Day trips to Ireland by ferry

[Citybreak1]

Are day trips possible from Scotland to Belfast? I estimate I am atleast an hour by rail to the ferry port.

 

[StephenHunter]

Depends where you started from, but you wouldn't be able to spend very long there:

Cairnryan to Larne Ferry | Compare Tickets & Book | Direct Ferries

Check the latest Cairnryan to Larne ferry prices and times online with Direct Ferries. To search timetables, read trip reviews and book tickets, click here now.

www.directferries.co.uk

 

[Iskra]

I think a bit more information would be useful here in terms of what you are looking to achieve and where you’re starting from? I’m sure you can go there and back in a day if you just want to do the trip or like being at sea (indeed from Holyhead this is encouraged with cheap fares so that people can access the duty free). However, if your intention is to thoroughly explore Belfast I doubt it would be worth while. Time of year may be a factor too, as the weather could impact your trip.

 

[75A]

Yes from Cairnryan, I'm planning to take my car over to Carlisle to see my football team (Portsmouth).
The nearest station to Cairnryan is Stranraer which isn't exactly walkable.

 

[danm14]

Are day trips possible from Scotland to Belfast? I estimate I am atleast an hour by rail to the ferry port.

Stena Line offer special day trip fares starting at £15 from Cairnryan to Belfast on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Translink Metro route 96 links Belfast Port with Belfast City Centre and is timetabled to connect with the ferries. Alternatively, a taxi should cost around £12-£15 each way.

Outward travel from Cairnryan is on the 7:30am sailing (bus arrives in Belfast City Centre at 10:35am) and the return journey is made on the 3:30pm or 7:30pm sailing (bus leaves Belfast City Centre at 1:40pm or 6:30pm).

 

[75A]

You couldn't do a 'day trip' from Holyhead or Liverpool to Belfast because the ferry is so slow.

 

[Trainbike46]

Stena Line offer special day trip fares starting at £15 from Cairnryan to Belfast on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Translink Metro route 96 links Belfast Port with Belfast City Centre and is timetabled to connect with the ferries. Alternatively, a taxi should cost around £12-£15 each way.

Outward travel from Cairnryan is on the 7:30am sailing (bus arrives in Belfast City Centre at 10:35am) and the return journey is made on the 3:30pm or 7:30pm sailing (bus leaves Belfast City Centre at 1:40pm or 6:30pm).

Exactly, though you may have trouble getting to cairnryan ferryport for 6:30ish if you intend to get there by train or coach

Stena's web page with details

Day Trip to Belfast | Stena Line

Enjoy a day trip to Belfast by ferry with Stena Line. Travel to Belfast or on foot and have a great day out for a great price. Optional Metro dayLink cards for bus travel throughout Belfast are available. Book online today.

www.stenaline.co.uk

You couldn't do a 'day trip' from Holyhead or Liverpool to Belfast because the ferry is so slow.

depending on your definition of a day trip, you could do an overnight ferry in both directions like this:

Liverpool/Birkenhead 22:30 depart
Belfast 06:30 arrive

Day in Belfast

Belfast 22:30 depart
Liverpool/Birkenhead 6:30 arrive

which does give you a full day in Belfast (and 2 nights on the ferry)

 

[Tetchytyke]

Yes from Cairnryan, I'm planning to take my car over to Carlisle to see my football team (Portsmouth).
The nearest station to Cairnryan is Stranraer which isn't exactly walkable.

There is a shuttle bus to Cairnryan for rail passengers, but the bus runs from Ayr and IIRC only connects with the afternoon ferry.

For a day trip you’d need to drive from Carlisle to Cairnryan. It’s about a 2hr30 drive.

 

[75A]

There is a shuttle bus to Cairnryan for rail passengers, but the bus runs from Ayr and IIRC only connects with the afternoon ferry.

For a day trip you’d need to drive from Carlisle to Cairnryan. It’s about a 2hr30 drive.

Subject to Dumfries, some days it can take over an hour just to get from one side to the other as I know from bitter experience.

