Brittany Ferries sails Portsmouth to Saint-Malo in around 7.5 to 11 hours, depending on whether you catch a day or night sailing. It’s the route into Brittany, and it drops you at a genuinely good destination in its own right: a walled old town, once known as the pirate city, that’s worth a night rather than a straight drive-through.
Sailed by usAugust 2025
Our own crossing: we sailed Saint-Malo to Portsmouth (the outbound direction of our trip) on the brand-new “Saint-Malo” in August 2025, a daytime sailing of 7 hours 30 minutes. Full account on FerryGoGo’s trip report.
Departures
Brittany Ferries runs both day and overnight sailings on this route, and which one you get shifts by season. Ours was a daytime crossing, useful if you’d rather see the coast than sleep through it. Check current times and frequency at Brittany Ferries before booking, this route’s schedule moves around more than the shorter Normandy crossings. In winter 2026/27 every sailing out of Portsmouth is overnight, four nights a week; the only daytime crossing is the Monday sailing back from Saint-Malo.
Winter 2026/27 sailing times
| Direction | Days | Departs | Arrives |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portsmouth to Saint-Malo | Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday | 20:15 | 08:45 next day |
| Saint-Malo to Portsmouth | Monday | 10:45 | 18:20, daytime |
| Saint-Malo to Portsmouth | Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday | 20:30 | 07:45 next day |
The regular pattern from 1 November 2026 to 21 March 2027, in local time. A few dates differ, so check yours when you book. Every route on one page: Portsmouth ferry times, winter 2026/27. Coming home? See Saint-Malo to Portsmouth.
Ship and stay
The ship is the “Saint-Malo” herself, one of Brittany Ferries’ new LNG-hybrid ships and sister to the “Santoña”. Two vehicle decks with easy space for cars, motorhomes and caravans, the lower deck sits noticeably higher, useful if you’re bringing something tall. On board there are two restaurants (Le Littoral, a bistro, and Le Jardin, a buffet), a sundeck with a play area, a bar (Breizh Ma Bro), several lounges, a small spa, an arcade, a dog kennel and a duty-free shop. Pay extra for the CClub Lounge if you want a quieter space with food and drinks included.
We didn’t book a cabin for this daytime crossing, our two kids napped fine on the sofas, but with a longer or overnight sailing a cabin would make more sense. Cabins here are the same style as on the Santoña: simple, clean, decent-sized bathroom.
Departure, from either side
Check-in at Saint-Malo was quick for us: passport control and check-in took about half an hour, customs were friendly and fast. From Portsmouth, follow the same general check-in guidance as our Portsmouth port guide. Whichever direction you’re travelling, keep your boarding pass on you, it’s your cabin key and you’ll need it in the restaurants and duty-free shop too.
Saint-Malo terminal facilities
- Check-in desks and passport control, separate lanes by destination
- Vehicle marshalling area with digital departure boards
- Security gate before boarding
- Parking near the terminal for drop-off
Travelling to the UK? Apply for your ETA in advance: it costs £20 per person, children included, according to gov.uk when we checked on 26 October 2026. Since Brexit you need a passport for this route in both directions, a driving licence is no longer enough.
Arrival
Sailing into Saint-Malo, get up on deck as you approach: the ramparts and historic harbour make a proper arrival. If you’ve got the time, stay a night or two inside the walled old town (intramuros). It’s small enough to walk everywhere, historic, and a good base for the Breton and Normandy coasts or a trip out to Mont St Michel. Arriving in Portsmouth instead, the same deck-side view works in reverse: the Isle of Wight’s cliffs, then the Spinnaker Tower and the Solent as you come in.
Where you actually land. The Gare Maritime du Naye is about a ten minute walk from the walls of Intra-Muros, which is unusual: on most of these routes the terminal is somewhere you leave, and here it is somewhere you arrive. Foot passengers can simply walk into the old town with a bag.
