Getting to your Hire Boat - Flights, Ferries and Transfers

Getting to your Boat
Most of the hire boat marinas on the Shannon river are in rural areas and difficult to reach by public transport. Carrick-on-Shannon is accessible by both bus and train but the others require at least a taxi journey from the nearest bus or train destinations. There are four options for getting from the airport or city to the boat hire marina.

1. Shared Transfer: All of the companies offer a shared transfer from Dublin airport to their marinas on the river. These transfers are available in Saturdays from all of the cruiser companes but many also offer the transfer service on weekdays at a higher rate but exclude Sundays and public holidays. The shared transfer takes passengers from several flights to marinas on the river and there may be a delay while they wait for other flights to arrive. They try to keep this delay to under an hour and usually succeed, but the first transfer of the day is usually at about 12 noon unless there are several early flights. The cost varies between €70 and €120 per person for a round trip (airport-marina-airport) depending on the company and day.
2. Private Transfer: Private transfers are also available, which is a private bus that will take you directly from the airport to the marina. These are more expensive than the shared transfer but can work out less costly per person for large groups. Costs for private transfers vary on the route and the number of persons and can range between €250 to €550 for a single trip (airport-marina OR marina-airport). We'd be happy to quote for a private transfer when you're Booking your Boat.
3. Public Transport:Because of the rural locations of most of the cruiser hire bases they can be difficult to reach by public transport. There are some suggestions below that may help you to get to your destination from Dublin - for other locations please Contact Us and we'll help if we can.
   
   • Portumna is served by a private bus company but the service isn't very frequent and you can see times at Kearns Transport. You can take a train to Nenagh or to Ballinasloe and then a taxi to the marina, about a 30 minute drive. Trains are more frequent to Ballinasloe, about every two hours on weekdays.
   • Banagher is served by the same infrequent bus as Portumna with information at Kearns Transport. You can take a bus to Cloghan which is less than an 10 minute drive from Banagher but the bus has three changes and takes at least three and a half hours. You could take a train to Athlone and take a taxi to Banagher which should take a little over half an hour.
   • Glasson: There's bus from Dublin with a single change that takes about three hours, or you can take the train to Athlone and take a taxi, a little over ten minutes drive.
   • Carrick-on-Shannon is served by train and bus and both Carrick Craft and Emerald Star have bases here.
     
   • Ballinamore: The best option is to take a train or bus to Carrick-on-Shannon and then a taxi, about a half hour drive.
   • Enniskillen:There's a bus approximately every two hours from Dublin to Enniskillen that takes a little under three hours. From here you can get to the marinas of Carrick Craft, Manor House Marine and the Aghinver Boat Company.There's a bus from Enniskillen to the Carrick Craft marina at Bellanaleck that takes about 20 minutes, or a little over 10 minutes in a taxi. The Manor Marine base is about 15 minutes by taxi and the Aghinver Boat company is about 20 minutes.
4. Car Hire: Sometimes it works out less expensive to hire a car and leave it at the marina for the duration of your cruise, especially for short breaks.

Airlines flying to Ireland.

• Aer Lingus
  Operating flights to over one hundred destinations throughout the UK, Europe and the US, Aer Lingus is an Irish low-cost, low-fares airline.
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• Lufthansa
  Lufthansa is one of the world’s leading airlines and serves more than 410 destinations in over 100 countries.
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• Swiss Air
  SWISS is the national airline of Switzerland. It serves over 104 destinations all over the world from Zurich, Basel and Geneva.
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• RyanAir
  Europes largest low cost airline
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Ferry Companies

• Stenaline
  Stena Line offers the largest fleet as well as the widest selection of routes and destinations to choose from.
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• Irish Ferries
  Irish Ferries offer a variety of services including Ferries from Ireland to Britain return, Ireland to France return as well as some competitive package holiday offers!
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• P&O Ferries
  P & O Ferries, with its routes between mainland Europe and the UK & Ireland, is one of the largest ferry market.
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