Six harbour towns you can reach without a car

Harbour towns were built for people who arrived by water or on foot, not by car. Visit without one and they make more sense: the narrow streets stop being a problem, the parking disappears from your worries, and the journey becomes part of the trip.

These six are all reachable by train, sometimes with a short ferry or bus at the end. Journey times are from the nearest large city.

The six towns

• Portelle: two hours by train, then a ten-minute walk downhill to the water.

• Saint-Amarre: a coastal branch line that runs along the cliffs for the last forty minutes.

• Kessvik: a ferry from the mainland station, timed to meet every train.

• Aldora: one change, and the station is on the quay itself.

• Marrowby: a bus from the junction that stops at the harbour wall.

• Tessel Point: a slow train with only two carriages and very large windows.

Arrive by boat once and you will never want to arrive by motorway again.

How to plan it

Book the long train leg in advance and leave the local connections flexible. Branch lines and ferries rarely sell out, and timetables are often built around the main-line arrivals.

What to pack

A small bag you can carry up steps, shoes that cope with wet stone, and a paper timetable in case the phone signal drops along the coast. Everything else can be bought in the town, often better.

Stay at least two nights. The first evening you notice the boats. By the second you know which café opens earliest and which bench gets the last of the sun.

When to go

Late spring and early autumn are the best times. The ferries and branch lines run their fuller timetables, the water is calm, and rooms cost less than in July. Midsummer is lively but busy, and some towns fill up with day visitors by late morning.

Winter is quieter still. Several of these towns keep one café and one bakery open all year, and a harbour on a grey January afternoon has a beauty that summer visitors never see. Check the ferry timetable carefully, because winter crossings are fewer.

Whatever the season, arrive in daylight at least once. The view as the train comes round the last bend and the harbour opens up below you is the part of the journey people remember longest.