 Red Funnel's car ferry discount codes peaked at 50% off in 2024 Over the last 10 years, discount codes have become a much more essential part of saving money on the Isle of Wight ferry. Back in the day, discount codes with Wightlink and Red Funnel peaked at 10% or perhaps 15% for something really extraordinary. There were other ways to save money, such as flexibility but it wasn't unusual to pay the standard price without a discount. The more modern strategy - particularly from Red Funnel - seems to be to offer discounts throughout the year, ranging from 10% to 50% off. You can usually get 15% to 20% off via one of the discount codes on our guide to discount Isle of Wight ferry travel. The challenge now is to try and predict when the best discount of the year will come along. Black Friday and the 12 Days of ChristmasOver the last couple of years, the best discount of the year had been the Black Friday offer, which was 1/3 off Red Funnel for travel throughout 2025. Wightlink also did a Black Friday offer but it was a bit more restricted and meant you had to travel over the winter or early spring. You can imagine my scepticism then when my Mum told me that she had just been sent a 50% off voucher by Red Funnel as part of their 12 Days of Christmas promotion. I am often wary of the tales that my Mum tells me, as some of the details do sometimes require a little investigation - such as the time she told me that she had seen a dolphin in Cowes when it was actually a seal. Anyway, I digress. It turned out that the 50% off deal was legit and was valid throughout 2025. Apologies to my Mum for doubting her. It was only sent to customers on the Red Funnel mailing list (sign up here) and was a one time code that had to be used by New Year's Eve 2024. I did my best to publicise it, including a New Year's Eve interview on BBC Radio Solent that must have sounded like a desperate man trying to evacuate a building ("You've got to book today! Today!! It's the best deal of the year!!!"). What other offers were in the 12 days promotion?In my relentless attempt to find cheap ferry travel, I thought it would be worth noting down the offers that were available from Red Funnel in the 12 Days of Christmas promotion. This may give us some clues next year when people are asking 'when is the best time to book the Isle of Wight ferry?'. I have previously said Black Friday, but might need to re-think things if they are going to surprise us all with mega-deals via email.
It's worth saying that these offers had very short booking windows and are no longer available. I'm writing them down to help predict what they might do next year. Visit this page if you are looking for a ferry discount for 2025. Here are the (now expired) offers in Red Funnel's 12 Days of Christmas 2024:
So, offers #1, #4, #7 and #12 all gave you money off the ferry whilst the others were competitions or money off stuff you can buy onboard. Offer #12 was the best by far but the day return deal for £45 is very good as well. Red Funnel regularly do a day return for about £50 - £60 via its Big Book of Savings but it never drops as low as £45. Anyway, I shall be intently checking my inbox in December 2025 to see if the 50% offer deal is repeated.
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Red Funnel has bumped up our ongoing 10% off deal for the rest of January 2025. You can now get 20% off bygoing via this link or filling in your details into the form below.
You need to book by 31st January 2025 but it's valid for holidays throughout 2025.
It's a good discount, but it's always worth checking if there's a better deal available. Take a look at our discount Isle of Wight ferries guide or the best ferry + accommodation bundles.
For campers and tourers, Red Funnel do a very good pitch + accommodation bundle that will probably beat the 20% off deal. There are also things like the Red Funnel Big Book of Savings, which offer fixed price deals. 
You can get 20% off Red Funnel for the rest of January 2025
Missed the deal?
Head over to our main ferry discounts page where you can still take advantage of our ongoing 10% off deal with Red Funnel.
