Ferries from Patras

The port moved. Since 2011 every ferry to Italy has used the South Port, about 4 km south of the city centre, and the old harbour beside the town is being turned into an urban park. Anyone navigating from an older guide, or from memory of a trip before that, walks to the wrong place.

Where you actually go

The South Port — also called the New Port — handles all the Italian sailings. It is a purpose-built vehicle terminal south of the centre, laid out for the freight traffic that dominates this corridor.

The old port, immediately beside the city, no longer takes the Italy ferries. A tender for cruise operations there is planned to complete in 2026, and the wider area is earmarked for a park with recreation, sport and cultural uses.

⚠ Four kilometres is a taxi, not a walk

With luggage, and on a corridor where check-in follows freight discipline, the transfer from the city to the South Port needs to be part of the plan rather than an afterthought.

Allow for it on top of the operator's check-in requirement, not inside it.

What sails

Our timetable holds 30 active sailings. Ancona carries 9 at about 23 hours, Bari is the shorter southern option, and Cephalonia provides the local Ionian link.

Why the Ancona crossing takes twenty-three hours — and how boarding at Igoumenitsa instead saves seven and a half of them — is worked out on the Patras guide.

The wider plan

Greece's Council of State approved the port's master plan, ending a long period of legal uncertainty and opening the way for investment across logistics, energy and tourism. In practice that means both harbours are building sites in different senses over the next few years.

Season

The Italian routes run all year because freight uses them. Passenger frequency peaks June to September, and the crossings out of Greece in the last week of August are the hardest on the corridor to book.