- Killimer–Tarbert is the one that saves you a half-day. €22.50 single online, about 20 minutes, and it replaces roughly 140 km through Limerick.
- Passage East–Ballyhack is €10 single for a car and everyone in it, about 5 minutes, every 10 to 15 minutes all day.
- Strangford–Portaferry is in pounds — £8.00 single from 1 February 2026 — and the vehicle fare includes the driver only. Passengers pay £1.40 each.
- Greencastle–Magilligan is seasonal and crosses the border. €22.00 single, about 20 minutes, and it does not sail all year.
- The Carlingford Lough ferry is not sailing on any date in 2026. Do not plan a route that needs it.
- None of these needs booking. Only Killimer–Tarbert is cheaper online, and there you must buy 30 minutes before boarding.
Ireland is a coastline with rivers cut deep into it, and the road network solves that problem by going the long way round. Four short car ferries solve it properly. Each one is a scheduled service that takes your car, costs less than the fuel you would burn driving around, and turns two hours of inland motorway into twenty minutes on the water.
They are not tourist attractions with a boarding process. You drive down a slip, somebody takes your fare through the window, and you are off again on the other side. The only thing that catches people out is the season — one of the four does not sail in winter, and a fifth crossing that appears on a lot of maps is not sailing at all this year.
Everything below is from the operator's own page or, for Strangford, from the Department for Infrastructure that runs it. All of it was checked in September 2026.
The four crossings that save you a drive
| Crossing | Operator | Between | Crossing | Frequency | Car + passengers | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Killimer–Tarbert | Shannon Ferry Group | Clare ↔ Kerry | ~20 min | Half-hourly 9am–6pm in season, hourly otherwise | €22.50 single / €36.00 return online | Every day except Christmas Day |
| Passage East–Ballyhack | Passage East Ferry Company | Waterford ↔ Wexford | ~5 min | Every 10–15 min, 100+ crossings a day | €10 single / €14 return | Every day except Christmas Day and St Stephen's Day |
| Strangford–Portaferry | Department for Infrastructure | Down ↔ Down | ~8 min | Half-hourly, ~15 hours a day | £8.00 single / £13.90 return, driver only | Every day except Christmas Day |
| Greencastle–Magilligan | Lough Foyle Ferry | Donegal ↔ Derry | ~20 min | Constant shuttle, no timetable | €22.00 single / €32.00 return | Seasonal — 22 May to 31 August 2026, part of September |
The road distances quoted through this page are the alternative land route measured through the road network, not straight lines. Each one is the drive you take if the boat is not running.
Killimer–Tarbert: the Clare–Kerry shortcut
This is the one worth planning a day around. The Shannon estuary is 100 km of water with no bridge below Limerick, so a car going from west Clare to north Kerry has two options: a 20-minute crossing, or roughly 140 km inland through Limerick city and back out again, which is a little over two hours of moving time before you have stopped for anything.
The fare. Shannon Ferries lists a car including its passengers at €22.50 single and €36.00 return online, and states that "tickets [are] 10% cheaper online" — the rates listed beside them, €25.00 and €40.00, are what you pay on board. Multi-trip books exist if you are somehow doing this repeatedly: 6 trips for €81.00, 12 for €135.00.
The catch on buying online. The operator's FAQ says "tickets must be purchased 30 minutes prior to boarding the ferry", and that "if you do not have your ticket when on board the ferry you will have to purchase another ticket". So the online discount is for someone who bought it that morning, not for someone thumbing at a phone in the queue. On board you can pay by credit card or cash, and there is no reservation — the operator asks only that you "arrive 5-10 minutes prior to ferry departure".
The timetable moves with the season, and it is published month by month. In September, Killimer sails from 7:00am with a last crossing at 8:00pm, and Tarbert from 7:30am with a last crossing at 8:30pm; a second vessel gives half-hourly sailings Killimer to Tarbert between 9am and 6pm, and Tarbert to Killimer between 9:30am and 6:30pm. By December there is no second vessel and the service is plain hourly, 7:00am to 7:00pm from Killimer and 7:30am to 7:30pm from Tarbert, with Sundays starting two hours later in both months. It runs every day of the year except Christmas Day. Check the month you are travelling on the operator's timetable page rather than assuming the summer pattern.
