From Pozallo in Italy (Sicily) to Malta by ferry (Catania, Siracusa – Malta train & ferry)

From Pozallo in Italy (Sicily) to Malta by ferry (Catania, Siracusa – Malta train & ferry)

In this video, we’ll be traveling from Pozallo in the south of Italy where we arrived by train, by ferry to Malta, an island state in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. This is actually the only ferry connection from and to Malta. This is a fast ferry and the distance is not that long either, so let it be no surprise that the travel time is relatively short. I will tell you all about our experience in this video. Join us on board of this ferry ride from Italy to Malta. We took a train from Catania to Pozallo, you can also take a bus. I’ll tell you all about that in the video. But for now, let’s get this video on the track. And let’s roll the intro. [Music] A couple of days before we arrived in Sicily by train from Milan. We spent some days in Catania. And now we continue our way down south to Sicily to Pozallo to be exactly. First we took a regional train to Siracusa. What is also the terminal station for the sleeper trains from Rome and Milan and the intercity trains that will go to Sicily. It’s not a long train journey and the train tickets within Italy are really affordable (especially for regional trains). Here, we arrive at the railway station of Siracusa, what was partially being renovated at the moment we were here. This is a terminal station, however, at first you really wouldn’t say this if you arrive here. There is an underground passage from the front of the station or to the platforms, but there are no elevators. However, because this is a terminal station and we had some heavy luggage, including a suitcase, we just walked to the end of the platform from where on we went to the front of the station. This is way easier actually. Also, at the main railway station building, there was some construction works going on, so I couldn’t film the real real situation at the moment you make this journey yourself. But in terms of facilities, it’s not that interesting to be honest. There is a nice waiting area though. And right next to this waiting area, there is a staffed ticket counter and you find a vending machine where you can buy train tickets. But for train tickets within Italy, the online infrastructure is also really good. At the front of the station, there are some taxi stands, a bus stop, and around the station there are some more shops, but honestly, don’t expect too much for this. We had some time to spend over here, but not that much time. So, we didn’t really went into the city center. However, we stocked up some food over here and took this with us to the train station and of course on the train itself. Honestly, I don’t know if there will be more facilities within this railway station after the refurbishment. If you know this, let me know in the comments. I recorded this video, by the way, in May 2025, if you haven’t noticed from the introduction yet. The train we had that was also calling in Pozallo, what’s not the final destination for the train, by the way, was departing from a platform, a little bit more at this side of the train station. Throughout the railway station, there are lots of screens that will host route information about departing trains from here. South from Siracusa, you will only find regional trains. However, if you go up north, you might find some long-distance trains as well, although they’re not that many. And also, in terms of the frequency for the trains, if you go down south from Siracusa the number of trains aren’t not that high either. This here is the train coming in that will bring us to the town of Pozallo. It’s a regional train branded with the music type blues. In Italy, lots of regional trains have been marked after some music style. These are actually really nice trains. They’re hybrid trains, so they can both operate on electric and non-electric lines. But seeing the gravity at the side of the train was a little bit less nice to be honest. But at least we could still look outside. These are simple but good and modern trains. They have clear screens with route information and do come in one class only. As we are making our way from Siracusa to Pozallo, let me tell you something quickly about the other alternative to go to the ferry terminal instead of taking the train and that is a bus that’s being operated by the ferry company and  that is departing from Catania. That bus is not connecting on all departures for the ferry though, so take this in account. However, the main reason for us to take the train is that the information about where the bus exactly departs from on the website of Virtu, what is the ferry company was not extremely clear to be honest. And also when it comes to ticket pricing, the train was slightly more affordable. From Catania, we needed about a 2,5 hour train journey. And this includes the change at the railway station of Siracusa. The train journey from Siracusa only takes 1 hour and 7 minutes. To book train tickets in Italy, the online infrastructure is really good. My favorite website to book train tickets within Italy is Trainline because several companies are linked to their booking system. Even though on this route you will only find one company for obvious reasons. You can find an affiliate link to the Trainline website in the description of this video. If you’re using that, you also support this channel. But if you are a regular viewer,  you know that I already promote train line from the early days of this YouTube channel  because in many countries they just make it way easier to book train tickets. And also for cross bordering travel they make it easy because lots of international connections and different railway  companies are linked with their system. Although it doesn’t work everywhere, but for Italy and al ot of their neighboring countries, Trainline is absolutely perfect. Anyway, here our train is arriving at the railway station of Pozallo, what’s not that big. Lots of people went out and basically everybody who went out, went to the ferry terminal and the taxi drivers took advantage of this. They were already waiting for us and I think it’s a smart business model. I mean, you know, lots of tourists are coming here and they want 
