Information on Ramsgate



The seaside town of Ramsgate is situated on the Isle of Thanet in east Kent, England and is a member of the ancient confederation of Cinque Ports. The town has a population of around 40,000 and boasts one of the largest marinas on the English south coast.

Port Ramsgate is the cross channel port situated in the town and is owned and run by the Thanet District Council which has been providing cross channel ferry services for many years.

Ramsgate Harbour was built in 1850 and is unique in being the only Royal Harbour in the United Kingdom due to its proximity to mainland Europe with the ferry terminal area being built on reclaimed land. The Royal Harbour Marina has 700 berths for yachts and small crafts.

Sally Ferries provided passenger car ferries to Dunkirk for many years but closed their route due to completion from the Dover to Calais routes being more popular. Transeuropa Ferries currently provide freight services, with passenger services only available with vehicles to the Port of Oostende in Oostende, Belgium. Access to the port is via a tunnel avoiding the town centre congestion.

Ramsgate also has a lifeboat station of the RNLI.



Ramsgate has a good connection to the national road network through the A299 Thanet Way which connects with the M2/A2 for access to the M25 with London approximately 1 hour away.  The A256 links Ramsgate to Dover and onto the A20 for the Channel Tunnel.

Ramsgate railway station is situated near the parish of St Lawrence at the top end of the town and is currently served by trains from London Charing Cross and London Victoria with present journey times to London of 1hour and 50 minutes.
Services are operated by Southeastern via Margate, Chatham and Bromley South or via Canterbury West or Dover Priory and Ashford International stations.

A new High Speed service using the new “Javelin” trains over the High Speed 1 route is planned for December 2009 and this will cut journey times to 84 minutes.