Ferries and LeShuttle for campervans: routes and rules

Last checked November 2026.

There are lots of options for getting a vehicle across the waters of Europe. If you’re starting in the UK, or visiting it, you’ll need a ferry across the Channel or the North Sea, unless you take the LeShuttle train through the Channel Tunnel. From Ireland, ferries sail direct to France and Spain. Fares depend on the size of your van as well as the date and time, so book well ahead for the summer and school holidays, and look out for the operators’ offers.

Routes from Britain

Crossing times are the operators’ own figures, and timetables change with the seasons, so check the days and times before you book.

To France

Route	Operator	Crossing	How often
Folkestone–Calais (Channel Tunnel)	LeShuttle	35 minutes, on a car train	Day and night
Dover–Calais	P&O Ferries	About 90 minutes	At least 11 sailings a day
Dover–Calais	DFDS	1 hour 40 minutes	Up to 30 sailings a day
Dover–Calais	Irish Ferries	See the timetable	See the timetable
Dover–Dunkirk	DFDS	From 2 hours	Up to 22 sailings a day, day and night. Vehicles only
Newhaven–Dieppe	DFDS	About 4 hours, 5 on some overnight sailings	Up to 6 sailings a day, depending on the season
Portsmouth–Caen (Ouistreham)	Brittany Ferries	About 6 hours by day, 7 to 8 hours overnight	Three return sailings a day
Portsmouth–Cherbourg	Brittany Ferries	Around 8 hours overnight; 5 to 6 hours back by day	Some days of the week: check the timetable
Portsmouth–St Malo	Brittany Ferries	About 11 hours overnight; about 9 hours back by day	Most days, all year
Plymouth–Roscoff	Brittany Ferries	From 5 hours 15 minutes; most sailings from Plymouth are overnight	Up to 7 a week each way
Poole–St Malo, via Guernsey	Brittany Ferries (fast ferry Voyager)	About 6 hours (3 hours to Guernsey)	Up to 6 days a week in season

To Spain

Route	Operator	Crossing	How often
Portsmouth–Santander	Brittany Ferries	About 33 hours, two nights on board; 28 to 32 hours and one night coming back	Two a week for most of the year; one a week southbound in winter
Portsmouth–Bilbao	Brittany Ferries	33 to 36 hours, two nights on board; 29 hours 30 minutes to 32 hours 45 minutes and one night coming back	Two a week for most of the year; one a week in winter, when the return is from Santander
Plymouth–Santander	Brittany Ferries	20 hours 15 minutes to 22 hours	Twice a week, from Plymouth on Sundays and Wednesdays. No winter sailings

To the Netherlands

Route	Operator	Crossing	How often
Harwich–Hook of Holland	Stena Line	From 6 hours 30 minutes, by day or overnight	Four sailings a day
Hull–Rotterdam	P&O Ferries	About 11 hours 30 minutes, overnight	Every night, leaving Hull at 20:30 on weekdays and 20:00 at weekends
Newcastle–Amsterdam	DFDS	About 16 hours 45 minutes, overnight	Every day, leaving Newcastle at 17:00

Routes from Ireland

Route	Operator	Crossing	How often
Rosslare–Cherbourg	Brittany Ferries	17 to 20 hours overnight; 15 to 18 hours coming back	Four a week, all year
Cork–Roscoff	Brittany Ferries	14 to 15 hours	Twice a week, from March to November
Dublin–Cherbourg	Irish Ferries	About 19 to 20 hours overnight, by the autumn 2026 timetable	Most days in the autumn 2026 timetable
Rosslare–Dunkirk	DFDS	Just under 24 hours. Meals are included	Usually five a week
Rosslare–Bilbao	Brittany Ferries	27 hours 30 minutes (one night) or 31 hours (two nights)	Twice a week
Rosslare–Santander	Brittany Ferries	27 hours 30 minutes	Tuesdays, most weeks from November 2026 to mid-March 2027 only

Routes that have closed or changed

Poole to Cherbourg has closed. Brittany Ferries’ last sailings were in October 2026, three weeks earlier than planned, and it now sails to Cherbourg from Portsmouth instead. From Poole, the fast ferry Voyager still sails to Guernsey and on to St Malo. See Dorset.
Portsmouth to Le Havre has closed. Brittany Ferries said in June 2026 that it would close the route from October, and a ship breakdown ended the sailings early, in autumn 2026. See Normandy.
Plymouth to Santander runs in summer only; there are no sailings in winter. Portsmouth to Santander and Bilbao run all year, with fewer sailings in winter, and in winter 2026 to 2027 Brittany Ferries also sails from Rosslare to Santander.
P&O Ferries’ only routes to the continent are Dover to Calais and Hull to Rotterdam; it no longer sails from Portsmouth or Rosslare. Stena Line’s only route from Britain or Ireland to the continent is Harwich to the Hook of Holland, and Irish Ferries sails to France from Dublin and Dover, not Rosslare.

