Ferry between Bonifacio and Santa Teresa Gallura

The shortest international sea crossing in the Mediterranean

Santa Teresa Gallura, on Sardinia’s northern tip, sits just 12km from Bonifacio, the citadel town on the southern end of Corsica. That gap is the Strait of Bonifacio, and it’s crossed in under an hour by two competing ferry operators, which makes this one of the easiest ways anywhere in Europe to add a second country to a Sardinia trip without touching an airport. It’s a genuinely different experience from the island-hopping boat tours that run from the same port — this is a scheduled car ferry crossing a real strait, not a half-day excursion, and it’s worth understanding the difference before you book either.

	Details
Distance	12km (Strait of Bonifacio)
Crossing time	50 minutes
Operators	Blu Navy, Moby Lines
Departure port	Santa Teresa Gallura (Porto di Santa Teresa)
Arrival port	Bonifacio, Corsica
High-season frequency	5-7 sailings a day each way
Winter frequency	0-2 sailings a day, often suspended
Foot passenger, one way	roughly €25-40
Car + 2 passengers, one way	roughly €90-160 in July/August

Blu Navy or Moby Lines — does it matter which you book?

Both operators run broadly the same crossing time and the same small-to-mid-sized car ferries, and in peak season both run several sailings a day, so the choice usually comes down to whichever departure time suits your plan. Blu Navy tends to have the denser summer schedule, with sailings roughly every two hours between June and September; Moby Lines runs fewer daily crossings but often has a useful early-morning or late-evening slot Blu Navy doesn’t cover.

Neither company publishes a firm winter schedule until close to the season, and both suspend the route entirely for stretches of December and January when there’s too little demand to justify it — if you’re planning a winter crossing, check directly with the operator rather than relying on a summer timetable found online.

Both boats carry cars, motorbikes and foot passengers, and both dock at the small port right in central Santa Teresa Gallura, a five-minute walk from the town’s restaurants and the piazza — there’s no separate ferry terminal to find. On the Corsican side you land inside Bonifacio’s marina, directly below the citadel, which is about as convenient an arrival point as a ferry crossing gets anywhere.

Timetables and how far ahead to book

From late June to early September, both operators run close to their maximum frequency, with the first sailing typically around 7am and the last around 8-9pm. Outside that window the schedule thins fast: April, May and October usually have two or three sailings a day, while November through March can drop to a single daily crossing on one operator only, with the other suspended. This isn’t a route you should assume runs year-round at a predictable time — always check the live timetable for your actual travel dates rather than a generic summer schedule.

Booking ahead matters most for cars in July and August, when sailings genuinely sell out, particularly the mid-morning and late-afternoon departures that suit a day trip. Foot passengers rarely get turned away even in peak season, but arriving without a reservation means queuing at the port ticket office and hoping for space on the next sailing rather than the one you wanted. Booking two to three weeks ahead for a car in August, or a few days ahead the rest of the year, covers almost every situation.

What it costs in 2026

Foot passenger fares run from around €25 in shoulder season to €35-40 at the August peak, one way, and both operators price return tickets at a modest discount over two singles. A car with two passengers is where the real cost sits: budget €70-90 one way outside peak season and €120-160 in July and August, with motorbikes priced closer to the foot-passenger fare plus a small vehicle supplement.

Campers and larger vehicles are charged by length and can run considerably higher — worth getting an exact quote before committing if you’re bringing one over from renting a car in Sardinia territory into Corsica, since not every Sardinian rental agreement permits taking the car abroad at all. Check the fine print with your rental company before assuming you can simply drive onto the ferry.

Getting to the port on either side

On the Sardinian side, Santa Teresa Gallura’s port sits at the bottom of the town, an easy walk from anywhere in the centre and from most hotels; if you’re arriving from further afield, it’s about 90 minutes’ drive from Olbia and its airport, and closer to two hours from Alghero — see Olbia Costa Smeralda airport guide for arrival logistics if you’re flying in specifically for this route.

There’s paid parking near the port in summer, and it fills early on peak sailing days, so arrive with margin if you’re leaving a car behind for a day trip rather than taking it across. On the Corsican side, the ferry docks directly in Bonifacio’s harbour, beneath the old town’s ramparts — no transfer or shuttle required.

A day trip to Corsica, or an overnight stay

A round trip on the earliest and latest sailings gives roughly nine or ten hours in Bonifacio, enough to walk the citadel, look over the cliffs from the Escalier du Roi d’Aragon, and have a long lunch, without needing accommodation in Corsica at all. That’s the version most Sardinia-based travellers do, and our day trip to Bonifacio and Corsica guide covers a full itinerary built around it.

If you’d rather see more of the island than one town, an overnight or two lets you reach the Lavezzi Islands or drive further into Corsica, and it’s the version worth planning if this is a once-only trip — our two-island Sardinia and Corsica guide lays out how much time each option realistically needs.

The boat-tour alternative: seeing Corsica without the car ferry

If the goal is simply to see the Strait of Bonifacio and the Lavezzi Islands rather than to set foot in a Corsican town, a guided boat tour from Santa Teresa Gallura often makes more sense than the scheduled ferry — it skips the timetable planning, includes swim stops the ferry obviously doesn’t, and needs no separate port arrival on the Corsican side. The boat tour to Bonifacio, Isola Piana and the Lavezzi Islands covers the cliffs and the marine reserve in one outing with a guide doing the navigation.

For a route that stays closer to Sardinian waters, the catamaran day tour to the Maddalena archipelago is worth comparing against a Corsica day — see our La Maddalena archipelago boat tour guide for what that route covers instead. Anyone wanting a smaller, more flexible boat can look at the self-drive dinghy tour to Corsica and Bonifacio, which suits two or three people who’d rather not join a full-size group boat.

