Ferry Services to France

There are a number of options for ferries in France namely to the UK and Ireland on the Atlantic and to Corsica, Tunisia, and Spain in the Mediterranean. If you live in the UK or Ireland you can take your car or motor home on the ferry and save the cost of hiring a car in France.

We caught the overnight ferry from Dublin to Cherbourg with our cycle touring bikes and enjoyed the experience. Our ferry left Dublin mid afternoon and we arrived into Cherbourg mid-morning the next day. For these overnight sailings it was mandatory to have a cabin so we slept well in bunks. The food onboard was ok, nothing to write home about. Thankfully we had a very smooth sailing so no issues with sea sickness.

France ferry

Getting to France by ferry

Traveling to France by ferry is a popular way of arriving and departing the country, especially for those living in or traveling to and from the UK and Ireland. The main benefit of this is that you can bring your own vehicle and don’t have the added expense of car hire. There are numerous crossings on a daily basis to choose from depending on your port of departure. The main channel ports in France are located from Roscoff in the south to Dunkérque in the north. In the UK you can travel from a range of ports with Dover and Portsmouth being the largest. Services also run to Dublin, Rosslare, and Cork in Ireland. The shortest crossing, from Calais to Dover takes 1hr 30 mins while the longest, between Dublin and Cherbourg, takes 18 hours.

There are also options in the Mediterranean to go to the islands of Corsica or Sardinia or further to Algeria, Tunisia, and Spain. The main ports in France are Nice, Marseille, and Toulon.

There are various sites that offer tickets across a range of ferry companies such as directferries.co.uk and ferrysavers.co.uk.

Author

Stephen

Stephen is an avid cycling enthusiast who enjoys various forms of cycling, including road cycling, cycle touring, mountain biking, and gravel riding. For more than a decade, he has been travelling to France for cycling holidays and has recently settled in the French Pyrenees. Having extensive experience in travelling with his bike, Stephen has learned how to navigate the logistics of transporting bikes via planes, trains, cars, and shipping methods.