Drive down the Cowal peninsula to Colintraive and you will not wait long: from half past five in the morning until nearly nine at night, the Loch Dunvegan crosses to Rhubodach on Bute every half hour, and the crossing itself takes five minutes.
Summer timetable 27 March – 18 October 2026 and winter timetable 19 October 2026 – 25 March 2027, both checked on calmac.co.uk on 22 September 2026. The two grids are identical. CalMac — Colintraive-Rhubodach summer and winter timetables (PDF) · 2026-09-22
Take the A886 south through Glendaruel and keep going until the road runs out at the water: that is Colintraive, and Bute is 511 metres away. This is the crossing for anyone already on the Cowal peninsula, or coming round by Loch Fyne and Strachur, and it is not the same service as Wemyss Bay to Rothesay — CalMac lists that as the alternative route to the island, a longer sail from a rail terminal on the Inverclyde coast. Choose this one and you arrive at Rhubodach on Bute's rugged north-east shore, a good drive from the island's only town.
MV Loch Dunvegan came here because her first narrows stopped needing her. Ferguson Shipbuilders launched her at Port Glasgow in 1991 for Kyle of Lochalsh to Kyleakin on Skye; the bridge opened there in 1995 and she moved south to the Kyles of Bute. At 54.2 metres and 549 gross tons she is a small ship with a passenger lounge reached from the car deck, free Wi-Fi, toilets and room for dogs.
You do not reserve a place on any of it. This is a turn-up-and-go route: you pick a preferred date when you buy, but the ticket is valid for any sailing inside the timetable period you chose, summer or winter. CalMac's long Hebridean sailings work the other way about — Oban to Castlebay expects a ticket bought in advance even from foot passengers.
Read the vehicle column carefully, because on this network the car fare does not include the driver. A car and one adult crossing once is £8.20 plus £1.70. Everything below is the published single; the return is exactly double in almost every line, so buying one saves nothing.
Concession fares apply to holders of an SPT Ferry Card, an SPT Companion Ferry Card or a Blue Badge, and can be attached to a ticket bought online — carry the card with you.
| Adult, 16 and over | £ 1.70 |
| Child, 5 to 15 | £ 0.85 |
| Infant, 0 to 4 | Free |
| Adult SPT concession | £ 1 |
| Adult SPT companion | £ 1 |
| Pedal cycle | Free |
| Car | £ 8.20 |
| Blue Badge car | £ 6.15 |
| Motorcycle | £ 4.10 |
| Blue Badge motorcycle | £ 3.07 |
| Light goods vehicle up to 6 m | £ 9.90 |
| Campervan or motorhome up to 6 m | £ 8.20 |
| Campervan or motorhome 6.01–8 m | £ 20.50 |
| Campervan or motorhome 8.01–10 m | £ 24.60 |
| Campervan or motorhome 10.01–12 m | £ 28.70 |
| Caravan up to 6 m | £ 8.20 |
| Caravan 6.01–8 m | £ 12.30 |
| Baggage trailer up to 2.5 m | £ 4.10 |
| Trailer 2.51–6 m | £ 8.20 |
| Livestock trailer | Free |
Summer 2026 fares, valid from 27 March 2026 CalMac — Colintraive-Rhubodach fares, summer 2026 (PDF) · 2026-09-22
CalMac calls Colintraive the narrowest point between the mainland and Bute, and the map shows why: 511 metres of water between the two slipways, crossed in five minutes. The island shore here is the quiet one — Rothesay, Bute's town, is another 8.5 miles down the coast by CalMac's own reckoning. Few of the Scottish crossings covered on this site are settled by so little water.
This is the staffed side. The ticket office sits to the left of the terminal building, with a small waiting area inside it, public toilets beside the entrance and free Wi-Fi. Parking is limited. A West Coast Motors bus stop is 30 metres away and the nearest cash machine and shop are 250 metres off — but fill the tank before you come, because CalMac puts the nearest petrol station 30 miles away at Strachur. In summer the office works 07:00 to 18:00 Monday to Saturday and 08:00 to 18:00 on Sunday.
Rhubodach is a slipway with a small terminal building, free Wi-Fi and limited free parking, and no bus, train or taxi connection at all. You are expected to hold a ticket before boarding here; the one exception is cash, which is taken at the Colintraive office after you have crossed. Rothesay is the nearest of everything: petrol 8.5 miles away, a cash machine 5 miles, a shop at Ardbeg 7.5 miles.
