Sailing times

Two things make this table more solid than most Irish island timetables. Each operator publishes its own sheet, and both sheets match the National Transport Authority’s ferry data almost exactly, sailing for sailing. The two services are registered with the NTA as FY60 Castletownbere – Bere Island West and FY62 The Pontoon – Bere Island East. Where they differ is small and worth knowing. Murphy’s own page shows the late Friday pair, 19:30 off the island and 20:00 off the Pontoon, only in the 1 September to 21 June timetable, while the NTA data carries it right through the year; and Murphy’s prints “NO 7:30/8:00am trip on Bank Holidays”. The 07:30 off the island and 08:00 off the Pontoon run Monday to Friday only, with a Saturday-only 08:00 and 08:30 pair added between 22 June and 31 August. Bere Island Ferries drops its 07:45 and 08:00 on Saturdays all year.

Fares

The gap in the right-hand column is the finding, not an omission on our part. Bere Island Ferries has run this crossing since the 1990s and has never put a price list on its website: the Wayback Machine holds no fares page for the domain, and the current site is a single page of photographs, a phone number and a timetable link. You pay the crew. Murphy’s, by contrast, prints four numbers and nothing else. What is documented for both is the Free Travel Pass. The Department of Social Protection’s own operator list, updated on 12 March 2026, names Bere Island Ferries Ltd for “Castletownbere-Bere Island (all year round)” and Murphys Ferry Service for “Castletownbere (Pontoon Pier) -Bere Island (all year round)”. Bring cash either way. Both operators take nothing else, and the nearest ATMs are in Castletownbere, at the AIB in the Square and inside SuperValu.

Route map

Castletownbere sits on the north side of Berehaven, the channel between the Beara Peninsula and Bere Island. The slipway crossing to the West End is 1.6 km of sheltered water; the second route, from the Pontoon to Rerrin, runs 3.3 km further east.

Two operators, one crossing

Start with the map, not the timetable. Bere Island Ferries sails from a slipway inside Castletownbere, opposite the SuperValu, and lands at Oileán na gCaorach on the West End. Murphy’s Ferry Service sails from The Pontoon, a signposted spot on the R572 roughly four kilometres east of the town on the Glengarriff side, and lands at Rerrin in the east. Using the National Transport Authority’s own coordinates for the four berths, we calculate the two island landings to be 5.4 km apart in a straight line, and the island road between them is longer than that. Rerrin has the shop, the post office, the pub, the marina and the Drill Hall. The West End has a waiting room, a recycling centre and the start of the Ardnakinna Lighthouse Loop. Neither end is a bad choice. Landing at the wrong one is.

Cars and bikes

Both boats take cars. That is unusual for an Irish island of this size — and it is why the island has a road network at all. Bere Island Ferries states a capacity of 4 cars and 75 passengers for each of its two vessels and takes commercial vehicles and lorries besides; it also runs a separate heavy cargo service for building supplies, removal trucks and home heating oil. Murphy’s Ikom K is described by its operator as a licensed car and passenger ferry, but publishes no capacity figure.

Bicycles cross on both, according to the island community site, which describes the two services as suitable for travellers on foot, bike or car. Neither operator publishes a bicycle fare. On a ten-kilometre island with narrow roads and a lot of walkers, a bike is the obvious way to bridge the gap between the two ends.

Dogs are welcome so far as the record goes: Fáilte Ireland tags both listings “Dog friendly”. No dog fare appears anywhere, on either operator’s site or in any public listing we could reach.

One warning that both operators and the community site repeat in the same words: you cannot book, it is first come first served, and at peak times you may queue. The consolation is also unanimous. If the boat fills, it comes back for you.

Getting to the pier

Four berths, two of them on the mainland and both signposted off the R572. The Castletownbere slipway is in the town. The Pontoon is a gap in the hedge on the Glengarriff side, past the golf club.

