THE PALERMO TUNIS FERRY - BETTER THAN FLYING?
07 Jun 2023 || TUNISIA
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We were holed up in a hotel, somewhere in Saudi Arabia, mapping a route to Tunisia and feeling a little hopeless. Each option cost a fortune and was far from linear. Then, Nick turns to me, out of the blue: ‘fancy a week in Sicily?’.
Of course I do, what a silly question.
So, after catching one of our cheapest flights ever from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Catania, Sicily, we booked the Ferry from Palermo to Tunis. ‘What a great idea’ I thought – there are no decent flights anyway, plus the ferry is way more environmentally friendly. It’s also very welcoming from a price-point perspective too.
If you’re considering the Palermo Tunis Ferry route instead of a flight, here’s our breakdown of what it was like, how long it took, how much it cost and what the immigration process was like (hint: nightmares). Mostly, we’ll let you know if we think it was worth it enough to repeat the journey!
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REASONS TO CONSIDER THE PALERMO TUNIS FERRY
Here are some reasons we chose the Palermo Tunis Ferry over a flight from Sicily to Tunisia:
♦ The ferry from Palermo to Tunis is an obvious option, if like us, you’re low on cash. For the time period we were travelling, flights were astronomical (at least three times the price of the ferry).
♦ It’s always nicer to avoid flights wherever possible, especially considering environmental factors.
♦ We had a larger bag with camping gear in, which would have to be checked at an airport – the ferry has no baggage limits. (Things also have a habit of going missing out of checked baggage in Tunis – which actually happened to us on our departure flight).
♦ We thought it might be fun, especially since we hate aeroplanes.
♦ Our accommodation in Palermo was within walking distance of the ferry port whereas the airport was 40 minutes away by taxi or a 50-minute train journey from the nearest station.
BOOKING THE PALERMO TUNIS FERRY
We always book any ferries across the world through Direct Ferries. This website shows all the ferry companies that operate each route so you can compare prices. It’s always been easy, reliable and efficient for us.
⋅ Ferry Companies Operating Between Sicily and Tunisia ⋅
As of 2023 there are currently two ferry companies which operate between Sicily and Tunisia. These are Grandi Navi Veloci (GNV) and Grimaldi lines. They actually used to be the same company until 2009.
⋅ Palermo Tunis Ferry Cost ⋅
The cost of the ferry between Sicily and Tunisia depends on:
♦ The number of passengers
♦ Method of travel – car, bike or foot
♦ Pets
♦ The type of accommodation or seating chosen (rooms with outside views are at a premium).
♦ The season
When we booked our ferry there were only two room types still available (as well as open deck seating), so reserve tickets as early as possible if a specific type of room is necessary. Occasionally there are offers, so check alternative dates if travel times are flexible.
There is also a Tunisian port entry fee, paid at check-in on the day of departure. This costs €6.50 per person.
ONBOARD THE PALERMO TUNIS FERRY
The GNV ferry we took was a pretty standard European ferry, from our previous experiences. Here is everything you need to know about what it is like.
Announcements were made in Italian and Arabic throughout the journey, so mostly we had no idea what was going on! About 1.5 hours before disembarkation, someone knocks on your cabin door and asks you to wait in the common areas in preparation for exit.
⋅ Amenities on the Palermo Tunis Ferry ⋅
The ferry had a café/bar serving light snacks and hot/cold beverages, open for the entire journey. There was also a canteen style restaurant which sold salads, cold dishes and main dishes including pastas, grilled meat, fish and seafood (this food was a bit sad looking though).
In addition, there was a pizzeria restaurant onboard which sold pizzas as well as pasta dishes, gluten free options, burgers, grilled fish and steaks. There were two vending machines for drinks and snacks, though one was broken.
A gift-type shop selling a range of duty-free items, sweets and souvenirs was open. The downstairs bar and gelateria were closed for our particular trip (possibly due to the season – it was April).
There was a small children’s play area, tourist information centre and access to the deck where it is permitted to smoke.
The ferry does have (very slow) Wi-Fi, although only 15 minutes are complementary. After that, two hours is €5, four hours is €8 and eight hours is €15.
⋅ Food Costs on the Palermo Tunis Ferry ⋅
We brought a whole bunch of snacks with us that we picked up in Palermo on the assumption the ferry would extortionately expensive, however we were pleasantly surprised by the prices. The wine was particularly reasonable (the quality, however, was less so). All prices were in euros and they accept card and cash.
