The ferry is the attraction

There is a category of European journey that costs the price of a bus ticket, appears on no list of experiences, and beats most paid excursions. It is the working boat: the ferry that exists because people need to get to work, to school, or home with the shopping.

Istanbul's commuter ferries cross between Europe and Asia every few minutes for the price of a metro ride. You get tea in a tulip glass, gulls following the stern for simit crumbs, and the entire skyline in twenty minutes. The tourist Bosphorus cruise costs many times more and shows you the same water.

Stockholm's archipelago boats are on the same principle. Waxholmsbolaget runs a public service to islands where people live year-round; buy a ticket, take a swimming towel, get off somewhere with a jetty and a bakery.

The Koman Lake ferry in northern Albania is three hours through a flooded gorge on a boat carrying villagers, sacks and occasionally a car, and it is the standard way to reach the Valbona valley rather than a tourist product. Hamburg's 62 ferry runs down the Elbe past the container terminals on a normal transport ticket. Norway's whole west coast works this way.

The pattern is consistent enough to be a travel strategy. Before booking a boat trip anywhere in Europe, check whether the local transport authority already runs a service on the same water. It usually does, it usually costs a tenth as much, and it usually has better company on board.

The trade-off is that nobody explains anything to you. You get a view and a schedule and no commentary. Whether that is a loss depends entirely on what you came for.