Saint Helier
St Helier is the capital of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel.
St Helier is the capital of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. It is the most populous of the twelve parishes of Jersey, with a population of 35,822, over one-third of the island's total population. The town of St Helier is the largest settlement and only town of Jersey. The town consists of the built-up areas of St Helier, including First Tower, and parts of the parishes of St Saviour and St Clement, with further suburbs in surrounding parishes.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Saint Helier
10 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01Jersey Zoo
Jersey Zoo is a zoological park established in 1959 on the island of Jersey in the English Channel by naturalist and writer Gerald Durrell. It is operated by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust.
5.5 km · zoological park in Jersey, Channel Islands · Wikipedia - 02Elizabeth Castle
Elizabeth Castle is a castle and tourist attraction, on a tidal island within the parish of Saint Helier, Jersey. Construction was started in the 16th century when the power of the cannon meant that the existing stronghold at Mont Orgueil was insufficient to defend the Island and the port of St Helier was vulnerable to attack by ships armed with cannons.
1.6 km · castle in Jersey, Channel Islands · Wikipedia - 03La Motte
La Motte is a tidal island, and listed archaeological site, also known as Green Island, located in the Vingtaine de Samarès in the parish of St Clement on the south-east coast of Jersey, Channel Islands. There is evidence of human visits to the island since Neolithic times, having left a cairn, a number of middens and cists which were uncovered in the early 20th century.
3.7 km · tidal island, and listed archaeological site in Jersey · Wikipedia - 04La Hougue Bie
La Hougue Bie is a historic site, with museum, in the Jersey parish of Grouville. La Hougue Bie is depicted on the 2010 issue Jersey 1 pound note.
3.7 km · historic site, with museum, in the Parish of Grouville, Jersey · Wikipedia - 05La Cotte de St Brelade
La Cotte de St Brelade is an archaeological site preserving a rich record of Middle Palaeolithic activity and Ice Age faunal remains. It is located in the parish of Saint Brélade, Jersey on the south west corner of the island.
5.8 km · Paleolithic site on the coast of Jersey in the Channel Islands · Wikipedia - 06Fort Regent
Fort Regent is a 19th-century fortification and leisure centre on Mont de la Ville, in St. Helier, Jersey.
600 m · fort, used as a leisure centre, in Jersey, Channel Islands · Wikipedia - 07Samarès Manor
Samarès Manor is a manor house with medieval origins in the Vingtaine de Samarès, in the parish of St. Clement in Jersey, and is the traditional home of the Seigneur de Samarès.
2.7 km · manor house in Jersey · Wikipedia - 08St Matthew's Church
St Matthew's Church, also known as the Glass Church, is an Anglican church in Millbrook, in the parish of Saint Lawrence, Jersey, in the Channel Islands. Built in 1840, the church is known for its glass-work by René Lalique added later.
2.7 km · church in the parish of Saint Lawrence, Jersey · Wikipedia - 09Ville-ès-Nouaux
Ville-ès-Nouaux is a Neolithic site, located in the parish of Saint Helier on the island of Jersey. It consists of a gallery tomb and a dolmen surrounded by a stone circle.
1.9 km · Neolithic site in Jersey · Wikipedia - 10Saint Thomas'
St Thomas Church is a historic Roman Catholic church in St. Helier, Jersey.
500 m · Catholic church in Saint Helier, Jersey · Wikipedia
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What Wikivoyage says to see
Consider buying a Jersey Heritage Pass for the main attractions. In 2022 it costs £36.75 adult, £33.25 senior, £24.40 child or student. It's valid for four sites over 7 days, so effectively it saves the fourth entry fee.
- 01Elizabeth Castle
Castle on a tidal islet, built from the 16th century when the stronghold at Mont Orgueil became vulnerable to improving cannon power.
- 02Maritime Museum
Apr-Oct: daily 10AM-5PM; Nov-Mar: Sun 10AM-4PM.
- 03Jersey Museum & Art Gallery
Apr-Oct: daily 10AM-5PM; Nov-Mar: daily 10AM-4PM.
- 04Samarès Manor Botanic Gardens
Grande Route de St Clement JE2 6QW (Bus 1a),.
- 05Government House
The official residence of the Lieutenant Governor of Jersey.
From Wikivoyage: Saint Helier, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Things to do
What's on? Check the Jersey Evening Post, Jersey.com, or BBC Radio Jersey on 88.8 FM. Check the tides a few days in advance for those attractions reached by tidal causeway, since low tide comes 45-60 min later each day. Elizabeth Castle website (above) posts crossing times that will be close enough for the others. Otherwise check Easytide (free) with the reference port as St Helier.
- 01Jersey Opera House
This theatre and opera house remains closed for reconstruction and is not planned to reopen until 2025, but is running performances at other locations in 2024.
From Wikivoyage: Saint Helier, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Where to eat
Occasional themed food weeks celebrate the different cuisines of Jersey. Tennerfest in Oct/Nov is a promotion where you can sample top-rated restaurants for a fixed price. Midtown places include Quayside Bistro, Casa Paco, Bohemia (below), Colmar (below), Cafe Spice, Abilio's, Mano's and Park House Thai. East of the harbour are Moita's, Roseville, D L'Etang and Thai Dicq.
- 01Cafe JAC
Phillips Street, St Helier JE2 4SW (Underneath Jersey Arts Centre),.
- 02Halkett Pub & Eating House
Halkett Place, St Helier JE2 4WG,.
- 03Brasserie Colmar
Slick friendly bistro with a good menu selection.
- 04Great Wall
Chinese takeaway, mostly good standard of food.
- 05Trinity Arms
Pleasant slick place for pub grub — the full car park tells you it's popular.
From Wikivoyage: Saint Helier, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Saint Helier
- Airports
- Brest Bretagne airport (BES), 188 km · Nantes Atlantique (NTE), 229 km · Bristol (BRS), 248 km
- Stations
- Saint Aubin, 4.4 km
- Brest → Saint Helier1839 km · quickest by road, 28h 17m · $175–240
- London → Saint Helier294 km · quickest by road, 7h 59m · £31–42
- Nantes → Saint Helier223 km · quickest by road, 4h 39m · €24–34
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Saint Helier
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Saint Helier. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get inAll these ferries are year-round and take vehicles, with daily sailings in summer, but the fast-cat from Poole is more likely to be cancelled in bad weather.
- Get inin St Helier is the usual landing point, but some of the Manche Iles ferries sail to Gorey on the east coast.
- Get aroundMost of the routes follow green and quiet lanes and off-road shared use paths, however some routes do have sections on main roads, which on the densely populated island can be quite traffic heavy at times.
- Go nextGuernsey: the ferry lands you at St Peter Port, with a much-battered harbour castle and a museum.
From Wikivoyage: Jersey, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-09.
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If you know how people move in Saint Helier – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Saint Helier
- Trinityparish in Jersey, Channel Islands5.4 km
- Saint Lawrenceparish of Jersey in the Channel Islands4.1 km
- Saint Martinparish in Jersey, Channel Islands5.8 km
- Grouvilleparish in Jersey, Channel Islands4.7 km