**Away Resorts Discount Code: Save up to 7% via this link with discount code AWRAF7 + cheap ferry travel** Away Resorts now owns four different holiday parks and lodge resorts with hot tubs on the Isle of Wight. They're a popular choice, partly because they'll get you a hefty discount on the Isle of Wight ferry if you stay with them. Away Resorts has run Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park in the East Wight for donkeys' years, but in 2022 they merged with Aria Resorts and took on three other lodge parks including:
They're all dog friendly and offer hot tubs and a range of different types of accommodation, but which is best? The short answer (for those who don't want to read all my waffle) is that St Helens Coastal Resort gets the best reviews but it's small and simple, whilst Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park is the best for a beach holiday and has the best facilities. The Lakes Rookley is cheapest in our price comparison. Here's our guide to which is best Away Resorts for you, along with a price comparison: Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park - Best Beach Location, Biggest, Best For Busy Families, Some Sea Views Whitecliff Bay is one of my favourite beaches...and it's right next to some of the holiday park accommodation  The more expensive accommodation at Whitecliff Bay is called 'Exclusive' whilst the caravans are cheaper Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park is a big, busy, family-friendly holiday park on the outskirts of Bembridge in the East Wight. Over the last few years they've spent a lot of money adding flash new accommodation with cool names like TriBeCa and Rockstar. They even featured on a Channel 5 TV programme where Shane Ritchie larked around on the Isle of Wight and said things like "Corrrrrrr, look at that, me old mucker!". If that doesn't convince you, I don't know what will. Whitecliff Bay no longer offers touring, but they do have simple camping pitches during July and August. There's a much bigger choice of accommodation types at Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park than there are at the other Away Resorts on the Isle of Wight. If you want plenty to do onsite then Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park is your best bet out of the four Away Resorts holiday parks on the Isle of Wight. It's got indoor and outdoor swimming pools, as well as minigolf, a playground and an arcade. During term time they have things like Tots Breaks, which are aimed at pre-schoolers, whilst during the summer holidays they put on outdoor cinema where you can sit outside and hope it doesn't rain. In peak season, there are free daily activities for kids such as a toddlers' disco as well as things you pay for, such as arts and crafts, archery, disc golf and baby ballet (more details on the entertainment programme here). There's also evening entertainment for grown ups. The onsite restaurant is a good size and there's also a beach café during peak season. However, the very best thing about Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park is the location. When the sun shines, the beach at Whitecliff Bay is truly gorgeous and even muscles its way into my top 5 Isle of Wight beaches. It's hard to access unless you are staying at an adjacent holiday park, so it doesn't get unpleasantly busy. One downside is that the slope down to it is ferociously steep and has claimed the good-natured attitude of many a beach-goer. My wife's language changed from Stepford-Wives-Esque to Tarantino-Esque in the time it took to get from the bottom of the slope to the top. It's also worth looking at the map to figure out where your accommodation is. The site is split into two with a road going through the middle. That's not a big problem but if you're in the furthest away point then it's getting on for 15 minutes to walk to the beach. Customers give Whitecliff Bay an average review score of 4/5 on TripAdvisor or 4.2/5 on Google Reviews (82% overall). That puts it in the middle compared to the other Away Resorts on the Isle of Wight. St Helens Coastal Resort - Best Accommodation, Best Reviews, Quietest There's no kids' club at St Helens...so this sort of parental enthusiasm is required  The lodges at St Helens Coastal Resort are modern and more spacious than a caravan St Helens Coastal Resort has changed its name a few times. For a while it was called a 'retreat' but it doesn't have the range of facilities you might expect at a 'retreat'. It's also not as coastal as you might imagine - the beach is about a mile away. However, it's got a lot going for it once you get past the name. For starters, it is the highest rated Away Resorts site on the Isle of Wight, according to customer reviews (4.5/5 on TripAdvisor or 4.5/5 on Google Reviews or 90% overall). A lot of the lodges and caravans have been added in the last few years so you've got a good chance of a very modern property that isn't looking like it's been lived in by a parade of holidaymakers with hairy dogs. We made use of the outdoor swimming pool, which is small but good fun (and it was heated). There's also a small playground that was completed shortly after we left. The location is at the end of a wiggly road past some houses. It's within a pretty coastal village called St Helens in the East Wight, which has a large village green. Walking down to St Helens beach will take you about 15 minutes. If you're a bit more determined, you can walk to the sandy paradise of Priory Bay. St Helens Coastal Resort is a much smaller resort than nearby Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park, so it's a good choice if you want a quiet base for exploring the Isle of Wight. There isn't a restaurant onsite, but Bembridge has a good choice and there are plenty of other good places to eat depending on whether you prioritise a sea view or occupying the children whilst you enjoy a glass of Merlot. The Lakes Rookley - Best for Island Wide exploring, Cheapest In Our Price Comparison, 76% review score The Lakes Rookley is equipped with indoor and outdoor swimming pools...  ...and the Lakehouses have good views The Lakes Rookley is something of a rarity on the Isle of Wight - a holiday resort that isn't by the beach. There are plus sides to that, assuming that you've bought a car with you. You can explore a lot of the Isle of Wight with a short drive. The seaside resorts of Shanklin, Sandown and Ventnor are all about 15 minutes away in the car, whilst Compton Bay in the West Wight and Cowes in the North Wight are both 20 minutes drive. The absolute longest drive from The Lakes Rookley is the 35 minutes to Alum Bay and The Needles lighthouse. Most Islanders wouldn't drive this far unless it was a very special occasion (e.g. a family wedding or perhaps a funeral of a relative, at a push). If you're a hardened mainlander then you'll be used to drives of more than half an hour so it will be fine. Anyway, back to The Lakes Rookley. In terms of scale, it is bigger than The Bay Colwell and St Helens Coastal Resort but it's smaller than Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park. There are two swimming pools, including one indoors and one outdoors. The Lakes are also used for watersports such as kayaking and paddleboarding. Of course, you could do these on the seafront at Shanklin or St Helens but there's less risk of being dragged out to France from a lake in Rookley. You can eat onsite at The Lakeside Bar and Eatery. Rookley itself doesn't have a huge amount to it (there's a car dealership, but I doubt that would entertain the kids). However, Shanklin, Sandown and Ventnor have lots of places to eat with a sea view. If you are after chain restaurants and fast food then Newport is your best bet (Beefeater, Pizza Hut, McDonalds, KFC, Burger King). The poshest and most expensive accommodation at The Lakes Rookley are the Lakehouses, which have a pleasant view. At the other end of the accommodation range, we found that The Lakes Rookley was the cheapest of all four Away Resorts on the Isle of Wight (see further down for our price comparison). Reviews of The Lakes Rookley are a little bit behind the other three Away Resorts on the Isle of Wight. Customers on TripAdvisor give it 3.5/5. On Google Reviews it scores higher with a score of 4.1/5 (76% overall). A lot of the older reviews will be from several years ago when it was Rookley Country Park. I would read through the more recent reviews for a more accurate summary. The Bay Colwell - More Accessible Beach, Quiet, closest to a ferry port  Finally, The Bay Colwell which is a bit of an all rounder. It is certainly smaller and less well equipped than Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park and The Lakes Rookley. However, it does have an indoor swimming pool (unlike St Helens Coastal Resort, which has an outdoor pool). It's also much close to the beach than The Lakes Rookley and St Helens Coastal Resort. You can get to Colwell Bay in about five minutes on foot. There's bike hire, soft play and a coffee shop onsite. The accommodation is mostly rows of two bedroom chalets which have been much improved in recent years. They're described as 'Cottages' on the website and some of them have hot tubs. The more expensive accommodation are 'Lodges', some of which have an extra bedroom. It's also the only Away Resorts site in the West Wight. Generally speaking, the West Wight is prettier and less developed than the East Wight (complaints from East Wighters to the usual address, please). Colwell itself is developed, but the nearby West Wight coastline which runs from Freshwater Bay to Chale in the South Wight is populated by more cows than people. If you are coming from the Westcountry, then The Bay Colwell is convenient to reach via Wightlink's Yarmouth to Lymington crossing. The ferry takes 40 minutes and then it's a seven minute drive to the resort. The Bay Colwell scores 82% from reviewers, including 4/5 on TripAdvisor and 4.2/5 on Google Reviews. Away Resorts ISle of Wight Price ComparisonWe started by looking for a week for the cheapest accommodation available in August 2025. We searched for a seven night holiday. Prices don't include ferry travel, although you can get it for around half price if you book through Away Resorts. Expect to pay about £50 - £150 for the ferry depending on when you travel and how long you stay. From cheapest to most expensive:
We then looked for the same holiday but a lodge with a hot tub. So, it's a holiday in August 2025 for four people, staying for a week, excluding the ferry:
So, based on our mini price comparison, The Lakes Rookley is the cheapest of the four Away Resorts on the Isle of Wight and The Bay Colwell and Whitecliff Bay tend to be the most expensive. I would caution that prices vary a lot depending on when you visit and what accommodation you choose. Review comparison of Away Resorts ISle of Wight Holiday REsortsAs of November 2024, the review scores for the Away Resorts on the Isle of Wight look like this:
All three of the parks have seen big changes in the last few years, so the older review scores are not particularly relevant. St Helens Coastal Resort, The Lakes Rookley and The Bay Colwell have all changed hands twice in the last few years. They were previously known as St Helens Holiday Park, Rookley Country Park and Colwell Bay Holiday Park until they were bought by Aria Resorts in 2017. Aria Resorts invested a lot of money in the sites and then the company merged with Away Resorts in 2022 (Ed: will there be a test on this at the end?). My advice is to look at some recent reviews, rather than going on the overall score. Distance from the ferry ports You can save money on the ferry if you stay with Away Resorts The Isle of Wight is not vast, so travel times from the ferries are not a major factor if you are bringing a car. However, if it's a weekend visit or if you have children who don't travel well (i.e. all children) then it's something to consider.