A campervan is not a car. Shannon Ferries prices dormobiles and campers, and trailers or caravans, as separate classes, and its FAQ warns that "any fare difference will be payable on board the ferry, without discount". There is also a 47kW fast charger at the Killimer terminal, which is useful to know if you are doing this drive in an EV — see our electric vehicle guide.
Passage East–Ballyhack: Waterford to Hook Head
The shortest and cheapest of the four, and the one that changes a day's itinerary most cheaply. Passage East sits on the Waterford side of the estuary and Ballyhack on the Wexford side; the crossing is about 5 minutes, against roughly 32 km and 40 minutes by road around through the N25 and the Barrow bridge.
The fare. €10 single and €14 return for a car including passengers, on the operator's fares page and matching its online shop. The rest of the tariff: car and caravan €13 and €20, campervan or motorhome €14 and €18, motorcycle and passenger €5 and €7, cyclist €3 and €4, foot passenger €1.50 and €2. A 12-trip commuter ticket is €42 with a 14-day life from first use, and a 12-trip ticket with no expiry is €56.
The frequency is the selling point. The operator runs "a continuous shuttle service throughout the day, with over 100 crossings every day", sailing "every 10-15 mins from either side", and tells you to "just show up whenever you want to cross". Between 7:00am and 9:00am Monday to Saturday it runs to a fixed 15-minute schedule from Ballyhack. First sailing is 7:00am Monday to Saturday and 9:30am on Sundays and public holidays.
Check the last sailing before you rely on it. The operator's sailing-times page gives the last crossing as 8pm from 1 September to 30 June and 9pm from 1 July to 31 August. A banner on its own ticket shop states a different end date for the 8pm period. Both are the operator's, they do not agree, and the crossing you would be depending on is the late one — so if your plan involves the last boat, ring the office rather than trusting either page. It sails every day except Christmas Day and St Stephen's Day, and takes cash and card on board with no pre-booking.
This is the ferry named four times on our Waterford City & Coast route, and it is what makes Hook Head a reasonable afternoon rather than a separate day.
Strangford–Portaferry: the one in pounds
The mouth of Strangford Lough is about 0.6 nautical miles wide and the lough behind it is 30 km long, so the ferry between Strangford and Portaferry replaces roughly 75 km and over an hour of driving around the head of the lough through Comber and Newtownards.
It is a government service, and it is priced in pounds. The Department for Infrastructure runs it, not a company, and fares changed on 1 February 2026:
| Vehicle | Single | Return | SmartCard (20 journeys) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 6 m | £8.00 | £13.90 | £69.70 |
| 6–8 m | £13.90 | £25.10 | £167.30 |
| Each additional 2 m over 8 m | £6.30 | £11.20 | £75.20 |
| Motorcycle | £4.90 | £7.60 | £43.30 |
| Vehicle with Blue Badge holder | £3.20 | £5.60 | — |
The trap that is unique to this crossing: the vehicle fare includes the driver only. Everybody else in the car pays the passenger rate — £1.40 single for an adult, £0.70 for a child aged 5 to 15, free under 5. A family of four crossing one way is £8.00 plus three passenger fares, not £8.00. Every other ferry on this page sells "car including passengers" as one price, so this is the one where the number on the price list is not the number you pay.
Times. The ferry departs Strangford on the hour and the half hour, and Portaferry at quarter past and quarter to. Weekdays run 7:30am to 10:30pm from Strangford and 7:45am to 10:45pm from Portaferry; Saturdays 8:00am to 11:00pm and 8:15am to 11:15pm; Sundays 9:30am to 10:30pm and 9:45am to 10:45pm. It sails every day of the year except Christmas Day, with special arrangements on Christmas Eve, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. The Department describes the service as running "approximately 15hrs daily every day of the year (except Christmas Day)", and published 1,902 scheduled sailings for July 2026 with none missed.
