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Irish Sea

Holyhead to Dublin, two operators, one Welsh port.

Irish Ferries and Stena both sail from Holyhead, around eight times a day between them, and land at two different Dublin terminals. The A55 runs dual carriageway to the port gate.

BritainIrelandCairnryanBelfastLarneLiverpoolFishguardRosslarePembroke DockHolyheadDublin

Timetables checked August 2026, and how they are checked

3 h 30at sea8sailings a dayYear roundIrish Ferries / Stena

The crossing

Two operators from one port, around eight sailings a day.

Operator
Irish Ferries / Stena
Sailings
Around 8 sailings a day each way between the two operators; Stena counts both directions in its own "8"
Crossing
About 3 h 30
Runs both ways
Check which Dublin terminal you sail back fromBooking one operator out and the other back is common here, and the two terminals are separate check-ins.
Check-in
Vehicles close 30 minutes before departure on both operators, but Irish Ferries wants an hour if a pet is aboard. Allow longer again in August: Holyhead handles around 400,000 freight units a year and the night sailings are truck dominated.
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. Irish Ferries publishes the same limits, three cylinders and 47 kg, with the supply shut off at the cylinder, so the figure is the same whichever you sail with.
Pets
Both operators let the dog stay in the vehicle. Stena runs free kennels and pet-friendly cabins for up to two pets; Irish Ferries has pet-friendly cabins on the James Joyce and indoor Pet Dens in summer, with its kennels on the Ulysses and the Dublin Swift rather than the James Joyce. The deck is closed at sea whichever you pick, and Irish Ferries closes check-in an hour ahead with an animal aboard.Paperwork: an EU pet passport or a GB Animal Health Certificate, a microchip, a rabies vaccination at least 21 days old, and for dogs a vet-administered tapeworm treatment 24 to 120 hours before you land. Ireland also wants 24 hours of advance notice. None of it can be arranged at the port, and an Animal Health Certificate needs a booked appointment with an official vet.

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

Getting there

Liverpool is 1 h 55 away, Newcastle upon Tyne 5 h 30.

Typical driving hours to Holyhead with light traffic
Starting fromDriving hours
Liverpool1 h 55
Manchester2 h 30
Birmingham3 h 30
Leeds3 h 30
Bristol4 h 30
London5 h
Newcastle upon Tyne5 h 30

Ashore

You drive off into the Port Tunnel and out at the M50.

Dublin Port empties straight into the Dublin Port Tunnel, which is tolled and has a 4.65 m height limit, so a high-top fits without thinking about it. Ten minutes later you're on the M50 with the city behind you. Howth is about twenty five minutes, Malahide thirty, the Boyne Valley and Newgrange forty five up the M1, and Glendalough and the Wicklow Mountains an hour and a quarter south.

If not this boat

Fishguard and Pembroke land in the south east. Cairnryan is the crossing for Scotland.

Every crossing on the map

Still asked

Two terminals in Dublin, and a passport from 28 September.

Terminal 1 for Irish Ferries, Terminal 2 for Stena. They're about 500 m apart on the port estate with separate check-ins. Worth reading the return leg carefully, because plenty of people book out with one operator and back with the other.

Treat it as a no until you've asked. The Dublin Swift crosses in just over two hours and is built around cars; whether it takes a 7 m high-top isn't something the operator states plainly, and its 2026 season runs part of the year. Plan on a cruise ferry, which both operators timetable at three and a half hours, and check before you book anything else.

Yes. The limit is 4.65 m, well above any leisure van. It's tolled, the rate changes by time of day, and the current amounts are worth checking on the day rather than trusting a number written months earlier. The alternative is city traffic, which costs more time than the toll costs money.

Yes, from 28 September 2026. Stena asks for a valid passport at check-in for anyone travelling from Dublin, Holyhead, Fishguard or Rosslare from that date, and this crossing uses two of those four ports. A driving licence will no longer do. It's a check-in requirement rather than a border control, which makes no practical difference at the booth.

It's the easy one. The A55 is dual carriageway the whole way across North Wales and runs onto the port approach. The exception is winter weather: the Britannia Bridge onto Anglesey can close to high-sided vehicles in storms, and the diversion adds real time.

Checked against

The operator's own pages, not a booking site.

Checked in August 2026. Timetables move, so confirm with the operator before you book.

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