Irish Ferries

ferryNo man is an island, but Ireland is – so it stands to reason that one method of transport to and from Ireland is going to involve the water. Thankfully, reason holds up on this one. Irish ferries will get you to and from Ireland, sailing between Ireland and Great Britain or France.

There are a couple of Irish ferry companies that will get you from Point A to Point B, but the largest one is called simply “Irish Ferries.” Its business name is Irish Continental Group, but everyone calls them Irish Ferries. They offer the following routes between Ireland and England:

  • Dublin – Holyhead
  • Rosslare – Pembroke

And the following routes between Ireland and France:

  • Rosslare – Cherbourg
  • Rosslare – Roscoff

Irish Ferries boasts the ferry with the highest car capacity in the world (called the “Ulysses”), which serves the Holyhead/Dublin route, and they also have a high-speed ferry in their fleet called the “Jonathan Swift” which also serves the Holyhead/Dublin route.

Search for ferries here:

Other Irish ferry companies include:

  • Brittany Ferries (with service between Cork and Roscoff, France)
  • Celtic Link Ferries (with service between Rosslare and Cherbourg, France)
  • Nofolkline Irish Sea (with service between Dublin and Liverpool, England)
  • P&O Irish Sea (with service between Dublin and Liverpool, England)
  • Stena Line (with service between Dublin and Holyhead, England; Dun Laoghaire and Holyhead, England; and Rosslare and Fishguard, England)
  • Swansea Cork Ferries (with service between Cork and Swansea, Wales)

This is a list of how often the main routes between Ireland and England/France are crossed and how long the sailing time is for each:

  • Dublin/Holyhead – 51 crossings weekly, 3.25 hours sailing time
  • Dublin/Liverpool – 28 crossings weekly, 8 hours sailing time
  • Rosslare/Pembroke – 16 crossings weekly, 3.75 hours sailing time
  • Rosslare/Cherbourg – 10 crossings weekly, 18.5 hours sailing time
  • Rosslare/Roscoff – 1 crossing weekly, 17.5 hours sailing time
  • Cork/Roscoff – 1 crossing weekly, 13 hours sailing time

And check out our list of all the Ireland ferry websites.