Some of the best Mediterranean cruise ship ports appear on a variety of itineraries from several cruise lines. Traveling via cruise ship, vacationers are able to see six or more different ports on a seven- to 10-day sailing. That’s covering a lot of ground quickly and efficiently, making a Mediterranean cruise one of the most intense of all sailings.
As if a new, different and exciting port every day was not enough, shore excursions on a Mediterranean cruise run between four and 10 hours long. That makes for a long day, but one well worth it when visiting iconic bucket list destinations like Rome in Italy, Dubrovnik in Croatia or Marseilles in France. After a few days on board, destinations can seem to run together though, with no plan in place for getting the most out of time spent ashore.
Savvy travelers learn quickly to pace themselves. An interesting cruise ship-sponsored Mediterranean cruise shore excursion at every other port usually works well. Choosing the “on your own” version of an excursion seems to produce good results for many as opposed to being carted around from place to place with a tour group. At the ports where no excursion is planned, many travelers choose to simply walk off the ship and enjoy the day shopping, sight seeing or simply sitting at a sidewalk cafe, drinking in the local flavor.
Here are six of our favorite cruise ship ports of call when sailing the waters of the Mediterranean.
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[Photos by Chris Owen]