As the end of the year approaches, thoughts begin to turn to plans for next summer and a welcome getaway to another country. Travelling by ferry is a popular option, with the European ferry sector transporting some 794 million passengers a year.

Ferry route-finding site FerryGoGo has crunched the numbers to find out what we could be paying for our ferry trips in 2025. On average, a crossing with two people and a car in the high season will set travellers back €1,017, slightly less than the €1,097 evaluated in 2024.

Part of this is down to the inclusion of eight new routes in the study this year, some of which are shorter and therefore cheaper. Co-founder of FerryGoGo, Jan Willem van Tilburg, noted that, although the overall average cost has reduced, value for money is getting worse.

He tells Euronews Travel, “The price per mile has increased by seven cents per mile, likely due to inflation and the inclusion of shorter routes. For instance, routes such as Portsmouth to Caen and Portsmouth to Jersey are cheaper overall because they cover fewer miles, but they are less efficient and therefore more expensive per mile. A similar pattern is seen with routes like Barcelona to the Balearic Islands.”

What are the most expensive ferry crossing in Europe?

According to the study, the most expensive ferry crossing in Europe in 2025 is from Denmark to Iceland. Priced at €2,222 for two people, a cabin and a car on a round-trip itinerary in high season.

Sailing just once per week, Smyril line sails the M/S Norrona from the Danish fishing town of Hirtshals, passing the Shetland Islands and docking briefly in Torshavn on the Faroe Islands. The final leg sees the ship arriving in the small Icelandic town of Seydisfjordur a whole 66 hours after leaving Denmark.

Onboard are the usual ferry amenities, such as cinemas, a children’s playroom and a gym. In addition, the Norrona offers an indoor pool, open deck hot tubs and a football pitch, as well as a multitude of decent restaurants to choose from.

Although the cost for this crossing is still the highest in Europe, on a per kilometre basis, it’s actually very good value. FerryGoGo pointed out that, per hour, this mini-cruise costs under €17 per person, or €0.73 per kilometre.

Compared to 2024, the cost of the Hirtshals-Seydisfjordur crossing has decreased by 19.7 per cent – down €546 from this year’s price of €2,768.

The best and worst value ferry crossings in 2025

In terms of bang for your buck, the best value to be had for the distance travelled is the 854 km route from Barcelona to Rome. Costing €755 return for two and a car, it works out at just €0.44 per kilometre.

Other crossings that come in at great value, all under €0.70 per kilometre, include the 40-hour trip from Sete in southern France to Nador in Morocco, Germany’s Travemunde to Helsinki and Bilbao in France to Rosslare in Ireland. All three of those crossings are over 1,000 kilometres long, requiring one, maybe two nights on board too.

“In general, we’ve observed that the longer the crossing, the cheaper it is per mile,” explains van Tilburg.

“For example, crossings from Ireland and the UK to Spain are relatively cheap when you consider the cost per mile. Similarly, the crossing from Barcelona to Civitavecchia-Rome is one of the most cost-effective crossings per mile.”

In terms of the worst-value crossings, the most expensive per kilometre is the popular route from Barcelona to Palma, Mallorca. Covering just 270 km and costing over €1,000, it works out to a fee of €1.89 per person, per kilometre. Up there with the expensive trips is also Barcelona-Ibiza and the shortest route on the list, the six-hour hop from Rostock in Germany to Trelleborg in Sweden.

The Harwich to Hook of Holland ferry has seen the biggest price increase

Across the surveyed routes, some services had largely remained at a similar price to 2024, but many did not. Almeria to Nador was the service with the biggest fall in price, dropping 29 per cent to €586 this year.

Travemunde-Helsinki and IJmuiden-Newcastle also dropped in price by around 20 per cent, while Hirtshals-Seydisfjordur and Bilbao-Rosslare are around 15 per cent cheaper this year.

Of the routes where price rises have been seen, the most dramatic increase is on the Harwich to Hoek van Holland service, where prices are up almost 60 per cent. From a cost of under €400 last year, this year’s report puts the fare at €620.

The Liverpool to Belfast ferry also increased in price substantially, going from €500 to €768. Other routes had moderate rises of around 20 per cent, although van Tilburg noted that the use of dynamic pricing means prices may still go up.

Dynamic pricing is widely used in transportation and works by increasing the fares on particular services as more of the seats sell out. January is a key month for ferry bookings, therefore the prices quoted in the report could well change in the new year, says van Tilburg.

“If you’re travelling with a car, it’s best to book early,” he notes. “Parking decks on ferries tend to fill up quickly as the season approaches, leading to rapid price increases. Booking before January can also help you save – Stena Line, for example, often offers discount codes.”

A wave of vandalism struck two popular beaches in Los Cristianos, Tenerife, last week. More than 230 sunbeds were defaced and sprayed with anti-tourism graffiti such as “Canarias se defiende” (The Canary Islands defend themselves) and “Canarias no se vende” (The Canary Islands are not for sale).

Discovered in the early hours of Thursday morning, 5 December, sunbeds on both Las Vistas and El Camison beaches were damaged by several unknown individuals in what Arona City Council describes as a ‘coordinated attack’.

Las Vistas suffered the destruction of 100 sun loungers and El Camison 136, while a nearby shopping centre was also daubed in graffiti.

A video shared online in the days after shows vandals slashing sunbeds with a knife. Canarian Weekly reports that the damages are estimated at €5,000.

“We are against all types of vandalism and the lack of civility of some people who attack Arona’s heritage, which causes serious harm to both residents and visitors,” said Mayor Fátima Lemes in a statement. She reiterated that such violations are punishable by law and appealed to citizens for help in identifying the perpetrators.

