Ferries from the UK to Ireland

The Irish Sea is one of the densest ferry corridors in Europe, so the question is never whether a crossing exists. Three bundles of routes share the water, and the right one follows from where the journey starts in Britain and which part of Ireland it ends in.

North: Cairnryan and Liverpool

From Scotland the bridgehead is Cairnryan. Stena Line crosses to Belfast in 2 hours 15 minutes with a choice of 12 sailings a day on Stena Superfast VII and VIII, and P&O Ferries works the parallel water into Larne in about two hours, up to six departures daily. Together they serve Northern Ireland more often than any other crossing here.

Liverpool to Belfast answers the same question from the Midlands and the north-west: eight hours aboard Stena Edda or Stena Embla, up to four direct sailings a day.

The middle: Holyhead to Dublin

Holyhead to Dublin is the shortest and busiest link between the two islands. Stena Line quotes 3 hours 15 minutes and eight sailings a day; Irish Ferries adds up to four, with Ulysses and James Joyce taking about three and a half hours and the fast craft Dublin Swift just over two. Dublin Port lies 2.7 km from the city centre, Irish Ferries at Terminal 1 and Stena Line at Terminal 2, the reason this route suits a city trip best.

South: Fishguard and Pembroke to Rosslare

For Cork, Kerry and the south-west, Rosslare saves the long transit down from Dublin. Stena Line sails Fishguard to Rosslare four times a day on Stena Nordica, roughly three and a half hours, the shorter Welsh option. Irish Ferries runs Pembroke to Rosslare twice daily on Isle of Innisfree in just over four hours, leaving Rosslare at 08:45 and 20:45.

Day crossing or night crossing

Only the Liverpool route is long enough to be worth sleeping through, and it is built for both: check-in for the 10:30 departure closes at 09:30, for the 22:30 departure at 21:30, and the ships carry en suite cabins. Elsewhere the passage is too short for a night at sea: an evening sailing buys a late arrival rather than a bed, and the last Pembroke ship berths at 00:46.

The border does not decide the country

The frontier between Northern Ireland and the Republic is open, and the timetables treat it that way. Translink and Irish Rail run the Enterprise from Belfast Grand Central to Dublin Connolly every hour, 15 times a day Monday to Saturday and eight on Sundays, and Stena Line sells a through Rail and Sail ticket from Dublin Connolly to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Inverness by way of Cairnryan. A cheaper sailing into the other jurisdiction is seldom a wasted one.

Travelling without a car

Rail and Sail covers three chains: the Scottish central belt via Cairnryan, north Wales and England via Holyhead, south Wales and England via Fishguard. The through fare includes the Rail Link coach between Ayr and Cairnryan Port, which has no station of its own, and carries no luggage limit. Foot passenger check-in closes 40 minutes before departure at Holyhead and 30 minutes at Fishguard and Cairnryan. At the Dublin end, a Stena Line shuttle bus links Terminal 2 with Georges Quay and Dublin Bus route 53 serves Terminal 1.