Best ferries for 2026

At its best, travel by ferry feels like part of the holiday, in a way that flying never can. 

But it depends on the ferry company. We surveyed Which? members about more than 6,000 ferry trips and found some routes with high star ratings for facilities, food and drink, cabins and value for money. Others, though, were not so good.

You might not feel like you're on holiday with operators like Irish Ferries and P&O, which were only rated two stars for their toilets.

Our table lists brands, but we also compared ferry operators on specific routes and collected prices for this summer. 

Conclusion? The most expensive operators aren't necessarily the best.

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The best UK ferry firms

Best ferries for France

Dover to Calais is the only ferry route in the UK where there's any significant competition - DFDS, Irish Ferries and P&O go head to head from beneath the famous white cliffs. But you're better off sailing to Dunkirk with DFDS. Customer service is better, as is the customer score. Crucially, it's only £253 per car on average this August – that's cheaper than any Calais route we looked at this summer and is the cheapest ferry to France. The sailing takes about 20 minutes longer, but once in France there isn't much difference in getting to your final destination; it's 3hr 15min from Calais to Paris or 3hr 30min from Dunkirk.

Newhaven to Dieppe is another option. It's only a two-hour trip and, as a destination, Dieppe – with its own white cliffs and Norman castle – beats Calais hands down.

However, for an enjoyable trip to and from your destination, Brittany's best route is hard to beat. Its overnight ferries from Portsmouth to beautiful St Malo take 11 hours and get four stars for almost everything, as well as five stars for cabins. Even the food gets three stars, which might not sound much but beats most routes we checked. One passenger told us of the pleasures of a night crossing, 'where you can have dinner with wine at 8pm and enjoy a good night's sleep and breakfast before arriving at St Malo at a civilised hour in the morning.' As they put it: 'It really is a case of 'the holiday starts the moment you arrive on board.'

Best and worst France ferries

The best ferries to Dublin and Belfast

Ferries to Ireland aren't cheap - up to £400 - but one fan of Stena Line told us: 'It seems to have grasped that to keep people paying the high fares it needs to provide a quality product. Cabins are clean and comfortable, boarding is quick and easy.' There's only a small difference in the customer scores between the big firms, but it's notable that Stena Line beats Irish Ferries for customer service and facilities and also beats P&O for customer service. It offers four ways to get across the Irish Sea - from Cairnryan in Scotland, Fishguard and Holyhead in Wales, and Liverpool in England. 

On Irish Ferries, one traveller told us they've resorted to paying extra for a lounge to get a better experience. 'We travel to Ireland regularly,' they said, 'and because of the overall state of the ferries (mess, overcrowding, lack of seats etc) we now always pay the extra for club class.' They weren't alone in choosing to escape the crowded public areas by paying a bit extra.

The best and worst ferries to Ireland

Ferries to Scottish Islands and other UK and European destinations

Northlink Ferries

The highest-rated ferry company in our survey is Northlink, which provides vital routes to the Orkneys and Shetland on behalf of the Scottish government. It's the only firm to get four stars for absolutely everything. Travellers loved its clean, comfortable ships. One problem is that its popularity means cabins are booked up long in advance. If you're thinking of a summer trip, book as early as possible. Tickets typically go on sale towards the end of the previous year.

Calmac Ferries

On the other side of Scotland, islanders relying on Calmac for trips to the Hebrides haven't been so lucky. At the beginning of the year, around a third of its boats were out of service. Tourists might not be affected, as the chances are their trip will go ahead (reflected in its reasonable scores in our survey) but for locals relying on ferries to get to hospital appointments, job interviews or other essential trips, reliability is crucial. If you're planning on using ferries to the Hebrides this summer, make sure your plans are flexible.

Isle of Wight and Isle of Man ferries

Similar technical issues have afflicted Red Funnel and Wightlink routes to the Isle of Wight, with boats out of action and needing repairs. 

They could all take a lesson from the Isle of Man's Steampacket, which has scores and star ratings that are much better in 2026 than last time we ran the survey. An ultra-modern new boat - the Manxman - which came into service in August 2023, might have made the difference.

Ferries to the Netherlands

There isn't much to choose between the three ferry routes to the Netherlands that our survey covered. DFDS's Newcastle to Amsterdam route and P&O's Hull to Rotterdam both got decent customer scores of 72%, while Stena Line's ferry from Harwich to Hook of Holland got 70%.

For all three trips, the ratings were three stars across the board - with Stena Line getting four stars for its spacious cabins.

Ferry prices to the Netherlands

Ferries to Spain

We also had results for three routes across to Spain - all with Brittany Ferries. 

Portsmouth to Santander (69%), Portsmouth to Bilbao (67%) and Plymouth to Santander (66%) got similar customer scores, with, again three stars across the board.

Ferry prices to Spain

The cost of ferries

Prices are from directferries.co.uk, based on averages of three separate August weekend dates for somebody driving an average car, leaving/returning on the Saturday or closest available date. For Irish routes, there may be an additional charge of up to £50 per passenger.