Ferry Pembroke - Rosslare

Pembroke – Rosslare with Irish Ferries

This route links Pembroke with Rosslare, operated by Irish Ferries. The two ferry terminals are about 115 kilometres (60 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.

Created in 1973 as Irish Continental Line, Irish Ferries took over the state-owned B&I Line in 1992 and now runs the main routes between Ireland, Britain and France. Its Ulysses, launched in 2001, was the world's largest car ferry by capacity. The Pembroke–Rosslare crossing links south Wales with the Irish south-east.

Pembroke

The ferry for Rosslare leaves from Pembroke Dock, a town built from nothing in 1814 to house a Royal Navy dockyard on the Cleddau estuary. In the Second World War it became home to a large flying-boat base for Sunderlands, said to have been the biggest in the world. A few minutes away, Pembroke Castle is where Henry VII was born in 1457, and its great round keep is one of the finest in Wales. All around lies the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, the only national park in the UK created mainly for its coastline, with a coast path of 186 miles that runs from Amroth to St Dogmaels.

Rosslare

Rosslare's best sights are a short drive away. On the Hook peninsula, about an hour west, the Hook Lighthouse dates from the thirteenth century and is often described as the oldest operational lighthouse in the world. In Wexford, the Wexford Festival Opera has brought singers to a small town theatre every autumn since 1951. Near New Ross, the Kennedy Homestead at Dunganstown is the farm that President John F. Kennedy's great-grandfather left to emigrate to Boston during the Famine, now a visitor centre. Between them, they make Rosslare a good starting point for a few days exploring Ireland's sunny south-east.