Which ferry crossings can you buy with a train ticket?

[sfieldhouse@me]

I discovered last year that I can get a through ticket from Southampton - Yarmouth Isle of Wight which includes the Isle of Wight ferry.
Oddly, I bought one tonight with my Network Railcard and it was £13 for an ‘evening out single’ with the ferry usually being £15 alone.

So which other ferry routes can you buy with a train ticket? A quick search on here showed the fastcat and hovercraft from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight.

Any others?

 

[TUC]

I discovered last year that I can get a through ticket from Southampton - Yarmouth Isle of Wight which includes the Isle of Wight ferry.
Oddly, I bought one tonight with my Network Railcard and it was £13 for an ‘evening out single’ with the ferry usually being £15 alone.

So which other ferry routes can you buy with a train ticket? A quick search on here showed the fastcat and hovercraft from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight.

Any others?

The various GB-Northern Ireland options for one, notwithstanding the issues people have experienced in buying tickets.

 

[hexagon789]

The ferry routes down the Clyde Coast - Glasgow to Brodwick (Arran) via Ardrossan being an example.

Any UK station to any Irish station with a SailRail ticket using ferries out of Holyhead is another.

 

[Watershed]

I discovered last year that I can get a through ticket from Southampton - Yarmouth Isle of Wight which includes the Isle of Wight ferry.
Oddly, I bought one tonight with my Network Railcard and it was £13 for an ‘evening out single’ with the ferry usually being £15 alone.

So which other ferry routes can you buy with a train ticket? A quick search on here showed the fastcat and hovercraft from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight.

Any others?

Essentially anywhere that the rail timetable includes a ferry, there is likely to be a ticket which includes said ferry. There are many cases where it is cheaper to buy a rail ticket than a ticket solely for the ferry. This is often the case if you have a Railcard and are travelling to the Isle of Wight, as you have found.

You can find whether ferry timings are in the system by going to BR Times and entering the name of the relevant location. This will show if there are any timetabled ferries, or 'ferry' timing links.

 

[A Challenge]

If you count Ranger tickets, the Waterside Wander Day Ranger in Southampton is valid on the Hythe Ferry. I also discovered in looking at this there is such thing as a 'Hover Rover Rail' ticket, which is an Island Line Day Ranger plus a return trip on the hovercraft, but you can get through rail tickets for the hovercraft as well anyway.

I would also say Gravesend to Tilbury, but I'm not sure if that has rail tickets valid on it, or just rail tickets valid X-Gravesend and then Tilbury-Y.

 

[wilbers]

Tyne and Wear metro all zone day ticket includes the North<->South Shields ferry.

Similarly on Merseyside, one of those day tickets includes ferry across the Mersey.

Isle of Man via Heysham or Liverpool

Train & ferry to ISLE OF MAN | LONDON TO DOUGLAS from £45.75

The alternative to flying: SailRail train & ferry tickets between London or any station in Britain and Douglas Isle of Man, via either Liverpool or Heysham with a ferry operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. Buy train & ferry tickets to Douglas online!

www.seat61.com

 

[Mainline421]

Cowes West, Cowes East, Gosport, Belfast, Calais, Hoek Van Holland, Douglas (IoM), Dublin (and onwards to any Irish station), Rosslare, Armadale (Skye), Kirkwall, Stromness, Lerwick (Shetland), Castlebay on Barra, Lochboisdale on South Uist, Stornoway on Lewis, Rothesay (Bute), Brodick (Arran), Campbeltown, Cumbrae, and the Scilly Isles. Might be a few more

 

[AlterEgo]

Cowes West, Cowes East, Gosport, Belfast, Calais, Hoek Van Holland, Douglas (IoM), Dublin (and onwards to any Irish station), Rosslare, Armadale (Skye), Kirkwall, Stromness, Lerwick (Shetland), Castlebay on Barra, Lochboisdale on South Uist, Stornoway on Lewis, Rothesay (Bute), Brodick (Arran), Campbeltown, Cumbrae, and the Scilly Isles. Might be a few more

Are there still tickets sold to the Scillies? I don’t think there are, although about ten years ago you used to be able to get one that was marked ROUTE: HELICOPTER which was very cool.

 

[alistairlees]

Are there still tickets sold to the Scillies? I don’t think there are, although about ten years ago you used to be able to get one that was marked ROUTE: HELICOPTER which was very cool.

Yes - see https://www.brfares.com/!expert?orig=PAD&dest=K686

There’s only one boat at 08.15 though; the sleeper arrives at 07.54 which does not quite make the minimum connection time of 30 minutes…

 

[AlterEgo]

Yes - see https://www.brfares.com/!expert?orig=PAD&dest=K686

There’s only one boat at 08.15 though; the sleeper arrives at 07.54 which does not quite make the minimum connection time of 30 minutes…

Are these actually on sale though? I know they’re in the fares database but I’ve tried to buy this journey before and it’s not sold, in my experience.

 

[Tetchytyke]

I've lost track, has Covid killed off the Calais day-tripper (valid on P&O Dover-Calais)?

 

[richw]

Yes - see https://www.brfares.com/!expert?orig=PAD&dest=K686

There’s only one boat at 08.15 though; the sleeper arrives at 07.54 which does not quite make the minimum connection time of 30 minutes…

Are these actually on sale though? I know they’re in the fares database but I’ve tried to buy this journey before and it’s not sold, in my experience.

Weekdays I believe the boat is an hour later? (Except august?)
GWR contract First Southwest to operate a shuttle bus from Penzance bus station to the quay in the mornings.