to go to the ferry terminal. And to be honest, they provide a good service. They bring us to the ferry terminal. However, the price they asked was quite high, €10 per person. We got a better deal because we looked at each other and were like,  “No, we’re not going to pay this much.” And the taxi driver lowered the price immediately. But the biggest thing when it comes to this at the town of Pozallo, public transportation within the city is basically non-exciting. However, my better half, at the moment of recording,  it’s a little bit complicated, but at the moment of editing this video, my wife was pregnant, so we didn’t went walking. But otherwise, we would have definitely gone walking from the train station to the ferry terminal, what is about 43 minutes and 3.1 km, where the distance by car is obviously a bit longer because you need to go around the city center and that takes about 8 minutes. However, the taxi dropped us straight at the front of the ferry terminal. Yes, I know we paid too much, but after all, it’s a good service. So yeah, why should I complain about this? But just take this in account. And if you can walk good. Just take in account to just go walking from the train station to the ferry terminal, at least if it’s not raining. And this here is the ferry terminal building in Italy at the town of Pozallo in the southern part of Sicily. It’s not that big to be honest, but for now, let’s take a closer look inside the ferry terminal building. And to be honest, it’s not that special. There are some place where you can take a seat and wait. There’s an information desk, and there are even some points where you can still buy tickets. Obviously, within the ferry terminal building, there are public toilets as well. And there is a small eatery that has a small terrace outside as well, what is way nicer in this part of Europe because why would you sit inside? I hope you like this video so far or that is a helpful video to you. If so,  please give me a thumbs up on YouTube. I really appreciate that. If you have questions, feedback, comments, even if you just want to say hello, feel free to leave a comment. And if you like to see more trip reports about more sustainable ways of transportation, the main focus for this channel is long distance and or international traveling by not flying. So mainly by train, sometimes ferry,  then hit that subscribe button if you haven’t done this already. For now, let’s continue with this video and let’s explore this vessel. Quickly, before we go on board of the ferry. Right next to the ferry terminal, there is a rather big area for people who go on board of this ferry by car. I mean, a lot of freight that is moving to the island of Malta will come on board of these ferries from Sicily. And lots of people who go by car will also go on board this ferry because it’s basically the only way to go to Malta by car. So, for the same reason, most passengers on board of  these ferries or not foot passengers like we are, but or people traveling by car. For now, let’s head back into the ferry terminal building. On board of these ferries between Malta and Sicily, you will find two classes, club class and Euro class, where club class is the higher class. And for the way to Malta, we were traveling on board of club class. This also means there is some kind of priority boarding but honestly it was relatively quiet when we were traveling. So yeah there was no advantage when it comes to that. Right after that, there is some kind of security check where basically you luggage have to go through an X-ray scanner and you will end up at this waiting area over here. Where there are some more vending machines and places where you can take a seat. For passengers traveling in club class like what we had. There’s a special area in the waiting room. But honestly, I don’t think this is being used pretty often because we could go on board of our ferry straight away. This is right next to the boarding area for cars and trucks. However, staff will make sure we can make the crossing safely and go to the boarding area for foot passengers. Bigger luggage items can be placed in these luggage trolleys you see here on the right. And this car will go on board of the ferry at the moment all cars have been boarded and will also be disembarked from the ferry as the first vehicle. So basically at the moment you leave  the ferry, your luggage is there straight away. There is a dedicated carriage for Club Class passengers their luggage. We also put our luggage in there, I was traveling with a back-pack but later on when we disembarked, I found my backpack at the Euro class carriage. However, my label for the club class on my backpack was not very clear, and I think not a lot of people with backpacks will use the club class. There’s a label on, maybe it was not very obvious om the backpack but what I do found in general is that people do have a kind of bios when it comes to travelers, traveling with a backpack instead of a suitcase. There are quite some stairs over here. However, I’m sure that if you have some difficulties by walking the stairs and especially for those who are traveling in a wheelchair, for example, there are some other solutions as well. And on board of this ferry, you will also find elevators as you can see right here in front of me. Now, let’s move on to the deck where most passengers spend their time on board of this ferry during the crossing. And this here is the deck that is also the Euro class, so the lower comfort category on board this ferry. And to be totally honest with you, I think this is totally fine. I don’t think that it’s worth to pay for the upgrade to club class, what is €20 per person. At the