Taking a campervan or motorhome

Height and length

You pay for the space your van takes up, so give its full height and length when you book, including roof boxes, bike racks and anything on the back. If you get it wrong you can be charged extra at the port, or refused travel.

LeShuttle: any vehicle over 1.85 m high, or with anything on the roof, goes in the single-deck carriages, which sometimes costs more. The limits are 4.2 m high, 2.55 m wide and 18 m long including anything you’re towing. Motorhomes over 3.5 tonnes are accepted on the passenger shuttles, up to 25 tonnes, but a van carrying goods has to go as freight.
Brittany Ferries charges supplements for cars, MPVs and 4x4s “over 5m long and 1.83m high”, and for motorhomes, minibuses and vans “over 5m long and 2.6m high”. A rear-mounted bike rack carries a small supplement. On the Poole fast ferry, motorhomes over 7 m have to book by phone, on 0345 609 1024.
Irish Ferries prices campervans and motorhomes in three bands: up to 2.25 m high, over 2.25 m high, and over 8 m long, in each case including roof items and rear racks. An ordinary van, not converted, is taken as a private vehicle only up to 6 m long and 2.6 m high, and not if it carries goods or equipment for business.
P&O Ferries, DFDS and Stena Line also price by vehicle size; give the make, model and size, and include roof boxes, bike racks and trailers.

On a ferry you can’t stay in your van during the crossing: P&O says all passengers must leave their vehicles, and Stena Line doesn’t allow anyone on the vehicle decks while at sea. On LeShuttle you stay with your vehicle for the 35 minutes. P&O asks motorhomes to arrive 90 minutes before departure, and LeShuttle between one and two hours before departure; add the passport details of everyone travelling (Advance Passenger Information) at least 24 hours before a LeShuttle crossing, or you can’t travel.

Gas bottles and LPG

Every operator limits the gas you can carry for cooking and heating, most say it must be turned off and the bottles secured for the crossing, and LeShuttle’s rules are the strictest.

Operator	Gas bottles	Vans that run on LPG (autogas)
LeShuttle	Up to 47 kg in one bottle and 50 kg in all. Fixed tanks up to 47 kg each, 50 kg in all, and no more than 80% full, shown on a gauge (no gauge, no travel). Declare every bottle and tank; staff check them. Empty bottles count as full unless purged, with a certificate	Not accepted at all, including dual-fuel vehicles
P&O Ferries	Up to 3 bottles, under 47 kg in all, declared, isolated and secured	Only if the LPG was fitted by the manufacturer
Brittany Ferries	Up to 3 bottles, 47 kg in all, turned off, secured and away from heat	Accepted if the vehicle is a recognised manufactured model with standard specification; the gas must be switched off before boarding
DFDS	Up to 3 bottles, 47 kg in all (its Rosslare–Dunkirk rules). Jerry cans aren’t allowed, full or empty	Check when you book
Irish Ferries	Up to 3 bottles, 47 kg in all, shut off at the bottle and secured. No spare fuel cans	Only recognised manufactured models with standard specification, with the tank closed
Stena Line	Up to 3 bottles, 47 kg in all. Up to 5 litres of spare fuel in an approved can	Check when you book

LeShuttle also limits spare fuel to 30 litres: three 10-litre plastic cans or one 20-litre metal one. The details for LeShuttle are on the Kent page, and more on bottled gas is in gas bottles.

