Two hours and forty-five minutes across open Atlantic, once a day, from a pier beside Penzance station to the quay at Hugh Town. The ship is Scillonian III, launched in 1977 and sailing her last season: the company that owns her says her successor arrives in 2027.
Remaining 2026 season, 24 September to Sunday 8 November 2026, read from Isles of Scilly Travel's live timetable on 24 September 2026. No 2027 sailings had been loaded on that date. Isles of Scilly Travel — Scillonian III timetable · 2026-09-24
In May 1919 about ninety-five people met in the town hall on St Mary's to discuss keeping a steamer service to the mainland, because in winter the islands could be cut off entirely. That November a company was formed, incorporated in March 1920 as the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company; its £20,000 of capital came from a share issue bought mostly by islanders, and that company's group still runs the boat. Its first purpose-built Scillonian made her maiden voyage in February 1926, cutting the Penzance crossing to just over three hours; in the Second World War she made 3,173 crossings without losing a life.
The ship you board today is the third to carry the name. Scillonian III was designed for this route and launched in 1977, and 2026 is her fiftieth season and, by the operator's own account, her last. Her replacement, Scillonian IV, touched water for the first time on 28 March 2026, with room for 600 passengers against today's 486. The operator's home page says she is set to enter service in March 2027; the group's project page says only that she is due in 2027.
That makes the autumn timetable worth reading closely. From late September the ship sails on fewer days each fortnight, the afternoon return moves earlier, and the final crossing of the year — and of this ship's working life on the route — leaves St Mary's at 14:00 on Sunday 8 November.
There is no fixed single fare to print. Ordinary tickets are priced sailing by sailing, and the timetable shows a "from" figure for each departure: read on 24 September for every sailing left in the season, that figure ran from £77.49 to £115.49, and a sold-out sailing shows none. What the operator does publish at a fixed price is the day return, and it is cheaper than most one-way tickets.
Everything in the tables below takes you to St Mary's and no further. The other inhabited islands — Tresco, Bryher, St Martin's and St Agnes — are reached by launches run separately from the St Mary's quay, and paid for separately.
| Adult day trip | £ 35 |
| Child day trip | £ 17.50 |
| Standard, 12 and over | £ 25 |
| Child, 2 to 11 | £ 15 |
| Flexible ticket surcharge, adult | £ 8.50 |
| Flexible ticket surcharge, child | £ 5.50 |
| Adult bicycle, return | £ 37.20 |
| Child's bicycle, return | £ 13 |
| Excess luggage or camping kit, per 50 kg return | £ 37.26 |
| Wheelchair | Free |
2026 season fares, read on 24 September 2026 Isles of Scilly Travel — Scillonian III day trips and fares · 2026-09-24
Quay to quay, the passage is about sixty kilometres as the crow flies; the operator puts the islands 28 miles off the Cornish coast. The ship crosses Mount's Bay and follows the Cornish coast west before the open-sea stretch to the islands, hence the weather advisories the operator issues for rough days, rather than simply cancelling. Smaller island boats cannot afford that margin: the Bardsey catamaran off the Llŷn simply stays ashore. The whole archipelago sits inside England, under its own council, a long way further out than the Devon estuary crossings on this site.
You cannot park on the pier. The operator's own Scillonian Park and Ride, off the A30 on the Land's End side of town, must be booked at least 48 hours ahead and is not open to day-trippers; for them the nearest option is Cornwall Council's Harbour long-stay car park, about 800 metres and ten minutes' walk away. Penzance railway station, served by GWR and CrossCountry, is the same distance, with the bus station next to it. The operator refers to the embarkation quay as both South Pier and Lighthouse Pier; hold luggage is dropped there and the drop-off shuts 30 minutes before sailing.
The ship berths at the quay in Hugh Town, which is also where the inter-island launches leave from — look for the boatmen's chalkboard listing the day's sailings. Hold luggage for the return has to be handed in on the quay between 10:00 and 11:00 or between 15:00 and 16:00. For a small charge per item Island Carriers will take bags between the ship and accommodation on St Mary's.
