Getting to the Isle of Wight

If you do not live on the Island and you haven’t bought a travel and ticket package from one of our ferry operators, you will need to book your ferry crossings to and from the Island. Please do this as soon as possible in order to secure the best possible crossing times and prices:

Wightlink – www.wightlink.co.uk/bestival / 0871 376 1000
(Early Bird packages plus payment plan option now available)

Red Funnel – www.redfunnel.co.uk/bestival / 0844 844 9988
(Early Bird packages plus payment plan option now available)

Hovertravel – www.hovertravel.co.uk / 01983 811000

Wightlink foot passenger ‘Catamaran’ runs from Portsmouth Harbour to Ryde Pier Head in around 20 minutes. Wightlink car and passenger ferries run from Portsmouth to Fishbourne and Lymington to Yarmouth in approx. 35 minutes.

Red Funnel passenger/vehicle ferries go from Southampton to East Cowes in approx 50 mins. Foot passengers can also travel on the ‘Red Jet’ service from Southampton to West Cowes which takes approx 20 mins.

Hovertravel takes 10 minutes to reach the Isle of Wight. Its foot-passenger hovercraft departs Southsea seafront in Portsmouth and travels to Ryde town on the Island.

South West Trains operate services to the following stations:

Portsmouth Harbour Station – where you will be metres away from the Wightlink ‘Catamaran’ service to Ryde Pier Head. Select ‘Ryde Pier Head’ as your travel destination and your train ticket will also include the Catamaran journey (& save you money).

Southampton Central Station – where a courtesy bus will take you the short journey to Red Funnel’s ‘Red Jet’ to West Cowes. Select ‘West Cowes’ as your travel destination and your train ticket will also include the Red Jet ferry journey (& save you money).

Portsmouth & Southsea Station – where the Hoverbus service collects every 30 minutes at 11 & 41 minutes past the hour (from Commercial Road Bus Stop C) and takes you directly to the Southsea Hovertravel Terminal in approximately 7 minutes, for the trip to Ryde. If you have a through rail ticket to ‘Ryde Hoverport’ your Hoverbus journey is free, otherwise it’s just £1.30 a journey.

More info and train times available from South West Trains or National Rail / 08457 484950.

NB: Look out for GroupSave – where 3 or 4 adults or children can travel for the price of 2 adults on various off-peak ticket types.

To plan your route by car head over to the TomTom Route Planner and enter the postcode PO33 4DF. Once on the island please turn off your Sat Nav follow the event signage from the ferry ports.

NB: It’s especially important to pre-book your ferry travel if you are travelling by car!

Also, why not get involved in one of our free Car Sharing schemes and help save the environment from that extra pollution… & save some of your own money in the process! Click here for more info on both options & to sign up.