Southampton port to Porstmouth

If I’m interpreting your question as being getting from Southampton to Portsmouth I’d consider the very inexpensive National Express coach. https://www.nationalexpress.com/en As for getting to EU, does that mean you want to take a ferry onward to Belgium or France and what are your times?

Thanks. Is that a bus company?

Yes, arriving a Saturday morning in Southampton, and wanting to get to EU.

I was thinking a ferry across the channel to France would seem natural. Apparently the Caen harbor is one of the main ones.

The airport is 6 miles away, and there are flight to Amsterdam and Paris mainly, and rarely some other places.

National Express operate to Southampton and Portsmouth, but not between the two, other than via London.

There is a citybus, the X4, which runs from Southampton Central Station to Portsmouth every 40 minutes. It stops at Portsmouth Estella Road- which is just less than 5 minutes walk across the road from the Continental Ferry Port, and is under the £2 fare cap until the end of 2024. Journey time is 1 hour 40 minutes.

Or take the direct train to Portsmouth Harbour then 20 minute walk or taxi.

But bus is better in this case as you are under no time pressure.

That is so odd, I checked the National Express route before I posted and noted the fare £5+ but didn’t note the time. I did see that it said 0 changes. I picked a random date in June. Very odd.

Thank you everyone. I found a different solution.

We were arriving on a Cruise Ship in Southampton, and seeking to get to EU.

One option, was the bus to Portsmouth, and then getting a ferry, but in that month, the destinations are not plentiful

Another option was to fly from Southampton airport which is only 5 miles away. Bus, taxi, or even walking would work. But not many direct flights. Mainly to Dublin and Amsterdam.

Another option was to take train back to London, then fly to anywhere. But that train ride seems to be about $90 each.

So the solution is to not arrive in Southampton. Get off the cruise ship at the previous port.

National Express takes 55 min to an hour from Southampton to Portsmouth.

I don't know why anyone would ever walk to Southampton Airport when it has a frequent train service from Southampton Central which stops right outside the terminal doors.

Nor is the train fare $90 per person from Southampton to London. An Anytime Day Single walk up fare is £54.50 ($65)- the highest standard class fare you can pay on the route. But it is unlikely you would pay that with short notice advance fares. Earlier this evening, at 1857 I looked the $90 fare up, as it sounded so unrealistic. There were still £24 advance fares available for the 1900 train- that is 3 minutes later. That is NOT unusual even if it makes the concept of Advance seem a bit odd.

If you book well ahead Advance Fares can be as low as £9.70 in Standard Class or £16 in first class.

Other routes served from Southampton are Faro. Alicante, Malaga, Majorca, Geneva, Bergerac, Chambery, Kerry and Caen (not all daily) but more than the airport is being given credit for.

Bournemouth (Hurn) Airport also has Ryanair flights to 20 different destinations as well as Easyjet and Jet2 to as far away as Turkey and Budapest- https://www.bournemouthairport.com/content/uploads/BA-2024-New-Schedule-issue-5.pdf

Bournemouth is a 28 minute train ride from Southampton. Yes you then need a taxi as the bus service dates from when Hurn was a holiday airport, so is infrequent.

I looked National Express up as there has never historically been a PTS to SOU NE bus. It looks as if the Heathrow to Southsea Pier bus has now been diverted via Southampton, so making a letter L of the route (combining 2 pre-Covid routes). But that only runs every 2 hours and only 3 of those a day call at the Continental Ferry Port which is where the OP was wanting, not the City Centre. Unless your journey happened to coincide with one of those it would be far more sensible to take the frequent service bus.

"I looked National Express up as there has never historically been a PTS to SOU NE bus" - I am genuinely puzzled by this, as I used to take the Heathrow to Southampton NE bus reasonably often, and it would go on to Portsmouth.

Southampton to Gatwick is 2 hours and costs from £14. I cannot imagine many european destinations you cannot reach from there.

Make sure your solution is approved by your cruise line in advance. Not all allow this.

I wanted to go Portsmouth to Le Havre, but it seems this is only a summer route. The Caen ferry continues, but you arrive in the port 10 miles from the city center at 10 at night.

Yes, I did check with the cruise ship line. Apparently this is a big deal in US ports, but it's fine for my EU trip.