Exeter to Reading ferry

Ferries from Exeter to Reading start at €19.04 and take 7h 54m at their fastest.

ExeterExeterReadingReading

The Ferries from Exeter to Reading starts at €19.04 and takes 7h 54m door to door, run by 1 operator over 206 km, with around 3 departures a day. Fares bottom out about 30 days before departure.

Checked September 7, 2026Priced for September 22, 2026One passenger, all fees included

  • 7h 54mDoor to door
  • 6h 24mMoving
  • €19.04From
  • 23.7 kgCO2
Real services

The cheapest and the fastest on September 22, 2026

Two journeys we can sell today, with the service number each operator files them under.

Cheapest€16.29
  1. Brittany Ferries BF902106:156h 24m12:39Exeter QuayThames RiverCruise

Door to door 7h 54mCO2 23.7 kgChanges 0Changeable for a fee

Carriers

Ferry operators

Speed, flexibility and what is on board. Nothing here is a rating, because we have not earned one.

Every operator we sell on this corridor. Speed is the carrier's own typical cruising speed, not the average over this route.
OperatorFromFastestTypical speedFlexibilityOn board
Brittany Ferries€16.297h 38m33 km/hChangeableBar, , Cabins, Cafe, Restaurant, Restrooms
  • Brittany Ferries

That is the traveling done. What happens after you walk out into Reading is not something we sell.

A hotel room

Looking for somewhere to stay in Reading?

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Booking window

When to book Exeter to Reading

The same search run across the whole booking window, so the shape of the curve is visible rather than described.

  1. €20.6990 days
  2. €15.1960 days
  3. €15.1945 days
  4. €14.6430 days
  5. €18.4921 days
  6. €19.5914 days
  7. €21.797 days
  8. €31.693 days
  9. €27.291 days
Cheapest lead time
Fares bottom out around 30 days ahead, at €14.64.
How much it moves
The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time is 116 percent. The most expensive point is €31.69, 3 days out.
What that means
Today sits inside the cheap window, which closes about 30 days before departure. Waiting from here has usually cost money on this corridor rather than saved it.
Day of the week

Which departure day costs least

Median cheapest fare for each weekday, taken across the next three weeks of real prices.

  1. €23.99Sun
  2. €19.59Mon
  3. €19.04Tue
  4. €23.44Wed
  5. €23.44Thu
  6. €21.79Fri
  7. €25.08Sat
Terminals

Where you leave from and where you arrive

The stations, airports and ports each mode on this corridor actually uses.

Exeter

Ferry
  • Exeter Quay

Reading

Ferry
  • Thames RiverCruise
The journey

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
33% of the services we sell on this corridor run through without a change. The remaining 67% involve one connection.
How far it really runs
The route covers 206 km against 196 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 Didcot, Weymouth, Bristol, Poole. The gap between arriving and leaving is 52 minutes, of which about 5 is walking.
If the connection is missed
The tightest connection we sell here has a 18 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 Exeter at 06:15 and the last at 07:30, across 3 departures. The return direction keeps its own timetable, so the times back are not these times reversed.
The alternatives

Ferries against the other ways to make this journey

The same corridor, door to door, with every mode that runs it.

Door to door means the whole journey, including reaching the terminal and leaving it at the far end. Fares are the cheapest sold on each mode.
ModeDoor to doorMovingAt the endsFromCO2Per day
Train2h 21m1h 37m44m€29.496.8 kg3
Ferry7h 54m6h 24m1h 30m€19.0423.7 kg3

Questions about Exeter 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 Exeter to Reading take?

The Ferry from Exeter to Reading takes 7h 54m door to door, of which 6h 24m is spent moving. The route runs 206 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 Exeter to Reading cost?

The Ferry from Exeter to Reading starts at €19.04 for one passenger, checked on September 22, 2026. A typical fare is €21.78. 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 Exeter to Reading?

1 operators run the Ferry from Exeter to Reading: Brittany Ferries. Between them they file around 3 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 Exeter to Reading use?

The Ferry from Exeter to Reading leaves from Exeter Quay 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.

Is the Ferry the best way from Exeter to Reading?

Traveling from Exeter to Reading by Train costs €29.49 and takes 2h 21m door to door, against 7h 54m by Ferry. Which is better depends on whether the money or the hours matter more on this trip. The comparison table on this page shows every mode side by side.

When should I book the Ferry from Exeter to Reading?

Fares for the Ferry from Exeter to Reading bottom out around 30 days ahead, at €14.64. The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time across the window is 116 percent, measured on September 22, 2026. Booking inside the final week has consistently cost more.

How much CO2 does the Ferry from Exeter to Reading produce?

The Ferry from Exeter to Reading produces about 23.7 kg of CO2 per passenger over 206 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 Exeter to Reading?

Operators on the Ferry from Exeter 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 7h 54m 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 Exeter to Reading on September 7, 2026: 206 km of route against 196 km in a straight line, 3 services a day, 1 operators, a cheapest fare of €19.04, and 7h 54m door to door on the fastest mode. The return direction is computed separately and its numbers are not these numbers.

Related journeys

The ferry is the simple part. What you do once you are in Reading is somebody else's catalog.

A guided tour group

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.

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