The timetable

One sailing out, one back, three days a week. Those four times come from the operator’s Schull timetable sheet, and the version of the route registered with the National Transport Authority as service FY71 Schull – Cléire carries exactly the same figures.

The remaining 2026 dates, taken from the live booking calendar on 6 August 2026, are 6, 9, 11, 13, 16, 18, 20, 23, 25, 27 and 30 August. September is empty. That matters, because the operator’s own Schull page still says “We will have some September departures”, and the NTA registration also shows no journeys at all from 31 August onward. Four sources against one, two of them the operator’s own other pages. We could not establish the exact 2026 start date: the operator publishes only the words “June-August” and has done since at least May 2026, and past dates drop out of the booking calendar.

Days of the week are disputed too. The operator’s FAQ claims the Schull service runs “three days a week from June and then six days a week from July and August”. Its own booking system sold nothing but Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays in August 2026, and the registered timetable lists journeys on no other weekday. Treat six days a week as wrong.

Crossing time is a mess worth knowing about before you plan a connection. The operator’s Schull page and its access guide both say 25 minutes. Its booking portal says “approx 40 mins”, twice. The timetable and the NTA registration put 45 minutes on the outward leg and 30 on the way back. Assume 45 minutes out and you will not be caught out.

Ticket prices

Prices read from Cape Clear Ferries’ own booking system on 6 August 2026. Everything is sold as a return; there is no single-fare column to look up, from either port. Sailing from Schull costs €2 more per adult than sailing from Baltimore, and €5 more for a family of four.

Two things surprise people. The Free Travel Pass does not travel free here: the ticket is called “Priority Free Pass Holder” and it costs €5, and you have to produce the pass. And bicycles are capped: the booking page allows a maximum of ten bikes per sailing at €4 each, which on a boat the operator describes as taking 200 passengers is a queue waiting to happen. Dogs are not sold online at all; the operator’s FAQ prices a dog return at €2, bought as you board.

If you want the Fastnet Rock as well, that is a separate and much dearer ticket off the same pier at the same hour: the Schull day tour, which includes a stop on Cape Clear, is €48 adult, €20 child, €120 family, and the island stop shrinks to two or three hours.

Route map

Schull pier sits on the Mizen peninsula. The boat crosses Roaringwater Bay to the south-west and lands at North Harbour on Oileán Chléire, about ten kilometres away in a straight line.

When the sea decides

Every sailing is weather-dependent, and the operator repeats that on the timetable page rather than burying it. If Cape Clear Ferries cancels for weather, operational or safety reasons, you get a full refund or a rebooking, and pre-booked passengers are told by email or phone. That is a better deal than most Irish island ferries offer, which is worth noting when you are deciding whether to book ahead.

The awkward scenario is not the outward leg. It is the 16:15 back. If that one does not run, the Schull boat is gone for two days, because the next one is Tuesday, Thursday or Sunday, whichever comes round.

Your way off the island is then the Baltimore ferry, which sails 364 days a year. In July and August it leaves Cape Clear at 09:00, 12:00, 16:00 and 18:00. It lands you at Baltimore, which is 34 km by road from your car in Schull, about 40 minutes’ driving that you are not in a position to do. We measured that distance on OpenStreetMap road data rather than reading it off a sign, and it squares with the published legs: 23 km Schull to Skibbereen, 11 km Skibbereen to Baltimore.

Without a car it can be done in one evening, with three connections and no slack. Take the 16:00 off Cape Clear, land at Baltimore about 16:45, catch Local Link 266 at 18:15 from Baltimore Pier, reach Skibbereen Market Street at 18:35, and cross to the Bus Éireann 237 at 18:43 from the same stop, into Schull at 19:16. On a Sunday the 237 leaves Skibbereen at 18:49 and arrives 19:17. Eight minutes is the margin. Ring the boat on +353 87 3899711 before you commit to any of it.

The departure point

Schull is a one-street village at the foot of Mount Gabriel, and the pier is at the bottom of Pier Road, a few minutes below the shops. Everything about the ferry end of it is simple. Getting to Schull without a car is the hard part.

