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North Sea

Harwich to Hook of Holland, day boat or night boat.

Two sailings a day in each direction: one of about seven hours across the daylight, one you sleep through. Only the night boat obliges you to book a cabin.

BritainHullRotterdamNewcastleIJmuidenHarwichHook of Holland

Timetables checked August 2026, and how they are checked

7 h 15at sea2sailings a dayYear roundStena Line

The crossing

Two sailings a day, and only one of them needs a cabin.

Operator
Stena Line
Sailings
2 a day: a 7-hour day boat and an 8-hour night boat
Crossing
About 7 h 15
Accommodation
Cabin compulsory on the night boat onlyOn the day sailing a cabin is optional, and so is the Stena Plus lounge.
Check-in
Closes 45 minutes before departure. Vehicle lanes run 07:45 to 08:15 for the 09:00 day boat, and open at 20:30 for the 23:00 night boat. The day sailing leaves at 10:00 on Sundays, with check-in an hour later to match.
Gas bottles
Up to three cylinders, 47 kg between them, valves closed for the whole sailing. Stena also wants a call to its contact centre before you travel, about 24 hours ahead, and then a second declaration at check-in. On this route the contact centre wants 72 hours rather than the usual 24.
Pets
Stena lets a pet stay in the vehicle on all its routes, including this one, though nobody can go down to the car deck at sea. P&O at Hull doesn't, so of the three North Sea crossings this is the one where it's plainly allowed. Otherwise: heated kennels with a camera you can watch on the cabin TV, or one of around fifteen dog-friendly cabins on each ship.Paperwork: an EU pet passport or a GB Animal Health Certificate, a microchip, and a rabies vaccination at least 21 days old. A dog also needs a vet-administered tapeworm treatment 24 to 120 hours before it comes back into Great Britain. An Animal Health Certificate has to come from an official vet within ten days of travel, so it's booked well before the crossing is.
Book with
Stena Line (opens in a new tab)Fares and availability live with the operator, not here.

Seasons, weather and operators all move these, so confirm with the operator before you book.

Getting there

London is 1 h 50 away, Newcastle upon Tyne 5 h 30.

Typical driving hours to Harwich with light traffic
Starting fromDriving hours
London1 h 50
Birmingham3 h
Bristol4 h
Manchester4 h
Leeds4 h
Liverpool4 h 30
Newcastle upon Tyne5 h 30

Ashore

You land on the Dutch coast rather than in a docks estate.

You land on the Dutch coast rather than in a docks estate. The N211 runs east from the ramp through the Westland and the A20 towards Rotterdam is about fifteen minutes, where the A4 runs north for Den Haag and Amsterdam and the A15 east for Germany. Delft is half an hour, Rotterdam centre closer to forty minutes, Kinderdijk and Gouda about fifty. Dutch motorways are toll free.

Still asked

You choose the sailing. The engine chooses which Dutch cities let you in.

This is the only North Sea route that gives you the choice. The day sailing leaves at 09:00, or 10:00 on a Sunday, and lands mid afternoon with nothing to book beyond the fare, which suits anyone within an easy drive of Harwich. The night sailing leaves at 23:00 and docks at 08:00 with a cabin on the ticket, which buys back the driving day at the cost of the cabin.

Yes. Hoek van Holland Haven is right outside the door on Rotterdam metro line B, and the Rail and Sail through-ticket joins London and Cambridge trains to the Dutch network at Harwich. Useful when someone is joining the trip partway or heading home early while the van stays.

It depends on the city and on the age of the engine. A camper registered as a motorhome is treated as a car, and Amsterdam, Utrecht and now Arnhem all ask for a Euro 5 diesel or better, Arnhem since 1 June 2026. The Hague still admits Euro 4. Rotterdam has no car zone at all, so a camper drives in freely. Amsterdam sells a day exemption at around 25 euros and Utrecht at around 15. Look the city up on zonewijzer.nl before you plan on parking in it.

Stena runs a motorhome-at-car-rate offer on the day sailings, and it excludes July and August. Outside those two months it's worth pricing the day boat against the night boat with the offer applied, because it can close most of the gap between them.

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