The railway station is a couple of kilometres inland, with buses between the two, and trains run via Rennes for connections towards Paris. By road, Rennes is about an hour and Mont-Saint-Michel a little over that.
Why Saint-Malo is worth stopping in
This is the thing that separates Saint-Malo from Caen and Cherbourg. Those are arrival ports: useful, functional, and the beginning of a drive. Saint-Malo is somewhere you might genuinely want to stay, which changes the maths on the longer crossing.
Intra-Muros is the walled old town, and it is close enough to the terminal to walk. Granite streets, restaurants, and the thing most people come for: you can walk the full circuit of the ramparts for nothing, looking out over the beaches on one side and the rooftops on the other. Half an hour at a slow pace, and it is the best possible introduction to the place.
The beaches start at the wall. Plage de Bon-Secours sits right below the ramparts with a tidal seawater pool, and the tide here is dramatic: at low water you can walk out to the offshore islands, at high water you cannot. Check the tide times before you plan anything around it.
Eat galettes. Brittany’s savoury buckwheat pancakes are everywhere here, usually with cider served in a bowl rather than a glass. It is the regional thing to do and it is cheap.
Dinard and Mont-Saint-Michel are both within reach and covered below. But the point of this section is narrower than that: you do not have to drive anywhere at all. On the France routes from Portsmouth, this is the only one where the port is also the destination.
Costs and booking
As with the other routes, treat any fixed price as a snapshot. We paid £315.50 for four people and a car, no cabin, on a daytime sailing in August 2025. Check current prices at Brittany Ferries for your dates.
Worth the detour: Dinard and Mont Saint-Michel
Dinard sits right across the estuary from Saint-Malo, close enough to see from the ferry as you sail in, and worth a short trip over while you’re there. Mont Saint-Michel is further, but well within reach as a day trip from Saint-Malo if you’re staying a night or two, one of those places that’s worth planning around rather than skipping.
Alternatives
If Brittany isn’t specifically the plan, Portsmouth to Caen or Portsmouth to Cherbourg are shorter and land you in Normandy instead, useful if you’re heading to Paris or further east. See all five routes on the Portsmouth ferries overview.
Our verdict
Genuinely one of the better crossings we’ve done, and one of the few where the port itself is worth the trip. The one real hiccup wasn’t the ferry’s fault: our car’s clutch started acting up while boarding in Saint-Malo, and gave out completely a few days later, disembarking in Portsmouth. Brittany Ferries staff pushed the car off by hand and sorted a tow, and a flexible ticket meant we could still get home once it was fixed. Worth spending a night or two in Saint-Malo itself if your schedule allows it, rather than treating it as a drive-through port.
FAQs
How long is the ferry from Portsmouth to Saint-Malo?
Around 7.5 to 11 hours, depending on whether you catch a day or night sailing. Ours was a daytime crossing of 7 hours 30 minutes. Our timetable guide covers how the sailings are spread through the week.
Do I need a cabin for a daytime sailing?
Not necessarily. Our two kids napped fine on the sofas on our daytime crossing, but a cabin makes more sense on a longer or overnight sailing. The prices page sets out what that adds.
Which ship sails this route?
Usually the “Saint-Malo” herself, one of Brittany Ferries’ LNG-hybrid ships new for 2025, and the one we crossed on. Ships do rotate between routes, so treat any name as likely rather than promised: see our ships from Portsmouth page.
What documents do I need since Brexit?
A passport in both directions, a driving licence is no longer enough. If you’re travelling to the UK, apply for your ETA in advance too: it costs £20 per person, children included, according to gov.uk when we checked on 26 October 2026.
Is Saint-Malo worth stopping in, or just a transit port?
Worth stopping in. It’s one of the few Portsmouth crossings where the port itself is a destination, a walled old town small enough to explore entirely on foot.
What if Saint-Malo doesn’t fit my plans?
Portsmouth to Caen or Portsmouth to Cherbourg are shorter and land you in Normandy instead, useful if Paris or further east is the target. The France comparison weighs all three against each other.
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