 

[paul1609]

Stena Line offer special day trip fares starting at £15 from Cairnryan to Belfast on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Translink Metro route 96 links Belfast Port with Belfast City Centre and is timetabled to connect with the ferries. Alternatively, a taxi should cost around £12-£15 each way.

Outward travel from Cairnryan is on the 7:30am sailing (bus arrives in Belfast City Centre at 10:35am) and the return journey is made on the 3:30pm or 7:30pm sailing (bus leaves Belfast City Centre at 1:40pm or 6:30pm).

Just a word of warning from my September trip to Belfast. Belfast Port is over 5 miles from the city centre. If the ferries disrupted there won't be a 96 bus and on my visit there appeared to be 2 early morning taxis for about 100 foot passengers with the phone companies unable to assist until after the school runs. It's a not very pleasant 2 mile walk alongside a dual carriageway with luggage in the rain being soaked by hgvs to get out of the port. easyJet would be my recommendation.

 

[Trainbike46]

Just a word of warning from my September trip to Belfast. Belfast Port is over 5 miles from the city centre. If the ferries disrupted there won't be a 96 bus and on my visit there appeared to be 2 early morning taxis for about 100 foot passengers with the phone companies unable to assist until after the school runs. It's a not very pleasant 2 mile walk alongside a dual carriageway with luggage in the rain being soaked by hgvs to get out of the port. easyJet would be my recommendation.

My experience with the ferry has always been possible, and the bus is usually a good connection

the bus timetables are available here: https://www.translink.co.uk/timetab...ca30c9&transportMode=Bus&route=T0&direction=R

If you intend to use a taxi, I would recommend booking in advance with one of the companies covering belfast (fonacab, valuecabs, etc.), as taxis can be in short supply in Belfast

 

[parkender102]

You couldn't do a 'day trip' from Holyhead or Liverpool to Belfast because the ferry is so slow.

Years ago we were heading over to Cork from North Wales and we met a guy on the train (got on in Colwyn Bay) who was a friend of her Father. He used to go over to Dublin every Saturday on a Rail and Sail Ticket that was something like £16 for the train Colwyn Bay to Holyhead, the Fast Catamaran to Dublin, the DART into Dublin and Return to Colwyn Bay. He'd spend the afternoon with his Irish Mates in the pub and return the same day getting back into Colwyn Bay around 22:00 - 23:00. Not sure if this is still possible or the same ticket exists.

 

[danm14]

Years ago we were heading over to Cork from North Wales and we met a guy on the train (got on in Colwyn Bay) who was a friend of her Father. He used to go over to Dublin every Saturday on a Rail and Sail Ticket that was something like £16 for the train Colwyn Bay to Holyhead, the Fast Catamaran to Dublin, the DART into Dublin and Return to Colwyn Bay. He'd spend the afternoon with his Irish Mates in the pub and return the same day getting back into Colwyn Bay around 22:00 - 23:00. Not sure if this is still possible or the same ticket exists.

Rail and Sail tickets do still exist, thankfully - although a return journey is closer to £100 today.
Spending the day in Dublin would no longer be feasible with the current ferry and rail timetables, however.

 

[parkender102]

Ah right - probably cheaper to fly out for the day. I also worked with a guy whilst working in Cambridgeshire. He used to quite regularly get a cheap Ryanair Flight Stansted to Salzburg, Austria and him and his wife would spend the day there with friends who lived there before returning in the evening on the same day.

 

[Djgr]

Just a word of warning from my September trip to Belfast. Belfast Port is over 5 miles from the city centre. If the ferries disrupted there won't be a 96 bus and on my visit there appeared to be 2 early morning taxis for about 100 foot passengers with the phone companies unable to assist until after the school runs. It's a not very pleasant 2 mile walk alongside a dual carriageway with luggage in the rain being soaked by hgvs to get out of the port. easyJet would be my recommendation.

Or plan it for a Saturday when there are no school runs

 

[GWVillager]

I do it quite often, though as a foot passenger and either sleeping on the Belfast - Liverpool ferry or staying one night in Ireland. You can get the ‘short stay’ discount if you return within 28 hours.

