We don’t run a live timetable here. Sailing times change by season, and the operators’ own booking systems are the only accurate source. What this page does instead is explain how Portsmouth’s schedule actually works, so you know what to expect before you go and check dates. For the actual departure times this winter, route by route and day by day, see Portsmouth ferry times, winter 2026/27.
One real day at Portsmouth
This is the departures board in the terminal at 07:48 on Tuesday 19 August 2025. We photographed it while we were stuck in the port, which is a story for the port guide. It is the single most useful thing we can show you about how this port runs, because it is a whole day of sailings in one frame.
| Time | Company | To |
|---|---|---|
| 07:30 | Hebridean Princess | Dieppe |
| 08:00 | Brittany Ferries | Caen |
| 10:00 | DFDS | Jersey |
| 11:00 | Brittany Clipper | Le Havre |
| 15:00 | Brittany Ferries | Caen |
| 17:45 | DFDS | Jersey |
| 20:00 | Brittany Ferries CI | Guernsey |
| 20:15 | Brittany Ferries | St Malo |
| 23:00 | Brittany Ferries | Caen |
What that board actually tells you
Caen is the backbone. Three departures in one day, at 08:00, 15:00 and 23:00. No other destination gets that. If you want flexibility on dates and times out of Portsmouth, Caen is where you find it, which is also why it sells out first in the school holidays.
Not every line on a departures board is a ferry you can book. Hebridean Princess to Dieppe is not a scheduled passenger route from Portsmouth. The Brittany Clipper line was one: that was the Le Havre sailing, which ran until the route ended in September 2026. A working port moves freight, charters and cruise calls through the same screen as the passenger sailings. This is exactly why a departures board is not a timetable, and why we don’t reproduce one here as if it were.
Both Channel Islands routes show up, under two different companies. DFDS to Jersey twice that day, at 10:00 and 17:45, and Brittany Ferries CI to Guernsey at 20:00. If you have read that Jersey is not served direct from Portsmouth, this board is a photograph of the opposite. See Portsmouth to Jersey and Portsmouth to Guernsey.
The evening is when the long crossings leave. Guernsey at 20:00, Saint-Malo at 20:15, Caen at 23:00. Anything going a long way tends to go overnight, so you sleep through the crossing and land in the morning. The day sailings are the shorter hops.
No Spain that day. Santander and Bilbao are not daily routes, and a random Tuesday in August had neither. That is the single biggest planning difference between the France routes and the Spain ones.
Read this as a pattern, not a timetable. These are the times on one Tuesday in August 2025. They are not current departure times and we are not going to pretend otherwise. What survives from a photo like this is the shape of the day, not the numbers.
How each route’s schedule works
Day crossing or overnight?
On the France routes you usually get a genuine choice, and it changes the trip more than the price does. A day crossing gives you the sea, the deck and something to look at, which matters with children. An overnight one costs you a cabin but hands you back a day at the other end, and you arrive rested rather than having spent your first holiday morning at sea.
We have done both on the same trip: out to Saint-Malo in daylight, back overnight from Cherbourg. The overnight leg is the one we would repeat.
On the Spain routes there is no choice to make. Thirty hours plus means two nights aboard either way.
Seasonal variation
Summer is the peak, and it is when the timetable is fullest and the ships are busiest. Winter thins out, particularly on Saint-Malo and the two Spanish routes, where a few sailings a week can become fewer. Caen and Cherbourg hold up best across the year.
Schedules also change outright. From 1 November 2026 the Guernsey ship moves to a triangular Portsmouth, Guernsey, Cherbourg route. See our rundown of the 2026 changes.
Which crossings need planning ahead
Santander and Bilbao first, because there simply are not many sailings and a full one means waiting days rather than hours. Then Caen and any night sailing in the school holidays. We had Caen booked once and lost it to a sell-out, which is how we ended up on the Cherbourg night boat instead, and it worked out fine.
A flexible ticket costs a little more but lets you rebook if plans change, worth it if anything about your trip is uncertain. And if your first choice is full, check the nearest alternative before assuming you can’t travel on your dates. See the routes overview.
Where to get the actual times
Go to the operator, with your real dates: Brittany Ferries for France and Spain, Condor for Guernsey, and DFDS for Jersey. They show live availability, which nothing on a third party site can match. Isle of Wight crossings work differently, with sailings all day from three other terminals: see our Isle of Wight ferry guide. We are not a booking site and we do not handle your booking. Some links here are affiliate links, and we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. See our affiliate disclosure.
Departures board photographed by us at Portsmouth International Port on 19 August 2025. Schedule patterns checked against operator information in September 2026.