Trip Report: Ferries Of The Baltic

This trip to Europe has included four overnight ferry rides to various destinations. This article is a summary of some of the ferry options available on the Baltic Sea. One of the busiest routes is the Finland - Estonia route which is operated by Tallink/Silja, Viking Line and Eckero Line. This crossing only takes 2 hours and is operated by fast ferry ships. Like the one above, it does not have cabins and these ships go back and forth.

Tallink/Silja also operates one rotation on the Silja Europa and this ship does offer cabins for one overnight sailing. The difference between a ferry and a cruise ship is that a ferry offers car decks for cars and many tractor trailers to cross. But otherwise they are very similar to cruise ships in that they have restaurants, shops and if overnight, musical entertainment.

Aland Islands-based Eckero Line plies this route as well.

As does Viking Line. Both Tallink/Silja and Viking Line also sail between Stockholm, Sweden and Helsinki and Turku in Finland as well as between Stockholm and Riga in Latvia. Those ships are huge!

Polferries travels between Sweden and Poland nightly.

While Stena Line travels nightly between Germany and Sweden. Not pictured is Color Line with nightly service between Germany and Norway. In this era of low fare airlines where you can get to your destination in hours for next to nothing, ferries can be overlooked. But the journey can be a destination in itself when you travel via ship and stay in a private cabin for less than the cost of a hotel room.