A passenger and car ferry between Cyprus and Greece restarted in 2022 after a long hiatus (since 2001!), reconnecting the island of Cyprus with the Greek mainland. Here’s everything you need to know before embarking on the crossing.

Disclaimer: We took the ferry, one-way, from Cyprus to Greece, so I cannot speak to the specific pre-boarding procedures when you travel from Greece to Cyprus.

Ferry Details

The ferry is operated by Scandro Holdings and runs with the ship Daleela, a ro-ro cargo ship built in 1991 (who had past lives in Japan and China!). It departs from the Limassol port in Cyprus and arrives at Piraeus in Greece, and vice versa.

Scandro Holdings advertises that the ferry runs from May until September; however, in the first three years of sailings, the first sailing has been at the very end of May and the last sailing at the very beginning of September. So, June to August is a bit more accurate!

The crossing takes 30 hours, and the boat typically leaves on time from Limassol.

A Note About Vehicle Registration

If you have a campervan like us, you’ll need to have “campervan” or “caravan” listed on your vehicle registration. Vehicles registered as “van” are not permitted on the ferry, even if they are not commercial (don’t ask me why!). Because Freddie was previously registered as a “van,” we had to get a new registration as a “campervan” prior to the trip.

Pre-Departure in Limassol

The company recommends the passengers arrive 4 hours before departure. We arrived 2.5-3 hours before, which was plenty.

The first step is scanning your luggage. We were a bit confused by this, as people with vehicles were unloading all their suitcases from their cars and having them scanned. Given we were with Freddie, we didn’t unload anything, but we lined up in the luggage line with the backpacks we would be taking on the ferry. When we eventually got to the front, they told us they didn’t need to scan our backpacks and we didn’t need to be in that line.

After scanning your luggage (or not…), you head inside where it writes “Departures.” Here, you need your tickets (electronic is fine) and IDs/passports. At the counter, they will hand-write a new paper ticket for every passenger, so the line takes some time.

Next, the driver queues at a separate counter to show the car registration and road tax. Any car passengers continue inside to departures. Only the driver is allowed to drive on the ferry, so if you are a passenger you won’t be allowed back to your car at this point. At the counter for the drivers, you are given a number that you’ll give to people at subsequent checks (customs, etc.). Passengers continue through into departures, through a security checkpoint and to passport control.

Drivers get their car from the parking, then go to customs. In our case, there was no security or passport control for the driver (possibly because Theo is Cypriot and was travelling with an ID?). Honestly, not sure!

Loading

Loading was fast with no queues, as it seems that most people do indeed come early, spreading out the loading over 3-4 hours. Vehicles and passengers enter the boat from the same stern ramp. There is someone checking your tickets and crossing you off a list. If you have luggage (as a walk-on passenger), you are required to leave it on the car deck on luggage storage racks. You are only permitted to carry one piece up to the main deck with you, and I do not believe you can access your luggage at all after departure.

From the car deck, you are pointed in the direction of a lift. The lift is tiny and there was a giant queue to take it. But, there are also stairs! They look a bit like you shouldn’t enter, but there is a stairwell on the left side as you head towards the lift that will take you up to the passenger decks.

Once at the passenger deck, you go to reception, where you give your name and ticket and are again crossed off a list. There are multiple lists here, one is even hand-written! If you have a cabin, you are given it here from reception. Otherwise, they just cross you off and take the paper (hand-written, of course!) that you received in departures.

On-Board & The Voyage

If you have a cabin, enjoy! If not, like us, it’s actually surprisingly comfortable. One section close to the front has large round couches that are excellent for sleeping. As soon as I got on, I commandeered one while I waited for Theo to arrive. He brought up a pillow and we ended up with a very comfortable seating and sleeping area.

There are also small round tables with seating, lines of airline seats that recline quite nicely and a lot of empty floor space where people set up their mattresses and blankets to sleep. Throughout the trip, everyone left their bags on their seats and it felt very safe. We happily reserved our circle couch the whole journey, as did all of our neighbours.

The outdoor deck has a lot of space, and some people also set up mattresses outside. There are definitely options for hammocks, but we didn’t try so I’m not sure if the crew would ask you to remove them or not.

Useful Information

• There are many plugs onboard, but they are all European, so bring an adaptor if you have Cypriot/UK plugs.
• There are showers in the toilets.
• There is nowhere to refill water bottles and they sell only small, 500ml bottles onboard.
• AC was a bit random – some areas were freezing and others comfortable. Come prepared for different temperatures.
• As we walked around, there were several very loud snorers. Bring earplugs!
• They do not turn off the lights at nighttime (they are full-on all night long!). Bring an eye mask.
• There is no wifi.
• By the morning of the 2nd day you are close enough to reach signal from some of the Greek islands.  

Food

There is a small restaurant that has some readymade items, including pizza and sandwiches. The pizza was not as bad as I thought it would be, whereas the sandwich was not very good. Prices are as you would expect from a ferry with a captive audience. There is a large buffet area, but this is not in use.

There is also a cafeteria at the front of the ship, where they have beverages and snacks, including smoothies (surprisingly good), pastries and crisps.

Unloading

Unloading was much more chaotic than loading. We docked at 8:20pm and they opened the doors to allow us to the vehicle decks at 8:30pm. The first cars started unloading at 8:45pm, as a single file down the ramp, even though the ramp is built for double lanes. The unloading strategy seemed quite random, and we got off the ferry at 9:20pm.

We left the ferry directly into a very large queue of 4 lanes of cars merging around a corner into a single lane. It took us over an hour to reach immigration, which was straightforward. Then you’re off!

Overall

Overall, the ferry from Cyprus to Greece was a pleasant experience. We slept well even without having a cabin (and despite the bright lighting!), and we were able to travel to mainland Europe with our campervan. I imagine we will take the ferry again in the future, but I hope they will extend the season!