Also, make sure that you use the Away Resorts ferry discount. It'll save you as much as 50% compared to going direct. See our full guide to the Isle of Wight ferries for beginners.  Does the sight one of these make you feel ill? Fear not...help is at hand Here's my guide to some cheap and free places to park on the Isle of Wight including free parking in Ryde, Newport, Sandown, The Needles, Ventnor and Shanklin. It is ideal for anyone - like my mother - who is willing to walk some distance to avoid paying to park. I really don't like paying to park, but I usually cough up now that we have children and 14 bags on every beach outing. It is also worth trying Your Parking Space and Just Park for events such as Cowes Week or for parking near a ferry port. You can rent out someone's driveway for a few hours or days via the website. Quite a lot of Isle of Wight seafront parking is free in the depths of winter but I won't bother listing all of those, as most people visit the Island in spring, summer and autumn. I've focused on the places where you might have a day out. There's also the controversial topic of whether it's acceptable to park in a permit-free residential area as long as you aren't blocking someone's drive. Personally, I have no problem with this (and don't mind people parking near my house) but I do whoosh off pretty quickly when I return to the car in case an angry resident has been waiting for me with a rolling pin... This guide will probably go out of date before I hit publish, so please comment at the bottom if a) somewhere is no longer free or b) you've found somewhere else free or cheap to park on the Isle of Wight. Also, please check signs for yourself when you park somewhere as I may have got things wrong. And for any grandmas reading, the best way to suck an egg is at the pointy end. Free and cheap parking for Alum Bay and The NeedlesLet's start with one of the trickiest places to visit without paying for parking. The road leading to Alum Bay and The Needles has double yellow lines that seem to go on for miles. Last time we visited, the only car park was £6. That's not exorbitant for all day parking but it's a bit pricey if you only stay for 10 minutes before one of the children has a meltdown.
 The footpath mentioned above comes out quite near to this much-photographed spot Free and cheap parking in Bembridge and St Helens
Free parking in Brighstone
Free parking at Colwell Bay
 Look out for this entrepreneur near Colwell Bay Free and cheap parking at Compton Bay
Free parking in Cowes and GurnardCowes gets pretty ruthless when it comes to summertime parking, particularly in Cowes Week.
 Gurnard has some free on-street parking (at the time of typing) Free and cheap parking at Freshwater Bay
Free parking in Godshill
Free and cheap parking in Newport and Carisbrooke (including Isle of Wight Festival parking)There are some residential roads on the edges of the town centre which are free, but a lot are now resident permit areas.
Free Parking in Ryde
Free and cheap parking in Sandown
Free and cheap parking in ShanklinParking on Shanklin Seafront is a competitive and expensive experience. We once stayed in a flat on the seafront which didn't have parking and I spent the whole week moving the car or driving round looking for a space whilst crying (and I spent £50 on parking). Some options:
 Seafront Pay and Display parking spaces in Shanklin are quickly gobbled up during the summer  Big Mead park has a free car park, plus the added bonus of occasional ducklings Free Parking at Totland BayThere are a couple of good options for those who don't want to pay for seafront parking at Totland Bay. Seafront parking was free a few years ago, which makes paying for it all the more painful.
Free parking in Ventnor
Free parking in Yarmouth
Free parking in Yaverland
Free parking near Isle of Wight ferry portsIf you're looking for free or cheap parking in Southampton, Portsmouth, Lymington or Southsea for a trip to the Isle of Wight then that is covered in our ferries guide. (Spoiler alert: there isn't much).
If you're hoping to find somewhere free or cheap to park near to the ferries from Fishbourne, Cowes, East Cowes, Yarmouth or Ryde then you face a bit of a challenge. Some suggestions:
**Latest offers: 25% off Red Funnel ferries with code RT2025 via this link**  Before we get into the meat of this Solent-sandwich let's make it clear that there isn't currently a simple fixed price discount which every Isle of Wight resident receives on every vehicle crossing on the Isle of Wight ferries. You can’t just turn up at the ferry, shout a secret phrase ("alright nipper!") and help yourself to a £50 return journey without any effort or commitment. However, with a bit of investment, faffing or forward planning then most people can make some good savings on the ferry if they're an Isle of Wight resident. This blog post will focus on car ferry travel but there are deals for Isle of Wight foot passengers such as My Link and the HoverBlue Card. Anyway, let’s start with Wightlink car ferry travel. Wightlink's Multilink Deal for residentsIf you’re an Isle of Wight resident or a second homeowner then you are entitled to buy a Wightlink Multilink pass. The idea is that you buy a book of ten crossings for a car and passengers. At the time of writing, it costs £355, so a return journey is £71 regardless of when you travel or how many passengers you have. During the peak of summer that will probably save you more than £100 per crossing. Each ferry crossing has a number of spaces reserved for Multilink passes so you need to book early if you’re planning to use the ferry on a Saturday lunchtime in August. The Wightlink website says it is at least 15% of the available space on a ferry. That is only about 10 cars on the ferries on the Lymington crossing, but is more on the bigger ferries from Portsmouth. There are some key bits of smallprint – some of which make it more appealing and some of which make it less appealing. The main downside is that you need to use the journeys within one year of topping up. You may conclude that since you only manage two or three return journeys with a car each year, that it’s not worth it. But wait, dear reader! There are a couple of bits of juicy smallprint which will make your heart race. Firstly, you can share a Wightlink Multilink pass with two other people who live at the same address and you don’t have to be the driver. They aren’t tied to one vehicle, so a parent could share a pass with a son and daughter who are away at university. Secondly, if you don’t use all your journeys within one year you can carry over spare credit by topping up another five journeys. This works well if you have a year of minimal travelling followed by a year of more regular journeys. Thirdly, if you decide you don’t need your pass anymore and it has credit left, you can apply to get 75% of the cost back. There are some bits of smallprint to abide by but it’s not too complicated and it means that you’ll still get a good price if you only use three or four crossings and then cancel the pass.  