Driving to Corfu
For most, the journey really starts in France - either
Calais (Eurotunnel / Ferry) or Dunkirk (Ferry). It is also possible to
get an overnight ferry down from the north of England to the Netherlands, although
this can be affected by bad weather in the North Sea (as can the Dover
ferries of course!) at the time of year when we travel. There are additional options if you travel from the
south west of England, but these are not covered here as we have not used
these services. After a four hour delay for bad weather in the
first year we drove, we now use only EuroTunnel after driving down from
Manchester.
There are three primary routes thereafter that we have used - France / Switzerland / Italy,
France / Belgium / Germany / Austria / Italy and France / Italy
Although it is feasible to do most of the journey overland
(by travelling down through Slovenia, Croatia, etc., -- see below for more thoughts
on this), most people who drive
will take the ferry from one of the main Italian ports - Venice, Ancona,
Bari or Brindisi. That said, an increasing number of people are doing the
overland route as ferry prices increase and timekeeping gets poorer. The
ferry companies have changed their routes several times recently so,
particularly outside of the July / August period, the ferries no longer stop
at Corfu and you therefore need to use Igoumenitsa on the Greek mainland
(which has plentiful connections to Corfu). Which Italian port you use
will often depend on how the sailing and arrival times "work" for you. You need to
bear in mind that advertised arrival times are actually the time that the
ferry should reach the outer walls of the port and are not the docking time.
It can also take several hours to get off the ferry and clear the dockyard
after docking (particularly at busy times in the summer), so you need to take this in to account when planning your
onward journey.
We used
Venice for a number of years until we were held outside the Grand Canal for
eleven hours in November 2011 due to fog (two weeks later there was a thirty
six hour delay) - we subsequently used Ancona which only adds around 170Km to our road
journey but does not suffer the same sort of delays, and the sailing time is
also quite a bit shorter although in 2021 one of the shipping companies
started using smaller / slower ferries and the journey times have been extended by 3-4
hours (from 16 to 20 hours). The crossing from Bari is normally around 9-10 hours.
Since we last used the Venice route, the port has changed
such that the ferries no longer have to use the Grand Canal and now dock on
the mainland, which in theory makes the driving process easier as it will no
longer require a drive across the Causeway from the mainland in to Venice.
However, in our view the shorter journey time on the Igoumenitsa / Ancona
route still makes Ancona our favoured port.
It is also possible to
drive down through Italy to pick up a ferry in Bari or Brindisi - these
ferry routes are much shorter (and cheaper). We used Bari for
the first time in October 2021 as an experiment travelling from Igoumenitsa
(more details can be found
on the "Drive to England" page), and again in January 2022 (travelling to
Igoumenitsa).
The impact of the UK leaving the European Union when travelling in to
France from the UK appears to have had minimal impact other than limits on
Duty Free and also possible import taxes on items you carry. Neither
of these were an issue to us when we travelled in January 2022.
Once in France there
were no changes to regulations, although the entry in to /
departure from Switzerland (if using that route) has not, as far as we are
aware, been documented yet.
Security checks at
the Italian ports have increased
substantially over the last few years - cars can be directed to a "security" area when
entering the dockyard (after check-in) and you are asked to take luggage from
the car in to a
building for security screening (much like airport screening). We pack most
things in a number of clear plastic boxes and to date we have only had to
remove suitcases / wheelies from the car for security checks. It is
perhaps advisable though to ensure that as much as possible is packed in to
boxes / cases to make the transfer to the security building as straightforward
as possible as you get no assistance unloading / reloading the car nor in taking
the cases / boxes to the scanning machines (there are no trollies either!) based
on our experiences in Ancona.
Our "Swiss" route to Corfu is normally:
-
Day 1 - Manchester to Eurotunnel, and then an overnight stay near Calais
/ Dunkirk.
We prefer to get over the channel on day one as you "loose" an hour
because of the time difference and we find it better to start driving in
France on day two around 07:00 rather than nearer 09:00 which can be the
case if you cross the channel on the morning of day two!. Check-in
times at EuroTunnel have now been extended so, again, a late afternoon
crossing gets you through any delays (including security / border
controls) and gives you a "clean" start on day two;
-
Day 2 - Calais / Dunkirk to the France / Switzerland border
(Colmar or Mulhouse), following a route through France, Belgium,
Luxemburg (cheap petrol!), France and then into Switzerland. This
is not the most direct route but avoids the majority of French Tolls
while adding under 130Km to the route, and gives the opportunity to fill
up with cheaper petrol - around EUR 0.30 per litre difference. We
normally undertake this part of the drive on a Sunday;
-
Day 3 - Mulhouse / Colmar to around / just south of the
Imola area in Italy, which leaves around 2 hours drive on Day 4;
-
Day 4 - Imola to Ancona for a c14:00 sailing to Igoumenitsa - check-in is supposed to be completed by 12:00.
