Ferry Southsea - Ryde

Southsea – Ryde with Hovertravel

This route links Southsea with Ryde, operated by Hovertravel. The two ferry terminals are about 7 kilometres (4 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.

The world's longest-running commercial hovercraft service, Hovertravel has crossed the Solent between Southsea and Ryde since 1965. The journey takes under ten minutes, for foot passengers only, and more than 29 million people have travelled with it. It sails at any state of the tide.

Southsea

Southsea has been the seaside of Portsmouth for two centuries, and it has a surprisingly literary past. Rudyard Kipling spent five unhappy years as a boy at Lorne Lodge in Campbell Road, which he later called the House of Desolation, and a plaque marks the house. H. G. Wells signed on at Hyde's Drapery Emporium in King Street in 1881 and spent two miserable years there before being released from his apprenticeship. Looking out over the Solent, Southsea Castle, built by Henry VIII in 1544, appears in the famous Cowdray engraving of the Battle of the Solent in 1545 with the king standing nearby. The hovercraft terminal and the funfair at Clarence Pier are close to one another on the seafront.

Ryde

Ryde Pier, opened in 1814, is often described as the oldest seaside pleasure pier in the world. It was built because the beach at Ryde is so shallow that boats could not otherwise reach the shore at low tide, and for generations it has been the main way onto the island from Portsmouth. From the pier head, a hovercraft crosses to Southsea in about ten minutes, while the fast catamaran from Portsmouth Harbour arrives at the end of the pier itself. Ryde is the Isle of Wight's largest town, and its seafront has miles of sand that are exposed at low tide, backed by a promenade that has kept much of its Victorian character.