Ferry fares next summer: what your crossings really cost – per mile, per person and per route

The cost of a family ferry crossing – by route, day vs night, price per mile, ways to save, and how it stacks up against flying

Planning a ferry holiday next summer? And wondering what it will actually cost with kids, car and all? We’ve crunched the numbers for a family of four (two adults, two children) with a car, on both night crossings and daytime routes across Europe.

Key findings from the analysis include:

• Next summer, a typical night ferry crossing for a family of four costs around £930 in June and £1,070 in August, often less than flying once hotel nights and car hire are included. The shortest Channel hops, such as Dover-Calais, are among the most expensive crossings per mile; you pay for speed and frequency rather than distance.
• The long overnight crossings from the UK to Spain (Portsmouth and Plymouth to Santander and Bilbao) offer some of the best value per mile of any route in the study.
• Sailing from Barcelona to Rome is cheaper per mile than sailing from Barcelona to Ibiza or Mallorca, as the Balearic routes carry a clear “island premium” per mile.
• Shifting a ferry holiday from the first week of August to late June can often save between 15% and 20% on the same route.
• Night sailings are generally cheaper per mile and per person than day crossings, even though the ticket price looks higher at first glance.
• The Denmark-Iceland route is the most expensive crossing in the research in total cost, with four nights on board, yet it still isn’t the worst offender when you look at price per mile.
• Among the day sailing Channel routes, Portsmouth-Caen is the sensible choice: not the rock-bottom ticket, but very decent value per mile and a relaxed roll-on into Normandy.
• On the UK-Ireland corridor, Liverpool-Belfast is the mileage sweet spot – a proper sea crossing that doesn’t sting as much per mile as the Scottish and Welsh routes.
• In the day crossing league, Harwich-Hook of Holland and Newhaven-Dieppe are the quiet value winners – day crossings with long-route prices per mile.
• Booking in November or early December, when early-bird and Black Friday deals appear, can shave up to 20-25% off next summer’s ferry crossings for a family of four.
• And once you zoom out to the full picture (ferry vs flight + hotel + car hire), ferries often turn out not just cheaper, but also much kinder to the climate.

Night crossings: cabins, long distances, strong value per mile

Our night routes include, among others:

• UK – France & Spain
  Portsmouth-Caen, Portsmouth-St Malo, Portsmouth-Cherbourg, Portsmouth-Santander, Portsmouth-Bilbao, Plymouth-Santander
• UK – Netherlands & Ireland
  Newcastle-Amsterdam, Hull-Rotterdam, Harwich-Hook of Holland (night), Liverpool-Belfast
• Ireland – France
  Rosslare-Cherbourg, Dublin-Cherbourg, Cork-Roscoff, Rosslare-Dunkirk
• Channel Islands
  Portsmouth-Jersey, Portsmouth-Guernsey
• Nordics & Baltics
  Kiel-Oslo, Kiel-Gothenburg, Travemünde-Helsinki, Hirtshals-Bergen, Hirtshals-Seydisfjordur (Iceland)
• Spain – Italy & Balearics
  Barcelona-Rome, Barcelona-Ibiza, Barcelona-Palma de Mallorca

On average, a night crossing for a family + car + cabin costs:

• Around £932 in shoulder season
• Around £1,068 in peak season
• Roughly £1.79 per mile, or +/- £0.45 per mile per person (shoulder season)

What stands out at night?

A few things jump out once you start comparing routes.

1. Long doesn’t automatically mean ‘too expensive'
The Iceland route (Hirtshals-Seydisfjordur) is easily the priciest in total (up to ~£2,782 in peak, with two nights on board each way), but per mile it sits at around £1.20. It’s a serious trip, but on a price-per-mile basis, it isn’t as extreme as the total suggests.

2. Spain from the UK (and Ireland with a French detour) is great value
The long UK-Spain night sailings – Portsmouth-Santander, Portsmouth-Bilbao and Plymouth-Santander – look expensive as full ticket prices, but are actually very decent when you break them down per mile:

• Around £1.03-£1.23 per mile in shoulder season
• Roughly £0.26-£0.31 per mile per person

For families from the UK heading to Spain with a car, these routes are a very strong alternative to flying + car hire.

For Irish travellers who first sail to France (Rosslare/Cork/Dublin-Cherbourg or Roscoff) and then drive down, the pattern is similar: the Ireland-France crossings are more expensive per mile than the very long legs to Spain, but still give you a comfortable, car-based route into the continent. Combine that with early-bird deals, and it can be a very attractive way to get to Spain without setting foot in an airport.

3. Spain vs the Balearics: mainland routes are better value than island hops
The Spain-Italy route, Barcelona-Rome, is one of the cheapest in the entire dataset on a per-mile basis: around £0.77 per mile and £0.19 per mile per person in shoulder season. You literally get more miles (and often more hours on board) for your money.

The night sailings to the Balearic Islands, however, are a different story:

• Barcelona-Ibiza: around £2.36 per mile, £0.59 per mile per person
• Barcelona-Palma de Mallorca: roughly £2.69 per mile, £0.67 per mile per person

So even though the totals are lower, you’re paying a premium per mile for those island hops compared with the long, straight leg to Italy. In other words, it can actually be cheaper per kilometre to sail all the way to Rome than to pop over to Ibiza or Mallorca.

4. Short night sailings can be surprisingly “expensive per mile”
Routes like Portsmouth-Cherbourg, Portsmouth-Jersey and Portsmouth-Guernsey feel manageable on the total price, but per mile, they’re among the more expensive crossings in the list.

That’s pure ferry economics: loading, unloading and turning a ship around is costly, and those fixed costs really bite on shorter distances.

