Viking Star - Mediterranean Odyssey

Where this cruise calls, day by day

10 ports and 4 sea days over 13 Nights.

1. Day 1

   Barcelona

   SpainDepart

   The busiest cruise port in Europe, and for many Western Mediterranean itineraries the place the whole trip starts or ends. Barcelona is a full-scale city rather than a port town: Gaudi's unfinished basilica, a dense medieval quarter, and a working waterfront all within a few metro stops. Ships berth on a long industrial mole well outside the centre, so the day begins with a bus ride rather than a gangway stroll.

   • Sagrada Familia - book a timed entry well ahead; walk-ups are usually turned away
   • Park Guell and the Gaudi mosaics on Carmel hill
   • The Gothic Quarter and Barcelona Cathedral, on foot from Placa de Catalunya
   • La Boqueria market and a walk down La Rambla to the Columbus monument

   Getting ashore

   All cruise ships now use the Moll d'Adossat terminals roughly 3 km from the old city; the paid blue Portbus shuttle runs to the foot of La Rambla, and walking out is not practical.

   Best months

   Apr-Jun and Sep-Oct (Jul-Aug is hot, crowded and expensive)

2. Day 2 · At sea

3. Day 3

   Toulon

   FrancePort

   Home base of the French Mediterranean fleet, so the harbour view from the deck is grey hulls rather than yachts. The town was heavily bombed in the war and rebuilt plainly, but the old quarter behind the quay has a good daily market and the cable car up Mont Faron gives one of the widest views on the coast. Toulon is also a practical starting point for Hyeres and the Iles d'Or.

   • Musee National de la Marine, next to the arsenal gate
   • The Mont Faron cable car and the Memorial to the Allied landings
   • The Provencal market on the Cours Lafayette
   • A harbour boat tour past the naval fleet, or a ferry to Porquerolles

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock at the Quai Cronstadt beside the old port, close enough to walk into the market streets in a few minutes.

   Best months

   May-Jun and Sep-Oct

4. Day 4

   Monte Carlo

   MonacoPort

   Monaco is two square kilometres of banked hillside, and a cruise call drops you at the bottom of it in Port Hercule. Everything is walkable if you are willing to climb, or you can use the public lifts that thread up through the rock. The appeal is concentrated and unapologetically expensive: the casino, the palace, and a harbour of boats worth more than the ship.

   • The Casino de Monte-Carlo and the square in front of the Hotel de Paris
   • The Musee Oceanographique, built into the cliff face at Monaco-Ville
   • The Prince's Palace and the changing of the guard just before noon
   • Walking the Grand Prix circuit - the tunnel and the Rascasse hairpin are ordinary streets

   Getting ashore

   Larger ships anchor in the bay and tender into Port Hercule while smaller ones come alongside the Quai Rainier III jetty; either way you land in the middle of town.

   Best months

   Apr-Jun and Sep-Oct (May is Grand Prix month - spectacular, but the town is fenced off)

5. Day 5

   Livorno (Florence/Pisa)

   ItalyPort

   Livorno is a container and ferry port with a canal-laced old quarter called Venezia Nuova, and almost nobody comes for it. The call exists because Florence is about 90 minutes inland and Pisa about 45. Understand what that buys: a Florence excursion is roughly three hours on a coach around four hours in the city, and the Uffizi alone can eat half of that.

   • The Duomo, the Baptistery and Piazza della Signoria in Florence
   • The Uffizi, or the Accademia for Michelangelo's David - pre-booked, or you will not get in
   • The Leaning Tower and the Campo dei Miracoli at Pisa
   • Venezia Nuova's canals and the Mercato Centrale in Livorno itself

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock in Livorno's commercial port with a shuttle to Piazza del Municipio; Florence is about 90 minutes away by coach or train and Pisa about 45.

   Best months

   Apr-Jun and Sep-Oct (Jul-Aug very hot, and Florence is overwhelmed)

6. Day 6

   Rome (Civitavecchia)

   ItalyPort

   Civitavecchia is a working port town on the Tyrrhenian coast, and it is not Rome - the city is about 80km southeast, roughly 80 minutes each way. Budget for that honestly: a Rome day is some four hours of transit bracketing whatever you actually see. The port has Fort Michelangelo on the quay and good fish-market lunches, a real option if you have done Rome before.

   • St Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museums, with a timed entry booked well ahead
   • The Colosseum and the Roman Forum, a short walk apart on the Termini side
   • The Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain on a walking loop of the centro storico
   • Fort Michelangelo and the Terme Taurine Roman baths, for a day that stays in Civitavecchia

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock in Civitavecchia and a free shuttle runs to the port gate at Largo della Pace, from where it is a short walk to the station and a 70-80 minute train into Rome.

   Best months

   Apr-Jun and Sep-Oct (Jul-Aug hot, and the Rome queues are brutal)

7. Day 7

   Naples

   ItalyPort

   Naples is one of the few big Italian calls where the ship parks in the middle of the city - the Stazione Marittima sits at Molo Angioino with Castel Nuovo directly across the road. That makes it a rare port you can genuinely walk out of, though most passengers spend the day at Pompeii or on Capri instead. The city is loud, sooty and unpolished.