Wightlink reserves at least 15% of space for Multilink users - or 27 cars on this ferry Red Funnel's offers for residentsLet’s move on to Red Funnel, which takes a completely different approach. Their travel deals for regular car ferry travellers are available to Islanders and Mainlanders (20% off if you prepay £1000). However, they do send out something called the Red Funnel Big Book of Savings to Isle of Wight residents (71,000 homes apparently). These books are sent out five times a year and offer special deals and discounts for residents. You can use the discount codes a limited number of times (usually three times), which is why we don’t share them on this website. The deals either offer a fixed price or a percentage discount. As you’ll see from this marketing website the deals can be pretty good – during 2024 they offered 25% off vehicle ferry crossings or Red Funnel car ferry day returns for about £50 - £60. Read our full guide to the Big Book of Savings. The upside with these deals is that they will sometimes trump the Wightlink Multilink price and there’s no commitment or upfront payment. The downside is that they are usually designed to steer customers towards lower demand sailings, whereas the Wightlink deal potentially lets you travel any time. You can’t rely on these discounts if you’re planning a trip to the mainland long in advance.  It's not big and it's not a book, but the Big Book of Savings gives good discounts Cheap ferry travel for residents on low incomesBesides those deals from Wightlink and Red Funnel, there are also generous discounts for Isle of Wight residents who have low incomes. To qualify, you need to either be receiving ‘Local Council Tax support’ or housing benefit. The press release announcing the scheme back in 2018 said there are about 14,000 eligible people. Once you’ve applied for the scheme, you can get Red Funnel return car ferry travel for a maximum price of £59. They call it the Assisted Fares Scheme. Wightlink also offer a discount under the name of the Discounted Fares Scheme although I couldn’t see prices. There are also foot passenger discounts for people on low incomes from Red Funnel, Wightlink and Hovertravel which is somewhere around half price. Hovertravel call it the IOW Council Affordable Fares Scheme. Discounts for residents travelling to hospitalFinally, it’s worth mentioning that there are schemes in place for Isle of Wight residents who are visiting hospitals on the mainland.
At the time of typing, you get a 50% discount with Wightlink if you're going for an NHS appointment and they also have a maximum fare of £70 in place. Red Funnel do a fixed price hospital trip deal whilst Hovertravel offer discounts to foot passengers under their Hovercare scheme. If anyone knows of other discounts and deals that are exclusively for Isle of Wight residents, please add a comment below. We cover all the deals and offers that we know of in our ferry discounts guide.  Red Funnel's Black Friday discount is their biggest of 2024 Red Funnel has just launched its Black Friday offer for holidays in 2025. You can get 1/3rd off if you book by December 6th 2024, and can travel right through until November 3rd 2025. You can also get:
But is it the cheapest deal for an Isle of Wight holiday? Is Red Funnel's Black Friday offer a genuine discount?The short answer is yes. We've all become wise to the fake Black Friday discounts, with prices that are inflated the week before just so they can be lowered a few days later. However, Red Funnel's Black Friday deal is a genuinely good one. Throughout the year, Red Funnel offers discounts of 10% to 25% via discount codes (including the booking form on our ferries guide). They haven't offered a 1/3 off at all during 2024, so this is about as good as it gets. They did the same offer for Black Friday 2023. Of course, we can have long arguments about the standard cost of ferry travel to the Isle of Wight, but within this context it is a decent deal. Is this offer the cheapest way to get to the Isle of Wight in 2025?Well, that depends. There are (at least) four alternative options that may be a cheaper way to get to the Isle of Wight in 2025 than using the Red Funnel's Black Friday deal. 1. Accommodation + Ferry bundlesGetting an accommodation + ferry bundle will often beat the Red Funnel Black Friday price. You can find many of the best bundles on this page. For example, you will often get discounts of 50% or more if you stay at a holiday park owned by Away Resorts (The Lakes Rookley, St Helens Coastal Resort, Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park, The Bay Colwell Bay) and Parkdean Resorts (holiday parks called Landguard, Lower Hyde, Nodes Point and Thorness Bay). There is also a stonking deal for tourers and campers where you book a ferry + pitch via Red Funnel. We found a five night holiday for four people during the school holidays in August for £220 - including the pitch and the ferry. You can choose from four decent campsites and touring parks. Big name hotel chain Warner also offer a big ferry discount. The maximum price is £90 return, which will often beat the Red Funnel discounted price. If you are going for an independent hotel, give them a call or check their own websites as they often get a good discount.  