All Journal stories How to Get to Sark
The Sark JournalHow to Get to Sark from London
The simplest way to travel from London to Sark is:
London → Guernsey → Sark
Fly from Gatwick or Heathrow to Guernsey, travel across Guernsey to St Peter Port, then take the passenger ferry to Sark.
There is no airport on Sark and no direct ferry from London. That sounds more complicated than it is. When the connections line up, you can leave London in the morning and arrive on Sark the same day.
The quickest route from London to Sark
From London, flying to Guernsey is usually the easiest route.
Aurigny flies directly from London Gatwick to Guernsey. British Airways flies directly from London Heathrow.
The flight takes about an hour.
Once you land in Guernsey, travel from the airport into St Peter Port, where the Sark ferry leaves from the harbour.
The passenger ferry from Guernsey to Sark takes about 45 minutes.
So the journey has three parts:
- London to Guernsey by air.
- Guernsey Airport to St Peter Port.
- St Peter Port to Sark by ferry.
The important part is getting the connection right.
Start with the Sark ferry, not the flight
This is the advice we give our own retreat guests.
Check the Sark Shipping timetable first.
Choose the ferry you want to catch from Guernsey, then work backwards and find the flight that gets you there with enough time to reach the harbour comfortably.
Sark is a small island and its ferry timetable changes through the year. Summer brings more sailings. Outside the main season there are fewer.
Do not assume that the last flight into Guernsey will connect with a boat to Sark.
If the timings do not work, spending a night in Guernsey and travelling to Sark the following morning is the easy alternative.
Gatwick or Heathrow?
Both now work.
From Gatwick, Aurigny flies directly to Guernsey.
From Heathrow, British Airways flies directly to Guernsey.
Which one is better depends less on the flying time than on which service connects comfortably with your Sark ferry.
If you are travelling for one of our retreats, we help you work this out before you book the final leg.
Can you travel from London to Sark without flying?
Yes.
You can travel from London to the south coast and take a ferry to Guernsey before continuing to Sark.
Brittany Ferries operates sailings to Guernsey from Poole and Portsmouth.
Poole has the faster sea crossing. Portsmouth is the longer route.
For anyone who dislikes flying, wants to bring more luggage or simply likes the idea of reaching an island entirely by sea, it is a very different way to make the journey.
You still finish in the same place: St Peter Port, waiting for the Sark boat.
What happens to your luggage?
This is one of the nicest surprises about arriving on Sark.
You take your bags aboard the ferry in Guernsey.
When the boat reaches Sark, your luggage is unloaded and passed to the island’s carters. They deliver it to wherever you are staying.
You do not drag your suitcase up the steep harbour hill.
Your bags go one way.
You go another.
What happens when you arrive on Sark?
The ferry enters Maseline Harbour beneath the cliffs.
From there, the island’s toast rack, a passenger trailer, takes passengers up the harbour hill.
There are no private cars waiting at the top.
If you are coming to Sark Soul, this is where the next part of the journey begins. Our retreat guests continue across the island by horse and carriage to the retreat house.
Flight.
It is quite a way to arrive somewhere.
How long does London to Sark take?
The flying and sailing are the short parts.
The variable is the connection in Guernsey.
Allowing for the flight, airport transfer, check-in for the Sark ferry and the crossing itself, Sark is a same-day journey from London when the schedules work together.
That is why we always recommend planning around the Sark ferry first.
Is there a direct flight from London to Sark?
No.
Sark has no airport.
Fly to Guernsey and complete the final part of the journey by sea.
Is there a direct ferry from London to Sark?
No.
If you travel entirely by sea, you travel from the south coast of England to Guernsey and change there for the Sark ferry.
Do I need to book the Sark ferry in advance?
We recommend it, particularly during the busier months.
Sark Shipping publishes its timetable online and sailing times change through the year.
For help with the timings, the Sark Trip Compass plans the journey around your dates, free.
Coming to Sark?
We made the guide we wish every first-time visitor had.
It covers the ferry, connection timing, Sark’s luggage system, the toast rack, what to pack and what happens when you reach the island.
Send me the free Getting to Sark guide
And if Sark has started to feel less like somewhere difficult to reach and more like somewhere you would quite like to disappear to for five nights, you can see our 2027 retreats too.