• Castletownbere slipway: on the waterfront opposite Murphy’s SuperValu, at the entrance to the town coming from Glengarriff. Bere Island Ferries only.
• The Pontoon: on the left before the golf club, just over 4 km east of Castletownbere according to the island community site. Other sources put it at 2 km and at 3 miles, so allow for the spread and follow the signs rather than an odometer. Murphy’s Ferry only.
• Parking: neither operator publishes anything about it. Fáilte Ireland’s listings for both services carry a “Free car parking” amenity tag, and that is the whole of the documentary record. We found no council parking scheme, no capacity figure and no charge published for either site.
• By bus to Castletownbere: Bus Éireann no longer comes this far. Its route 236 is now titled Cork to Glengarriff via Bantry and stops there; our page on the 236 covers what is left of it.
• TFI Local Link 232 is the through service, Castletownbere to Kilcrohane via Bantry, five journeys each way daily including Sundays and public holidays. It leaves Castletownbere Fire Station at 07:50, 09:50, 12:40, 14:40 and 17:16 and calls at The Pontoon (Filane Middle) ten minutes later each time. Coming the other way it reaches The Pontoon at 09:30, 11:10, 14:15, 16:20 and 18:30 and the Fire Station ten minutes after that. Full details on our route 232 page.
• From Cork city the service is Harrington’s route 231, Ardgroom to Parnell Place, which also stops at both Castletownbere and The Pontoon. Booking is required by phone or email. See our 231 page and, for the city end, buses in Cork.
• One Thursday caveat. The NTA feed and Harrington’s own site both show the 231 running seven days a week, but the Department of Social Protection lists its Free Travel days as Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun, and the Bere Island community site says flatly that Harrington’s does not operate on Thursdays and that O’Donoghue’s Bus covers that day instead. Ring before you plan a Thursday around it.
• The walk from bus to boat. Comparing the NTA’s stop coordinates, the 232’s Castletownbere stop is about 175 m from the ferry slipway and Harrington’s stop about 105 m. At The Pontoon the bus stop sits roughly 290 m from the ferry berth. All three are short, and none of them is at the water.

Accessibility

Neither operator publishes any accessibility information whatsoever. Bere Island Ferries’ site is one page: photographs, two phone numbers, an email address, a fleet paragraph and a link to a timetable PDF. The fleet paragraph mentions capacity and lifejackets, and confirms the ferries are licensed by the Irish Department of Transport, but says nothing about step-free boarding, wheelchair spaces or assistance. Murphy’s Ferry Service has five pages and the same silence. Fáilte Ireland’s listings for both carry “Family friendly”, “Dog friendly” and “Free car parking” tags and no accessibility field at all. This is a finding, not a gap in our research — there is nothing to quote.

Two things can be stated with a source. Both are drive-on car ferries working off slipways, which in practice means a ramp rather than a gangway, though no operator says so in writing. And the bus legs are covered: TFI Local Link’s route 232 timetable states that its vehicles are wheelchair accessible and that passengers should ask the driver or another staff member for assistance. If you need to know more before travelling, the phone is the only route. Bere Island Ferries, 027 75009. Murphy’s, 027 75988.

Onward travel

• There is a bus on the island, but it is not a shuttle. Bere Island Projects Group runs a rural transport bus to Castletownbere every Tuesday and Friday, and drives people to and from the island church on Sundays. Travel is free with a Free Travel Pass. Details on 027 75099.
• Rerrin and the West End are joined by road but not by a scheduled service. Walking it means the Beara Way, 19 km end to end and a seven to eight hour day.
• Lawrence Cove Marina, next to Rerrin, takes visiting boats and is one of the reasons the eastern landing is the busier of the two.
• Back on the mainland, TFI Local Link 232 runs from Castletownbere and The Pontoon through Adrigole, Glengarriff and Bantry to Durrus, Ahakista and Kilcrohane. Route 263 links Allihies to Castletownbere and route 282 runs on to Kenmare.
• Bantry, an hour up the road on the 232, has its own island crossing to Whiddy, 31 residents at Census 2022 and another Free Travel route: see our page on the Bantry to Whiddy Island ferry.

What you are sailing to

Numbers first. The Central Statistics Office counted 218 people on Bere Island at Census 2022, against 167 in 2016 and 216 in 2011, which makes the 2016 dip look like the anomaly rather than the trend. The island’s own site says “just under 200” year-round and that summer can almost treble it. On size the sources part company: the community site gives 11 km by 5 km, Wikipedia 10.1 km by 2.9 km over 17.68 km². Either way it is large enough that the two ferry landings are not interchangeable.

Military history is the reason most people come. Four Martello towers were reported ready on 2 February 1805, built after the French fleet’s attempt on Bantry Bay in 1796; two are still standing, at Ardagh and Cloughland. In 1898 the War Department issued a compulsory purchase order over the eastern end of the island, and seven gun batteries followed. The largest, Lonehort Battery, was begun in 1899 and still holds its two six-inch guns, its moat, its trench and its engine house. There is a signal tower as well, one of a chain the British built along the west coast between 1804 and 1808, the fourteenth in line from Cork.