front over here,  there are some nice seats where you can obviously look at the front of the vessel. And for the rest,  there are lots of seats over here. When I compare these seats you find most in Euro class compared to club class; They are pretty fine, but they are less wide and you have less leg room. The pattern is also less soft, but it’s still good in my opinion. In the Euro class area, there are two very tiny kind of restaurants or eateries I should say. I mean, it is there and it’s nice that it’s there, but the selection of food is not that impressive to be honest. What I noticed on both ways I was traveling on board of these fairies, there’s lots of staff from the Philippines. And to be honest, they are really hospitable. Shout out to the staff and especially the Filipino staff. At the total back in Euro class, there is a small outside area as well with some place where you can take a seat and there’s a very small smoking area as well in this outside area. And if you want to charge mobile devices, there are lots of power sockets on board of this ferry. I mean, when it comes to facilities, these ferries are not super impressive, but the crossing doesn’t take that long either, so you don’t really need that. There are some slot machines as well. Personally, I’m really not in favor of gambling at all, but gambling law at open sea is unfortunately less strict. Close to the point where we got on board of this ferry, there’s a small semi tax-free shop as well. It’s really small, so really don’t expect too much from this either. However, it’s nice that it’s there. And if you forgot some basic stuff or some travel  amenities, you can go here to buy it. You can even buy some souvenirs over here. And of course, you find many things that you can find in lots 
of other tax-free shops on board of ferries. Now, let’s move on to Club Class where we were staying 
on board of this ferry, at least on our route from Sicily to Malta. And that’s right over here. There is another small eatery that is basically offering the same selection as the eateries at the lower level. However, less people will travel on board of club class, so it’s less busy over here. Prices for the eateries are okay. At several spots on board this ferry, both in Euro class and club class, you’ll find the magazine of the ferry company. Basically, some advertisements and some touristic information and also some journalistic background about the destinations. It’s nice, but honestly, I didn’t really read it. Free Wi-Fi is available if you are traveling in club class.
For Euro class, you need to pay for this. And let it be no surprise that open sea there’s no mobile coverage. The seats in club class are definitely nicer and there’s more leg room as well. At the moment, you have the seats in the airline style composition. Seats can’t be reserved though, so if you want to have a specific seat, just try to be on board of the ferry as soon as possible. That’s the best thing you can do, I guess. Within club class, what is on a higher level, there’s another outside area as well, and this area includes the helicopter deck, so it’s way bigger for obvious reasons over here. The club class gives  you priority boarding what wasn’t really necessary for our crossing to be honest. The seats are nicer. You have more space and the outside area is also nicer. In terms of luggage and disembarking, there are also some benefits. But once again, I still think it’s not worth the upgrade because the Euro class is really good on board of this ferry as well. And even though this is a very reliable ferry connection, it’s not a cheap ferry connection to be honest. However, for me and my  partner, this was a life-changing event, because I asked my girlfriend to marry me and, she said… YES! I really had my doubts about putting this in a report or not, but since it’s such a special moment, I really wanted to include this as well. I mean, we both very strongly believe that love is not something you can just put in a contract, but it’s just something between two people and it’s magical. However, with a little sprout on its way, marriage had really a lot of benefits as well when it comes to this. So, until this moment in the video, I was traveling with my girlfriend, but now it’s my fiance. And at the moment this video will be published, it is my wife because  we are married right now. We didn’t have a big celebration whatsoever. We just kept it very humble, small, and well, nothing really special. And even though I really had my doubts about  putting this on camera on YouTube or not, I just want to share this moment as well because this was really a life-changing event for the both of us. Well, actually, I haven’t finished this trip report yet. So, let’s go back to business for this trip report. Let’s do a seat review for some seats in club class. Seats can be reclined what’s really nice. And the amount of leg room is pretty generous. There are some folding tables in the seat in front of you that are not super sturdy,  but they’re okayish. In the Euro class, this is all a little bit less generous and the amount of leg room is not that much to be honest. Since no train review is complete without showing you, the toilets, let’s do the same thing over here. And there are several toilets on board of these ferries. These are the gents and you find several toilets at all decks. To be honest, they’re fine. And most importantly, everything is clean. This is where it’s all about in my opinion at least. Well, before I continue and show my last leg of this journey, let’s quickly have a review at the ferry terminal in Malta. What is slightly bigger than the ferry terminal at Sicily. What’s not that strange because this is a Maltese company. You will find busses to a point pretty close to the ferry terminal, however the time table is not that great. So in terms of public transportation from and to here, it is there but it’s absolutely not great, the taxi is the best way. There are some counters where you