Pets

Book your pet when you book the crossing. Where pets travel depends on the operator and the route:

LeShuttle: your pet stays with you in your vehicle. Check in at the Pet Reception at least 90 minutes before departure; it’s open 24 hours.
P&O Ferries: on Dover to Calais, pets stay in your vehicle unless you’ve booked the Pet Lounge (dogs only). On Hull to Rotterdam, pets go in the onboard kennels or a dog-friendly cabin.
DFDS: on Dover to Calais, Dover to Dunkirk and Newhaven to Dieppe, pets stay in your vehicle. Rosslare to Dunkirk has a limited number of pet-friendly cabins.
Brittany Ferries: in your vehicle, in a kennel or in a pet-friendly cabin, depending on the ship and route. A pet left in the vehicle can’t come out during the sailing, and dogs must be muzzled and on a lead when moving between the vehicle, kennel or cabin and the exercise area. Space is very limited in summer, so book early.
Irish Ferries, Dublin to Cherbourg: on the W.B. Yeats pets go in a pre-booked kennel, which you can visit at set times; on the Isle of Inisheer there are pet cabins. Check in two hours before departure with a pet.
Stena Line, Harwich to Hook of Holland: in your vehicle, in a kennel or in a pet-friendly cabin, all booked in advance. You can’t go down to the vehicle deck to check on a pet during the sailing.

You need an Animal Health Certificate from a vet for every trip, and your dog must be microchipped and vaccinated against rabies at least 21 days before you travel. Since 22 April 2026, UK residents can no longer use an EU pet passport to take their pet into the EU. Dogs need a tapeworm treatment from a vet 1 to 5 days before you return to Great Britain.

Border checks and EES

Dover and Folkestone. The French border checks happen in the UK before you board, so have every passport ready. Under the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES), which started in October 2025, British travellers register once with a photo and a passport scan, plus fingerprints for anyone 12 or over. The record lasts three years, and the 90-days-in-180 limit still applies. The checks are free and there’s nothing to do in advance. The rollout for holiday traffic has been patchy: in November 2026 the Port of Dover’s EES page still said the full process for tourist traffic wasn’t in place, and LeShuttle paused biometric checks over the 2026 summer holidays while waiting for the French authorities. Check the port’s or LeShuttle’s EES page shortly before you go, and allow extra time. At Dover, tourist traffic goes to the Eastern Docks, no more than two hours before your sailing.

Every other port. On a ferry from any other UK port, such as Portsmouth to Santander or Bilbao, or from Ireland, you’re registered on arrival, when you drive off the ship, so allow extra time at the port. Brittany Ferries said in October 2025 that EES checks would start at its Spanish ports, Santander and Bilbao, on 12 December 2025.

ETIAS, the EU’s planned €20 travel authorisation, wasn’t yet required in November 2026; the EU will announce the start date beforehand, and until then any website selling one is a scam. See visas and passports and Europe for the 90-day rule.

Ferry or drive?

For Spain and Portugal, Darren always much prefers the ferry to Santander: it clocks up no miles on the van, there’s a good night’s sleep in a cabin, and you arrive refreshed. Coming home from Santander in 2007, Darren found the cabin made the trip, and thought it would have been much less enjoyable without one. The other way is a short crossing to France and a long drive south, with French motorway tolls; Darren compared the two in 2011 in Ferry vs driving. See driving in France and driving in Spain.

Italy and Greece

To take a van to Greece without driving through the Balkans, ferries cross the Adriatic from Italy. Superfast Ferries, for example, sails from Ancona, Venice and Bari to Igoumenitsa, Corfu and Patras. Superfast’s 2025 conditions put motorhomes over 10 m in a higher fare band, say the gas supply must stay turned off for the trip, and limit a vehicle that runs on LPG to half a tank.

Operators

Darren’s crossings

Dover to Dunkerque, then Belgium (2006)
Last day in Spain, catching the ferry from Santander (2007)
Cornwall to Portsmouth (2011), for the Santander ferry
Ferry vs driving (2011)
Santander to the Algarve (2011)

More on Europe

Europe travel guide
Kent, Hampshire, Dorset, East Sussex and Devon, for the ports
Normandy, Brittany and Cantabria, where the ferries land
Driving in Europe and winter in Europe
Ireland

Sources: Brittany Ferries (route pages, FAQs on vehicle types, gas cylinders, LPG vehicles and pets, and its announcements of April, June and September 2026 and October 2025); P&O Ferries (route, vehicle, prohibited items and pet pages); DFDS (route pages and Rosslare to Dunkirk FAQ); Irish Ferries (Dublin to Cherbourg route page and autumn 2026 timetable, vehicle types, fuel and gas FAQ, pet FAQ); Stena Line (routes, pet travel and restricted items pages); LeShuttle (support articles, dangerous goods policy, conditions of carriage, pet travel and EES pages); Port of Dover; Superfast Ferries (2026 camper offer and 2025 brochure); gov.uk guidance on the EU Entry/Exit System and on taking pets abroad; checked November 2026. Know of a change? Tell us in the comments below.

European vehicle ferries and Eurotunnel vehicle trains