Ferries from Larne

Larne is twenty miles from Belfast and standing at the start of the Antrim Coast Road, which makes it the rare ferry port where the interesting part begins at the terminal gate rather than after an hour's drive.

The crossing

Larne to Cairnryan takes about 2 hours 15 minutes, with 6 sailings, operated solely by P&O Ferries. 12 active sailings across the port in both directions.

It is the shortest crossing on the northern corridor between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

⚠ Larne and Belfast are different ports with different operators

Belfast has its own ferry terminal with services to Cairnryan, Liverpool and Douglas, run by other companies. Booking one and driving to the other is a mistake made regularly, and the two are forty minutes apart.

Check the port name on the ticket, not just the city it is nearest to.

The Antrim Coast Road

The A2 north from Larne runs along the base of the cliffs through the Glens of Antrim to Cushendun, Ballycastle and the Giant's Causeway. It was cut in the 1830s to connect glen communities that until then were more easily reached by sea than by land.

Landing off a morning boat and driving it the same day is one of the better uses of a ferry arrival anywhere in these islands.

Getting to and from the port

Larne Harbour railway station sits beside the terminal, with a direct line to Belfast in about an hour. That makes this an unusually good foot-passenger port — you can cross from Scotland and be in central Belfast without a car.

Timing

Year-round service on a freight-and-commuter pattern. Summer adds vehicle traffic rather than sailings, so the vehicle deck is what fills in July and August.