, and recommendations on slowtrav.com and offer big "thanks" to all the enthusiastic travelers who have posted their questions and answers here. It has been of tremendous help. THANK YOU!
My husband and I will be traveling for six weeks this fall and have thus far managed to book our flights and secured apartments in Rome, Venice, and Nice(10, 6, 6 ni). We will travel by train on the first two legs and hope to change our mode of transport at this point.
We think it would be a nice change to take a ferry boat from the Cote d' Azur. We could leave from Cannes, Nice, or Monte Carlo. We'd want to reach Pisa as our next point for stay but La Spezia and Genoa both offer connections back to train travel should the Piza Marine not be an option.
We have been unable to locate any information or even a website (in English) offering options. Does anyone know if this is possible? Do the ferries operation year round or summers only? Considering my map, it could be an overnight trip. We also plan to take the "slow ferry" to/from Capri out of Sorrento or Positano.
Any assistance and suggestions you all might offer would be most appreciated. Thank you.
Best regards,
Carouselgirl
Posts: 56 | Location: Georgia, USA | Registered: 10 May 2008
I did a little bit of looking around and found this useful interactive map which shows the ferry routes in Europe. It does not look like it is possible to go directly from France to Italy without stopping on Corsica (Bastia). Hover your mouse over the different French and Italian ports and you can see the routes.
I suspect it will be two different ferry carriers so you would have to get from one to the other. I did not check to see if all of the companies sail in October or if they are daily.
But this might get you started on your options if you want to continue looking at ferry.
I'm glad the site it helped. I think your idea was good but unfortunately there were no options from France. I did see that there was a ferry from Barcelona. Maybe on a future trip, you can do Spain to Italy.
Indeed I have sailed from Barcelona (I LOVE that city!) to Majorca on a fast ferry! Itspeed over/on the water surprised me! I couldn't focus on the interior of the vessel until we were miles away from the shore. It was a very good experience. The terminal was calm, the ferry uncrowded and comfortable, passengers were civil, and the entire ride was pleasant and relaxing. (opposite of airports/airplanes)
Although the Cote d' Azur leg cannot be on the water, we hope to manage a ride on a slow ferry to/from Capri. Imagine arriving in a beautiful port with boats bobbing in the water, birds flying about, wind blowing across the water as working vessels come and go around the port with a lovely town built up the cliffs framing all this for your viewing pleasure.....! It is somehow surreal considering it is very much the same approach as has been taken by sailors for hundreds of years and many of the things before your eyes are the same or similar as would have appeared to a sailor 100+, 200+ years ago. I must find a way to include several of these rides into this trip.
This brings me to my next question regarding the website. I'm stumped!
Each time I attempt to get "detailed booking" information the website reply is
"No sailings on this date".
No matter the date I insert for inquiry two weeks from now or two months. Maybe the ferry website is down?
Perhaps it cannot be managed so far out? As I recall, in Barcelona we decided only a few days before departure to take the ferry and merely walked to the port office and got the tickets. Suppose that is the way I should plan to do this? Where can I find out if that would be appropriate. I'd really hate to miss the ferry rides because I didn't reserve us a place.
Any other ideas?
I continue in the morning!
Carouselgirl
Posts: 56 | Location: Georgia, USA | Registered: 10 May 2008
Marina Grande(main port) Capri town, Anacapri, ( Villa Jovis, of course. perhaps: Marina Piccola and Grotta Azzurra)
This afternoon located the transport link on the website. It's quite detailed with schedule dates. Hopefully, I can follow this through with some success.
Did you take the ferry? Where did you depart from? Was it a fast or slow? Did you stay in a hotel or apartment? Did you need a car or was a bus/jittney service available for getting around?
Your name has become familiar throughout my research/reading on SLOWTRAV.COM. Your thoughts would be much appreciated. Thank you!
With southern smiles,
carouselgirl
Posts: 56 | Location: Georgia, USA | Registered: 10 May 2008
We took the hydrofoil from Naples Beverello port. There are 3 companies that service Capri: Jet, Alilauro, and ?SNAV?. It was fast. Non-residents are not allowed to bring cars onto Capri. There did not seem to be apartments to rent on Capri. We stayed at his Hotel in Anacapri: Il Girasole it was 88 euros a night in May. http://www.capri.com/en/c/il-girasole Yo can easily get around Capri on the buses. There are 5 main bus routes and maybe a couple of smaller ones. You can walk whererver the bus doesn't go. You can buy all day bus apsses to decrease transport costs.
Posts: 3641 | Location: St Paul, MN | Registered: 10 February 2006
I am so excited about the trip...some days my anxiety is greater than my excitement but as our plans come together hopefully the anx will give way to the excited anticipation!
Again, thanks for your assistance.
Carouselgirl
Posts: 56 | Location: Georgia, USA | Registered: 10 May 2008
Slow Travel Talk 