Guests at The Lakes Rookley get a whopping great discount on the ferry 2. Book a Day ReturnIf you just plan to visit the Isle of Wight with your car for a day (or visit the mainland for a day) then you may find that the 1/3 off deal isn't the best price. That's because Red Funnel often do a more generous discount via its Big Book of Savings. These are sent out five times a year to every Isle of Wight residence and regularly include a day return deal for about £50 - £60. At the moment, you can only book until 17 March with these vouchers but there is a good chance that they will do something similar later in the year. We checked prices for a peak time day return with a car in August 2025 and found that it was about £66 - £70 with the 1/3 off. Of course, mainlanders need to find an aunt on the Island who is willing to hand over her discount booklet. The Big Book uses unique codes so we don't share them on this site. 3. Travel as a foot passengerAs mentioned earlier, this Black Friday promotion also works on foot passenger travel. You'll only pay £16 - £25 for a period return if you book it before December 6th. It would work particularly well for a couple bringing their own bikes to the Isle of Wight for a week's cycling holiday. They would pay just £16.74 each, as bicycles are free on the Isle of Wight's ferries (note: this only applies when you travel as a foot passenger, it's more complicated if you attach the bikes to your car as it can make your car longer and push you into the next price band). The Isle of Wight's buses are pretty decent in my experience and are included in the capped bus fares that you get in the rest of England (with the exception of the open top buses). See our public transport guide. It gets more complicated if you are doing a day return as a foot passenger. The Black Friday price might be the cheapest, but Red Funnel did several offers during 2024 where you could get a day return for £12.50 to coincide with big events.  Bringing your bike? You can take it on the ferry for free 4. Get a Wightlink Multilink DealOf course, Red Funnel isn't the only option for getting to the Isle of Wight. Honestly, I would be surprised to find any standard Wightlink fares that were cheaper once you factor in the 1/3 off deal for Red Funnel. I haven't yet seen any details of a Wightlink Black Friday deal, although we know they are doing an offer from 29 November 2024 as there's a big countdown clock on their site. You'll be able to find it on this page. However, there are ongoing Wightlink deals that will work out cheaper than Red Funnel's Black Friday offer for some people. The first is the Wightlink Multilink deal for cars, which will get you a return journey with a car for about £70 (ish). This offer is only available to those with an Isle of Wight residence and it requires you to travel five times a year. You can read our full guide here or read Wightlink's guide. The second is the Wightlink Multilink deal for foot passengers. This offer is available anyone, but you buy a book of five return journeys that need to be used within a year. See or guide or Wightlink's guide to how it works.  Some of Wightlink's deals will beat the Red Funnel Black Friday deal  I care more about Robin Hill than a middle-aged man should Things were looking pretty bleak for Robin Hill a few months ago. The owners of Blackgang Chine put it up for sale for a couple of million pounds and we all feared it might never return as a public attraction. Ill-informed sorts speculated that it would turned into a housing estate. Others speculated that Center Parcs would swoop in - despite Robin Hill being a quarter of the size of an average Center Parcs in England. Thankfully, the pessimists were wrong. A local chap called Lee Priddle saved the day by buying Robin Hill Country Park. His other business interest includes renting out toilets, but we will avoid making lazy puns about him feeling flushed (Ed: *rolls eyes*). The park is now due to re-open at Easter 2025. We don't have exact date yet. Here's what we know so far: Which attractions have been removed from Robin Hill?A few attractions won't be at Robin Hill when the park re-opens. No flowers please.
 The Colossus is gradually moving to Blackgang Chine, where it will be the Jolly Robin  The Ripple is proving entertainment as Blackgang Beach What new attractions are coming to Robin Hill in 2025?We already know that lots of new things are planned for Robin Hill. This is exceedingly exciting, although I would caution that they may not all be instantly available on the first day of opening (based on my experience of how these things usually go, rather than any inside information). It seems to me that the new owners are moving away from the theme park vibe, and moving more towards an adventure park and country park vibe. This is from the official website, with my comments:
The website also says that they plan to add 'a new high adrenaline adventure space in 2025 which will be ticketed separately and is not included in the membership pass'. My best guess is that this will be a high ropes attraction, along the lines of Go Ape or the aerial adventures that you get at Center Parcs. Could there perhaps be a great big zip wire over the top of the trees? Am I just making this stuff up without any facts or details to go on? Definitely. The only similar thing that I know about on the Isle of Wight is at PGL Little Canada, which is mostly a residential place for school parties. There are also plans for a high ropes course at Parkdean Resorts' Thorness Bay Holiday Park, but this hasn't happened yet. Fun fact - the bouncy nets at Sandham Gardens were originally going to be a high ropes course, but the plans were changed. One of our favourite games at home is to discuss what we would add to Robin Hill. Little Miss Guru and myself both agree that the key is to add things that don't require lots of staff. One of my suggestions was minigolf, which looks to be happening. I also thought that a series of slacklines in the woodland would work well. These cost next-to-nothing and don't really require any staff and only minimal maintenance. We also thought that that it would be rather cool to have a free-play arcade in one of the woodland buildings. How much is entry to Robin Hill going to cost?The entry price for 2025 is going to range from £14.99 to £21.99, depending on what time of year you visit. There is also going to be a concession price of £9.99. The season ticket is about £47 including booking fees and children under one metre will get in free.