Prices for items in the main bar:
Small margarita pizzas – €5.20
Americano coffee – €2.00
Full bottles of wine – €10.40
Prices at the canteen bar:
Salads and cold plates – around €7.50
Pasta dishes – about €8.00
Grilled mains – between €8.30 – €10.90
Prices at the pizzeria:
Pizzas – between €10.50 – €12.00
Sharing platters – €16.50
Grilled steak or fish – €26.50
⋅ Cabins on the Palermo Tunis Ferry ⋅
If you want a bed for the journey rather than a seat, choose one of the many cabin options available. All cabin rooms have a bathroom. These include:
♦ Single berth rooms (in men or women only sections)
♦ Private double berth rooms
♦ Family rooms
♦ Shared four berth rooms (same sex and mixed options are available)
There are options to choose from cheaper, windowless rooms and pricier external rooms with windows. The GNV Palermo to Tunis ferry also has ‘luxury’ suite options which include more space, plus a sofa. All rooms have a compact but functional private bathroom with sink, shower and toilet as well as (sketchy, very loud) air conditioning. They have standard European plug sockets.
We chose to get an outside window room for our 12-hour journey. This decision was justified by saying we’d work better in a more comfortable environment. We failed.
Our room aboard the GNV Palermo Tunis ferry was small but functional. It wasn’t fantastically clean and the interior was dated, although it did have a small wall mounted television (only Italian channels though). There was a tiny fridge and a large window, though the view was obscured by a lifeboat and looked out on some very grey, English-like weather. The walls were also paper thin and we could clearly hear our Italian neighbours having a major domestic argument. Awkward.
All cabins had electronic key cards and seemed reasonably secure.
IMMIGRATION BETWEEN PALERMO AND TUNIS
As foot passengers, our experience of embarking/disembarking and immigration wasn’t great. Despite these ferries running regularly, year around, the process wasn’t as smooth or pleasant as the equivalent at the airport. It clearly favours passengers with cars. Here is what we had to do and where we had to go.
⋅ Embarking at Palermo as a Foot Passenger ⋅
Our GNV tickets said we should check in four hours before the Palermo ferry departure time and the website gave directions to the entrance of the port.
The Port in Palermo
The port of Palermo is located on the east side of the city and has multiple entrances with helpful, English-speaking guards to assist with directions. To get to the port, the 107 bus route passes alongside the port and runs between Stadio Fante and Palermo Centrale Train Station. Taking a taxi is another option but is expensive (also the traffic in Palermo can be monstrous – can confirm after driving around for hours looking for parking!). We chose to walk to the port from our hotel which was 10 minutes away.
Check-in for the GNV ferry is located at the Biglietteria GNV, a few minutes towards the north of the port of Palermo. At check-in, it is necessary to pay a Tunisian port entry fee which cost €6.50 each. You can pay by cash or card. Here, you can also buy tickets for the ferry.
Once checked-in (four hours early), you wait for the Palermo customs/immigration to open. There is no designated waiting area, so we were directed to sit by the side of the road (at 38.130045, 13.362155). There were no announcements that immigration was open, but eventually, maybe an hour later, we saw a crowd gathering nearby and headed towards it.
Be aware that if you are in a hurry or have loads of baggage, the GNV check-in is a bit of a walk from the port entrance. To check in, it didn’t seem that everyone in the party needed to be present (one of us waited outside).
Immigration in Palermo
Immigration involves three checkpoints after paying the Tunisia port entry fee at the GNV office. First, documents are checked, including passport, port tax payment and ferry ticket. Second, travellers are registered on the ferry itself and are ticked off a list. Passport control is the final step – expect a long wait with there is only one immigration officer (possibly due to season). There was no shade or cover from the sun or rain during this lengthy process.
After immigration stamp your passport, there is a small, covered outdoor area with no seating. This area has hot drink and snack vending machines, as well as a portacabin style toilet. The (very small) area is surrounded by a high chain-link fence, making it feel a bit like a prison yard (a prison yard might actually be larger and more humane).
We waited over an hour in the shaded cage, as it got fuller and fuller, before eventually being allowed to move towards the ferry. Staff checked the tickets and passports again, we were allowed onboard and directed upstairs to collect our room key.
