Marseille–Ajaccio: what our readings show
Two companies operate on the Marseille–Ajaccio route: La Méridionale and Corsica Linea. They share the route under a public service delegation and each sells its own allocation of places, with its own fares and its own availability. Our readings of 17 August 2026 cover departures from August to December 2026, then dates in January 2027. The entry price of the window belongs to the foot passenger with a reclining seat: €34.92 one way, with La Méridionale, for a departure on 23 August 2026.
La Méridionale lower in our readings
For the foot passenger with a reclining seat, La Méridionale starts from €34.92 and shows €38.41 on average; Corsica Linea starts from €48.78 for €61.48 on average. The same ranking repeats on the packages with a vehicle: €104.49 against €121.06 at the floor for one adult with a car and a cabin, €132.41 against €158.84 for two adults, €179.25 against €220.40 for two adults and two children.
The two companies sometimes sell places on the same ship. On the Marseille–Ajaccio crossing of 15 August 2026, operated by the Piana, the two adults, two children, car and cabin package was recorded at €284.19 with La Méridionale and at €410.06 with Corsica Linea, a gap of €125.87 one way. The split covers the ship and the allocation of places: neither the departure time offered nor the type of cabin sold is measured by our readings.
August 2026 at the peak, January 2027 at the floor
For the foot passenger with a reclining seat, the average peaks in August 2026 at €60.47, the same month that also carries the lowest price of the whole window, €34.92 on 23 August 2026. After that the level settles down: €42.75 on average in September 2026, €36.63 in October 2026, €35.82 in November 2026, €36.11 in December 2026, then €35.82 in January 2027. November 2026 and January 2027 close the window at the bottom, level with each other: over those two months minimum and average coincide, and no recorded departure moves off the floor.
With a car and a cabin, the spread is of another order. One adult alone pays €177.27 on average in August 2026 against €130.19 in January 2027. Two adults move from €226.48 in August 2026 to €159.01 in January 2027. For four, two adults and two children, the average falls from €298.29 in August 2026 to €206.65 in January 2027.
Tuesday rather than Friday
Across the week, Tuesday is the cheapest day for a foot passenger with a reclining seat, at €38.48 on average; Friday is the dearest, at €43.48. Wednesday (€38.87) and Sunday (€40.20) sit between the two. The lowest individual dates fall in late summer: Thursday 15 October 2026 and Sunday 23 August 2026, two Sundays on which La Méridionale comes down to €35.82 then €34.92 for a foot passenger. Outside that trough, the foot-passenger floor settles at €35.82 across several autumn and winter dates: Monday 19 October 2026, Sunday 6 December 2026, Thursday 24 December 2026, Tuesday 6 October 2026, Wednesday 4 November 2026 and Saturday 5 December 2026.
Leaving from another port for Ajaccio
From Marseille, the crossing to Ajaccio starts from €34.92 with La Méridionale, for €39.98 on average. Three mainland ports go below that floor at the minimum: Toulon, at €27.50 for a departure on 28 October 2026 via Corsica Ferries (€38.79 on average), Nice, at €32.00 for a departure on 22 August 2026, also with Corsica Ferries (€33.50 on average), and Sète, at €34.92 for a departure on 23 August 2026 (€39.98 on average), again with Corsica Ferries. On average the order changes: Nice comes first (€33.50), Sète moves up to second (€39.00) ahead of Toulon (€38.79), and Marseille stays the dearest of the four (€39.98). The port with the lowest entry fare is therefore not the one with the best average: Toulon opens the ranking of minimums, Nice that of averages.
From €48.96 to €144.15 of gap depending on the package
The widest gap recorded between the two companies on a single crossing grows with the package. It reaches €48.96 for a foot passenger with a reclining seat, €125.87 for one adult with a car and a cabin, €120.83 for two adults, and €144.15 for two adults and two children. On the foot passenger profile, taking the cheaper of the two companies represents 34.7% in average savings; on the package for one adult with a car and a cabin, 11.6%.
A foot passenger return trip assembled from two departures actually recorded comes to €71.87: €34.92 outbound on 23 August 2026 and €36.95 back on 15 September 2026, with La Méridionale in both directions. The return direction, Ajaccio–Marseille, is the subject of separate readings.