We like finding alternative ways to travel between cities that don’t involve flying, so instead of taking a direct flight from Amsterdam to Belfast, we decided to do the entire journey by rail and ferry.
Our trip started with an early morning Eurostar from Amsterdam Centraal to London St. Pancras, passing through the Netherlands, Belgium, and France via the Channel Tunnel. The journey took about five hours.
From St. Pancras, we transferred across London and continued by train from Euston to Liverpool. After a short break in the city, we boarded the Stena Line overnight ferry from Liverpool to Belfast.
We booked a cabin on the ferry, which made the overnight crossing much more comfortable, with a bed and shower available. The overall experience was surprisingly smooth, though the cabin facilities were fairly basic. We arrived in Belfast early the next morning and disembarked around 06:30.
In total, the journey took a little over 25 hours from Amsterdam to Belfast.
Would we recommend it over flying? Probably not if speed is the priority, since a direct flight is much faster and simpler. However, as a travel experience, it was far more interesting and enjoyable than a standard airport-to-airport journey.
Has anyone else taken the Liverpool–Belfast ferry, and how did it compare to flying for you? Also curious if others have found interesting multi-modal routes across Europe that avoid flying entirely.
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