can buy tickets as well. And over here you’ll find the check-in desks,. Just like in Sicily, there’s priority boarding for those traveling in club class. And there are some waiting areas as well. What I was missing at this ferry terminal is something like a small cafetaria. But what I really liked are some scale models of older ferries that used to operate long the same route. Can you imagine traveling on board of these ferries along this route? It must have taken much longer. The boarding and check-in process is basically the same as at the ferry terminal in Sicily. One thing they’re really keen on is checking your passport details. If everything is correct with your tickets as well. If you made a typo, just contact them as soon as possible after you made the booking. You will find two ferries operating along this route. There are some differences when it comes to these ferries, but they’re not that different from each other. They’re both fast fairies, and the layout is pretty similar. People traveling on board of club class can disembark first and after that the people traveling in Euro class can disembark. This mainly brings some extra benefits if you are traveling on board as a foot passenger. Because the public transportation near the ferry terminal wasn’t that great, we took a taxi to our hotel. And here’s the trick; over here, just like at the railway station of Pozallo, there were lots of taxi drivers forcing us more or less to take their taxi. We just said like, “No, no, no. Just give us a moment and we do 
some research ourself.” And we used the Bolt app, B O L T. This is a great taxi app that works best in Malta for taxis. Don’t use the white taxis where you need to negotiate because you pay too much for sure. Also, in many travel guides, we got warned for this. Bolt works perfectly fine and is basically in many parts of Europe my favorite taxi app, but I don’t take taxis that often. Within Malta, there’s also a good bus  system. However, the buses from and to the ferry terminal. Well, that’s not that great. We do have another trip-report by the way, where we travel on board of public transportation within Malta, where we won’t only take the buses, but also some domestic ferries. You can find it on this YouTube channel, and it’s also listed in the description of this video. Traffic in Malta is busy and there’s a lot of congestion on the 
roads. This is definitely something you need to take in account. And by having traffic that’s driving on the left side of the road, I’m not going to drive here. And with many buses and in general good public transportation, it’s also not needed to drive a car here. Malta is a doable connection if you don’t want to fly here. However,  I really have to mention that these ferries between Malta and Italy are not cheap. Also, the connection between the ferries and other public transportation isn’t great either. So, if this is your first non-flying destination, maybe take another destination account for that. I mean, this is a great connection, don’t get me wrong on that. 
But I also have to be totally honest with you when it comes to this topic. And the last thing that I want is that I make people enthusiastic through my  YouTube channel about going somewhere without flying and that they are disappointed when it comes to travel time and price. I rather make people enthusiastic for this. And once again, this is a great connection, but when it comes to price and also travel time, and mainly because of the fact that this ferry will depart from a far and remote corner from Sicily, it’s really not the fastest way. However if you’re traveling from or to Catania in Sicily, this ferry is a good solution. Way less polluting than the plane. But what’s most importantly, it’s a reliable connection for the people living in Malta. And I would love to see that Maltese people get some discount for these ferries as well, especially if they are traveling as a foot passenger, to encourage sustainable international traveling. So that’s it from this video, on board of the ferry from Sicily to Malta. I really like the journey. I think I’m going to get splashed here in the water. Anyway, I hope you like this video as well. If you did already 
have it helpful to you, please give me a thumbs up. And if you like to see more trip reports, of more sustainable ways transportation, the main focus for this channel is long distance and international traveling by not flying, then hit that subscribe button if you haven’t done this already. Before we really end up this video, one last thing. Once again, thank you for watching. Related videos can be found in the description of this video. And something else you find in the description of this video is a link to a map. And on this map, you can find all videos as well. But of course, you can also find them on this channel. And if you subscribe, you see new videos coming up. See you on the next video.

The ferry connection between Italy and Malta offers a fast and scenic way to travel between the two Mediterranean destinations. Services operate between Pozzallo, in southern Sicily (Italy), and Valletta, the capital of Malta. The journey takes around 90 minutes by high-speed catamaran, making it an ideal link for both tourists and locals. The ferries provide comfortable seating, onboard facilities, and the opportunity to enjoy sea views along the route. This is the only ferry connection linking Malta with the rest of Europe (and the world).

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▬▬▬▬▬▬ VIDEO CONTENT ▬▬▬▬▬▬
00:00 Introduction
00:50 Train ride to the ferry terminal in Pozallo (from Catania / Siracusa)
06:24 From Pozallo railway station to the ferry terminal in Pozallo
08:08 Ferry terminal at Pozallo, Italy (Sicily)
12:09 Virtu ferry Pozallo, Italy (Sicily) – Valletta, Malta
19:05 Ferry terminal in Malta, last mile & final conclusion
23:50 End of this trip report; Italy – Malta by ferry

Trip report 265
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