Do not check the tide. This is a scheduled service on a published timetable, not a tide-dependent crossing. Contactless card or a ferry SmartCard works on deck; for disruptions, the Department points you at TrafficwatchNI.
Greencastle–Magilligan: a car ferry that crosses the border
Lough Foyle Ferry runs between Greencastle in County Donegal — in the Republic — and Magilligan Point in County Derry, in Northern Ireland. It is the only crossing on this page where you change jurisdiction mid-water, and it is the one that most changes a north-west itinerary: about 20 minutes against roughly 80 km and an hour and a quarter around through Derry city.
The fare, and the currency question. The operator's online shop prices a car or small van up to 5 m including passengers at €22.00 single and €32.00 return, with a 4-trip book at €38.00 and a 6-trip saver at €50.00. The shop sells in euro by default and offers a sterling option at checkout, which prices the same tickets at £19.80 and £28.80 — that is a fixed conversion applied by the shop, not a separately-set sterling tariff, so treat the euro figures as the operator's price. Tickets are "available in advance from our website and when you arrive on board".
It is seasonal, and this is the fact that ruins itineraries. The operator's 2026 season is daily sailing "from Friday 22nd May to 31st August", running a constant shuttle from 9am to 8:15pm. September then drops to specific dates only — the 1st to the 13th, then the 18th, 19th and 20th, then the 25th, 26th and 27th — on a constant shuttle of three trips an hour from 9am to 6:15pm, last sail from Greencastle at 6pm and from Magilligan at 6:15pm. Outside that, the road through Derry is your route. There is no set timetable within the season: the operator says to "simply turn up and catch the next ferry", and asks you to check the sailing-status page before travelling. It will not carry buses or lorries over 6 metres.
Cross-border cover is a condition, not an assumption. A car hired in the Republic that comes off this boat is being driven in Northern Ireland, and that is a named term on the rental agreement — see what to check before you sign. It is also where the units change: miles per hour, pounds sterling, and no tolls at all north of the border.
This is the crossing mentioned in one line on our Inishowen 100 route, and the reason that drive can be linked to the Causeway Coastal Route without doubling back.
Carlingford Lough: not sailing in 2026
The Carlingford Lough Ferry between Greenore in County Louth and Greencastle in County Down is the crossing you will find on maps, in guidebooks and in older route write-ups, including one of ours. It is not running.
The operator's own site states that the ferry "will not be operating a service between Greencastle Co-Down and Greenore County Louth on any date in 2026", and that "all tickets with outstanding trips valid for travel in 2026, will have their expiry dates extended, so they can be used when the ferry is back in service". No return date has been announced.
This matters more than it sounds. A reader routing the Cooley peninsula or the Mourne coast on the assumption of a Carlingford Lough crossing loses over an hour, because the alternative is the whole way round the head of the lough through Newry. Plan the road route.
The separate Omeath to Warrenpoint passenger boat, which appears in a lot of older material about the Cooley peninsula, has not run for over twenty years. It was the Red Star ferry, it was a seasonal passenger service that never carried cars, and it ceased around 2003 when safety regulation made it unviable. There is no ferry from Omeath.
Can you take a hire car on a ferry?
On all four of the crossings above, yes, and there is nothing to arrange with the ferry. None of them takes the car off the island of Ireland. You drive on, buy a ticket for the vehicle's size class, and drive off.
Three things are worth knowing before you go.
Buy the right class. Every operator prices by vehicle type and length, and every operator reserves the right to charge the difference on deck. Shannon Ferries sells cars, dormobiles and campers, and trailers or caravans as separate products, and its FAQ says the difference is "payable on board the ferry, without discount". Passage East warns it "reserve[s] the right to apply additional charges on-board if your ticket is not valid for your vehicle type". Strangford prices by length, at 6 m and 8 m. Lough Foyle prices cars to 5 m and refuses anything over 6 m. A hire car with a roof box or a towed trailer is not a car fare.