• Where it sails from: Schull pier, at the end of Pier Road. The operator lists three ways to buy — online, by phone, or at its Baltimore office — and names no counter at Schull. The operator’s only counter is at Baltimore, and even that opens in summer only, so a Schull ticket is bought online, by phone on +353 28 39159, or from the crew as you board. Boarding starts 15 minutes before departure.
• Parking is free and it is not on the pier. Cape Clear Ferries says so in both places it mentions the subject: free parking in Schull village, no parking on the piers, and allow at least thirty minutes to find a space in high season. Its access guide points wheelchair users at the accessible bays opposite the Schull Harbour Hotel. There are accessible public toilets on the pier itself.
• There is no Bus Éireann route 250. It does not appear on the Bus Éireann Cork county list and it is not in the National Transport Authority data. The through bus from Cork is route 237, Cork to Goleen via Clonakilty and Skibbereen, and it does stop in Schull.
• From Cork on the 237, one departure works. Leave Cork Bus Station at 09:00 and you reach Schull (opposite the Bunratty Inn) at 11:17 Monday to Friday, or 11:06 on a Sunday. That is thirteen minutes before the boat on a Tuesday or Thursday, twenty-four on a Sunday. No other 237 arrives before 11:30. For the city end of that trip, see our buses in Cork guide.
• From Skibbereen, TFI Local Link 265 (Mizen Head to Skibbereen) leaves Market Street at 09:10 and reaches Schull at 09:48, comfortably ahead of the sailing. The vehicles take wheelchairs, cash and Leap Card both work, and a Free Travel Pass carries you free on that bus even though the boat charges you €5.
• Getting home is the problem. The boat lands at 16:45. The 265 has already gone east for the day at 15:50, and the last 237 out of Schull towards Skibbereen and Cork leaves at 18:20, reaching Skibbereen at 19:00 and Cork at 21:09 on weekdays, 21:01 on a Sunday. That is an hour and thirty-five minutes in Schull with a rucksack. Plan for it or plan to stay.
• Distances: Cork city is about an hour and forty minutes by road, Cork Airport about an hour and fifty, both figures the operator’s own. Skibbereen is 23 km east.

Things people get wrong

Can you do it in a day?

Yes, and only as a day trip, because the timetable gives you no choice. One boat out at 11:30, one back at 16:15, four hours ashore, no earlier option and no later one. You cannot stretch it and you cannot shorten it.

Compare that with the other end of Roaringwater Bay. Baltimore in July and August runs four sailings each way, and picking the 10:45 out with the 18:00 back buys you about six and a half hours ashore on the same island for €2 less. Schull’s case is not the length of the day. It is that Schull is where you already are, and Baltimore is 34 km of coast road away.

Staying the night is allowed. Cape Clear Ferries sells overnight tickets and says so plainly, and the island has beds. Just remember which pier your car is parked at.

Connections

• On the island, Bus Cléire meets each ferry and will take you anywhere on Cape Clear for €2 a head, or run a 45-minute tour of it for €5. Book ahead on +353 86 3836759; on a four-hour visit there is no time to find out it is full.
• Two waymarked loops leave from North Harbour: the Green Loop at 4 km and 163 m of ascent, the Red Loop at 6 km and 254 m.
• Cape Clear is not a stepping stone. Nothing sails on to Sherkin or anywhere else, so leaving means going back to Schull or across to Baltimore.
• At the Baltimore end, the same stone pier serves a second island. Times and fares for that one are on our page for the Baltimore to Sherkin Island ferry, which runs year-round and takes ten minutes.
• Back in Schull, the last bus east is the Bus Éireann 237 at 18:20 from the Old Bank House, reaching Skibbereen at 19:00 and Cork Bus Station at 21:09.

Do you need to book?

Not compulsory, but on this route the arithmetic argues for it. Cape Clear Ferries’ own line is that passengers are “encouraged to book in advance during peak season but can pay while boarding during off-peak times”, and the entire Schull season is peak season. Three sailings a week, one boat, and a village that fills up in August.

Booking is online through the operator’s DigiTickets portal, by phone on +353 28 39159, or in person at the Baltimore office, which is open summer only and is 34 km from Schull. Tickets are digital: a QR code and a reference number by email, no printing required, and the operator advises saving a copy to your phone because mobile coverage out here is unreliable. Groups of ten or more get a discount by arrangement.

