Cleggan to Inishbofin Ferry: Times, Fares & Island Guide
Cleggan to Inishbofin Ferry: Times, Fares & Island Guide
Half an hour off the Connemara coast to an island of 184 people, a ruined Cromwellian fort and no visitor cars. Sailings run year-round, and the winter timetable is here too — even though the operator no longer links it from its own timetable page.
When the boats run
| Season | From Cleggan | From Inishbofin |
|---|---|---|
| June – August peak | 11:30, 14:00, 18:45 (19:30 Tue & Fri) | 08:15 or 09:00, 13:00, 17:00 (10:00 Sun) |
| May | 11:30, 18:45 (+14:00 Fri–Sun) | 08:15 or 09:00, 17:00 (+13:00 Fri–Sun) |
| September | 11:30, 18:45 (+14:00 Fri–Sun) | 08:15 or 09:00, 17:00 (+13:00 Fri–Sun) |
| April | 11:30, 18:45 (+14:00 Fri & Easter) | 08:15 or 09:00, 17:00 |
| 16–31 March | 11:30, 18:45 (19:30 Tue) | 08:15 or 09:00, 17:00 (10:00 Sun) |
| Mid-October – mid-March Mon, Wed, Thu, Sat | 11:30, 16:45 | 08:15 Mon · 09:00 Wed, Thu, Sat · 16:00 |
| Mid-October – mid-March Tue & Fri | 11:30, 19:30 (Fri also 14:00) | 08:15, 16:00 (Fri also 13:00) |
| Mid-October – mid-March Sunday | 11:30, 16:45 | 10:00, 16:00 |
Times read from the operator’s own 2026 timetables in July 2026 and cross-checked against the National Transport Authority feed for service FY40. Morning departures from the island vary by day: 08:15 Monday, Tuesday and Friday, 09:00 Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, 10:00 on Sunday. The winter timetable is published but hard to find — it is no longer linked from the operator’s timetable page, which shows only March to September. The 19:30 Tuesday and Friday sailings are subject to change in bad weather. There are no sailings on Christmas Day; on 26 and 27 December and 1 January a single round trip runs, 14:00 from Cleggan and 13:00 from Inishbofin.
Times change with the season and the weather. Check the operator before you travel:
Fares and tickets
| Ticket | Return | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Adult | €25 | — |
| Student | €15 | Cannot be booked online — phone, text or email |
| Child 6–17 | €10 | Ages 3–5 €5 · under 3 free |
| Free Travel Pass | €10 | Booking fee only, €5 each way |
| Bicycle | €10 | Electric bike €15 · bike trailer €10 |
Fares from the operator’s published price list, checked July 2026. All figures are returns. Note the quirk in booking: Free Travel Pass holders can book online, but student fares cannot — those must be arranged by phone, text or email.
Prices move with the date and demand. Get a live quote and book direct:
Route map
Cleggan sits at the north-western tip of Connemara; Inishbofin lies about eight kilometres offshore, sheltered behind one of the calmest natural harbours in Europe.
Before you board
Cleggan is a small village at the end of the Connemara road, about an hour and a half west of Galway city and fifteen minutes from Clifden.
- Parking: privately run car parks in the village, the first on your left as you arrive, around €4 a day. Parking on the pier itself is prohibited — you may drive on to drop luggage only.
- By coach, Citylink route 923 from Galway through Clifden to Letterfrack serves the Cleggan Pier stop and is timed to meet certain sailings.
- Arrive 30 minutes before departure in high season, 15 minutes off-season. Tickets are sold at the Cleggan office as well as online.
- For the wider region see public transport in Galway.
When the sea decides
Every timetable the operator publishes carries the same line: all sailings are subject to favourable weather conditions. Between October and March cancellation is a real possibility rather than a formality.
The saving grace is the harbour itself, one of the most sheltered natural anchorages in Europe and a recognised safe stopover for yachts along the west coast — which is why a thirty-minute open-sea crossing can run year-round at all.
Planning a day visit
Yes, and it is the normal pattern. Out on the 11:30 from Cleggan and back on the 17:00 gives roughly five and a half hours ashore, available every day the published timetable runs.
In June, July and August a second combination works too — 14:00 out, 18:45 back — which suits a shorter visit. The island recommends one of its three looped walks plus a meal, which fits either window comfortably.
Things people get wrong
The winter timetable is hidden, not missing
The operator’s timetable page shows only March to September, so most sites report that no winter schedule exists. It does — the file is simply orphaned in the site’s media library, and the National Transport Authority feed confirms the same pattern.
Students cannot book online
An odd inversion: Free Travel Pass holders can book on the website, but the €15 student fare has to be arranged by phone, text or email.
Vehicles on board
You cannot bring a car to Inishbofin. The island community puts it plainly: bringing in visitor cars is not supported, and the daily ferry carries passengers only.
Vehicles reach the island on a separate subsidised cargo boat that started in 2023, running three times a week from April to October and twice weekly in winter. It exists for residents, contractors and deliveries rather than visitors: a car costs €40 one way or €80 return, booked by arrangement during office hours. Campervans are carried only if you have private property to stay on.
Bicycles, by contrast, travel on the ordinary ferry for €10 — and since the island is walked or cycled, that is how most people get around.
Accessible travel
There is a wheelchair-accessible gangway, but it leads to the upper outside deck. Getting into the inside cabin depends on the tide height at the time you sail, so access varies with the hour rather than the vessel.
The operator asks passengers who need assistance to phone ahead on 095 37228, and crew help with embarking and disembarking. Treat this as partial, tide-dependent access rather than step-free travel.
On the other side
Inishbofin — Inis Bó Finne, the island of the white cow — has a year-round population of about 184 across roughly twelve square kilometres. There are pubs, restaurants, three hotels and a hostel, and a small shop that will order goods in from the mainland.
Its history is unusually heavy for so small a place. St Colman founded a monastery here around AD 665 after walking out of the Synod of Whitby. A thousand years later Cromwell’s New Model Army built the star-shaped fort at the harbour mouth and used the island as a prison camp for Catholic priests awaiting deportation to the West Indies. In July 2023 Trinity College Dublin returned the remains of thirteen islanders taken without permission in 1890 — the first repatriation of its kind in Ireland.