Cross-border cover applies to two of them. Lough Foyle lands you in Northern Ireland, and Strangford is inside Northern Ireland — which means you crossed the border by road to get there. Taking a car hired in the Republic north is a named condition on the rental agreement, not an assumption: tell the company in advance, and confirm in writing that both insurance and breakdown cover extend across the border. Our car rental guide covers what to ask.
A sea crossing that leaves the island is a different question. Dublin or Rosslare to Britain or France is not covered by anything on this page, and it is the kind of thing a rental agreement restricts. Read your own agreement, and ask before you book the boat rather than after.
The island ferries that do not take your car
Several of Ireland's best-known ferries carry no cars at all, and a plan built around driving onto one does not survive contact with the pier. In each case the answer is to leave the car on the mainland.
The Aran Islands. Aran Island Ferries states that "there are no car ferries operating to the islands" and that its ferries "are for foot passengers only". Doolin Ferry says the same: "ferries are for Passengers Only. Cars are not permitted for visiting the Aran Islands." Where you leave the car: at Rossaveel, the operator's own car park is "€8 for 24 hours" with an overflow car park in high season; at Doolin Pier there is a large car park run by Clare County Council on pay and display, and it does not publish a rate we can quote.
Cape Clear. Cape Clear Ferries is explicit: "No, it is a passenger ferry only. Only island residents can drive their cars on Cape Clear." Parking is free at both Baltimore and Schull, and the operator recommends allowing at least 30 minutes to park in high season.
Rathlin is the exception, and it is heavily restricted. The Rathlin ferry does carry vehicles, but the operator states that "in accordance with Causeway Coast & Glens Council regulations vehicles are not permitted on the island unless you meet one of the following criteria: carrying out prearranged work on the island; registered disabled (blue badge must be shown); staying 6 or more nights and have a valid vehicle permit available from Rathlin Ferry Limited." Day visitors leave the car in Ballycastle. For the record, the Department's fares put a vehicle under 2.5 m at £14.50 single and one between 2.5 m and 6 m at £29.00 — but the permit, not the fare, is the thing that decides it.
How to pay, and whether to book
None of the four needs a booking. Killimer–Tarbert takes "no reservation required or taken". Passage East runs a shuttle and says to show up. Strangford sells on deck. Lough Foyle has "no set timetable" and sells on board.
Only one is cheaper online. Killimer–Tarbert, at 10% off — and only if you buy at least 30 minutes before boarding. Everywhere else, buying online buys you nothing but a queue you were not in.
Card works everywhere, and cash still works too. Shannon Ferries takes credit card and cash on board. Passage East takes "cash and card payments onboard". Strangford takes contactless card or a ferry SmartCard. Lough Foyle sells on board and online.
Do not leave the car. Both Shannon Ferries and Passage East say the same thing in the same words: "do not leave your vehicle until the ticket collector has collected your fare."
The short version
- Clare to Kerry: take Killimer–Tarbert. €22.50 online, 20 minutes, saves 140 km through Limerick. Buy online 30 minutes ahead or just pay on deck.
- Waterford to Wexford: take Passage East. €10, 5 minutes, one every quarter of an hour, and check the last sailing if you need a late one.
- Across Strangford Lough: £8.00 for the car and the driver, £1.40 for each passenger. Timetable, not tide.
- Donegal to Derry: €22.00, 20 minutes, but only in season — and it is a border crossing, so square it with the rental company first.
- Carlingford Lough: no service on any date in 2026. Drive round by Newry.
- Omeath to Warrenpoint: gone since about 2003, and never carried cars.
- Aran, Cape Clear: no cars, ever. Park at the pier.
For more practical driving advice, see:
- Toll Roads & the M50 — the other place a road trip pays to cross water
- Car Rental Guide — cross-border cover, and what to confirm in writing
- Electric Vehicle Charging — including the charger at the Killimer slip
- Ireland Road Trip Budget — where a ferry fare sits in the week's costs
- Best Navigation Apps for Ireland — because a satnav will route you round the estuary