For travellers who do cross by ferry and want a full day inland rather than just the citadel, the guided hike at Valle della Luna — a granite coastal landscape a short drive from Bonifacio — is a genuinely different way to spend a Corsican afternoon than the standard old-town walk.

Practical notes: seasickness, luggage and parking

The Strait of Bonifacio is open water between two seas and can get choppy when the mistral or the tramontana is blowing, which happens with some regularity in spring and autumn — if you’re prone to seasickness, a morning sailing is usually calmer than a late-afternoon one after a day of wind building. Both operators allow reasonable luggage without extra charge for foot passengers; car spaces are priced by vehicle length rather than by what’s inside it. If you’re leaving a car in Santa Teresa Gallura for a day trip rather than taking it across, book parking near the port in July and August specifically, since the free spaces closer to town fill by mid-morning on sailing days.

Weather and rough-sea cancellations

Because the strait is fully open to both the Tyrrhenian and the wider Mediterranean, it’s more exposed to wind than most Sardinian coastal crossings, and both operators do cancel sailings on genuinely rough days — most commonly during a strong mistral in the shoulder months, less often in the settled conditions of July and August. Cancellations are usually announced only a few hours ahead once the operator has a firm read on sea state, which is one more reason not to build a same-day return with no slack into a winter or early-spring visit.

If a sailing is cancelled, both companies will typically rebook you onto the next available crossing rather than refund outright, so check the rebooking policy at the time of purchase rather than assuming a straightforward cash refund. Travellers connecting onward to a flight from Olbia the same evening should treat that connection as genuinely at risk in unsettled weather and build in a buffer day if the itinerary allows it.

What to actually do in Bonifacio with a few hours

Bonifacio rewards a fairly simple plan rather than an ambitious checklist. From the ferry dock in the marina, the walk up into the haute ville (upper town) takes about ten minutes on foot, climbing through the old gate into a genuinely well-preserved citadel of tall, pastel-coloured houses stacked along the clifftop. The Escalier du Roi d’Aragon — 187 steps cut into the cliff face, according to local tradition by Aragonese troops in a single night during a 13th-century siege — is worth the short detour for the view along the cliffs alone, even if you don’t walk all the way down.

From there, the Bosco path along the clifftop gives the best photographs of the citadel from outside, looking back at the houses perched directly over the drop to the sea. Lunch in the marina itself tends to be reliable rather than remarkable and carries a tourist-town premium; a short walk up into the old town usually turns up quieter, better-value options. Given that most day-trip windows run to eight or nine hours including the crossings, this loop — citadel, staircase, clifftop walk, lunch — fills a Bonifacio day comfortably without feeling rushed.

Alternative ways to reach Corsica from Sardinia

Santa Teresa Gallura to Bonifacio is by far the shortest and most convenient Corsica crossing from Sardinia, but it isn’t the only one. Longer ferry routes run from mainland Italian ports — Livorno, Genoa and Civitavecchia — direct to various Corsican towns, though these are overnight or multi-hour crossings aimed at travellers combining Corsica with mainland Italy rather than with Sardinia specifically, and they don’t compete with the Santa Teresa Gallura route for a short island-to-island hop.

Within Sardinia, Palau, a short drive east of Santa Teresa Gallura, is the departure point for ferries to La Maddalena rather than to Corsica directly, though some travellers combine a Maddalena archipelago day with a separate Bonifacio crossing later in the same trip, using Santa Teresa Gallura or Palau as a shared base for both. If your itinerary already includes the Maddalena archipelago boat tour, pairing it with this ferry crossing on a different day makes efficient use of a Gallura-based stay without duplicating transport logistics.

Frequently asked questions about the Bonifacio ferry

Do I need a passport to cross from Sardinia to Corsica?

Yes — Corsica is French territory, so bring a valid passport or EU national ID card even though there’s no visa requirement for most nationalities. Border checks at both ports are usually quick but do happen.

Can I take a rental car from Sardinia to Corsica?

Only if your rental agreement explicitly allows it — many Sardinian agencies exclude cross-border travel or charge an extra fee and require advance notice. Confirm with your rental company before booking the ferry, not after.

Is the ferry cheaper than a guided boat tour to Corsica?

For a foot passenger travelling alone, the scheduled ferry is usually cheaper than a full guided tour, but it only gets you to Bonifacio itself — swim stops, the Lavezzi Islands and narration come with the guided boat options, not the ferry.

How far in advance should I book the Santa Teresa Gallura to Bonifacio ferry?

Two to three weeks ahead for a car in July or August; a few days ahead the rest of the year. Foot passengers can usually book closer to the date, though a reservation still guarantees your preferred sailing time.

Does the ferry run in winter?

Rarely on a fixed schedule — expect one sailing a day at most between November and March, and stretches where the route is suspended entirely. Always check current timetables rather than assuming summer frequency applies.

Is Bonifacio worth a day trip from Sardinia?

Yes — the citadel, the cliff-edge Escalier du Roi d’Aragon and the marina are all walkable in a few hours, and the 50-minute crossing each way leaves a full afternoon in town if you take an early sailing. See our day trip to Bonifacio and Corsica guide for a route.

Can I do this trip without a car?

Yes — Santa Teresa Gallura’s port is walkable from the town centre, and Bonifacio’s old town is compact and walkable from its marina, so a foot-passenger crossing works well for a car-free day trip. Getting to Santa Teresa Gallura itself without a car is harder; see visiting Sardinia without a car for what’s realistic.