CalMac puts the nearest petrol station 30 miles away at Strachur, and Rothesay is 8.5 miles beyond the Rhubodach slipway. There is a cash machine and a shop 250 metres from the Colintraive terminal; there is nothing at all at Rhubodach.
One season, any sailing, nothing across the join. A summer purchase covers every departure up to 18 October and none after it, whatever date you entered when you bought. There is no amendment and no refund to fall back on, and ten-journey tickets behave the same way.
You should hold a ticket before boarding at Rhubodach. If you need to pay cash, you cross first and pay at the Colintraive office after disembarking — there is no booth on the island slipway.
The timetable sheet says check-in closes five minutes before departure, the Colintraive port page asks for ten, and the Rhubodach page asks vehicles for thirty. Work to the longest of the three, especially at Rhubodach where a crew member does the checking.
A West Coast Motors bus stop stands 30 metres from the Colintraive terminal. On the Bute side CalMac records no train, bus or taxi connection at Rhubodach at all, so foot passengers need onward transport arranged — a trap that waits at several of the other Scottish slipways on this site.
A motorhome of six metres or less pays the car rate of £8.20; from 6.01 to 8 metres it becomes £20.50. A light goods vehicle leaves this table altogether once it is longer than 6 metres, heavier than 3.5 tonnes, taller than 3 metres or wider than 2.3, and is quoted commercially instead.
That flexibility has a catch, and a date shows it best. The summer period ends on 18 October and the winter one opens the following morning; buy for the first and you are holding something that will not work on the second, because what you have is keyed to a season rather than to the day you wrote on it. Nothing can be amended and nothing refunded, ten-journey books included — and the same rule follows you onto CalMac's other unbookable Clyde crossing, Claonaig to Lochranza.
CalMac's own pages disagree about how early to arrive. The timetable PDF says check-in closes five minutes before departure; the Colintraive port page asks for ten minutes; the Rhubodach page asks vehicles for thirty. On a slipway that loads in a couple of minutes the sensible reading is the most cautious one, particularly at Rhubodach, where a crew member rather than a booth does the checking.
No, and the two are easy to confuse because both end on Bute. Wemyss Bay–Rothesay is a longer crossing from the Inverclyde coast into the island's main town. Colintraive–Rhubodach is a five-minute hop from the Cowal peninsula onto Bute's north-east corner. CalMac lists Wemyss Bay on this route's page only as the alternative way to the island.
There is not. Buying online asks for a preferred departure date, and that date is a formality: what you hold is good for whichever crossing you turn up for, so long as it falls inside the season you bought. The price of that freedom is a ticket nobody will amend or refund, ten-journey books included, and one that stops working the day the season does.
It does not. The winter timetable for 19 October 2026 to 25 March 2027 carries exactly the same departures as the summer one — 32 each way Monday to Saturday, 26 on Sunday. Only the festive days change: nothing runs on 25 December or 1 January, and on 26 December and 2 January a Sunday pattern ends after 18:00 from Colintraive and 18:10 from Rhubodach.
On weekdays the half-hourly rhythm breaks once: the 13:30 from Colintraive is followed by the 14:10, and the 13:40 from Rhubodach by the 14:20. Forty minutes instead of thirty. CalMac publishes the gap but not the reason for it, and neither Saturday nor Sunday has it.
You are supposed to hold a valid ticket before boarding at Rhubodach. The published exception is cash: if you need to pay that way, you cross first and settle at the Colintraive ticket office after disembarking.
£11.60 one way with two adults aboard: the vehicle fare of £8.20 plus £1.70 a head, because the car price excludes everyone inside it. A motorcycle is £4.10, a campervan of six metres or less pays the car rate, and bicycles cross free.
Because her first job disappeared. The MV Loch Dunvegan was designed for Kyle of Lochalsh to Kyleakin and moved to this crossing after the Skye bridge opened in 1995. She was built by Ferguson Shipbuilders at Port Glasgow in 1991 and measures 54.2 metres and 549 gross tons, with a lounge off the car deck, toilets, free Wi-Fi and room for dogs.
Yes, and a bicycle crosses free. The catch is the far side: CalMac records no train, bus or taxi at Rhubodach, so a foot passenger needs onward transport arranged before landing. At Colintraive a West Coast Motors stop is 30 metres from the terminal.