The Alaska Marine Highway Is (Probably) The Longest Ferry Ride Your Car Can Take

As car enthusiasts, most of us love a good road trip, but sometimes destinations are so far that it's better to park it up on a train or a boat and let somebody and something else cover the big part of the journey. This got us wondering: what's the longest ferry in the world that you can take your car onto?

The most likely answer lies right here in the U.S, specifically the Alaska Marine Highway System, which covers 3,500 miles of coastline. The longest regular route on the AMHS has indeed been dubbed the "world's longest ferry ride" and goes from Bellingham, Washington (a town 90 miles north of Seattle) to Skagway, Alaska. I got in touch with AMHS spokesperson Gabe Strong, who says this route is 941 nautical miles long, or the equivalent of 1,083 regular miles. (One nautical mile is the distance you'd cover in an hour going one knot, by the way.)

According to the MV Columbia's schedule, this route takes exactly three days going north, but three-and-a-half days going back south. For reference, Google Maps says Bellingham to Skagway is a 28-hour drive through Canada. Although for context, Alaska is also home to a 240-mile stretch of highway where there are no services whatsoever, and finding gas higher than 90 octane up there is weirdly difficult, so perhaps driving isn't the best idea.

But Bellingham to Skagway isn't the longest journey AHMS ever runs because it also occasionally sends a boat from Bellingham all the way to Whittier, Alaska. Train enthusiast DownieLive on YouTube rode this very route a few years ago, and it took six days and five nights.

According to Strong, this route used to happen as often as once or twice a month, but due to limited funding, boats, and crew, it's now a once-a-year affair. He says there are currently only two ferries in the fleet that are certified for this level of open-ocean seafaring: the MV Kennicott and MV Columbia. The last Bellingham-Whittier run was April 2026, which was apparently the first time it happened at all in "three to four years," according to a reservation agent I spoke with. The next one is scheduled for April 2027 — it'll cost $1,765 to bring a regular-sized vehicle onboard plus $761 for an adult passenger.

The AHMS does go even further than Whittier, as the terminus is Dutch Harbor. But to get there from Washington and travel all 3,500 miles, you'd have to take the once-a-year ship to Whittier, then transfer ferries, possibly multiple times.

Here's the thing, though: One British news outlet, the Daily Express, indeed ran a headline in 2024 calling the AHMS the world's longest ferry ride, but that's admittedly the only place it solidly gets that distinction. The title of DownieLive's video calls it America's longest ferry, not the world's, while Travel + Leisure called it North America's longest ferry system.

And as far as I can tell, the AMHS itself is hesitant to declare that it is indeed the world's longest car-accommodating ferry. When I asked point-blank whether it was, a reservation agent said she wasn't sure, and while it's almost certainly the longest ferry on this continent, Strong isn't 100% sure there isn't a longer ferry out there somewhere in the world. Perhaps it doesn't need the record, then. While it's not exactly a world-famous tourist destination, Strong says everybody who takes the AMHS loves it, and it's a popular alternative to taking a cruise that covers the same geography, offering more flexibility in where you stop and for how long.

Is the AMHS really the world's longest ferry you can put your car on, then? Let's just say: sure, until we're proven otherwise.