Ferry Plymouth - St Malo

Plymouth – St Malo with Brittany Ferries

This route links Plymouth with St Malo, operated by Brittany Ferries. The two ferry terminals are about 250 kilometres (130 nautical miles) apart in a straight line. Use the search engine above for current timetables and fares, or use the Direct Ferries button at the top of the page to compare the sailings.

Brittany Ferries was created in 1972 by Breton farmers who wanted to sell their vegetables in Britain, and began operating from Roscoff in 1973. Based in Roscoff and Portsmouth, it links Brittany and Normandy with Plymouth and Portsmouth, and runs overnight crossings to Santander, Bilbao and Cork. Since September 2024 it has also been the majority owner of Condor Ferries, whose Channel Islands services are being brought under the Brittany Ferries name.

Plymouth

Plymouth has launched more voyages of discovery than most ports. Captain James Cook left Plymouth Sound in August 1768 aboard HMS Endeavour on the first of his three Pacific expeditions. The Royal Navy shaped the city: the vast Royal William Yard, a Grade I listed naval victualling depot built in the early nineteenth century, is now a waterfront collection of restaurants, galleries and flats. Plymouth Gin has been distilled at the Black Friars Distillery, inside a former Dominican friary, since 1793, and it is England's oldest working gin distillery, with tours for visitors. The National Marine Aquarium, the largest in the UK, makes a good rainy-day stop before an overnight sailing to Roscoff or Santander.

St Malo

The Falkland Islands owe their French name, Îles Malouines, to sailors from Saint-Malo who made the voyage there in the early 1700s, and the Spanish "Malvinas" comes from the same root. Another Malouin, Jacques Cartier, sailed from the harbour in April 1534 on the first of his voyages to what is now Canada. The sea is still the town's business: every four years the Route du Rhum, the solo transatlantic race, starts from here, drawing crowds to the pontoons. Inside the granite ramparts the old town is compact enough to explore in an afternoon, and both Cancale, famous for its oysters, and Mont-Saint-Michel are within about an hour's drive.