Corsica ferry return trip: what the crossing really costs

Almost nobody sails to Corsica one way. Yet prices are advertised one way everywhere — and that is where budgets slip: on a return trip, everything is paid twice. The reclining seat, the cabin, the car. No need to double a headline price in your head: below are return trips we have actually observed, each one made of two dated departures.

Leaving from the mainland, the cheapest return we have recorded on Marseille–Ajaccio is €70.97 for one adult in a reclining seat — out on 16 August 2026, back on 15 September 2026, with La Méridionale. Same route, same week, in a cabin: €148.77. The journey has not changed, only the comfort.

Every crossing quoted here is still to come: a departure that has sailed cannot be booked. Readings of 8 August 2026.

The cheapest return trips, by how far ahead you look

Three windows, three different questions. "I am leaving soon" does not cost the same as "I am planning ahead" — and the gap does not always run the way you would expect.

Over the coming month, 19 routes from the mainland are recorded, from €48.03 return.

Widen the search to the next three months, up to 8 November 2026, and the floor drops to €47.03.

And across the whole year, up to 8 August 2027? The floor barely moves: €47.03. That is the most useful finding on this page — waiting until next year does not bring the price down, but waiting a few weeks often does.

What comfort really costs, once it is doubled

On a booking page, the supplement for a reclining seat or a cabin looks modest — it is shown for a single leg. On a return trip it becomes a line item of its own. The table below gives, for each way of travelling, the observed floor, the median and the top of the range across every route.

Three things stand out.

The reclining seat is nearly free; the cabin never is. For one adult travelling alone, the figure goes from €51.13 in a seat to €62.00 in a cabin, and the gap widens on the median — €71.63 against €124.00.

The car is the heaviest item. For two adults in a cabin, the floor starts at €104.03 without a car and €170.03 with one. The medians tell the same story: €185.50 against €296.50.

Children weigh less than the car. Going from two adults to a family of four, car and cabin included, lifts the floor from €170.03 to €200.06 — noticeably less than the vehicle adds on its own.

Two companies are sometimes better than one

Here is what a one-way comparison cannot show. On routes served by two companies, nothing obliges you to sail out and back with the same one. Our readings give one clear case.

On Marseille–Ajaccio, for two adults, two children, a car and a cabin, departing 16 August 2026: €1,018.27 taking La Méridionale out and Corsica Linea back — against €1,525.22 with a single company on both legs. A €506.95 difference, for two identical crossings.

This gap is no hidden bargain: the two companies share the route under a public service delegation and sell each other's crossings. They simply do not price the same ship the same way. And it only shows up if you look at the outward and return legs together.

Route by route, leaving from the mainland

The full table, with the cost of each accommodation on a return trip. Click a route to see the detail — prices by month, by day of the week, and by company.

When to book, and how long to wait

The year's floor almost always falls within the next three months: across the routes we track, widening the search beyond a quarter barely lowers the price any further. Restricting yourself to the coming month, on the other hand, costs money on much of the network — compare the first two tables and the gap shows up route by route.

To place these figures over time: across all the routes we track, between 13 June 2026 and 29 June 2027, a return trip for one adult in a reclining seat has ranged from €49.46 to €272.87. The absolute floor was observed on Ajaccio–Toulon, for a departure on 7 July 2026. That sailing has gone: it can no longer be booked, but it shows how low the price goes when everything lines up.

The other way round: leaving from Corsica

Islanders and visitors already on the island are looking for the opposite — a return trip starting from a Corsican port. The same rules apply, with prices that are not symmetrical.

How we obtain these figures

Every return trip shown is the sum of two crossings actually observed, each with its own date and company. We do not compute a return fare: we record two one-way fares and add them, which is what you pay if you book the two separately. Some companies apply a return discount we cannot see — the real total may therefore be lower, never higher.

Prices are standard fares including tax for non-resident travellers, recorded on the companies' own websites. They are indicative: only the companies' sites are authoritative at the time of booking. Our methodology sets out the sources, the collection schedule and the limits we accept.