Ferry service to France reopens for bookings

The Jersey and Guernsey governments have agreed to subsidise the service

The firm behind a passenger ferry service between the Channel Islands and France has opened its bookings for the 2025 season, it has said.

The Manche Iles Express runs a service between Granville, Barneville-Carteret and Diélette and the Channel Islands and an inter-island ferry service between Jersey and Guernsey, and Jersey and Sark.

The operator said sailings would resume on 10 April 2025, running regularly until the end of September.

The governments of Jersey, Guernsey and Sark agreed in October to subsidise the service until the end of 2025 after rising operating costs put the service at risk.

French day trippers

Referencing the extension of a scheme by the Jersey and Guernsey governments to allow French day trippers to visit Guernsey using their national ID cards instead of a passport, it said this would boost the local economy, operators, and encourage cultural ties with France.

French nationals must have a valid national identity card that is less than 10 years old, it added.

The automatic five-year extension of old national identity cards was no longer accepted in the Channel Islands.

Citizens from other countries, both from the European Union and outside the EU, those making a one-way trip, or those staying several days on the islands must have a valid passport and, for certain nationalities, a visa.

For inter-island travel a photographic ID is required.

The operator said it transported more than 56,000 passengers in 2024, compared to 53,000 in 2023.