Seventy minutes across Port Phillip, two boats each way on most days and a fare that rises 8% from the route page to the checkout. The Portarlington–Docklands timetable hardly changes through the year; the crowds, the holiday calendar and the Mussel Festival do.
Port Phillip Ferries off-peak and peak timetables (identical for Portarlington), checked against its booking calendar for every date from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027; read on 1 October 2026 Port Phillip Ferries – Portarlington ↔ Docklands and All Timetables · 2026-10-01
January is the Portarlington ferry's big month. When the Victorian Government announced on 1 October 2025 that it would keep backing the Docklands service for a further two years, it put the route's traffic at around 120,000 passengers a year, and the January summer peak alone at more than 15,000. The government counts regular commuters to Melbourne among them as well as visitors to the Bellarine, and says the boat still draws thousands of passengers in the colder months.
For a service with such a lopsided year, the timetable barely moves. Port Phillip Ferries publishes separate off-peak and peak timetables, and for Portarlington they are the same: on weekdays the boat leaves the pier at 07:15 and 16:00, with the afternoon boat replaced by an 11:00 on Tuesdays, and at weekends it goes at 09:00 and 17:00. From Docklands the weekday boats leave at 09:30 and 17:40, the weekend ones at 10:40 and 18:30. What the season changes is the calendar wrapped around those times: public holidays run the weekend pattern, and from Christmas Day to 3 January the booking system shows the weekend times every day.
The other thing that shifts is the price. Weekends and public holidays are charged at the higher rate, and since 4 September 2026 a temporary 8% fuel levy has sat on top of every standard ticket. On 1 October 2026, the day of our check, it was still being added.
Port Phillip Ferries prints two sets of numbers for this route, and what separates them is the levy. The Portarlington route page and the first booking screen show the fare before the temporary 8% fuel levy: $23.50 for a weekday adult single and $27.50 at weekends. Checkout then adds the levy per passenger. A second table, lower on the operator's main tickets page, already includes the levy, and that is the price you pay: $25.38 on a weekday, $29.70 at the weekend. Both tables were current on 1 October 2026, and the levy has no announced end date.
Regular travellers can step around it. PortPlus passes, sold for Portarlington–Docklands trips only, carry no levy, last three years and, apart from the 50-trip pass, can be used at weekends without the peak rate. The 50-trip pass is the cheapest per trip but only works on the two weekday commuter boats: the 07:15 from Portarlington and the 17:40 from Docklands.
| Adult | $ 25.38 |
| Concession or senior | $ 23.22 |
| Child 4–16 | $ 15.12 |
| Family, 2 adults and 2 children | $ 71.28 |
| Infant under 4, seat must be booked | Free |
| Adult | $ 29.70 |
| Concession or senior | $ 27 |
| Child 4–16 | $ 18.90 |
| Family, 2 adults and 2 children | $ 84.24 |
| Infant under 4, seat must be booked | Free |
| 10 adult trips ($18.50 a trip) | $ 185 |
| 20 adult trips ($17.50 a trip) | $ 350 |
| 30 adult trips ($16.50 a trip) | $ 495 |
| 50 adult trips, weekday 07:15 and 17:40 boats only ($14.50 a trip) | $ 725 |
| 10 child trips, ages 4–16 ($13.50 a trip) | $ 135 |
| Adult, weekday | $ 23.50 |
| Adult, weekend or public holiday | $ 27.50 |
| Concession, weekday | $ 21.50 |
| Concession, weekend or public holiday | $ 25 |
| Child 4–16, weekday | $ 14 |
| Child 4–16, weekend or public holiday | $ 17.50 |
| Bicycle, rack booked with your ticket | Free |
Port Phillip Ferries fare sheets for 3 August 2026 – 31 December 2027, with the temporary 8% fuel levy in force since 4 September 2026 and still applied on 1 October 2026; read on 1 October 2026 Port Phillip Ferries – Tickets and Timetables, Portarlington pricing including the 8% fuel levy · 2026-10-01
Portarlington faces north from the Bellarine Peninsula, and Docklands lies about 42 kilometres away across Port Phillip in a straight line. The boat heads north-east over open water, passes into the Yarra at its mouth, then turns into Victoria Harbour, 70 minutes after leaving the pier. On some sailings the same catamaran also works the leg along the Bellarine coast to Geelong, which is set out on our Geelong to Melbourne ferry page.
