Ferry passengers travelling to Europe face two-hour waits, the Port of Dover has said as the bank holiday getaway begins and new EU border checks are introduced.
The port is preparing for 18,000 travellers between Friday and Sunday, and warned that the busiest periods each day will be between 6am and about 1pm.
Saturday will be the port’s busiest day of the year so far, with more than 8,000 travellers.
In a traffic update posted at 11.30am on Friday, the port said people faced a 120-minute wait to get through French border and security checks, in addition to queues of traffic leading up to the port on the approach roads which may add to the waiting time.
In a separate advisory message, it said as this is the first holiday period since the implementation of the EU’s entry-exit system (EES), officials are urging passengers to follow travel advice to keep journeys running smoothly.
EES involves people from third-party countries such as the UK having their fingerprints registered and photograph taken to enter the Schengen Area, which consists of 29 European countries, mainly in the EU.
But the Port of Dover said the full system was not running for cars yet, and that it is still awaiting delivery and installation of the French technology.
It means French border police are manually creating traveller records at the eastern docks.
Passengers are being advised to use the main road routes to the port, arrive no earlier than two hours before departure and ensure they have a confirmed booking and all travel documents ready.
Travellers are also being told to prepare for possible delays by bringing food and water, while anyone who misses their ferry because of disruption will be moved on to the next available sailing.
Meanwhile, the AA has estimated that 23.4 million car journeys will take place on Friday.
It highlighted likely traffic blackspots to include routes heading towards east coast destinations such as Skegness, the M4 from London towards Wales, and the M6 towards the north-west coast.
The RAC expects leisure traffic to peak on Friday and Saturday.
Strike action and engineering work will also cause disruption on a number of routes on Britain’s railways.
Walkouts by members of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association on Friday and Saturday in a dispute over pay will affect West Midlands Railway (WMR) and London Northwestern Railway services.
Timetables will be slashed on both days, including no WMT trains after 7pm on Friday or before 7am on Saturday.
Network Rail engineering work means parts of key intercity lines will be shut.
The East Coast Main Line will be closed between York and Darlington from Saturday through to Monday.
Buses will replace trains between Newport and Bristol Parkway from Saturday for two weeks.
There will be no Thameslink services through central London between Saturday and Monday, affecting services to Gatwick and Luton airports.
🚄 Travelling by train this warm weekend? ☀️
— Network Rail (@networkrail) May 22, 2026
🚰 Make sure you keep hydrated and tell a member of staff if you feel unwell.#HotRailway #TravelAdvice pic.twitter.com/t1kGA1nxwq
Travel trade organisation Abta said there will be a surge in families heading off on holiday this weekend as it marks the start of half-term breaks for many schools.
It reported strong demand for short-haul sunshine holidays in destinations such as mainland Spain, Italy, the Balearic and Canary Islands, and Portugal, as well as city breaks in Milan, Nice and Barcelona.
Meanwhile, parking app company RingGo said its analysis of recent bank holiday periods found Saturday is likely to be the busiest day of the long weekend at coastal towns and cities such as Bournemouth, Hastings and Torquay.
It said seaside towns are “consistently outperforming inland locations” during bank holidays in terms of the number of parking sessions recorded.
The Met Office has forecast a heatwave in some parts this weekend.
Temperatures are set to peak on Monday when 33C could be recorded in southern England and the Midlands.
