Family holiday on Jersey without a car

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Thinking about a family holiday to Jersey and having seen the cost of hiring a car, wondering if it’s doable using public transport to get around the island. What are the best attractions for children on the island and is the bus service regular and reliable and does it serve these attractions?

We did this with a three year old a few years ago and it was fine - buses are regular and inexpensive and you can get right round the island without any problems. There is a bus depot in St Helier and depending on where you're staying/going you might need to change there, but it's all very easy.

Brilliant bus service on Jersey. Won’t be a problem at all. It’s the way we travelled when we went there.

Great, thank you both! Just conscious we will be clock watching a lot if we go anywhere in case we miss the bus back!

what are the best places to visit with children? Older primary age……

Anyone else been to Jersey recently with kids?

I'm from Jersey although I haven't lived there for a while.

You could absolutely get around by bus but honestly, I would invest in a hire car. There are so many little hidden gems around the island that you could only find by exploring by car.

Jersey Zoo. Mont Orgeuil Castle. War tunnels. All brilliant although war tunnels were slightly less easy to get to by bus from memory. We hired a car for one day, using Evie electric car hire to drive along the north coast.

We took ours a few years ago and stayed at The Merton Hotel, which was really child friendly, kids club, pool. We did have a car, but didn’t use it that much. On the sea front at St Helier there was a big bus depot, with buses going all over the island, there’s hardly any traffic jams, so buses run pretty much to timetable. You could always hire a car for a few days instead of the whole time.

It’ll be OK if you’re staying in St Helier. If not, the time spent bussing in and out again will rack up.

Possibly too late for you, but we rented the apartment at Elizabeth Castle and it was fabulous when we had the island to ourselves each night.

Liberty buses worked well for us. They sell a family card. The app lets you track physical whereabouts of the buses.

Can’t you take your car over on the ferry?

Thanks. How are the roads for driving?

would love to hear about some of the hidden gems, though I guess they wouldn’t stay hidden!

Thank you! Oh, I’ll have a look at electric car hire

Thanks! Did you do self catering or Hotel at The Merton? Did you like it?

Yeah I did wonder that. Don’t want to be clock watching constantly in case we miss the bus!

Oh that sounds lovely!

Possibly, though we are not that handy for the ferry. Will look into prices versus flights.

We did this a few years ago, buses were cheap and easy. I really don't think it would have been worth hiring a car. We did the castles, the zoo, and a few museums. Kids loved it, said it was one of our best holidays.

If you live anywhere with narrow rural lanes you'll be right at home! That's the only driving challenge apart from a couple of roundabouts with unusual rules, the max speed limit is 30mph except for the only stretch of dual carriageway on the island where it's 40 😆

A tiny hire car with a hairdryer for an engine would be more than adequate.

The roads are fine. Lots of single lanes so be prepared to find passing spaces.

Some of my favorites that may not be on the usual bus routes are corbiere lighthouse, portelet Bay, bouley Bay, rozel, greve de lecq, noirmont point (ww2 bunkers galore) probably loads more but you'll find them if just have a drive out.

The usual suspects but really fantastic are Gorey, for the castle but the village is beautiful.
St Aubins, St brelades Bay, the watersplash down at St ouens.
The amaizing maze is good for the kids. The zoo of course.

It's just a beautiful island, I've not been back for a few years I'm very jealous!

As others have said, if you're staying in St. Helier you'll be fine with buses, but a car for one day is a good idea for going off the beaten track, or those places where the buses aren't as frequent.

Roads can be narrow especially in the countryside and confident reversing is advantageous! Top speed limit is 40mph and there are lots of 20mph zones and 15mph 'green lanes' where cyclists and pedestrians have official priority.

I can't see that you've said how old your children are but there's the Zoo, Heritage sites such as the two castles, Hamptonne country life museum and the maritime museum, the Amazin Maze, Rocco's crazy golf in St Ouens Bay, Jump Jersey at Les Ormes, the War Tunnels if they're a bit older (7/8+), a fun splash pool in Millbrook Park if they're a bit younger. And plenty of beaches and parks of course!

Look at Jersey Walk Adventures for fun low tide walks out onto the seabed, they do specific family friendly ones. The Jersey duchess does south coast boat tours for all ages, Seafaris and Jersey Rib Adventures do speed boat trips with a minimum of age of about 4 from memory.

Have a great stay

Jersey has very few real roundabouts - most of the ones you’ll come across are actually ‘filter in turn’ which means you literally take it in turns to enter. This also means that drivers on the island are often unsure when using the real roundabouts. The speed limit is 40mph across the island, except for areas where it’s specifically different (signs just like the UK to indicate that). If you potter round the lanes at 30 you’ll drive people mad.

If you haven’t booked yet, it’s really worth a look at Heritage Lets (run by Jersey Heritage). They have some fantastic properties with high quality decor. The ones at Hamptonne give you use of the lovely playground after closing every night and the chickens will come and chat. The only issue is that you really would need a car for most of them as they tend to be rural. The ones at Elizabeth Castle are very near the bus terminal though.

Personally I would swerve the Amaizing Maze unless you’re really stuck for things to do. It’s really expensive and not that brilliant - if your kids are happy at the beach you’ll have a lovely time.

I'd probably go bus and throw in the occasional taxi if needs be, it will probably still be cheaper than a rental.

Following from @Wonkypictureframe there's only one 'official' filter in turn 3 lane junction which is signed as such (you just give way to your right, but only to one vehicle, then take your turn). In a couple of other places there are filter signs where two lanes merge.

There are a couple of mini-roundabouts elsewhere where locals tend to filter by default as it keeps things moving, but take care as not everyone does, some will treat them as normal mini-roundabouts giving way to all traffic from the right.

DH and I have just had a brainstorm and can think of 4 'proper' roundabouts (ie: more than one lane), 3 smaller single lane roundabouts, and 1 filter junction.

Drivers are reasonably polite here. Every morning rush hour I pull out of a side road onto a busy main road and I'm rarely waiting more than a minute or so for someone to stop and wave me out. It's also common for drivers to stop and let pedestrians cross if they're waiting away from an official crossing. Only exception to this is the dual carriageway into town.

@FoleyHuck even as I wrote, I was thinking how many filter in turns there actually were - as you say, it’s probably more how minis are used! The other thing is that Jersey drivers will sometimes stop on a roundabout to let people on, which is bonkers, but best to be prepared for it. And of course the junction by St Mary’s church which is just a crossroads but has been laid out with bricks to resemble a roundabout as a speed reduction measure, causing endless confusion but surprisingly few accidents.