The pier is right in the middle of town. From Newcombe Street, turn into Harding Street, head for the water and walk out along the pier to the ferry berth, following the signs: about three minutes on foot. Since the state rebuilt the pier in 2022 there has been all-weather access from the foreshore to the boat. Parking in Portarlington is free, and Port Phillip Ferries asks its passengers to use the purple zones on its parking map rather than the spaces nearest the water.
Nobody sells tickets on the pier itself. In town, the Post Office takes cash for ferry tickets during its opening hours, and the Portarlington Grand Hotel can sell them by appointment.
Docklands is the easy end. Walk out of Southern Cross, take the outdoor lift up to Harbour Esplanade if you need step-free access, and the terminal is on the waterfront opposite Marvel Stadium, five to ten minutes on. Tram stop D3, inside the free zone, is alongside. The desk takes cards only and stops selling 40 minutes before a departure; groups of ten or more cannot buy there.
No tickets are sold on board. Buy online, or in town at the Post Office (cash) or the Grand Hotel (by appointment). The operator's own pages give two different cut-offs for those counter sales, 60 and 40 minutes before departure, so allow the longer one.
Parking around the pier and the town costs nothing. Port Phillip Ferries asks its passengers to leave the car in the areas shaded purple on the Portarlington parking map it publishes as a PDF.
You can board from 20 minutes before the timetabled sailing until three minutes before it. A missed booked sailing is not refunded, and changing the date means phoning more than 24 hours in advance.
Up to 20 bikes per sailing, booked with your ticket and racked at the stern by the crew. Wheels must measure 50–73 cm, the wheelbase no more than 111 cm, and the bike must weigh under 25 kg. Factory-built e-bikes and e-scooters travel switched off; tricycles and converted e-bikes do not travel.
Health Care Cards (not those issued in a child's name), Pensioner Concession Cards, Veterans' Affairs cards and Seniors cards. Companion Card holders add their companion by phone or email after booking.
A trip booked against a PortPlus pass can be cancelled by email right up to departure, and the ride goes back on the pass. Ordinary tickets are non-refundable.
Portarlington is the part of Port Phillip Ferries' network that the state backs directly. The Victorian Government has supported the Docklands run as a trial since 2017 and kept renewing that support, and in 2022 it finished a $10 million rebuild of Portarlington Pier: all-weather access from the foreshore to the ferry, a pier head strong enough for mussel-farm and emergency vehicles, and a lower landing that is easier to use from the water. Counting the safe harbour, the walkway and the reef, the government puts its spending on the ferry's infrastructure at more than $23 million.
For people who live on the Bellarine, the boat is a commuter service first. PortPlus holders are promised a seat on the morning boat, and the cheapest pass is tied to the 07:15 out and the 17:40 back: a working day in the city between an 08:25 arrival and an 18:50 return to the pier. None of it belongs to Victoria's public transport ticketing. Transport Victoria lists the service among the three ferries it oversees, alongside the Westgate Punt on the lower Yarra, yet myki does not work on board.
07:15 on weekdays, reaching Docklands at 08:25. At weekends and on Victorian public holidays the first boat leaves the pier at 09:00 and arrives at 10:10.
The second boat from Portarlington leaves at 11:00 instead of 16:00, so there is no afternoon sailing into the city. The Docklands departures, 09:30 and 17:40, stay the same as on other weekdays, so a Tuesday day trip from the Bellarine still works.
Not on the route page or the first booking screen, which show $23.50 and $27.50 for an adult single. Checkout adds the levy for each passenger, making it $25.38 on a weekday and $29.70 at weekends. The operator's main tickets page has a table with the levy already included.
The booking calendar says yes. On 25 December 2026 it runs the weekend times, 09:00 and 17:00 from Portarlington and 10:40 and 18:30 from Docklands, and keeps that pattern every day until 3 January 2027.
On Saturday 9 January 2027 the usual weekend boats are replaced by festival sailings: from Docklands at 08:15, 10:15 and 11:15, and back from Portarlington at 14:30, 16:30 and 17:30.
It can be. A 10-trip adult pass costs $185, or $18.50 a trip, with no fuel levy, against $29.70 for a weekend single bought normally. The 10, 20 and 30-trip passes work at weekends; the 50-trip pass is limited to the weekday 07:15 and 17:40 boats.
A factory-built e-bike or an e-scooter is accepted if it is switched off for the crossing, fits the size limits and is booked into one of the 20 racks. Converted e-bikes and tricycles are refused, and charging on board is not allowed.