Strangford Lough Ferry

If you drive or have a motorbike, you have to drive from newtownards, the start of Strangford lough, to portaferry cross over to Strangford on the ferry and drive to Downpatrick and back to Belfast or newtownards. In my view its the best driving road in northern Ireland. Early mornings start is best. This route is unbeatable. I’ve driven it so many times for no other purpose than the love of driving, and in particular classic cars. I’ve had Capri’s and minis and its as good as it gets to blow the cobwebs off them. Its a must drive road and I hope they never replace the ferry as it makes the journey a piece of local heritage.

This little ferry basically takes you from Portaferry to Strangford or vice versa. It’s a short journey but it’s nice to relax for a short while on the boat and have a look at the nice view. You can enter as a foot passenger or on a vehicle. For some people this is a necessity for normal everyday travelling, for others it’s a little treat to get a ferry trip across. Definitely worth a trip if you’re over this way even just for the novelty — it also cuts out a lot of driving (depending on where you’re going).

This little ferry is an absolute wonder. I don’t think it has changed at all since I was a child. It’s basically a very small car ferry which travels back and forward across Strangford Lough between Portaferry and Strangford.
The journey is slow and relaxed and as you’re only going a very short distance across the Lough (less than a mile) it only takes about 10 minutes.
The ferry runs every half hour every day except Christmas Day, except when the weather is too stormy. You drive your car up a little ramp and leave it parked on the small deck. It costs just over a fiver to go across one way and on a sunny day you get a fabulous view of the Lough and the coast line on both sides.
Travelling across Strangford by ferry is such a novelty, both adults and kids will love it and if you’re cutting across the Lough for practical reasons rather than driving round, you’ll save over an hour and 75 miles on your journey.