Visiting Guernsey: what you need to know

Where is Guernsey?

Guernsey is located in the English Channel, but is closer to the coast of France than to the UK, around 30 miles off the coast of Normandy, to the west of the Cherbourg peninsula (also called the Cotentin peninsula) and north of St Malo. The Bailiwick of Guernsey is actually made up of six inhabited islands, including Alderney, Sark and Herm.

Is Guernsey part of the UK?

No, Guernsey is not part of the United Kingdom. It is a British Crown dependency, a self-governing possession of the British Crown. The British monarch is also head of state.

Getting to Guernsey from mainland UK

You can reach Guernsey by plane and by ferry from the mainland UK. Ferry routes run from Poole in Dorset, with high-speed ferries taking as little as three hours, plus longer routes via Jersey from Portsmouth which take around 13 hours. There are also direct flight routes from various airports around the UK, including London airports, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Edinburgh and some smaller airports in the south of England such as Bristol, Exeter and Southampton. Flights take as little as 45 minutes from the south coast, or up to two hours from Scotland.

How big is the island of Guernsey?

Guernsey is the second biggest of the Channel islands, and is around 24 square miles in size – the island is only 10 miles long and around five miles wide at its maximum. By comparison, Jersey is almost twice as big at 45 square miles, while the Isle of Wight measures around 147 square miles.

Do you need a passport to get to Guernsey?

No, Guernsey is part of the Common Travel Area (CTA), which includes the UK, the Isle of Man, Ireland and the Channel Islands, so you don’t need a passport to travel there. However, you must have a valid form of photo ID; check with your airline or ferry company as to what they accept. If you are arriving into the Channel Islands from outside the UK or Republic of Ireland, you must have a valid passport, regardless of your nationality.

St Peter Port, Guernsey

What is Guernsey most famous for?

The island might be small but you’re not short of things to do in Guernsey. The island is known for its beautiful scenery, including lovely golden sand beaches, rugged cliffs and lush gardens, but also for its unusual history. French author Victor Hugo lived in exile on the island, writing Les Miserables during his time here, and his home can still be visited. Or explore 800-year-old Castle Cornet which guards the harbour of island capital St Peter Port, built to defend the island against the French.

Guernsey was also one of the few places in the British Isles which was occupied by the Germans during the Second World War, and you can still see remains of this darker chapter of the island’s history.

While the pace of life on Guernsey is already very relaxed, it’s easy to take a boat to one of the neighbouring islands such as car-free Sark, Herm and Alderney, some small enough to walk around in a couple of hours.

What’s the weather like in Guernsey?

Guernsey is slightly warmer and drier than the UK on average, with temperatures dropping to around 5C in January/February and hitting 22C in July, and around half the amount of rainfall. The island can be foggy at times, with mists drifting in off the sea, but the climate is generally mild and summer showers are often short-lived.

Is Guernsey in the same time zone as the UK?

Yes, Guernsey is in the same time zone as the UK, operating on GMT. The islands also observe daylight savings like the rest of the UK, switching to British Summer Time on the last Sunday in March and reverting to GMT on the last Sunday in October.

Explore the island for yourself on our escorted tour of Guernsey