5. North Sea nights: Newcastle, Hull and Harwich to the Netherlands
The North Sea night boats from the UK to the Netherlands and back – Newcastle-Amsterdam, Hull-Rotterdam and the Harwich-Hook of Holland night service – quietly do a very good job:

• You get an overnight mini-cruise, a cabin, and your car on board
• Prices per mile sit in the more reasonable end of the spectrum
• And you arrive close to the main Dutch hubs: Rotterdam, Amsterdam, The Hague, Utrecht

If you’re heading to the Netherlands or onward into Germany, these crossings are very solid options, especially in shoulder season.

Day crossings: cheaper tickets, but more expensive miles

For the daytime crossings we looked at:

• UK – France & Netherlands
  Dover-Calais, Dover-Dunkirk, Poole-Cherbourg, Newhaven-Dieppe, Portsmouth-Le Havre, Portsmouth-Caen (day sailing), Harwich-Hook of Holland (day)
• UK – Ireland / Northern Ireland
  Holyhead-Dublin, Liverpool-Belfast, Pembroke-Rosslare, Fishguard-Rosslare, Cairnryan-Belfast, Cairnryan-Larne
• Spain – Balearics
  Denia-Ibiza
• Denmark – Norway
  Hirtshals-Kristiansand

On average, day crossings look very affordable:

• Around £379 in shoulder season (family + car, return)
• Around £450 in peak season
• But the average cost per mile is higher than on night sailings: about £2.71 per mile, or ~£0.68 per mile per person in shoulder season

So the ticket is cheaper, but the miles are more expensive.

What stands out by day?

1. Dover-Calais: king of the cheap Channel hop
In absolute terms, Dover-Calais is one of the cheapest ways to move a family and car across the water. But per mile, it’s not the bargain it appears: over £4 per mile and more than £1 per mile per person in shoulder season. You’re paying for frequency and a quick blast across, rather than distance efficiency.

2. Scottish crossings: short and sharp
Cairnryan-Belfast and Cairnryan-Larne are quick, convenient links between Scotland and Northern Ireland. They’re also among the most expensive crossings per mile (over £5 per mile in shoulder season). Fantastic if you just need to hop over swiftly, less interesting if you’re comparing routes purely on cost per mile.

3. Harwich-Hook of Holland: the quiet hero to the Netherlands
The Harwich-Hook of Holland day sailing is a bit of a hidden gem in our data – and a brilliant way to get to the Netherlands with your car:

• Roughly £1.35 per mile and £0.34 per person per mile in shoulder season
• Both figures sit comfortably below the daytime averages

If you add in our separate analysis of London-Rotterdam by plane vs Harwich-Hook by ferry, it gets even more interesting:

• Flying + hotels + car hire can cost a family about £600 more than taking the ferry
• And emits around 380 kg more CO₂

For trips to the Netherlands (and even to western Germany), Harwich-Hook is one of the strongest all-round choices: good value, direct, and a lot less faff than flying.

4. Balearics by day: fun, but not the cheapest miles
The Denia-Ibiza day sailing is a lovely route for sun-seekers, but again you see the island premium:

• Around £1.58 per mile and £0.40 per mile per person in shoulder season

Cheaper per mile than the night routes from Barcelona, but still not in the “bargain” corner when you compare with long-haul routes like Barcelona-Rome or the UK-Spain overnight ferries.

The data in euro's and kilometers:

Night crossings in euro's & KM's

Day ferry crossings costs in euro's and KM's

Night vs day: which type of crossing fits your trip?

Put simply:

• Night crossings
  • Higher total ticket prices, especially in peak season
  • But cheaper per mile and per person on average
  • You save a hotel night, travel further in one go and arrive rested
• Day crossings
  • Often cheaper overall for short hops
  • Clearly, it is more expensive per mile and per person
  • Perfect for quick Channel or Irish Sea crossings when you don’t need a cabin

If you’re travelling further – Spain, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, or deeper into Europe – and you like the idea of sleeping on board, night crossings often offer surprisingly strong value per mile.

If you need to pop across to France or Ireland, a daytime ferry is ideal, as long as you know that the very shortest routes are usually the most expensive per mile.

Thinking about flying instead?

In a separate comparison, we’ve taken several of these night routes and put them up against a “fly + 2 hotel nights + hire car” scenario. It’s not a perfect one-to-one comparison, but it does show very clearly:

• How quickly the actual cost of flying rises once you add hotels and car hire
• How big is the CO₂ gap between a family ferry trip and a short-haul flight

For example:

• On London-Rotterdam, flying + hotels + car hire comes out around £600 more expensive than taking the Harwich-Hook ferry and emits roughly 380 kg more CO₂ for a family of four.
• On routes like Newcastle-Amsterdam, Kiel-Oslo or Portsmouth-Santander, the ferry often wins on total price and almost always wins on emissions.

We’ve bundled those comparisons in a separate guide: From cabin to cockpit: family holidays by ferry vs plane.

We’ve included the full route-by-route table, which includes prices per mile and per person, in an overview here.

How we set up the research

For every route, we used the same setup:

• Travel party: 2 adults + 2 children (roughly 5-10 years old)
• With a car: one family car on board
• Night crossings: including a standard inside cabin
• Day crossings: car on board, no cabin

We looked at two travel periods:

• Shoulder season: 23-30 June (Tuesday-Tuesday or similar)
• Peak season: 1-8 August (Saturday-Saturday)

We pulled prices in November and early December, when many operators run early-bird deals, Black Friday offers and other promotions. If you plan your trip in this window, it’s realistic to save around 20-25% on the full fare compared with booking late in spring.

This study is especially useful if you’re travelling as a family with a car, you’re choosing between several routes or dates, and you want to know whether that “big” overnight crossing is actually good value once you break it down per mile and per person.