The latest in a wave of anti-tourism protests

The Canary Islands have become a hotspot for anti-tourism sentiment. In April, tens of thousands of protestors took to the streets in the archipelago, demanding limits on what they see as uncontrolled development harming the environment and people’s way of life. Some activists went on a hunger strike in Tenerife in an attempt to halt the construction of a new hotel and beach resort.

Demonstrations spread to many of Spain’s popular tourist destinations, including the Balearic Islands, Alicante, various cities on the south coast and Barcelona. In most instances, protests were peaceful, although there were some reports of foreigners being squirted with water pistols and shouted at to ‘go home’.

However, some activities have been more concerning. In July, apartments in Seville had lock boxes smeared with faeces amid demand for an end to Airbnb licenses. In October, anti-tourism protestors waving flags and banging drums stormed the beach in Playa de las Americas, Tenerife, crowding around sunbathing visitors in an attempt to intimidate them.

There has been an attempt to defuse the situation in many cities and regions. In Barcelona, for instance, short-term tourist apartments will be banned from 2028. Palma de Mallorca is capping the number of cruise liners that can dock at the port, and Tenerife has introduced a limit on the number of visitors to some of its national parks.

Why the Spanish are unhappy with tourism

Protestors who have been approached by the media stress that they’re not against the tourism industry per se. Tourism provides more than a third of the Canaries’ economic input and 40 per cent of its jobs, so the locals understand the value of visitors.

Activist Daniel Cabrera told the Standard, “We want tourism. What we do not want is over-exploitation and garbage tourism that does not benefit the local economy.” He further explained that 75 per cent of the money from island hotels and other businesses ends up outside Spain, adding, “That can’t be tolerated.”

The problem lies in what local people consider to be an unchecked expansion of tourism in the country. They say this is leading to rising housing costs, environmental issues and strain on public services.

According to the National Statistics Institute (INE), 34 per cent of Canary Islanders were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2023, the highest figure in Spain after Andalucia.

But not all locals feel the same way. Augusto Ferreira, a restaurant owner in the Canaries, organised one counter-protest called ‘Lanzarote Loves Tourism’, in an effort to highlight the importance of tourism to the islands’ economy.

The Spanish National Statistics Institute reported a 10.3 per cent year-on-year increase in visits to the Canary Islands, with 14 million international tourists arriving in 2023. Those millions, in turn, brought a record-breaking 20 billion euros to the islands.

After numerous delays and setbacks, the EU’s long-awaited Entry/Exit System (EES) may soon be rolling out at a border near you.

On 4 December, the European Commission (EC) proposed a progressive start of operations for the EES, Europe’s new digital border system for non-EU nationals.

Once the proposal has been approved and the EC has set a start date, member states will have six months to deploy it.

Yesterday, the EU’s official EES website confirmed the system will begin in 2025, though no exact date was given. Meaning that nearly nine years after the EES was proposed, it might finally happen.

Here’s what you need to know about how Americans, Brits and other non-EU countries will cross borders into the bloc

What is the EES?

The Entry/Exit System will be an automated registration system for UK and other non-EU travellers who don’t require avisa to enter the EU.

Travellers will need to scan theirpassports or other travel document at a self-service kiosk each time they cross an EU external border. It will not apply to legal EU citizens or residents or those with long-stay visas.

The system will register the traveller’s name, biometric data, and the date and place of entry and exit.Facial scans and fingerprint data will be taken every three years and are valid for multiple trips within that period.

Why is the EES being implemented and in which countries?

The EES will apply to non-EU citizens – including UK nationals – who come to the bloc for visits, holidays or business and stay for up to 90 days within a 180-day period.

EU officials say the system is being introduced to bolster border security and identify travellers who overstay their permitted time in the Schengen Area (90 days within a 180 day period).

“With the EES, we will know exactly who enters the Schengen Area with a foreign passport,” Ylva Johannson, the EU’s former home affairs commissioner, said in an August speech at eu-LISA, the agency overseeing Europe’s large-scale IT systems.

It will apply when entering all EU member states, apart fromCyprus and Ireland, as well as four non-EU countries in the Schengen Area:Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

The EES has faced delay after delay

At eu-LISA in August, Johansson declared that the EES would be ready to launch before her five-year tenure would end in November.

“The moment is finally here,” she said. “There may have been times you believed it [would] never happen. But it is going to happen. Everything is coming together.”

But two months later, Johansson announced that the system’s 10 November launch date would be delayed again. It marked the fourth time the rollout had been pushed back.

Johansson noted that France, Germany and the Netherlands – countries that collectively receive more than 100 million tourists per year – told the EC they were not ready to implement the system, voicing concerns about a lack of practical testing.

Previous delays have been blamed on IT issues and the installation of new automated barriers required at all international land, maritime and air borders in the Schengen Area. Some airports reported having to reinforce their floors to accommodate the heavy new scanners.

What entering the Schengen Area will look like in the years ahead

While an official launch date has yet to be announced, there was never any question of whether the EES would eventually happen.

The gradual approach appears to give the participating nations more flexibility to fine-tune their technology and navigate unexpected issues.

The goal, according to the EC, is to have the new system working at 10 per cent of border crossings in every member state on day one. During this soft launch period, travellers’ passports will continue to be stamped, as well as electronically recorded.

After six months, the EC expects the EES to be fully operational.

Another six months after the EES is up and running, travellers will also need to apply for the European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS), a visa-waiver programme for travellers between the ages of 16 and 70.

The ETIAS will cost €7 and be valid for three years.

While an app designed to streamline entry and exit from Europe is also in development, its ability to capture required biometric data such as fingerprints remains unclear.