Ullapool sits inside Loch Broom, a sheltered sea loch on the Highland coast; Stornoway is the main town of Lewis, eighty kilometres away across the Minch. One ship, MV Loch Seaforth, links them twice a day in each direction and carries lorries through the night as well.
Summer timetable to 17 October plus a one-day timetable on 18 October; winter timetable in two parts, 19 October – 15 November and 16 November 2026 – 25 March 2027. Read on calmac.co.uk and checked day by day against CalMac's sailing data on 1 October 2026. CalMac — Stornoway–Ullapool summer and winter timetables (PDF) · 2026-10-01
Loch Broom opens north-west from Ullapool towards the Summer Isles, and beyond them the Minch separates the Highland mainland from Lewis. The ferry to Stornoway uses the whole of that geography: it leaves a village pier in a sheltered sea loch, spends most of its 2 hours 40 minutes in open water and arrives in the middle of the largest town in the Western Isles. Stornoway Port Authority says more than 95 per cent of visitors to the Outer Hebrides come in through its harbour, most of them on this boat.
The timetable is simple. Until mid-October there are two sailings each way every day. From 19 October the crossing time stretches to three hours for four weeks and Sundays drop to a single round trip; from 16 November the normal speed returns and the winter shape holds until the end of March. Because this is the main road to Lewis and Harris for residents and freight as well as visitors, book any vehicle before you drive north.
Walk on and it is £12.75 each way. Take a car and the vehicle is priced separately from everyone in it: £69.05 for the car, plus £12.75 per adult, driver included, so the total for two adults and their car is £94.55 one way and £189.10 there and back. Returns are exactly two singles.
These are Road Equivalent Tariff fares, the formula Transport Scotland first tried on this route and Coll and Tiree in 2008 and made permanent in 2012. The SPT concession cards used on Clyde crossings do not apply this far north; the only concession CalMac lists here is for Blue Badge holders, applied when you book online.
| Adult, 16 and over | £ 12.75 |
| Child, 5 to 15 | £ 6.40 |
| Under 5 | Free |
| Bicycle | Free |
| Car | £ 69.05 |
| Motorcycle | £ 34.55 |
| Motorhome up to 6 m | £ 69.05 |
| Motorhome 6.01–8 m | £ 172.65 |
| Motorhome 8.01–10 m | £ 207.15 |
| Motorhome 10.01–12 m | £ 241.70 |
| Caravan up to 6 m | £ 69.05 |
| Caravan 6.01–8 m | £ 103.60 |
| Baggage trailer up to 2.5 m | £ 34.55 |
| Trailer 2.51–6 m | £ 69.05 |
| Trailer 6.01–8 m | £ 103.60 |
Summer 2026 fares, valid from 27 March 2026. CalMac had not published winter fares on 1 October 2026 CalMac — Ullapool–Stornoway fares, summer 2026 (PDF) · 2026-10-01
Point to point, Ullapool and Stornoway are about 80 kilometres, or 43 nautical miles, apart. For the first stretch the ship is still inside Loch Broom, which Ullapool Harbour Trust describes as a natural harbour sheltered from the open Minch; Stornoway Port Authority adds that the route passes the Summer Isles on the way out.
The terminal is on Shore Street, in the village itself, and the check-in booth is on the left as you enter the car park. Leave a car here for a trip on foot and CalMac sends you to the town-centre car park beside Tesco (IV26 2XB), where Highland Council ticket machines invite you to pay. Local buses stop ten metres from the terminal; fuel is 800 metres away and a cash machine and shop 500. Until 18 October the ticket office opens from 9am to 5.30pm on weekdays, to 7pm on Saturdays and to 6.30pm on Sundays.
Stornoway's terminal is in the town, with fuel, cash and groceries about two minutes' walk away, buses 50 metres off and a taxi rank a short walk away. Parking is free: 40 short-stay spaces at the terminal with a two-hour limit, and a public car park with 120 spaces a minute away. The Stornoway office opens at 5.30am for the first boat, closes between 7am and 9am, and on Sundays opens only from noon to 3pm, until 18 October; winter hours have not yet been confirmed.
This is one of CalMac's bookable routes, and the port pages say pre-booking vehicles is strongly recommended. CalMac also wants foot passengers to buy in advance. Turning up without a booking may still work, but there is no promise of space.
The timetable and the route page want vehicles ready 45 minutes ahead of departure; for foot passengers the figure is 30 minutes. CalMac's Stornoway port page gives 30 minutes for vehicles; the timetable's 45 is the safer figure. A late car can lose its space.
Commercial vehicle bookings go through the ports rather than the website: Ullapool 01854 330304 or Stornoway 01851 307470, option 2. Transport Scotland withdrew RET from commercial vehicles in 2012, and today's commercial fares are per half metre and exclude VAT.
Because the passenger access system at Stornoway is out of use, CalMac provides a luggage van for foot passengers, carried on the vehicle deck. Put your bags in it before boarding and collect them in the terminal at the other end; the notice runs until the end of 2026.
Anyone in a motorhome, campervan or caravan is asked by Comhairle nan Eilean Siar to use official campsites or overnight spots designated for them, and to keep to its visitor code, P.L.A.C.E. When sailings are full, CalMac handles these vehicles through a standby process.
CalMac's timetable prints Citylink coach times between Inverness and Ullapool beside each sailing, then warns that connections are not guaranteed because some coaches leave too little time to reach the terminal. Check Citylink's own timetable before relying on one.
The route was one of the first two to get the Road Equivalent Tariff in October 2008, when Transport Scotland began setting fares by the cost of driving the same distance plus a fixed element. Its later evaluation found passenger numbers on Ullapool–Stornoway up 19 per cent and car traffic up 31 per cent after RET, and noted summer pressure on vehicle space, which is why booking matters even here.
MV Loch Seaforth took over in February 2015 as a single replacement for two ships, the passenger ferry MV Isle of Lewis and the freight vessel MV Muirneag, which left the route in October 2013. CMAL, which owns her, says she can work 24 hours a day, and Ullapool Harbour Trust lists a year-round overnight freight service alongside the passenger sailings. Her name comes from the MacBrayne mailboat that served Stornoway, Mallaig and Kyle of Lochalsh between 1947 and 1972.
From Sunday 18 October to Sunday 15 November CalMac's timetable allows three hours instead of 2 hours 40, and moves the Ullapool departures to 10:45 and 18:15. The timetable does not give a reason, so this page does not guess one.
There is only one. From 25 October to 15 November it leaves Ullapool at 18:00; from 22 November it leaves at 18:30 and reaches Stornoway at 21:10. On summer Sundays up to 11 October there are two, at 11:30 and 18:30.
£189.10 at summer 2026 fares: the car at £69.05 per crossing, and £12.75 per crossing for each of the two adults, driver included.
The published passenger timetable has no overnight crossing. CalMac's sailing data does show late-night and early-morning runs, and Ullapool Harbour Trust describes a year-round overnight freight service, but CalMac does not advertise these to passengers. Ask the port office before planning around one.
Only above 6 metres. A motorhome no longer than that is charged like a car, £69.05 each way. The next band, over 6 and up to 8 metres, costs £172.65, and the longest, to 12 metres, £241.70.
No. Harris has its own crossing, from Uig on Skye to Tarbert, covered on the Uig–Tarbert page; North Uist is reached from the same Skye pier on the Uig–Lochmaddy ferry. This ship only sails between Ullapool and Stornoway.