That entry price is lower than it was under the previous owners in the last few years. At one stage, the entry price reached £35 - although there were many ways to save money and you got free returns. We don't yet know if the seven day free returns offer will stay. I haven't quite figured out if they are still going to charge for the toboggan run. The advert for the annual passes says 'Free toboggan rides' but it's not clear if that's unlimited or perhaps just the first ride each day - and whether it will apply to day visitors. Events have been a big part of Robin Hill for many years. Back in the 1980s, it had midsummer fairs whilst more recently it hosted Bestival, the Spring Garden Festival, the Isle of Wight Hot Air Balloon Festival and so on. We know that the new owners are keen on hosting events - many of which will be run by external companies rather than by themselves. Events so far have included the Warrior Festival and a Halloween event. Upcoming events include a Sausage and Cider Festival and a Summer in Nashville event, both of which are planned for July 2025. Anyway, best of luck to the new owners of Robin Hill!  "How much further is it to the arcades?" It's always hard to guess quite how far my children are willing to walk without making excessive fuss. As previously discussed, we have found that Treasure Trails are effective at convincing them that they aren't really on a walk at all. It's also key to be realistic and stick to one of our short walks for children rather than a more ambitious walk. We have completed nearly all of the Treasure Trails on the Isle of Wight, so we have now moved onto an incentives programme to get the children walking. Starting from SandownThis week's bribe-laden walk was from Sandown to Shanklin along the sea wall. We parked in the pay and display spaces near to Sandown Pier. I'm not a fan of paying to park but decided to cough up so that the children's energy wasn't expired before the walk even started. My eye twitched a few times as I paid the £6.30 fee for four hours in October. My mum arrived separately and parked for free about five minutes away (see our free parking guide for ideas).  We parked in the spaces to the right of Sandown Pier We then headed towards Shanklin, which is about 1.5 miles away (or two miles if you want to get to the Shanklin Chine end of the esplanade). Both the sun and tide was out, so we walked along the beach. This was a real joy after a couple of grey and wet days. The alternative is to walk along the sea wall, which is is flat and easy all the way and is suitable for pushchairs and wheelchairs. Some sections of the tarmac are very worn so it would be too bumpy for a scooter, and might be a bit hard going in a manual wheelchair. I also wouldn't attempt it with rollerblades, ankle warmers and a ghetto blaster over your shoulder for similar reasons (and because you'd look like you'd visited the wrong beach). The other thing to mention about the sea wall from Sandown to Shanklin is that it doesn't have any railings and there's a notable drop. Some parents seem able to relax on this sort of walk, but if our children had been younger then Mrs Guru would have said "stay away from the edge" at least 37 times.  It looks a little gloomy here, but it really was a sunny day The first Bribe in ShanklinI had sold this outing as a "trip to the arcades" and hadn't really mentioned that I would be parking two miles away. Thankfully, a combination of good weather and the thought of arcade games kept them going. We ate our packed lunch on one of Shanklin's many benches, bought a couple of coffees and headed to the arcade. Shanklin's Summer Arcade is our favourite on the Isle of Wight, as it has a constantly improving range of machines. I am expecting to receive a letter from the owner one day thanking me for paying off their mortgage. I have a strict policy and strategy at Shanklin's arcade. The budget is £20, which usually lasts us about an hour, allowing for time spent arguing, dithering and for speeches about how much we would have loved to do this when we were children. The rule is that each person in the family - starting with the youngest - gets a choice of machine until the money runs out. We then cash in our collection of yellow tokens and take home some piece of plastic tat. To add a further frisson to the occasion, the grandparents were joining us for the first time. They had previously ducked out of arcade trips but finally relented. We spent a happy hour in the arcade throwing balls at clowns, rolling balls to make horses move, whacking giant balls against giant spiders, driving cars, failing to win a Squishmallow on the grabbers and playing a giant piano. My mum's husband concluded that it was "better than expected" whilst refusing to explain how high or low his expectations had been. We accumulated about 400 tokens with our £20. Back in the day, you could spend these in the shop next door, with 400 tokens being worth £4. Nowadays, you have to choose from the selection in the arcade and it doesn't go quite as far. Luckily, I had been hoarding tokens and found several faded vouchers in my wallet. Once we added it all together, we had more than 1500 tokens. The moment I revealed this huge figure provoked a similar reaction as if I had told the children that we were skipping school and going to Walt Disney World Florida. As the children began to plan their spending I spotted that some of these vouchers had actually expired in 2020. There was then a rather tense few minutes before the staff generously offered to accept my vouchers. I think they saw the fear in my eyes.  