£8 for a car and its driver, £1.40 for each adult passenger, and a departure from Strangford at :00 and :30 past each hour from 07:30 on weekdays: those three figures cover most trips on the Strangford Lough Ferry Service, which Northern Ireland's Department for Infrastructure runs itself, with Christmas Day its only day off.
Standing all-year timetable published by nidirect (page updated 8 September 2026) and confirmed as running normally on TrafficWatchNI; read on 7 October 2026. nidirect — Strangford ferry timetable · 2026-10-07
Two numbers matter on this crossing: thirty minutes and six metres. The boat runs every half hour in each direction, from early morning to late evening, so nobody books; and the car fare depends on whether your vehicle is under or over six metres long, with every additional two metres beyond eight priced separately.
There is no company behind it at all. The Department for Infrastructure owns the two boats and the slipways and runs the service with its own crews, which is why the timetable, fares, accessibility rules and complaints procedure all sit on nidirect, Northern Ireland's government website, and why disruption notices go out on TrafficWatchNI.
The department also publishes how often it fails. In September 2026 it scheduled 1,836 sailings and missed none; across April to September the figure stood at 99.87 per cent, a measure that leaves out cancellations for bad weather.
Vehicles are charged by length and the price includes the driver only; anyone else in the car pays the passenger fare. Single and return tickets are sold on deck, by card or contactless, and a return stays valid for a week.
Frequent users buy a 20-journey SmartCard, valid for a year from the last top-up. The cards are not sold on board: get one at the Strangford terminal or at one of the two shops nidirect names, and top it up online. Holders of a Northern Ireland Senior, 60+, War Disablement or Registered Blind SmartPass travel free, as do Republic of Ireland senior pass holders with a Translink card.
| Adult, single | £ 1.40 |
| Adult, return (one week) | £ 2.80 |
| Child 5–15, single | £ 0.70 |
| Child 5–15, return | £ 1.40 |
| Under 5 | Free |
| Half-fare SmartPass holder, single | £ 0.70 |
| Senior or 60+ SmartPass holder | Free |
| Adult SmartCard, 20 journeys | £ 16.80 |
| Bicycle (rider pays passenger fare) | Free |
| Up to 6 m, single | £ 8 |
| Up to 6 m, return (one week) | £ 13.90 |
| Up to 6 m, SmartCard 20 journeys | £ 69.70 |
| 6–8 m, single | £ 13.90 |
| 6–8 m, return | £ 25.10 |
| Each extra 2 m over 8 m, single | £ 6.30 |
| Motorcycle and rider, single | £ 4.90 |
| Motorcycle and rider, return | £ 7.60 |
| Blue Badge vehicle and one person, single | £ 3.20 |
| Blue Badge vehicle and one person, return | £ 5.60 |
Fares from 1 February 2026, published identically by nidirect and the Department for Infrastructure; read on 7 October 2026. nidirect — Strangford ferry fares · 2026-10-07
The ferry shuttles across the narrow entrance of Strangford Lough, between the village of Strangford on the County Down mainland and Portaferry, down at the foot of the Ards Peninsula. Only about 1.1 kilometres of water separate the two terminals, so little time passes on board that the crew say they cannot normally help anyone out of a car mid-crossing.
The alternative is the road round the top of the lough through Newtownards, which DfI itself pointed drivers to when the slipways closed for repairs in the autumn of 2024. Northern Ireland's only other crossing on this site works on a different scale altogether: the seasonal fast boat from Ballycastle to Campbeltown, which goes to Scotland. For a short car shuttle across a Scottish sea channel, compare the Colintraive ferry to Bute.
The Strangford side has the only staffed office on the route, at 1 The Slip, where SmartCards are sold and topped up. Walk-in hours are short: Monday to Thursday, 09:00 to 16:00 with a lunch closure from 12:30 to 13:30, and never on bank holidays. Nobody waits at the slip between sailings, and there is no check-in; the crew wave traffic on from the road.
There is a disabled parking bay outside 7 Downpatrick Road and a little free off-street parking. Connolly's VIVO Essentials on Downpatrick Road also tops up SmartCards, from 08:00 to 21:00.
In Portaferry the slip comes straight off The Strand, the waterfront street, with a disabled bay outside number 11 on the opposite side of the road and limited free parking along the street. There is no ticket office here: pay on board, or top up a SmartCard at Centra on High Street, open until 22:00 every day.
Both slipways are ridged concrete at a gradient of one in seven with no handrail. Signed meeting points at the top of each one are watched by the crew as the boat comes in, for foot passengers who need help boarding.
Text FERRY to 07984 406004 for free alerts about delays and suspensions; text STOP to the same number to end them. Only the sign-up and stop messages are charged.
The vessel ramp has a handrail and a non-slip finish, steepening to one in six at some tides, and wheelchair users use the vehicle lane. On Strangford II a ramp leads into the lounge; the upper decks of both boats are reached only by steep ladders.
If someone needs to leave the car during the crossing, tell the crew before loading starts and they will park you where the doors can open.
Parties of more than ten vehicles, funerals, weddings, sports events and oversized loads should contact the ferry terminal beforehand so queues on either shore can be managed.
Under DfI's conditions of carriage, small domestic pets travel free and dogs must be on a lead. Bicycles are free too, but riders walk them aboard.
The newer of the two vessels, Strangford II, cost £6.2 million and was built by Cammell Laird in Liverpool. She entered service in February 2017, replacing the original MV Strangford of 1969; the other boat, Portaferry II, works alongside her, and DfI uses the two interchangeably.
The route's last long closure was planned rather than forced. From 14 October 2024 the department shut both slipways for five weeks of safety work, costing an estimated £300,000, ran a passenger-only boat on a reduced timetable, and used the same gap to resurface the approach roads in Portaferry. Normal sailings resumed at 07:30 on 18 November 2024.
No. There is no reservation system and no check-in: queue at either slip and pay on board, or use a SmartCard. Only large groups of more than ten vehicles are asked to contact the terminal first.
£8.00 single or £13.90 return for a vehicle up to six metres including the driver, at the rates that took effect on 1 February 2026. Each passenger then pays £1.40, or 70p for a child aged five to fifteen.
22:45 Monday to Friday and on Sundays, 23:15 on Saturdays. On Christmas Eve it is 21:45.
Yes, both follow the Sunday timetable. Christmas Day alone has no boats; every other holiday is served.
Holders of a Northern Ireland Senior or 60+ SmartPass travel free on foot. A car still pays the vehicle fare; the reduced £3.20 vehicle fare applies only to Blue Badge holders.
Strangford Ferry Terminal (walk-in Monday to Thursday), Connolly's VIVO Essentials in Strangford and Centra in Portaferry; top-ups can also be made online. Cards are never sold on the ferry itself, and journeys last a year from the latest top-up.
Register for SMS alerts by texting FERRY to 07984 406004, or check the Strangford Lough Ferry page on TrafficWatchNI, which on 7 October 2026 showed the normal timetable running.