   • Pompeii or Herculaneum, both on the Circumvesuviana line from Garibaldi station
   • The Museo Archeologico Nazionale, which holds the mosaics and bronzes lifted out of Pompeii
   • Spaccanapoli and the Cappella Sansevero, home of the Veiled Christ
   • A hydrofoil to Capri from Molo Beverello, a few minutes' walk from the ship

   Getting ashore

   Ships berth at the Stazione Marittima on Molo Angioino in the city centre, a ten-minute walk from Piazza del Plebiscito with the hydrofoil pier next door.

   Best months

   Apr-Jun and Sep-Oct (Jul-Aug hot and crowded, and Pompeii has almost no shade)

8. Day 8 · At sea

9. Day 9

   Corfu

   GreecePort

   Corfu was Venetian for four centuries and then British for fifty, and the Old Town shows it - tall shuttered Italianate terraces, a cricket ground on the main square, and an arcaded promenade the French put up. The island is green and wooded in a way the Cyclades are not. The cruise terminal is a couple of kilometres from the Old Town, an unremarkable walk or a short shuttle ride.

   • The Old Fortress and the Liston arcade on the Spianada, the largest square in Greece
   • The Achilleion, the palace Empress Elisabeth of Austria built above Gastouri
   • Paleokastritsa - the monastery on the headland and the coves beneath it
   • Kanoni, with the Vlacherna monastery and Mouse Island offshore

   Getting ashore

   Docked at the cruise terminal about 2km from the Old Town; a shuttle runs to the port gate, and it is a 20-25 minute walk from there along the waterfront.

   Best months

   May-Jun and Sep-Oct (Corfu gets far more rain than the Aegean islands, so shoulder season can be wet)

10. Day 10 · At sea

11. Day 11

    Dubrovnik

    CroatiaPort

    Dubrovnik's walled Old Town is small, hard-surfaced and steep, and on a two-ship day it does not cope - which is why the city capped cruise arrivals. Ships berth at Gruz, about 3km round the headland, so you arrive by bus or taxi rather than stepping out at the gate. The wall circuit is what people come for and it earns the ticket, but it is a 2km loop with almost no shade.

    • The city walls circuit - roughly 2km, stepped, shadeless, and about EUR40
    • The Stradun, the Rector's Palace, and the Franciscan monastery pharmacy of 1317
    • The cable car up Mount Srd for the view down onto the Old Town and Lokrum
    • A boat across to Lokrum island, or sea kayaking beneath the walls

    Getting ashore

    Docked at Gruz, about 2.5km from the Pile Gate; ship shuttles run to the gate, local buses 1A and 1B take ten minutes, and the walk is 35 minutes along a busy road.

    Best months

    May-Jun and Sep-Oct (Jul-Aug means heat on the walls and the worst of the crowding)

12. Day 12

    Split

    CroatiaPort

    Split is built inside a Roman palace. Diocletian retired here in AD 305 and the town simply kept using the walls - shops, flats and bars are wedged into the emperor's substructures, so it reads as a lived-in neighbourhood rather than a ruin. Cruise ships berth on the harbour a short walk from the Riva, which makes it one of the easier Adriatic port days to do on your own.

    • Diocletian's Palace: the Peristyle, the cellars, and the Cathedral of St Domnius in his mausoleum
    • The Marjan hill paths above the town, for the view along the coast
    • Trogir, a walled Venetian island town about 30 minutes west
    • The waterfalls and boardwalks of Krka National Park, roughly an hour inland

    Getting ashore

    Docked in the city harbour basin beside the ferries. Small ships take Gat sv. Petra, five minutes from the palace's Silver Gate; large ships take the outer Gat sv. Duje, a flat but unshaded 10-20 minutes. A blue line painted on the ground leads you in.

    Best months

    May-Jun and Sep-Oct (Jul-Aug is hot and the palace lanes are shoulder to shoulder)

13. Day 13 · At sea

14. Day 14

    Venice

    ItalyArrive

    Since August 2021 ships above roughly 25,000 gross tons have been barred from the Giudecca Canal and St Mark's Basin, so the classic sail-past no longer happens. Large ships now berth at Porto Marghera, the industrial port on the mainland edge of the lagoon, and transfer passengers in; many lines moved turnarounds to Trieste or Ravenna. Only small vessels still use the Stazione Marittima.

    • The Basilica di San Marco and the Doge's Palace, both worth a pre-booked slot
    • The Gallerie dell'Accademia and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection on the Dorsoduro bank
    • The Rialto market early, before the day-trippers land
    • A vaporetto the length of the Grand Canal - the cheap version of the sail-in you no longer get

    Getting ashore

    Large ships berth at Porto Marghera on the mainland and transfer passengers by bus and boat; only ships under the tonnage limit still reach the Stazione Marittima in the lagoon.

    Best months

    Apr-May and Sep-Oct (summer is hot and packed, and Nov-Jan brings acqua alta)