In the event of a scheduled later sailing time, we spend the night of
Day 3 further north in Italy to leave around a four hour drive on Day 4;
-
Day 5 - Arrive Igoumenitsa around 09:00 and then get the
local ferry to Corfu.
In terms of mileage, Day 1 is around 500Km while days 2 and
3 are around 750Km and 600Km respectively, and day 4 around 250Km. In
March 2017 (the last time we used this route) the tolls were EUR13.40 (in France) and EUR34.60
(Italy) with EUR37 for the Swiss Vignette (which is valid for the whole
calendar year).
Our "Germany" route to Corfu is:
-
Day 1 - Manchester to Eurotunnel, and then an overnight stay near
Mons;
-
Day 2 - Mons to just north of the Germany / Austria border (Kempten
area), via Luxemburg.
This again avoids the majority of French Tolls, and gives the
opportunity to fill up with cheaper petrol - around EUR 0.30 per litre
difference. We normally try to undertake this part of the drive on a
Sunday;
-
Day 3 - Kempten, Germany to Italy (Bologna area);
-
Day 4 - Bologna to Ancona for a c14:00 sailing to
Igoumenitsa - check-in is supposed to be completed by 12:00. In the
event of a scheduled later sailing time, we spend the night of Day 3
further north in Italy to leave around a four hour drive on Day 4;
-
Day 5 - Arrive Igoumenitsa around 09:00 (on the 14:00 departure) and then get the
local ferry to Corfu.
In March 2023, tolls were EUR11.00 (Austria) and EUR40.50
(Italy) with EUR9.80 for the Austrian vignette (valid for ten days).
Our "France / Italy" route to Corfu in 2022:
-
Day 1 - Manchester to Eurotunnel and then an overnight stay near Laon
(appx Km200 south of Calais);
-
Day 2 - Laon to Bardonecchia (N Italy), via the Frejus Tunnel (NB. the
tunnel area normally has mandatory snow chains and winter / all-season tyres from
mid-October);
-
Day 3 - Bardonecchia to a hotel in the Ancona area;
-
Day 4 - Ancona to Bari (for a 19:30 sailing).
Certain elements of this drive were the result of the Covid testing rules in
various countries. In January 2022, tolls were EUR95 (France) and EUR91
(Italy), while
the cost of the Frejus Tunnel was EUR48.
The Austrian and Swiss Vignettes (2023: EUR9.80 and EUR42.00 respectively) can be bought at most service stations before the
borders, or, for the Swiss Vignette, actually at the border (although there
can occasionally be a queue for this). Austria has now introduced an e-vignette option which
means there is no paper to stick to the windscreen, but it must be bought
around 18 days in advance of your planned journey (to meet Austrian consumer
related legislation) - be aware that there are a number of scam websites
selling the vignette at twice the correct price!. Using the legitimate Austrian
website also gives the option to purchase a Brenner Pass toll voucher (2023:
EUR11.00) which allows you to drive straight through the toll gates on that
stretch of road. Switzerland also introduced the e-vignette option in
August 2023, although it remains only possible to buy an annual vignette.
Other Routes
The main routes we use have been indicated above, but there are others!. Prior to country borders being closed as part of the Covid pandemic
during 2020,
we did look at a number of other options.
These involve driving all the way to Greece via different land routes rather than
using a ferry from Italy. After travelling through Germany and
Austria, there are several possible routes from Austria down to mainland
Greece, and the choice largely depends on your thoughts in respect of
leaving the EU and / or Schengen Zone for part of the drive, or if you are
travelling with animals. If you prefer to stay within the
EU / Schengen Zone and thus (in normal circumstances) avoid, or minimise, stops / searches / passport
display at borders, then it is necessary to leave Austria near Vienna / Wien
and travel through Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria in to mainland Greece near
Thessaloniki.
Shorter routes which take you out of the EU include those that take you down
through Serbia, Kosova and Northern Macedonia or through even more countries
and down through Albania. The route from Thessaloniki to Igoumenitsa is
along a motorway with a couple of tolls.
Whichever route you take, it is worth
checking on vignette requirements as, for some countries, they must be
purchased in advance (viz. they cannot be bought at the border) - several countries only have e-vignettes.