Boarding opens an hour and a quarter before departure and closes half an hour before it, and the operator says plainly that nobody who misses it gets a refund or credit. Check-in is online: a text arrives 24 hours before sailing with a link to your boarding passes.
Hold luggage is loaded by hand into containers: two pieces each, none heavier than 20 kg, and a combined limit of 25 kg. You carry one 5 kg bag on board, plus a camera bag and laptop. Bags go into the containers at Penzance and are not reachable again until St Mary's.
Staying on Bryher, St Agnes, St Martin's or Tresco? Collect the right coloured label on the Penzance quay — green, yellow, red or blue — and put your bag in that island's container. The ticket still ends at St Mary's; the launch onward is separate.
The Scillonian Park and Ride opens 2 hours 15 minutes before sailing and closes an hour before. Drop passengers, pets and bags at the quay first: only the driver takes the car there, and a free shuttle brings them back. Day-trippers should use the Harbour or Wherrytown long-stay car parks instead.
Dogs must be booked in advance, two per adult at most, on a lead throughout. They may use the outer decks and indoor areas but not the main-deck café, the lower deck or the seats.
The flights sold alongside the ferry are Skybus, from Land's End, and the Newquay flights are suspended until 16 March 2027. Fly+Sail tickets combine one of each. None of that affects the ship's timetable above.
Three separate things get sold as "getting to Scilly", and search results blur them. This page is the ship: Penzance to St Mary's only. Skybus is the airline owned by the same group, flying from Land's End Airport, which the company bought in 1984; the operator puts that flight at about 20 minutes. The off-island launches belong to the St Mary's Boatmen's Association, ten independently owned boats that meet each morning to decide the day's sailings by weather, tide and demand. Their own 2026 fare list gives £15.00 for an adult direct return, while the ship operator's page about them still says £14.50 — ask at the quay kiosk.
Out of season the choice narrows. The operator describes the route as running from March to November, and on 24 September its booking system showed no sailings at all beyond 8 November, including none yet for 2027. Between those dates the islands depend on the aircraft. Bantham's boat over the Avon is another seasonal service in the south-west, but it stops at the end of September.
No. Both are sold on the same website by the same group, but Skybus is an air service from Land's End, roughly a 20-minute flight, while Scillonian III is the ship from Penzance, 2 hours 45 minutes. Skybus flights from Newquay are suspended until 16 March 2027. A Fly+Sail ticket combines one of each.
It will not. The booking covers you and your luggage from Penzance to St Mary's quay only. The launches to Tresco, Bryher, St Martin's and St Agnes are run by the St Mary's Boatmen's Association and paid for at the quay kiosk, the tourist information centre or on board; their 2026 list prices an adult direct return at £15.00.
Yes, on sailing days. The usual pattern is 09:15 out, arriving 12:00, and 16:30 back, which gives about four and a half hours on St Mary's for a £35.00 adult day return. On Fridays until 23 October, and on every sailing from 26 October, the return is at 14:00, so a day trip then allows only two hours ashore.
Sunday 8 November, leaving Penzance at 09:00 and St Mary's at 14:00. Nothing after that date appeared in the operator's booking system on 24 September, and the group says Scillonian IV will take over the route in 2027.
Two pieces in the hold, up to 85 × 60 × 40 cm, with a combined weight of 25 kg and no single bag over 20 kg, plus one 5 kg bag in the cabin. Day-trip tickets include no hold luggage. Anything beyond the allowance, including bikes and camping kit, has to be booked and paid for in advance.
Not at the Scillonian Park and Ride, which the operator says is unsuitable for day trips and must be booked 48 hours ahead anyway. There is no parking on South Pier. The Harbour long-stay car park is about 800 metres from the quay and Wherrytown about 1.1 km; both belong to Cornwall Council.
Under the retained maritime passenger rights rules the operator offers re-routing at the earliest opportunity or a full refund, plus accommodation ashore up to £70 a night for up to three nights. That accommodation duty does not apply when the cause is weather endangering the ship, which on this crossing is the usual reason. On days with a weather advisory the operator lets booked passengers transfer or take a refund.