Best ferry route to Wales

Colm R

Hi Folks, I know I am tempting faith with Munster not having reached the final yet. However I will probably go ahead and book the ferry anyway before the prices go up. I plan on going to the final regardless of who is playing so its not really money lost.

So I live in Dublin. And i am going to travel with my Dad who lives in Cork.

Its either, he gets the train to Dublin and I drive via Dun Laoighre or Dublin Port to Holyhead and on to Swansea where we hope to stay on the Friday night and Saturday night, using to the train to get too and from Cardiff.

Or he drives to Rosslare and I get the train there, and we travel to Fishguard or Pembroke and drive onto Swansea.

I am inclined to go with Holyhead as it involves the least driving after we return to Ireland, with my Dad getting the train to Cork, and at that stage we might be a bit tired. But what is the journey like between Swansea and Holyhead. Doesn't look very straightforward on the map.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

corktina

its a long way and Fishguard/Pembroke are quite near to Swansea

road_high

Colm R wrote: »

Hi Folks, I know I am tempting faith with Munster not having reached the final yet. However I will probably go ahead and book the ferry anyway before the prices go up. I plan on going to the final regardless of who is playing so its not really money lost.

So I live in Dublin. And i am going to travel with my Dad who lives in Cork.

Its either, he gets the train to Dublin and I drive via Dun Laoighre or Dublin Port to Holyhead and on to Swansea where we hope to stay on the Friday night and Saturday night, using to the train to get too and from Cardiff.

Or he drives to Rosslare and I get the train there, and we travel to Fishguard or Pembroke and drive onto Swansea.

I am inclined to go with Holyhead as it involves the least driving after we return to Ireland, with my Dad getting the train to Cork, and at that stage we might be a bit tired. But what is the journey like between Swansea and Holyhead. Doesn't look very straightforward on the map.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Swansea Fishguard is relatively easy drive, do it under two hours...
Driving Holyhead-Swansea whilst I've never done it, would be long in comparison and cross very mountainous terrain.
Far easier for your da to drive to Rosslare as against Dublin too. Guess it comes down to a personal choice!

Alun

Yeah, the drive from Holyhead through the centre of Wales to Swansea, whilst very pretty and scenic if you have the time will take you a long time (anwhere from 4 -5 hours depending on route), whereas Fishguard - Swansea would only be about 2 hrs depending on traffic. It'll depend a bit on the ferry timings as well.

Ham'nd'egger

I'd say your best plan is to either car ferry it or sail rail it from Rosslare to Cardiff. Sail Rail trips are dirt cheap and will cover you for all legs of the trip. I did the road trip from Holyhead to Cardiff on a coach some years ago and it was a long auld trip; it was over 7 hours on the bus. It goes without saying that a car will be quicker but it still will be a long one, if a scenic one.

DWCommuter

The road network in Wales is inhibited by the mountain ranges that run from north to south. I did Holyhead - Cardiff - Bristol once and decided to travel down through central Wales. It was a bad idea.

Get your Dad to come across to Rosslare and take the ferry to Fishgard or Pembroke. I do it when Im driving to London. Theres a few miles of winding road until you get some low spec DC and then the M4 (Your virtually in Swansea then.) Do not drive from Holyhead. Even heading into England and using the M6/M5 and M4 is a drive from hell. The journey you want to make is the reason we have car ferries from Rosslare to south Wales.

Colm R

Cheers for all the help lads. Will definetly be going by Rosslare now. All booked, however its a pity as the times are not as flexible via Rosslare.

Initially I wasn't too perplexed by the 200 mile journey between Holyhead and Cardiff, but after the advice here, I won't be going that way.