Arcade-fanatics will know that this photo was taken a couple of years ago (before the tickets shrunk)  "It's a meeeeee! Mario!" Back to Sandown for the second bribeWe left the arcade with fake Tamagotchis and real lollipops to begin our walk back to Sandown. The tide had come in, so we walked along the sea wall instead. After another mile or so we reached Hinks Pioneer Café for an ice cream. Honestly, the children probably didn't need this second bribe but I fancied an ice cream and was able to pass it off as me being a generous parent. After the children had chosen their ice creams (raspberry ripple) I then casually said something like "oh go on then, you've twisted my arm" and ordered a scoop of chocolate cookie dough for myself. This gave the impression that it was a spontaneous decision, rather than something I had been thinking about since we left the arcade. The sun was continuing to shine, so we sat and enjoyed our ice creams before completing the last ten minutes of walking back to the car.  "How much further is it to the ice cream?" 
Our year-round 10% off deal has been bumped up to 20% until 21/11/24
Good news!
Red Funnel has temporarily doubled our usual 10% discount for the next few weeks. You can now use our booking widget or this link to get 20% off car ferry travel until 21st November 2024. Your booking is still with Red Funnel, the widget just takes you through to the Red Funnel website with the booking applied. Is now a good time to book?
That's an excellent question. Congratulations.
For a ferry to or from the Isle of Wight in the next few weeks then this is a very good deal and I would say you are unlikely to find a bigger discount (see our ferry deals page for other offers and ideas for saving money). For ferry travel in 2025, it is a stick-or-twist scenario. There are two factors to consider.
 You've bought tickets to the Isle of Wight Festival...but don't pay through the nose for the ferry Red Funnel and Wightlink have both released their 'early bird' ferry deals for the Isle of Wight Festival 2025. If you are planning on coming to the Isle of Wight Festival in 2025, then you need to get on and book these deals - as they are a massive saving compared to standard fares (Ed: calm down, dear). Personally, I would drop the kids off late at school or miss a friend's wedding if it was necessary to ensure that I got this deal. You can book the Wightlink early bird deal here from Portsmouth or Lymington and the Red Funnel early bird deal here from Southampton. How much will I save with the early bird ferry deal for the ISle of Wight Festival 2025?Probably about £150 - £200 if you plan to bring a car to the Isle of Wight Festival 2025. Wightlink is offering a return with a car and up to seven passengers for about £100 if you book before 31st October 2024. They are also offering day returns for £50, but day tickets for the Isle of Wight Festival haven't been released yet, so that's a bit of a gamble. Red Funnel's prices are similar but they range from about £70 - £115 depending on when you travel. We don't know when this offer expires but some of the peak time returns had already disappeared when I checked. Standard return fares for a car and passengers to the Isle of Wight are based on demand. Peak prices for lunchtimes on weekends in summer can be more than £300, although they are cheaper if you travel at 1am on a Tuesday. There are also early bird fares for foot passengers which give a more modest saving. Wightlink is offering period returns for the Isle of Wight Festival weekend for £18, which is about half price (book by 31st October 2024). Red Funnel is doing period returns for about £25, which is about a third off the standard fare. These are both good deals, but there are other ways to save money on foot passenger fares. See our guides to foot passenger travel with Wightlink and foot passenger travel with Red Funnel.  Get a move on, or you could £300ish rather than £100ish to get to the Isle of Wight Festival 2024 What if I've missed the early bird deal for ferry travel to the Isle of Wight Festival 2025?Don't panic. Sit down with a strong cup of tea. It's going to be OK. There are other options available:
Some people stay off site to avoid camping (and to get a cheaper ferry deal). This is The Lakes, Rookley |
Isle of Wight Guru's BlogTales of Isle of Wight days out, attractions and ferry discounts from a Wightophile. This site uses cookies - see our privacy policy. Ads & links in bold may give us a small payment from the seller, at no cost to the buyer. However, this never affects our views - if we like it, we recommend it. Archives
January 2025
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