Nobody sells a ferry-only ticket to Spike Island: the boat from Kennedy Pier in Cobh is part of a €27.95 adult admission that also covers a guided tour of the fort. In November 2026 the island opens for tours on Saturdays and Sundays only, and the departure times live in the operator's booking calendar, not in a printed table.
Why would a ferry page carry no list of departures? Because Spike Island does not print one. The only boat to the island leaves Kennedy Pier in Cobh, it is sold as part of the visit, and each sailing shows up only in the operator's booking calendar after you have chosen your tickets. What the operator does publish is when the island is open, and in November 2026 that means Saturdays and Sundays only: the 7th and 8th, the 14th and 15th, the 21st and 22nd, and the 28th and 29th.
An adult pays €27.95 and a child €14.95, and that covers the return crossing, a guided tour of the fort and free time on the 104-acre island. The operator reckons on three and a half hours for the whole visit including the boat, and its ticket help page gives the 12:00 sailing coming back at 15:30 as the usual pattern. The guides tell you on arrival when the tours start; outside those slots you explore on your own.
After November the operator's calendar has no opening for individual visitors in December or January. It picks up again with weekends in February and March, adds daily opening during the school mid-term break, and runs every day from April to October. None of those months carries a date for 2027, so this page stops at the last November weekend, as published on 30 October 2026.
Opening months published by Spike Island, with no dates or year printed; November 2026 weekends are the 7th–8th, 14th–15th, 21st–22nd and 28th–29th · checked 30 October 2026 Spike Island – Visit Us, operating times · 2026-10-30
Each ticket below is a bundle: the boat out from Cobh, the boat back, a guided tour with one of the island's storytellers and a free visitor's guide. The ticket portal adds a booking fee to every ticket bought online, €1.00 on an adult ticket and €0.50 on a child's, so a single adult pays €28.95 at checkout.
The kiosk on Kennedy Pier sells tickets on the day when places remain, but the operator warns that boats fill up and recommends buying ahead, above all at weekends.
| Adult | €27.95 |
| Child | €14.95 |
| Child aged 2 and under | €4.95 |
| Senior, 65 and over | €23.95 |
| Student, 18 and over, with ID | €23.95 |
| 2 adults and 2 children aged 12 and under | €74.95 |
Spike Island prices, no validity date printed; identical on the Visit Us page and on the ticket portal · checked 30 October 2026 Spike Island ticket portal – Spike Island Experience · 2026-10-30
The Cobh pin is the ferry terminal that OpenStreetMap records on Kennedy Pier, close to the ticket kiosk that the operator marks on its own map link. The island pin is the passenger pontoon on the north-western tip of Spike Island. The operator gives the crossing as 10 to 15 minutes each way and publishes no distance.
The boat shuttles between two points and calls nowhere else. According to the operator, both ends have a wheelchair-accessible pontoon and walkway leading to the boat.
Check-in happens at the ticket office at the foot of the pier, where staff scan the barcode on your confirmation email; be there at least 10 minutes before the boat. Nobody may park on Kennedy Pier itself and the owners clamp, so drivers use the free Five Foot Way car park beside the Cobh Heritage Centre, about a kilometre away, and should give themselves half an hour from there.
The boat comes alongside a pontoon at the island pier, which has accessible toilets. From there it is 400 m on foot to the fort, the last stretch a short, steep incline; the café and gift shop are on the island as well.
Kennedy Pier is a five-minute walk from Cobh railway station, and the operator's Getting Here page puts the train from Kent Station in Cork at 24 minutes. Out of the station, turn right along Westbourne Place with the water on your right.
On-street spaces in Cobh town centre are limited to three hours, which the operator itself calls unsuitable for a visit. Use the free Five Foot Way car park or the paid one by Cobh Cathedral.
Sailings go on time and late arrivals get neither a refund nor a place on a later boat. Aim to be at the pier at least 10 minutes before departure.
When Spike Island cancels a sailing it emails ticket holders and refunds them automatically. Deciding not to travel because of a forecast gives no refund and no change of time.
Registered guide and assistance dogs are the only animals allowed on the ferry. Alcohol is banned on the boat and the island, and bags may be screened before boarding.
The ferry takes wheelchairs and both piers have accessible pontoons; the path up to the fort is short but steep. If you are coming in a wheelchair, the operator asks you to call 021 237 3455 or email ahead.
Some passengers may have to sit on the open deck during the crossing, so dress for the weather on the day, not for the café on the island.
Spike Island tells its own story in three stages, as a monastery, a fortress and a prison, and the ticket portal sums the visit up as 1,300 years of Irish history. The fort now holds more than a dozen museums and exhibitions. Outside the fort, the 1.4 km glacis walk looks over the harbour and the 2.4 km ring of Spike passes an abandoned village and a convict cemetery; a free augmented-reality app adds reconstructions on the spot.
This boat carries foot passengers who hold an island ticket; drivers who need to get a car from one side of the harbour to the other use the Glenbrook – Carrigaloe car ferry, a separate service with its own fares and no visit attached.
No. Every ticket the operator sells combines the return ferry with the guided tour and time on the island. The adult price is €27.95, or €28.95 online once the booking fee is added.
Not for individual visitors: the operator's opening times name no days in December or January. Groups of 15 or more can still book a visit for most of the year by ringing 021 237 3455.
The operator does not print the times. On the ticket portal, choose your tickets first and the calendar then shows each Saturday's and Sunday's sailings with how full they are.
Three and a half hours, crossing included, by the operator's own reckoning: its example is the 12:00 boat, which comes back at 15:30. Add the walk from the car park or the station to the pier.
From Kennedy Pier in the middle of Cobh, beside Titanic Cobh, Eircode P24 E446. The ticket office where you check in stands at the foot of the pier.
Not as a right. The terms make tickets non-changeable and non-refundable except at Spike Island's discretion, and bad weather on its own does not earn a refund. If the operator calls off the sailing, the money comes back automatically.
Yes. The portal sells a ticket for children aged 2 and under at €4.95, and everyone under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
Seniors aged 65 and over, and students aged 18 and over who show ID, pay €23.95 instead of the adult €27.95.