Then 1921, and an internment camp on the island during the War of Independence. Under the Anglo-Irish Treaty Britain kept three deep-water Treaty Ports as sovereign bases, Berehaven among them with Queenstown and Lough Swilly. Fort Berehaven was handed back to the Irish Government on 26 September 1938. The military use did not end there: the Irish Defence Forces still use the island as a training base, and the Department of Defence lends its premises for community events. The Drill Hall in Rerrin, built in 1915 for British Admiralty drill practice and at one point a cinema for soldiers and islanders alike, now hosts an annual military heritage festival, held on 20 and 21 June in 2026.

Bere Island Projects Group is the body behind most of this. It runs the community office beside the community centre, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm; it operates the island’s rural transport bus; and it was awarded €24,500 from the Heritage Council’s Heritage Organisations Support Fund in 2025 towards the Bere Island Conservation Plan.

Services are concentrated at the eastern end. Murphy’s Shop and Post Office in Rerrin is the island’s only shop, open Monday to Friday 9.00am to 1.30pm, Saturday 10.00am to 1.30pm and Sunday 11.00am to 12.00pm, and it does AIB cash withdrawals. There is no ATM. There are no fuel pumps, so fill up on the mainland; an EV charger sits outside the community centre, availability and rates on 027 75099. Two bars, Dessie’s Bar in Rerrin and the Bere Island Hotel at Ballinakilla. Food from the Lookout Café, the hotel and the Bakehouse, though the island site advises ringing ahead off-season. Accommodation runs to B&Bs, self-catering, the hotel, hostels and Wild Atlantic Glamping. A two-teacher national school with 17 pupils, a nurse resident on the island, five defibrillators, and Ireland’s only island parkrun, going since 2014.

The Heritage and Information Centre occupies the old Ballinakilla school, built in 1857, burnt down in 1979 and since renovated. Do not turn up unannounced: opening is by arrangement only, through biheritage2@gmail.com. Note also a straight contradiction between sources here. Murphy’s Ferry describes the heritage centre as a restored Martello tower; the island community site places it in the old school. We could not reconcile the two.

Day trips

Yes, and with room to spare on either route. From Castletownbere in summer the 11:30 out and the 18:00 back off the island gives six and a half hours ashore; the 09:00 out and the 20:00 back gives eleven. Winter Sundays are the pinch point on that route, with four sailings each way and the last boat off the island at 18:30.

Murphy’s suits a Rerrin day better, since you land where the shop and the pub are. Between 22 June and 31 August the 10:30 out and the 16:30 back gives five and a half hours; the 08:00 Saturday sailing stretches it to twelve. Outside that window the 10:30 and 16:30 pairing still works every day of the week.

Without a car it is tighter but not impossible. Local Link 232 reaches The Pontoon at 10:00, half an hour before Murphy’s 10:30, and again at 14:50 for the 15:30. Coming back, the 16:30 off the island docks at 17:00 and the 17:26 bus leaves The Pontoon for Bantry. Cutting it fine, but it exists. The island itself is walkable: the Rerrin Loop is 6 km of mostly flat road from the East End ferry point, the Ardnakinna Lighthouse Loop 11 km of rougher going from the West End, and the full Beara Way crossing is 19 km east to west, seven to eight hours, which links the two landings on foot.

Things people get wrong

Weather and cancellations

Berehaven is one of the most sheltered anchorages in Europe, which is precisely why the Royal Navy wanted it, and the crossings inherit that. Bere Island Ferries sums its own route up on its front page as a sheltered bay for gentle crossings. Wild Atlantic Glamping, answering the question directly, says Bantry Bay is very sheltered and that a cancellation would be very unusual, particularly in the summer season.

No cancellation policy, no refund procedure and no weather threshold is published by either operator. With nothing pre-booked there is little for such a policy to govern. If the forecast looks bad, ring: Bere Island Ferries on 027 75009 or 086 2423140, Murphy’s on 027 75988 or 087 2386095. Those are the only channels either one offers.

Do you need to book?

There is no booking engine, no reservation line and no card machine on either service. Bere Island Ferries sells tickets on board. Murphy’s publishes prices and takes cash. Wild Atlantic Glamping, which sends guests across on both, puts it in one line: the ferry is not included in your booking and both operators only accept cash.

What that removes is a whole category of worry. Nothing to cancel, no change fee, no confirmation email to lose. What it adds is a queue at the August bank holiday and a real need to draw money out before you leave the mainland. Murphy’s runs every day except Christmas Day, in its own words. Bere Island Ferries runs all year, seven days a week.

Frequently asked questions