Page 266 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

service is operated by Caronte, which has two ticket kiosks en route to the port; the

second one, past the railway, can be a bit of a scramble, with nowhere to park. The
FS/Bluvia ticket office lies across the square from here, with plenty of parking
space. Tickets are €37 for a car one-way, or a day-return including three
passengers; returns valid for 90 days cost €73 (including three passengers), three-
day returns €42 (including three passengers). The queue for boarding involves an

average wait of around 15min – even in the peak times of August and rush hour, it’s
rarely more than 25min.

Travelling by train, you might want to stay on it if you’re crossing at night (though
you’ll probably be woken by the clanking din as the train is loaded onto the Bluvia
ferry), but by day it’s quicker to leave the train at Villa San Giovanni station and
skip the shuttling operation, boarding an earlier ferry by foot. In this case, follow the

signs from the platform and descend to sea level, where there are ticket offices for
Bluvia ferries (one-way tickets €1.50) and Metromare hydrofoils (€2.50). Overhead
signs tell you which bay leads to the first departure, or follow everyone else. There
are enough Bluvia ferries (1–2 an hour) to make it unnecessary to walk the 500m to
the Caronte ferries; hydrofoil departures are roughly hourly (Sat & Sun 4–5 daily).

Journey time for crossings is 20–40min on Bluvia and Caronte ferries; hydrofoils

take 20min. On ferries, a bar on board serves snacks (including some good
arancini), coffee and refreshments. Drivers might as well leave their vehicles,
though look sharp as the ferry approaches Messina, as disembarkation is a rushed
affair (and a suitable introduction to driving in Messina).

TRAVELLING FROM REGGIO DI CALABRIA

From Reggio di Calabria to Messina, there are hydrofoil services from the port, a
couple of hundred metres back from Reggio Lido station, operated two or three

times daily by Ustica Lines ( 346 011 6552, usticalines.it) and roughly hourly
(Sat & Sun 5 daily) by Metromare, taking about 15min and 30min respectively.
Tickets cost €3.50. Meridiano Lines ( 0965 810 414, meridianolines.it) runs a
car ferry service from Reggio di Calabria to Messina, departing on Saturday only.
The crossing takes 40min and tickets, costing just €15 per car including passengers,

can be bought before departure from the kiosk at the port.

BY HYDROFOIL

Arrivals and tickets Hydrofoils (from the Aeolian Islands, Villa San Giovanni and
Reggio di Calabria) dock at the terminal in the port area signposted “aliscafi”. If
you’re driving, follow the signposts from the autostrada. There is one hydrofoil daily

to Reggio di Calabria and the Aeolian Islands throughout the year, and several daily in