Brittany Ferries Schedules 2026

Brittany Ferries was started in 1973 by Breton farmers who wanted to get their artichokes and cauliflowers to British kitchens without going through Calais. The first sailing carried vegetables from Roscoff to Plymouth; the passengers came later. Half a century on it is the dominant operator on the western Channel and the only one crossing the Bay of Biscay to Spain — and it is still controlled by Breton agricultural cooperatives rather than a shipping conglomerate.

Twenty-five routes on four corridors

The short Channel crossings run from Portsmouth, Poole and Plymouth to Caen, Cherbourg, Saint-Malo, Le Havre and Roscoff — between four and eleven hours, several a day on the busiest. The Spanish routes reach Santander and Bilbao from Portsmouth and Plymouth across Biscay, a passage of 20 to 36 hours that replaces two days of French motorway. The Irish routes link Rosslare and Cork with Cherbourg, Roscoff, Bilbao and Santander, bypassing Britain entirely.

The ships

The fleet mixes long-serving Channel workhorses with a new generation of LNG-powered E-Flexers. Pont-Aven is the flagship on the long southern runs; Armorique works Plymouth–Roscoff; Barfleur holds the Poole–Cherbourg route on her own; Mont St Michel and the new Guillaume de Normandie share Portsmouth–Caen; Saint-Malo runs to her namesake port; Commodore Clipper covers Le Havre; and the Spanish and Irish services use Galicia, Salamanca, Santoña and Cotentin. The Galicia-class ships are dual-fuel LNG, part of a fleet renewal that also includes hybrid LNG-electric vessels.

Booking

Fares are dynamic and quoted only at booking — a July Saturday and a February Tuesday on the same route are not comparable. Cabins are effectively mandatory on the Biscay crossings and on the overnight Channel sailings; the daytime Channel routes sell reclining seats. Pet-friendly cabins and on-board kennels are available, and the company carries cars, motorhomes, motorcycles and bicycles throughout. Timetables shift with the season: the Channel routes thicken from spring, and some Irish sailings run only part of the year.