Cancelling is where the small print bites. You can cancel or amend up to seven days before the sailing and get a refund. Inside seven days you get nothing, and a no-show forfeits the lot. Refunds take five to ten working days to reach the card.

On the other side

Four hours is the whole point of this page, so start there. The boat drops you at North Harbour, the same landing the Baltimore boat uses, on an island of 6.7 km² with 110 residents at the 2022 census and official Gaeltacht status. You have from 12:15 to 16:15.

What fits: the two waymarked loops start and finish at the harbour, and the shorter one is the realistic option. Lúb na Cnoiciní, the Green Loop, is 4 km with 163 metres of climbing. Lúb an Ghleanna, the Red Loop, is 6 km with 254 metres, which is doable in four hours but leaves nothing over for lunch. The Heritage Centre and Fastnet display opens daily from June to September. Cléire Goats does farm tours, cheese and ice cream. There is a distillery, a craft shop that keeps summer hours, and a farmers’ market on Sundays through the season.

Do not assume you walk everywhere. An electric bus meets every ferry and will run you anywhere on the island for €2 a head, with a 45-minute island tour at €5, but the operator says to book it in advance on +353 86 3836759. On a four-hour visit that phone call is the difference between seeing the south of the island and seeing the harbour.

Two dates to know. Birdwatch Ireland’s observatory runs bird-watching courses through summer and autumn. The Cape Clear International Storytelling Festival falls on 4–6 September 2026, which is five days after the last Schull sailing of the year, and the festival’s own travel page tells you to come via Baltimore. The island itself gets full treatment on the Baltimore to Cape Clear ferry page, the route that runs all year.

Vehicles on board

No cars. Cape Clear Ferries is blunt about it: passenger ferry only, and only island residents may drive on Cape Clear. Your car stays in Schull for the day.

Bicycles cross for €4 and have to be added to the same sailing as your passenger ticket, with a hard limit of ten per journey. Kayaks travel at the same €4, and the operator asks you to ring ahead to book the space. On an island whose high point is 160 metres and whose waymarked loop climbs 254 metres in six kilometres, a bike is a real decision rather than an obvious one.

Dogs are welcome for a €2 return, on a lead throughout and kept to the outside decks. You pay the crew as you board, since the fare is not on the booking site. Assistance dogs are treated differently and may come into the indoor saloon, with water on request.

The boat itself is the Carraig Aonair, which the operator describes as its newest fast ferry and says was formerly the Spirit of Doolin. Four capacity figures circulate: 200 and 100 on the same page of the operator’s site, 95 on its boats page, and 90 in the booking portal. Airline-style seating, a heated saloon, a bar and snack shop, an upper deck. Toilets on board and in the harbour before you sail.

Accessibility

Cape Clear Ferries publishes an Access Welcome Guide, last updated November 2025, and it is specific about Schull rather than generic. Boarding at Schull is by a gangway with handrails on both sides, with crew helping and counting passengers on. Baltimore, by contrast, is wide steps. That makes Schull the easier boarding of the two, which is unusual for a seasonal berth.

The caveats are tidal. Gangways take a wheelchair, but how steep they are depends on the tide, and the gangway leads to the upper outdoor deck: cabin access may not be possible at some tide levels. The operator asks passengers with reduced mobility to make contact at least 48 hours ahead so it can pick a sailing to suit the tide, and wheelchair seating can be reserved with two or three days’ notice.

Practical detail on the ground. Accessible parking is opposite the Schull Harbour Hotel and there are accessible public toilets on the pier. The toilets on board are not wheelchair accessible, and the guide says plainly that this is down to the design of the vessel. Vessels carry Braille signage, high-contrast signage and visual safety posters, and safety announcements are pre-recorded over a speaker. Hidden-disability lanyards are available, though the guide does not say where to ask for one.

On the island, accessible toilets are behind Club Cléire, and the guide notes that Siopa Beag and the food options are a short walk from the pier on the flat, with Cotter’s bar about five minutes further up the hill. Ring +353 28 39159 or email the office rather than turning up and hoping.

Questions people ask