Ferry from Ancona to Split with a Campervan or Motorhome
Italy to Croatia by overnight ferry
important information for you and your campervan
Check-in and Boarding in Ancona
Like most bureaucratic ventures in Italy, the Ancona port is a shit-fight. To add insult to injury, mix this with a Croatian ferry company and it’s surprising that any of these car ferries run at all. There is no clear instructions on Ancona’s port website, Jadrolinija’s site or booking confirmations or really google at all on what to expect when taking the car ferry.
Thankfully there were signs to the car ferry terminal from about 5km out of the city, without which, google would have taken us a very very wrong way. If you use google maps for the the port, it wants to take you to the dock that you leave from, however what you really need is the Biglietteria marittima terminal Ancona. Here is where you go with your tickets and passports to check-in and receive you actual tickets and dock number. They will also kindly let you know what time you can head to the security and customs checkpoint and onward to the ferry.
We headed in at the time given and were very loudly and bombastically sent away from the security point (which is here), as we were apparently laughably early despite being there at the time we were told at the biglietteria. In fear of getting lost in the loop de loop madness we had just left that links the check in office with the port, we pulled up in a small bay a few hundred meters back from the security check-point and waited again for the new time we had been given.
sign at the fork in the road leading to car ferry embarkment
Finally our time came (again), back we went and we were waived through without a word. At this point, it is now less than 2 hours before departure. When you get to this stage you will need to follow the signs to a fork in the road here, a road that leads to a round about here at which you will do a 180 turn and end up facing the car entry and passport control gates here. We relied wholly on signs for this.
passport control and security control gate
After passport control and stamps and custom checks at the abovementioned control gate of the vehicle we drove all the way back down the port to whichever dock number you have been advised. Ours was 11, putting us almost right back where we started but on the other side of the fence.
Boarding was long, it took ages to load all the trucks onto the small vessel and we had to reverse the camper all the way up and into the boat, so you will want to be confident in doing that. The parking is also super tight. See picture.
tight.
on board
We were all psyched up and ready to do our third night of ‘deck passaged’ which we felt we had honed on our previous ferry journeys which you can read about here. On stepping through the door to the ‘living deck’ of the ship, we quickly realised that this would not be the same. To start this ship was quite small, it’s bar and restaurant areas were busy with people, some who had booked cabins and some who were braving deck passage. Unlike other ferries we had been on, there was no cinema to kick your legs up and all seats on the ENTIRE ship had dividers every meter or so to discourage deck passage sleepers like ourselves. We searched the entire passenger area of the boat for ANYWHERE to set up camp, we had sleeping bags and food could sleep on the floor if need be. As we circled the decks, we realised that every nook and cranny suitable for sleep was taken and as the boat started chugging into the Adriatic sea, my stomach started turning.
So off to reception we went to see the price of rooms. It was expensive but we know our limits. At this point I must have been green because the delightful man working at reception gave us a room with an ensuite for the price of the cheapest beds on the ship. We could see hung on the wall behind him that they were not short of empty rooms and I was extremely thankful for his mercy. We went back up to the bar to play cards and have a beer before retiring to our cabin for a good nights rest.
Dinner
Passport control and customs
There are a couple of stages of checks on this journey so I’ll go through them in chronological order.
You need to present your passport and online booking confirmation at the marittima terminal first. You may also need to provide proof of registration/ownership unless it is a rental
You will then need to show you tickets at the customs/security check point on the way to the port.
Once at the passport control before entering the boarding area, you will pass through official Italian border passport control, get stamped and possibly your vehicle searched.
After the journey you will arrive in Croatia to another passport control and customs check where you will definitely be searched and passports stamped.
arrival
An hour before arrival a loud knock came at the door to notify us to get our things together and hand back the room key. We only knew this is what it meant from reading another blog. Everyone is asked to wait on the living deck where the bar is while the ship docks until and announcement in English and Croatian lets us know its time to go. Down to the garage and off the ship and just like that it’s over.
A 'how to' for catching the car ferry across the Adriatic including advice on deck passage and other helpful tips and tricks we learnt on our journey. Taking a campervan, RV or motorhome by ferry saves a lot of kilometres but read here first to be best prepared for the reality of the overnight Croatian ferry!