Wightlink’s guide to travelling with your dog, part three: pet-friendly travel around the Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is one of the most dog-friendly destinations in the UK and travelling around the Island is no different.

Once you step off the ferry there are many ways to navigate around the Island to experience everything the Island has to offer.

Here’s some of the most popular ways to travel on the Isle of Wight easily and safely with your four-legged friend.

If you’re bringing a furry friend with you, having a car is one of the simplest and quickest ways to explore the Isle of Wight.

Your car is a familiar environment for Fido which can make your trip a more enjoyable experience for them. It also means you can stop at places that you spot along the way and change your plans effortlessly during your trip.

Bringing a car to the Isle of Wight is very easy, too, with short 40-minute crossings on the Lymington to Yarmouth route or 45 minute sailings on the Portsmouth to Fishbourne route.

Equally, there is an opportunity to hire a car once on the Island and some will even meet you at the ferry terminal. We recommend checking to see if they will accommodate your pet before making a booking.

• Enterprise – Newport
• Prime Drive – Newport
• South Wight Rentals – Shanklin
• 1st Call – Sandown

There’s an extensive network of buses on the Island run by Southern Vectis that welcome pups onboard like any other member of the family.

The services are frequent and stop all over the Island meaning you and your dog can happily hop on and off as you please.

Train travel is a little more limited on the Island but, you can take your dog on both the modern and steam railways.

A South Western Railway train line connects with the Wightlink’s catamaran at Ryde and is linked by ferry to Portsmouth Harbour Railway Station. Read South Western Railway’s rules on travelling with a dog.

The line travels along the south of the Island and stops at the following locations:

• Ryde Pier Head
• Ryde Esplanade
• Ryde St John’s Road
• Smallbrook Junction (link to Isle of Wight Steam Railway)
• Brading
• Sandown
• Lake
• Shanklin

At Smallbook Junction you can connect to the historic Isle of Wight Steam Railway and experience a different era of train travel with your dog in tow.

Taxis on the Isle of Wight are a great option for travelling with Rex, especially if you’re on foot and also have luggage.

Listed below are a couple of companies that are openly dog friendly:

• ASAP Taxis – East Cowes
• Criss Cross Taxis – Ryde

It’s worth noting that with Criss Cross Taxis you can book Island sight-seeing tours, letting you and your pooch explore the Island at your own pace.

We still suggest you call the company you’re planning of travelling with to check you can bring your dog on the journey.

This is the third and final post of a three-part series, sharing useful travelling and transport advice. For more dog-friendly advice read the two other posts in this series – the first post dealt with the many ways of getting to the ferry and the second addressed what to expect when travelling with Wightlink and your furry friend.