Cheapest€19.59
- Brittany Ferries BF485306:218h 15m14:36InstowThames RiverCruise
Door to door 9h 45mCO2 27.8 kgChanges 0Changeable for a fee
Bideford to Reading ferry
Ferries from Bideford to Reading start at €22.34 and take 9h 45m at their fastest.
The Ferries from Bideford to Reading starts at €22.34 and takes 9h 45m door to door, run by 1 operator over 242 km, with around 5 departures a day. Fares bottom out about 60 days before departure.
- 9h 45mDoor to door
- 8h 15mMoving
- €22.34From
- 27.8 kgCO2
The cheapest and the fastest on September 29, 2026
Two journeys we can sell today, with the service number each operator files them under.
Fastest€31.13
- Brittany Ferries BF438707:302h 59m10:29InstowCardiff Sailing Centre Pontoons
- Great Western Railway GW451511:291h 13m12:42Cardiff CentralReading Station
Changes at Cardiff, with 60 minutes between services and a walk of about 14 minutes.
Door to door 6h 19mCO2 16.0 kgChanges 1Changeable for a fee
Ferry operators
Speed, flexibility and what is on board. Nothing here is a rating, because we have not earned one.
| Operator | From | Fastest | Typical speed | Flexibility | On board |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Brittany Ferries | €19.59 | 8h 38m | 33 km/h | Changeable | Bar, , Cabins, Cafe, Restaurant, Restrooms |
That is the traveling done. What happens after you walk out into Reading is not something we sell.
Looking for somewhere to stay in Reading?
Filter by neighborhood and by nightly price, and the map tells you what is a walk and what is a cab.
Search Reading on Booking.comOr compare on Expedia
Partner links. We do not sell accommodation. We earn a commission when a booking completes, and it never changes what you pay.
When to book Bideford to Reading
The same search run across the whole booking window, so the shape of the curve is visible rather than described.
- €19.0490 days
- €14.0960 days
- €16.2945 days
- €17.3930 days
- €22.8921 days
- €22.8914 days
- €32.237 days
- €45.443 days
- €42.691 days
- Cheapest lead time
- Fares bottom out around 60 days ahead, at €14.09.
- How much it moves
- The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time is 222 percent. The most expensive point is €45.44, 3 days out.
- What that means
- Today sits inside the cheap window, which closes about 60 days before departure. Waiting from here has usually cost money on this corridor rather than saved it.
Which departure day costs least
Median cheapest fare for each weekday, taken across the next three weeks of real prices.
- €27.84Sun
- €22.34Mon
- €22.34Tue
- €22.89Wed
- €27.29Thu
- €25.64Fri
- €29.49Sat
Where you leave from and where you arrive
The stations, airports and ports each mode on this corridor actually uses.
Bideford
Ferry
- Instow
Reading
Ferry
- Thames RiverCruise
What the journey actually looks like
Direct or connecting, how far the route really runs, and what happens when a connection is missed.
- Direct or connecting
- 20% of the services we sell on this corridor run through without a change. The remaining 80% involve one connection.
- How far it really runs
- The route covers 242 km against 231 km in a straight line, a detour of 5 percent. Track and road geometry account for the difference.
- Where the change is
- Connections are made at Cardiff, Didcot, Bristol, Weston-super-Mare. The gap between arriving and leaving is 60 minutes, of which about 14 is walking.
- If the connection is missed
- The tightest connection we sell here has a 16 percent chance of not being made on the timetable alone. Part of this journey is a self transfer between separate tickets, so leave more time than the minimum and expect to check in again.
- First and last departure
- The first service of the day leaves Bideford at 06:21 and the last at 07:30, across 5 departures. The return direction keeps its own timetable, so the times back are not these times reversed.
Questions about Bideford to Reading
The questions people actually ask about this trip, answered from the same prices and times the page above is built on rather than written once and left to go stale.
How long does the Ferry from Bideford to Reading take?
The Ferry from Bideford to Reading takes 9h 45m door to door, of which 8h 15m is spent moving. The route runs 242 km. The difference between the two times is reaching the terminal and leaving it at the far end, which every time on this page includes.
How much does the Ferry from Bideford to Reading cost?
The Ferry from Bideford to Reading starts at €22.34 for one passenger, checked on September 29, 2026. A typical fare is €26.18. Both are the total including taxes, supplier fees and our service fee, so the price here is the price at checkout.
Who runs the Ferry from Bideford to Reading?
1 operators run the Ferry from Bideford to Reading: Brittany Ferries. Between them they file around 5 departures a day. The operator table on this page compares them on fare, journey time, cruising speed, fare conditions and what is provided on board.
Which terminal does the Ferry from Bideford to Reading use?
The Ferry from Bideford to Reading leaves from Instow and arrives at Thames RiverCruise. Allow about 1h 30m for reaching the departure terminal and leaving the arrival one. That time is already inside every door to door figure quoted on this page.
When should I book the Ferry from Bideford to Reading?
Fares for the Ferry from Bideford to Reading bottom out around 60 days ahead, at €14.09. The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time across the window is 222 percent, measured on September 29, 2026. Booking inside the final week has consistently cost more.
How much CO2 does the Ferry from Bideford to Reading produce?
The Ferry from Bideford to Reading produces about 27.8 kg of CO2 per passenger over 242 km, which works out at roughly 115 grams per passenger kilometer. That figure is for the whole journey and for one traveler, not for the vehicle.
What is provided on board the Ferry from Bideford to Reading?
Operators on the Ferry from Bideford to Reading publish Bar, , Cabins, Cafe, Restaurant, Restrooms. That is what 1 carriers on this corridor state about their own fleets, across a journey of 9h 45m door to door. Where a carrier publishes nothing, this page lists nothing for it.
Where these numbers come from
Derived from service area No carrier record names this exact pair. The operators listed publish a service area covering both places at a distance their mode plausibly carries people, which is evidence that the corridor is served and not evidence of a specific service. Pages state which, because presenting the two as the same thing would be dishonest.
Schedules, seat counts and fares are generated by our own model until the supplier contracts are signed. Places, coordinates, operators, which operator serves which pair, and every distance are real. We would rather say that on every page than let a modeled number pass for a filed one.
Defined in full at Door to door, Fares, The booking window, Carbon
- On this page
- Every figure above was computed for Bideford to Reading on September 9, 2026: 242 km of route against 231 km in a straight line, 5 services a day, 1 operators, a cheapest fare of €22.34, and 9h 45m door to door on the fastest mode. The return direction is computed separately and its numbers are not these numbers.
Related journeys
Reading to Bideford ferryCompare every mode from Bideford to ReadingBarking to Reading ferryBournemouth to Reading ferryBrent to Reading ferryBristol to Reading ferryCardiff to Reading ferryChichester to Reading ferryChristchurch to Reading ferryCowes to Reading ferryDidcot to Reading ferryExeter to Reading ferryExmouth to Reading ferryFalmouth to Reading ferry
The ferry is the simple part. What you do once you are in Reading is somebody else's catalog.
Anything to book in Reading before you go?
The tickets worth having in advance, because the line at the door is usually the whole morning.
See Reading on GetYourGuideOr browse Viator
Partner links. We do not sell tours or tickets. We earn a commission on a booking, and it never changes the price.