 

[A0wen]

Yes from Cairnryan, I'm planning to take my car over to Carlisle to see my football team (Portsmouth).
The nearest station to Cairnryan is Stranraer which isn't exactly walkable.

Wouldn't it be easier to fly from Belfast to Glasgow then get the train to Carlisle ?

 

[75A]

Wouldn't it be easier to fly from Belfast to Glasgow then get the train to Carlisle ?

Not when you're 6 feet 7' tall, the planes are made for midgets lol.
Seriously though, I'll be picking my nephew and his mates up from Carlisle station as they come up from Littlehampton by train.

 

[A0wen]

Not when you're 6 feet 7' tall, the planes are made for midgets lol.
Seriously though, I'll be picking my nephew and his mates up from Carlisle station as they come up from Bognor by train.

The station is less than a mile from the football ground according to Google Maps - surely on a match day it would be quicker to walk than drive ?

 

[route101]

There used to be Stena day trips by coach from Glasgow. I have done Dublin by plane on daytrips. In theory you could do KLM to Amsterdam for the day but their pricing was sky high for same day returns last time.

 

[1D54]

Going off thread but very interesting. Done Dublin, Amsterdam and Alicante on day trips from England.

 

[chiltern trev]

Cairnryan to Belfast - you can get the Stena latest sailing status info here - https://www.stenaline.co.uk/customer-service/latest-sailing-updates/cairnryan-belfast - this shows the sailing for 2 days. Follow the on page link for the reverse direction.

Superfast VII and VIII are the same design and are very big ships so you get a smoother ride than much smaller ferries.

Crossing time is 2hr 15 mins of which 15 mins at Cairnryan end and 30 mins at Belfast end are in sheltered loch/lough waters depending upon wind direction.

Citylink 923 Glasgow-Ayr-Cairnryan-Stena line-Belfast but only connects with 1130, 1530 and 1930 sailings to Belfast - https://www.citylink.co.uk/timetables-service-updates/scotland-to-belfast/

Stagecoach bus 58/60 runs Ayr-Girvan and 358/360 Girvan-Cairnryan-Stranraer (one combined timetable from stagecoach website) and does not connect with the 0730 - the first bus in either direction is too late.

So it would appear go in you car to Cairnryan and park at the ferry port - but check about all day parking (I do not know it that is allowed).

 

[danm14]

So it would appear go in you car to Cairnryan and park at the ferry port - but check about all day parking (I do not know it that is allowed).

It is. £5 per day.

There used to be Stena day trips by coach from Glasgow

The special day trip fare is the remnants of these.

It started out as a coach from Glasgow through to Belfast City Centre, then they dropped the coach between Belfast Port and Belfast City Centre in favour of a free day ticket for Translink Metro buses, then they dropped the free day ticket, then they dropped the coach from Glasgow.

 

[Flying Snail]

Years ago we were heading over to Cork from North Wales and we met a guy on the train (got on in Colwyn Bay) who was a friend of her Father. He used to go over to Dublin every Saturday on a Rail and Sail Ticket that was something like £16 for the train Colwyn Bay to Holyhead, the Fast Catamaran to Dublin, the DART into Dublin and Return to Colwyn Bay. He'd spend the afternoon with his Irish Mates in the pub and return the same day getting back into Colwyn Bay around 22:00 - 23:00. Not sure if this is still possible or the same ticket exists.

That was in the heyday of the HSS in the late 90s/2000s with 4 or 5 daily return services, an advertised journey time of 99 minutes, 15 minute check-in and a short walk to the railway in both ports, how far we have come since those days.

 

[chiltern trev]

That was in the heyday of the HSS in the late 90s/2000s with 4 or 5 daily return services, an advertised journey time of 99 minutes, 15 minute check-in and a short walk to the railway in both ports, how far we have come since those days.

When the Holyhead HSS was running, we did an Easter Sunday day trip from north Wales - park the car at Holyhead, 09.00 out, rugby match at the old Lansdowne Road and 21.00 back. Dart tickets included in the day trip.