Transport in Plymouth

The city is one of the primary gateways to Cornwall providing access by way of the Torpoint Ferry across the Hamoaze, and the Tamar Bridge linking the St Budeaux area of Plymouth on the Devon bank of the Tamar to Saltash on the Cornish bank. The major rail link to Cornwall, the Royal Albert Bridge runs side-by-side with the road bridge. A small foot-passenger ferry also runs between Stonehouse and the Cornish village of Cremyll; adjacent to the Mount Edgcumbe estate.

A regular ferry service provided by Brittany Ferries operates from Millbay taking cars and foot passengers directly to Roscoff, Brittany and Santander, Spain. The berths in Millbay have recently been expanded to accommodate the new fleet of luxury ferries and future redevelopment is planned to transform the harbour into a major port that will also accommodate incoming cruise liners.

Currently Millbay is only the point where passengers are transported in tenders to and from cruise liners that occasionally stop off in the Plymouth Sound. These actions will see Plymouth revert from a predominantly naval port, where British and other foreign warships and submarines regularly dock, and return to a major destination of international cruise liners, as was common before the Second World War.

Air travel to Plymouth is directly to Plymouth City Airport, or ‘Roborough’, a small airport located four miles north of the city centre, just off the A386 road to Tavistock. Air Southwest and Air Wales both operate short flights to destinations within Great Britain, ireland and the Channel islands.

The expansion of this airport to provide flights to continental Europe is currently a controversial issue in the city. Due to the airport’s central location expansion is limited and public opinion towards building a new airport to the east of the city remain divided between the economic benefits to the local economy and the environmental concerns over building in the countryside.

The rail link in Plymouth offers direct travel by First Great Western and Virgin Trains to Penzance in Cornwall and Paddington in London and links to the North of England by Virgin Trains.