Travelling during early April meant we had really comfortable weather. It wasn’t too warm or cold for us, but this entire experience would have been awful on a sweltering summer day, or cold damp day. It was surprisingly long, tedious and unnecessarily uncomfortable. We only travelled with backpacks and have no issues sitting on the floor, but if you have luggage, kids, bad knees or aversions to the floor, this would have been miserable.
⋅ Arriving in Tunis by Ferry ⋅
The Tunis ferry port is at La Goulette. On Google Maps, La Goulette Port is shown on the northern side of the channel, but the ferries arrive in on the south (the dotted routes are correct).
We arrived around 01:00, so it was dark. There are no visible signs of where to go when leaving the boat, so we followed other people (who seemed to know where they were going). Again, this part of the walk is uncovered so could be very warm, wet or cold. It also involves lots of slopes and might be quite tiring with large baggage.
There is no Wi-Fi at Goulette Port, so if you want to be immediately connected in Tunisia, use an e-sim. This is what we did and it worked perfectly – we used and recommend Airalo.
Immigration at Tunis
Tunisian passport control is not friendly, at all. We’d read online that Tunisian ferry passport control was far harsher than at Tunis airport, and unfortunately, everything we read was accurate. The passport officer spoke French (lucky Nick speaks a tiny bit) and asked for proof of an entire month’s hotel bookings (our whole stay), an exit flight, our occupation/profession and what our intentions were.
It wasn’t terrible (I’m aware that people with weaker passports would have it far harder than us), but it’s just a significant difference when compared to the airport. Our friend arrived in Tunis two weeks early by air and had to show absolutely no evidence for entry!
After passport control, baggage is passed through a scanning machine and people go through a metal detector. Then, everybody gets in a queue along a big metal table and security request you empty your entire bag and explain every item in it. If you’ve ever travelled with a perfectly packed, absolutely jammed backpack, you’ll understand how miserable this was!
Note – honestly, this process could seem quite invasive and frustrating as there were no privacy screens or rooms, just rows of people tiredly unzipping bags. Like, I was asked what my flip flop was – what am I supposed to say to that!? Nick had his underwear strewn across the metal table (I feel sorry for that guard tbh). We had all our electronics, like cameras and laptops, double checked and eventually were allowed to pass.
A Tunisian border guard then did a final check of our passports and asked for me to recite our itinerary, and then we were free – welcome to Tunisia!
From La Goulette Ferry Port to Tunis
There are several options for getting to central Tunis via taxi from the ferry port at La Goulette, depending on the time of arrival and how much baggage is involved.
Our choice – Bolt taxi. This app is like Uber and Grab, where you order a taxi online and track its progress. We used it several times and it was always good value, safe and efficient. You pay for trips in cash. Our journey cost 17 Tunisian dinar (TND) to the Lac area near the airport at about 02:30 in the morning. This is only possible if you arrive with a working sim card – consider an e-sim with Airalo.
If you do not have a functional sim card, there were many regular taxis waiting directly outside the port area. These taxis quoted us 30 TND for the same journey to Lac that cost 17 TND by Bolt.
WOULD WE TAKE THE PALERMO TUNIS FERRY AGAIN?
Yes, we would take the Palermo Tunis Ferry again, with certain caveats.
♦ With awkward or extremely heavy baggage, we’d consider a flight. It would just be pretty horrendous lugging it about – there’s a fair amount of walking from beginning in Palermo to ending in Tunis.
♦ It is not ideal for anyone with mild physical limitations. I’m sure the ferry company will make concessions if you have recognised physical disabilities, but if you have an undocumented bad knee, foot or back, it might be very uncomfortable.
♦ Depending on the weather, I’d personally consider taking a flight! During summer, out on the ferry deck, my imagination tells me the journey would be beautiful, but in reality, if it was super-hot, rainy or cold, it might be awful.
♦ We love sitting on the floor (no joke), but if you hate it, prepare for hours of standing instead.
♦ Travelling this route with kids might be exhausting (we’re guessing here, we don’t have any). The cabins are decent enough, but the process of getting kids to them and all the waiting around before and after the ferry might be more hassle than it is worth! It’s also a very long day for little children.
♦ Go prepared to have all stuff searched in public – if you are not so keen, maybe skip this route.
♦ We are cheap. Most of the time, we’ll take the most affordable option, even if it is longer! We think this route is excellent value for money, if that is your priority.
♦ If you are picking up a car at the airport (like we were), then the ferry port is obviously a less convenient location to arrive in!
