One of the most popular types of cruises on the market – Mediterranean Cruises visit a wide range of destinations throughout the glorious Mediterranean Sea. Also known as the Cradle of Civilisation with summer sun, beautiful resorts, historic cities and idyllic islands, the world's largest inland sea is enclosed by three major continents. 7 night Mediterranean cruises are an excellent option and the best option for one of these is a fly-cruise. Cruises setting sail from the UK usually involve a few days at sea before they enter the Mediterranean so will take 10 days or more. Fly-cruises are very port intensive sailing at night and docking during the day –up to 6 ports in the week is pretty normal. You will probably need to choose whether you want to do an Eastern Mediterranean cruise or a Western Mediterranean cruise.

Western Mediterranean Cruises

For Rivieras, bustling island resorts and cosmopolitan cities the Western Mediterranean is your best bet. The route is cruised from Barcelona, Palma, Genoa or Rome. Visited ports on the Spanish coast include Valencia, Malaga (for Granada), Gibraltar and through the Straits to Cadiz (for Seville). Popular ports of call include Majorca and the Balearics and both Sardinia and Corsica. Exploring the French Riviera can be easily accomplished from Nice or Monte Carlo while the Italian west coast offers Livorno (for Florence), Civitavecchia (for Rome) and Naples. Further south volcanic Sicily, Malta and Tunis on the North African coast are all interesting ports of call. 

Southern Mediterranean Cruises

Cruising in winter favours the South Mediterranean. Winter Mediterranean cruises will more than likely visit Cyprus, Alexandria in Egypt and Tripoli (security permitting) and other ports on the North African coast. The Israeli ports of Ashdod (for Jerusalem) and Haifa are no longer visited due to security problems.

Eastern Mediterranean Cruises

For the full Aegean experience an Eastern Mediterranean Cruise is the best option. Packed full of islands to explore surrounded by ancient sites and cities. Southern Mediterranean Cruises from Venice or Athens allow you to explore exotic Istanbul and visit ancient sites like Ephesus in Turkey, Olympia in Greece or Knossos on Crete. The Croatian coast, renowned for its beauty, including Dubrovnik. Cruises will also pass Corfu, now a regular port of call in the Adriatic Sea. The most popular Greek islands for cruises are Mykonos, Rhodes and Santorini.