Note: there was a suspension of Rail Sail tickets by Transport for Wales in September 2025, which was resolved and restored in November 2025. See our news for more.

Traveling by rail in Britain is much cheaper if you get a “Sail Rail” ticket when booking your ferry, rather than purchasing the train tickets separately.   A Sail Rail (or Rail Sail) ticket covers both trains in Britain, and the ferry to/from Ireland (Dublin-Holyhead, also Rosslare-Fishguard when it is running).

The “Rail” part of the “Rail and Sail” ticket doesn’t involve booking specific train routes or train times, but rather it is for travel to a specified zone – see zone maps below.

To book Sail Rail:

Starting from Ireland (one way or return):

• For Irish Ferries you can book on their website www.irishferries.com/uk-en/Travel-to-Britain-Specials/sail-rail/

• For Stena Line you have to phone the number on their website www.stenaline.ie/rail-and-sail and do the booking over the phone.   It can be useful to figure out your itinerary online (which ferry times you want and which train times you intend to link up with) before you make the phone call – they won’t ask you about the train times you want when you are booking the Rail and Sail, but good to have them worked out as this might inform your choice of ferry time.

• In both cases, you pick up your (paper) train tickets for Britain at Irish Port (Dublin or Rosslare) when you are checking in for your ferry.  The Britain train ticket you get is a simple piece of paper with handwritten entries and a stamp and simply says the zone in Britain it is valid for, and the date of your ferry crossing – it does not actually specify a time period of validity.
  • From Elaine: The train travel doesn’t have to be the same day as the ferry travel – I have used the same zone E ticket to go from Holyhead to Chester or Crewe, stay overnight, and then travel on to London next day, and also to travel from London to Chester or Crewe and stay overnight and travel on to Holyhead next day, and have even taken minor detours en-route using the same ticket with no questions asked.

Starting from Britain (or if you don’t have a return ticket back to Ireland from when you started in Ireland)

• From Michael: You can book via www.thetrainline.com . Booking this way also allows you to book a seat on your rail journey.  You get a reference code, and you can collect your ticket from a machine in any Britain rail station (you often need the physical credit card with you when you do this).  The trainline won’t allow you to pick up train tickets in the ferry terminal – so if you were in Ireland you would have to pay for the tickets to be posted to you, so that’s the reason it is best to use this only if you are starting in Britain.  If booking via the Trainline, you effectively choose the ferry company by your choice of destination port: “Dublin Ferryport” is Irish Ferries, “Dublin Port – Stena” is for Stena Lines, so you might want to try both to see different timetable options. 
  • Update October 2025: This option is no longer working due to a decision by Transport for Wales
• From Darach: You can also book a Rail and Sail ticket from the ticket counter at a mainline train station in Britain at the point you start your journey in Britain heading to Ireland.

Booking early for rail and sail doesn’t make it cheaper but the ferry can get booked out. 

Michael’s guide includes some useful timetable options for travelling between Dublin and London https://pidgeon.ie/ferry-guide/ including how to time it so that you get a direct train between London from Holyhead rather than having to change at Chester or Crewe.

The Man in Seat 61 website contains lots of useful information, photos and a video of London-Dublin by Rail and Sail, via Holyhead-Dublin and also Fishguard-Rosslare www.seat61.com/train-and-ferry-to-dublin.htm

See also our page on bringing bikes on trains in Britian.