We like looking for different ways to get from Point A to Point B that don’t just involve hopping on a flight. Most people would probably fly from Amsterdam to Belfast. But when we started looking into traveling to Northern Ireland (a new country for us), we found out there was an overnight ferry that runs between Liverpool and Belfast, so we figured, why not? We just had to get to Liverpool without a plane.
For anyone who is curious, here’s how we did it.
Our trip started with an early morning 08:40 Eurostar out of Amsterdam on a Saturday at the end of May. We left from Centraal Station and arrived way too early, around 07:15. We weren’t sure how long the lines were going to be to get on board, so we wanted give ourselves plenty of time.
We went through security and passport control, which surprisingly wasn’t too bad. It took \~30-40 minutes to get through. You can bring all of your liquids on board with no restrictions, but any drinks you bring with you have to still be sealed.
We boarded the Eurostar and headed south through the Netherlands, Belgium, and France and through the Channel Tunnel. We arrived in London’s St. Pancras Station about five hours later.
In London, we had just enough time to grab food at a local pub before jumping on another train from Euston Station to Liverpool. This was an easy walk from St. Pancras Station. By this point, we were a little sleepy from the early start in Amsterdam, but the sun was shining in the UK, so at least we weren’t walking with our luggage in the rain.
Now on to the real reason we planned the trip: the Stena Line overnight ferry from Liverpool to Belfast. In the past, we’ve taken an overnight ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm and the “mini cruise” from Newcastle back home to Amsterdam, but this was a new one for us. We also arrived WAY too early, around 19:30 but the check-in was super fast and we got to see a beautiful rainbow while we waited. We boarded the ferry around 21:30 and set sail a little later than planned, around 23:00.
We booked a cabin so we could at least have a shower and a bed to get a few hours of sleep before arriving in Belfast. You can also stay in the common areas if you don’t want to pay extra for a room. The cabin itself was surprisingly decent. The bathroom smelled like something had died in the plumbing, but aside from that, it was comfortable enough. We slept much better than expected but had to get up early the next morning to be off the ship by 06:30.
In total, it took us a little over 25 hours to get from Amsterdam to Belfast.
Would we recommend it over flying? Honestly, probably not, especially if you're in a hurry.
But as a travel experience, we both had a lot more fun doing this than we would have sitting in an airport waiting for a cheap one-hour flight. Thankfully, nothing went wrong with any of the trains because a delay at any point could have thrown a wrench into the entire trip.
Has anyone else taken the Liverpool to Belfast ferry? I'm curious whether you preferred the overnight crossing or the daytime sailing. We talked to a few people on the train who were staying overnight in Liverpool and hopping on the early morning ferry the next day.
And if anyone knows of other interesting ways to get somewhere in Europe that does't involve flying, we'd love to hear them. We're based in Amsterdam at the moment and are always looking for unusual routes. I think one of our next adventures might be taking the ferry between Denmark and Iceland, but we're always looking for new ideas!