Ferries in Sicily: A Complete Guide

Sicily is a wonderful place where to go on holiday! And there are many guides on Sicily to help you plan an enjoyable trip. This guide of ferries in Sicily is a resource to help you plan your trip more easily. Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean, consequently there are many ferries servicing the island.

Sicily has 36 ferry routes that travel to various destinations. 7 of the ferries travel to mainland Italy and 27 to other Italian islands close to Sicily. There are also 2 that travel to international destinations, being Malta and Tunisia.

All the information on this page is as of May 2023 so costs and routes could change in the future. The handy thing is that you can book any of the ferries using one platform – Direct Ferries.

Ferries To and From the Italian Mainland

There are 7 ferries serving Sicily from mainland Italy, usually on a daily basis. They are travel from:

1. Rome (Civitavecchia) to Palermo
2. Genoa to Palermo
3. Livorno to Palermo
4. Naples to Palermo and Milazzo
5. Salerno to Palermo and Messina
6. Reggio Calabria to Messina
7. Villa San Giovanni to Messina

You can get more information about the mainland ferries and international ferries to Sicily from: getting to Sicily.

International Ferries to Sicily

There are 2 international ferries that travel to and from Sicily:

1. Valletta, Malta to Pozzallo
2. Tunis, Tunisia to Palermo

Ferries to Other Italian Islands

Some destinations are serviced by more than 1 ferry company and ferry model and some have fast ferries. So although the route is the same some journeys times vary. In fact you will notice that some routes have a range for the trip duration for this reason.   

Departure	Arrival	Trip Duration
Marsala	Favignana, Aegadian Islands	30m
Marsala	Levanzo, Aegadian Islands	50m
Marsala	Marettimo, Aegadian Islands	1h 30m
Messina	Lipari, Aeolian Islands	2h 25m – 3h 15m
Messina	Panarea, Aeolian Islands	2h 25m – 2h 40m
Messina	Rinella, Aeolian Islands	3h 05m – 4h 55m
Messina	Salina, Aeolian Islands	2h 55m – 3h 05m
Messina	Stromboli, Aeolian Islands	1h 50m
Messina	Vulcano, Aeolian Islands	1h 30m – 2h 10m
Milazzo	Alicudi, Aeolian Islands	2h 40m – 6h 05m
Milazzo	Filicudi, Aeolian Islands	2h 10m – 2h 55m
Milazzo	Ginostra (Stromboli), Aeolian Islands	1h 25m – 6h 05m
Milazzo	Lipari, Aeolian Islands	1hr 5m – 3h 45m
Milazzo	Panarea, Aeolian Islands	1h 25m – 2h 40m
Milazzo	Rinella, Aeolian Islands	1h 40m – 2h 25m
Milazzo	Salina, Aeolian Islands	1h 40m – 3h
Milazzo	Stromboli, Aeolian Islands	2h – 7h 55m
Milazzo	Vulcano, Aeolian Islands	50m – 1h 50m
Palermo	Alicudi, Aeolian Islands	2h
Palermo	Cagliari, Sardinia	12h
Palermo	Filicudi, Aeolian Islands	2h 30m
Palermo	Lipari, Aeolian Islands	3h 45m
Palermo	Milazzo	5h
Palermo	Rinella, Aeolian Islands	3h
Palermo	Salina, Aeolian Islands	3h 15m
Palermo	Ustica Island	1h 30m – 3h
Palermo	Vulcano, Aeolian Islands	4h

Ferry Port Locations

Ferry Costs and Booking

In general the shorter the duration of the trip, the less expensive it will be. However fast ferries usually are more expensive. This is for the convenience of providing a quicker journey that will save you time.

Hence for some routes listed below you will see a cost range. However this is not just because some routes offer fast ferries alongside the normal ones. Some ferries are cheaper because of the day they travel and also the ferry companies charge differently.

The rates below are quoted on a per person basis. You can also drive a car onto most of them, but you will need to pay extra for the car. The cost is usually around €300 extra in this case.  

As I mentioned before, you can book any of these ferries using Direct Ferries.

Trip	Cost with Return
Marsala to Favignana	€22
Marsala to Levanzo	€21
Marsala to Marettimo	€33
Messina to Lipari	€57
Messina to Panarea	€59
Messina to Rinella	€63
Messina to Salina	€63
Messina to Stromboli	€57
Messina to Vulcano	€61
Milazzo to Alicudi	€54-€72
Milazzo to Filicudi	€48-€59
Milazzo to Ginostra (Stromboli)	€47-57
Milazzo to Lipari	€35-€100
Milazzo to Panarea	€39-€44
Milazzo to Rinella	€40-€48
Milazzo to Salina	€40-€44
Milazzo to Stromboli	€45-€51
Milazzo to Vulcano	€38-€41
Palermo to Alicudi	€68
Palermo to Cagliari, Sardinia	€92
Palermo to Filicudi	€83
Palermo to Lipari	€100
Palermo to Milazzo	€110
Palermo to Rinella	€92
Palermo to Salina	€97
Palermo to Ustica Island	€46-€61
Palermo to Vulcano	€98