 

[Watershed]

I've lost track, has Covid killed off the Calais day-tripper (valid on P&O Dover-Calais)?

Unfortunately, yes. There was some correspondence between Southeastern and P&O which was revealed following an FoI request, suggesting that the ticket 'may' be reinstated. But as it's not happened yet, I'd say it's a safe bet it won't ever do.

Frankly I wouldn't want to do business with P&O anyway, after the shenanigans they got up to earlier this year...

 

[SargeNpton]

If you count Ranger tickets, the Waterside Wander Day Ranger in Southampton is valid on the Hythe Ferry. I also discovered in looking at this there is such thing as a 'Hover Rover Rail' ticket, which is an Island Line Day Ranger plus a return trip on the hovercraft, but you can get through rail tickets for the hovercraft as well anyway.

I would also say Gravesend to Tilbury, but I'm not sure if that has rail tickets valid on it, or just rail tickets valid X-Gravesend and then Tilbury-Y.

Tickets routed that way only include the trains either side of the river. The ferry fare, annoyingly, has to be paid separately.

For routes that I don't think have been mentioned yet...

It's possible to get a ticket from National Rail stations to Dartmouth, using the Paignton-Kingswear heritage line and then the ferry across the Dart.

Also to Hoek of Holland via the ferry from Harwich.

There used to be through fares to the Orkney Isles via Stromness; not sure whether they are still in place.

 

[rg177]

Are there still tickets sold to the Scillies? I don’t think there are, although about ten years ago you used to be able to get one that was marked ROUTE: HELICOPTER which was very cool.

Yep, while GWR doesn't have a bog-standard telesales line anymore, it has one for sleeper and Scilly Isles bookings.

 

[richw]

Portsmouth to Ryde, last time I went by foot a Portsmouth southsea to Ryde St John with railcard was cheaper than the ferry booked stand alone.

 

[Alex365Dash]

Cowes West, Cowes East, Gosport, Belfast, Calais, Hoek Van Holland, Douglas (IoM), Dublin (and onwards to any Irish station), Rosslare, Armadale (Skye), Kirkwall, Stromness, Lerwick (Shetland), Castlebay on Barra, Lochboisdale on South Uist, Stornoway on Lewis, Rothesay (Bute), Brodick (Arran), Campbeltown, Cumbrae, and the Scilly Isles. Might be a few more

I don’t think there are actually any fares defined to Gosport anymore (at least via the ferry).

Now to get to Gosport you either have to pay for the ferry separately, get a ticket to Gosport Bus E1/E2 which includes the Eclipse bus from Fareham, or buy a Fareham PlusBus which lets you travel on local buses (including the Eclipse) to Gosport.

 

[D6130]

Villa San Giovanni (Italy)-Messina (Sicily). In this case the train actually travels on the ferry.

 

[Hassocks5489]

Are there still tickets sold to the Scillies? I don’t think there are, although about ten years ago you used to be able to get one that was marked ROUTE: HELICOPTER which was very cool.

I have been sent scans of two tickets issued this year to the Isles of Scilly (destination shown as "Scilly Isles"): one dated 31 March 2022 routed "Skybus" (now a light aircraft, no longer a helicopter) and the other dated 7 May 2022 routed "Via Scillonian Ferry". Both were issued at GWR Telesales (NLC 3259) with the ticket type "Scilly Islands Long Stay".

 

[Trainbike46]

The various GB-Northern Ireland options for one, notwithstanding the issues people have experienced in buying tickets.

Specifically the Cairnryan-Belfast stena line ferry, as well as the Holyhead-Dublin ferry (both Irish Ferries and Stena, though a ticket is only valid on one of them)
But, Liverpool-Belfast doesn't offer combined train-ferry tickets, unfortunately

Also to Hoek of Holland via the ferry from Harwich.

The Harwich-Hook of Holland ferry is a bit odd, because it does offer SailRail tickets, but you need to buy them through the ferry company (instead of the railway) and they are only valid to/from Greater anglia stations

There used to be through fares to the Orkney Isles via Stromness; not sure whether they are still in place.

According to Scotrail they still exist: https://www.scotrail.co.uk/tickets/combined-tickets-travel-passes/rail-and-sail

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Lakes Day Ranger product allows a single journey on Lake Windermere (from Ambleside, Bowness or Lakeside) using scheduled Windermere Lake Cruises services.

 

[pepperpot80]

Torpoint Ferry using PlusBus (Plymouth).

Sandbanks Chain Ferry using a Bournemouth to Swanage rail bus-link add-on.

 

[typefish]

If you wish to be creative in the definition of a "train ticket", then you could use an all zones Tyne and Wear Metro day ticket to catch a ferry between North Shields and South Shields.

I say creative because the all zones ticket is, as far as I'm aware, valid between Newcastle and Sunderland on trains that aren't the Metro

 

[AngusH]

The page for GWR / Isles of Scilly packages is here:
(see 'travel packages' on the page)

Trains to Isles of Scilly | Cheap Scilly Train Tickets | Great Western Railway

Book your cheap train tickets to the Isles of Scilly with Great Western Railway today. Visit by train & discover some things to do. Get your GWR tickets today.

www.gwr.com

Though as remarked up thread, you need to call, I don't think it can be booked online.

 

[sfieldhouse@me]

The Isle of Man is interesting I've been desperate to go - thanks for that. I didn't know Red Funnel was covered either.

 

[philthetube]

The Isle of Man is interesting I've been desperate to go - thanks for that. I didn't know Red Funnel was covered either.

Via Heysham is the better offering, train to terminal 50 yards, and the ship is nicer to travel on.

If you are track bashing it may be a length you need.