A government car ferry across the Strangford Narrows, and a seasonal passenger boat from Ballycastle to Kintyre and Islay.
One of the two Northern Irish crossings on this site takes you out of the country rather than round it: Kintyre Express, a twelve-seat fast passenger boat based in Campbeltown, links Ballycastle on the Antrim coast with Kintyre and with Port Ellen on Islay. It sails from April to late September; the 2026 season ended on Monday 28 September, and no 2027 timetable had been published when the page was last checked. Every seat costs the same, £84 one way, whether an adult or a baby sits in it.
It is a small successor to a much bigger plan. A car ferry opened the Campbeltown–Ballycastle route in 1997 and had still not broken even by 1999; today's boat carries people, bicycles and golf bags but no vehicles, and the operator sends drivers via Cairnryan to Belfast or Larne instead. Ballycastle harbour is a Causeway Coast and Glens council marina, and the Rathlin Island ferry leaves from the same harbour, a separate service with its own operator that this site does not cover.
The other stays at home and runs all year. On Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland's Department for Infrastructure operates the car ferry between Strangford and Portaferry itself, leaving every half hour through the day, with Christmas Day its only day off. A car and its driver pay £8 for a single crossing and a foot passenger £1.40, at fares in force since 1 February 2026.