Craignure is Mull's main port and Oban is where its ferry starts: a short run across the Firth of Lorn with cars on the deck and walkers on the upper decks. Two CalMac ships share the work all year, and the timetable tells you which is which if you know where to look.
Summer sheet headed 'Operates 19 Apr – 16 Oct' (CalMac labels the same file '08 May – 16 October', and the route page says 27 March – 18 October); amended timetable on 17–18 October; winter sheet 19 October 2026 – 12 March 2027, reissued on 7 October with a fuller 2 January. Read on calmac.co.uk on 25 September and again on 13 and 15 October 2026, and checked against CalMac's sailing data up to 12 March. CalMac — Oban–Craignure summer and winter timetables (PDF) · 2026-10-15
Choose the ship before you choose the time. Two vessels share the Oban–Craignure crossing and they are not interchangeable: MV Isle of Mull does it in 50 minutes and has a café, a bar and a shop on board, while MV Loch Frisa takes an hour and offers a vending machine. The timetable marks Loch Frisa's sailings with an A. If you want lunch at sea, or an extra ten minutes on the island, read the codes before you book.
Book the car in advance too. This is a reservable route, and CalMac asks everyone — foot passengers included — to buy a ticket online before travelling; a driver who arrives without one may still get on, but it is not promised. Be in the vehicle lanes 30 minutes before departure, or 10 minutes if you are walking on.
Until 16 October there are ten or eleven sailings each way on most days, followed by a thinner amended weekend on 17 and 18 October while MV Isle of Mull covers the Barra route; from 19 October the winter grid cuts that to six or seven on weekdays, eight or nine on Saturdays and Fridays and five on Sundays, and still runs both ships.
A walker's day out to Mull costs £9.80 — two £4.90 singles, since a return is simply double. With a car the vehicle and the people are charged separately: two adults and a car come to £28.00 one way, £18.20 for the car and £4.90 for each person, driver included.
The SPT Ferry Card, the SPT Companion Card and the Blue Badge each bring a reduced fare, applied when you book online; CalMac asks you to carry the card.
| Adult, 16 and over | £ 4.90 |
| Child, 5 to 15 | £ 2.45 |
| Adult with SPT Ferry Card | £ 2.45 |
| SPT companion | £ 2.45 |
| Bicycle | Free |
| Car | £ 18.20 |
| Motorcycle | £ 9.10 |
| Motorhome up to 6 m | £ 18.20 |
| Motorhome 6.01–8 m | £ 45.50 |
| Motorhome 8.01–10 m | £ 54.60 |
| Motorhome 10.01–12 m | £ 63.70 |
| Caravan up to 6 m | £ 18.20 |
| Caravan 6.01–8 m | £ 27.30 |
| Baggage trailer up to 2.5 m | £ 9.10 |
| Trailer 2.51–6 m | £ 18.20 |
| Trailer 6.01–8 m | £ 27.30 |
Last published fares: summer 2026, valid from 27 March 2026. CalMac had still published no winter 2026/27 fares for Oban–Craignure on 15 October 2026, so check the fares tab before buying for travel from 19 October CalMac — Oban–Craignure fares, summer 2026 (PDF) · 2026-10-15
As the crow flies it is 15.6 kilometres from one terminal to the other, about eight and a half nautical miles, and the ship crosses the Firth of Lorn to Craignure, just inside the Sound of Mull. CalMac's port pages give the crossing as 45 minutes; the timetables allow 50 for MV Isle of Mull and 60 for the slower MV Loch Frisa, and those are the times this page uses. CalMac also points drivers to two shorter crossings further up the Sound — Lochaline to Fishnish, and Kilchoan to Tobermory — for anyone coming from Morvern or Ardnamurchan rather than from Oban.
Mull traffic shares Oban's lanes with the long Hebridean sailings, but it keeps its own clock: CalMac's port page groups Mull with Colonsay at 30 minutes before departure, where Barra, Coll and Tiree ask for 45. On the three MV Isle of Mull sailings that carry it — 09:55, 12:15 and 15:55 out of Oban — a luggage van waits on the pier: load your bags before you walk aboard and collect them at the other end. CalMac lists the van until 28 October.
