The Lady Mary, a 50-seat passenger boat, runs down the Kingsbridge Estuary to Salcombe in about 35 minutes, but never at the same time two days running, because it can only reach Kingsbridge near high water. In 2026 the ferry season is almost over: the last scheduled crossing is on Thursday 8 October.
Lady Mary timetable for September and October 2026, published by Kingsbridge Salcombe Ferry as a PDF and on its website calendar, read on 1 October 2026; the two agree. No timetable for 2027 has been published. Kingsbridge Salcombe Ferry — timetable September/October 2026 · 2026-10-01
Check the tide before you plan the day. The Lady Mary can only get up to Kingsbridge when there is enough water in the creek, so the operator builds each day's timetable around high water, which moves on by about an hour every day. The first boat out of Salcombe leaves at 10:00 on 1 October, at 11:00 on the 5th and not until 15:40 on the 8th, and some days have no boat at all.
Then check the landing. At Kingsbridge the boat uses the Steamer Steps at the head of the creek when it can and the Crabshell Inn quay, further down, when it cannot; in Salcombe it uses the Ferry Inn Steps or, according to the printed October timetable, Whitestrand pontoon. After that it is simple: walk up, get on, and hand the crew £13 per adult per crossing.
And check the date. In 2026 the last ferry is on Thursday 8 October, followed by two evening cruises, and the operator describes its normal season as April to October.
Pay the crew once you are aboard; cash and cards are both taken, and there is nothing to buy in advance. Two adults going down to Salcombe and back pay £52.00.
Stay on the boat and the ride becomes a cruise with its own fare. Anyone joining the Creeks Cruise from Salcombe travels up on the ferry, and the timetable says that ferry leg is then charged at half price.
| Adult | £ 13 |
| Child, 4 to 16 | £ 6.50 |
| Under 4 | Free |
| Harbour Cruise, 1.5 hours, adult | £ 24.50 |
| Harbour Cruise, child | £ 11.50 |
| Creeks or Coastal Cruise, adult | £ 28 |
| Creeks or Coastal Cruise, child | £ 13 |
Fares on the operator's Fares & Payment page and its September/October 2026 timetable, which agree Kingsbridge Salcombe Ferry — fares and payment · 2026-10-01
Measured directly, the two landings are about 5 kilometres apart; the operator describes the estuary as meandering north to south for a little over five miles, with creeks such as Frogmore and South Pool opening off it. The whole of it, from the sea at Salcombe to the quay at Kingsbridge, is Salcombe Harbour, run by Salcombe Harbour Authority from its office on Whitestrand. Along the way the operator points out old lime kilns, Saltstone Island and a great deal of birdlife.
When the tide is high enough the boat comes right up to the head of Kingsbridge creek and uses the Steamer Steps on the promenade, next to the town's main quay car park, whose PayByPhone code the operator gives as 810449. When it is not, the boat stops short at the Crabshell Inn quay on Embankment Road, the A379, roughly 250 metres down the creek. The operator puts that at a 15 to 20 minute walk from the car park, asks passengers to wait in the yellow hatched area by the white chain railings opposite the pub car park, and is clear that the pub's car park is not for ferry passengers.
In Salcombe the ferry normally leaves from the Ferry Inn Steps, the remains of the old Jubilee Pier at the top of Fore Street; the pin is NaPTAN's Salcombe ferry landing on Fore Street, which the operator does not confirm by coordinates. For October the operator's printed timetable moves Salcombe departures to Whitestrand pontoon, while its online calendar still says Ferry Inn Steps for every October sailing, so check the notice board on the day. The operator's suggested car park is Salcombe's Creek Car Park, TQ8 8DU.
On a low tide the Lady Mary cannot reach the head of the creek and uses the Crabshell Inn quay by permission of the pub. The timetable shows those sailings in red; this page marks them (Crabshell). Allow the extra walk.
The company takes no bookings for the ferry, because it cannot know in advance how many passengers the boat may carry on a given trip. The crew decide numbers on the day on weight grounds, so the first people at the steps get on first.
The operator points passengers to Tally Ho!'s service 164 between Kingsbridge and Salcombe, which it describes as roughly hourly from Monday to Saturday, and to local taxis. This page does not reproduce the bus times.
Well-behaved dogs on leads can travel, and bicycles are carried. Anyone with reduced mobility should ring the ferry office on 07967 597527 before travelling and tell the crew before boarding.
Check the notice boards at the Steamer Steps in Kingsbridge and the Ferry Inn Steps in Salcombe, the Salcombe Harbour Office, the service notice on the operator's website or its Facebook page. The Kingsbridge and Salcombe tourist information centres, on 01548 853195 and 01548 843927, also have the details.
The crossing is older than its boat. The previous vessel, the 103-seat Rivermaid, worked the estuary from 1997 until she was sold to Plymouth in 2019; before her came the Lady Elizabeth, and before that an earlier Rivermaid. The company now running the Lady Mary was briefly registered as The Rivermaid Ferry Company in 2019. An archive website for the Rivermaid still sits on the old domain, which is why some search results show an operator that no longer sails.
Salcombe has other small ferries: one crosses to East Portlemouth, and the South Sands ferry, run by a separate company, leaves from Whitestrand pontoon, the same pontoon the printed October timetable gives for the Lady Mary. For another estuary boat in the same district, the Bantham–Bigbury crossing on the Avon works fixed windows instead of tide-based times; on the Dart, the Dittisham ferry to Greenway keeps no times at all and crosses when someone rings the bell.
Not as a ferry. Thursday 8 October, 15:40 from Salcombe and 16:20 from Kingsbridge, is the last scheduled crossing of 2026. There is a Creeks Cruise from Kingsbridge on 9 October and a Twilight Cruise on 10 October, and then nothing is published until the 2027 season.
No, and you cannot. Seats on the ferry are first come, first served; the operator takes bookings only for coastal cruises. Pay on board by card or cash.
Because on a lower tide there is not enough water to reach the head of Kingsbridge creek. The Crabshell Inn quay is about 250 metres down the estuary; the timetable prints those departures in red, and the operator allows 15 to 20 minutes to walk there from the creek car park.
About 35 minutes each way, winding down the estuary past lime kilns and Saltstone Island.
No. The Lady Mary belongs to Kingsbridge Salcombe Ferry Company Ltd; the South Sands ferry is run by South Sands Ferry Limited, and Companies House lists no directors in common. They may share Whitestrand pontoon in Salcombe, but they are separate services with separate fares.
£6.50 each way for children aged 4 to 16. Under-fours travel free.