Craignure sits in the south of Mull, and CalMac calls it the island's main port. Fuel, a cash machine and a shop are in the Post Office store 50 metres from the terminal, and the West Coast Motors buses and the taxi rank are 30 metres away; the terminal has parking, toilets, wi-fi and an electric vehicle charger. Among those buses is the West Coast Motors service across the island to Fionnphort, where the ten-minute ferry to Iona leaves. The ticket office opens at 06:15 on most days until 18 October, 08:30 on Sundays, and from 19 October the hours run from 5.30 a.m. Monday to Saturday and 8 a.m. on Sundays until 5 p.m., or 9.10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
On 24 September CalMac stopped MV Loch Frisa taking commercial vehicles or coaches because of a fault on the Craignure linkspan. By 13 October that notice had gone from the route's service status without a word on the repair, so hauliers and coach drivers should confirm with the port office when booking. Separately, a problem with Craignure's passenger access system can slow Isle of Mull turnarounds: cars leave first and foot passengers wait on the passenger deck until called.
MV Isle of Mull has the Mariners Café, a bar called The Still, a coffee cabin and a shop. MV Loch Frisa has a hot-drinks machine and a snack machine, card payment only. The timetable marks her sailings with an A.
Argyll and Bute Council has asked CalMac to tell drivers of motorhomes, campervans and caravans that they must secure a pitch on Mull before travelling. There is also a standby process for these vehicles if a sailing is full.
Anything heavier needs written permission from Argyll and Bute Council in advance. Commercial bookings are handled by the port offices, Oban 01631 700506 and Craignure 01680 340258, option 2.
SPT Ferry Card, SPT Companion and Blue Badge fares can all be applied online, and CalMac asks you to carry the card itself when you travel.
In August 2026 CMAL, which owns the vessels, appointed designers for a New Mull Vessels project to replace the ships on this route. There is no date for them yet.
Everything about this route follows from Mull being big and close. It is near enough to Oban for a day trip and large enough that visitors bring cars, so the crossing is run like a shuttle rather than a lifeline sailing. Oban's other island departures on this site work very differently: the ship to Barra sails once a day for nearly five hours, the direct boat to Colonsay runs only on set days of the week, and CalMac's Oban sailing to Lismore is the slow way to an island a council boat from Port Appin reaches in ten minutes.
The two ships have very different histories. Isle of Mull was built at Port Glasgow in 1988 to replace the older and slower MV Caledonia, and CalMac says she has been refurbished several times since. Loch Frisa started life as MV Utne, crossing Norway's Hardangerfjord for Norled, and was renamed after a naming competition in December 2021. That is why the second ship feels like a fjord ferry: it was one.
Any departure without an A in CalMac's timetable is MV Isle of Mull, 50 minutes. Until 16 October that means 09:55, 12:15, 15:55 and 18:15 from Oban, seven days a week; in winter her morning departure is 09:30, 09:45 or 09:50 depending on the day, and the 15:50 is hers every day. The A-coded sailings are MV Loch Frisa and take an hour.
It depends on the day. From 19 October the last departure from Craignure is 17:00 from Monday to Thursday and on Sunday, but 21:10 on Fridays and Saturdays.
£56.00. One way is £18.20 for the car and £4.90 each for two adults, driver included, which comes to £28.00; returns are exactly double on standard fares.
Because of berthing constraints in Oban. That evening the 19:35 from Oban leaves at 19:15 and reaches Craignure at 20:05, and the 21:10 from Craignure leaves at 20:20 and is back in Oban at 21:10; the rest of the winter Saturday timetable is unchanged.
A separate amended timetable runs, mostly on MV Loch Frisa. On Saturday 17 October there are seven departures from Oban, from 07:25 to 21:35; on Sunday 18 October five, from 09:00 to 21:00. The normal winter grid begins on Monday 19 October.
Check with the port before you book. CalMac's notice of 24 September barred commercial vehicles and coaches from MV Loch Frisa because of a fault on the Craignure linkspan; it no longer appeared in the route's service status on 13 October, but CalMac has not said the fault is fixed. Commercial bookings go through the port offices, Oban 01631 700506 and Craignure 01680 340258, option 2, and anything over 44 tonnes needs Argyll and Bute Council's written permission.
CalMac wants one bought in advance, even on foot, and scans eTickets from your phone. On foot, be at the boarding point 10 minutes before the ship leaves. A summer day trip is easy: the 09:55 from Oban reaches Craignure at 10:45 and the 17:05 brings you back at 17:55.