- Where
- South-western English Channel
Bailiwick of Guernsey - Coordinates
- 49.4331° N
2.3608° W - La Coupée
- About 300 ft (91 m) long
a drop of about 330 ft (100 m) each side - People
- 562 (2023 census)
(Wikipedia) - Traffic
- No cars: tractors, bicycles
and horse-drawn carriages - Dark sky
- Dark Sky Community since 2011
(DarkSky International) - Best visited
- Year-round; most sailings in summer
- Advisory
- United Kingdom Level 2
There were no cars, so the loudest thing in the lanes was a tractor towing a trailer of people up the hill; after that, a horse. At the island’s narrow waist the lane ran out along a ridge between railings, with the sea dropping away on both sides and gulls flying below my feet. That night the stars came down as low as the hedges.
The short answer
Sark is an island in the south-western English Channel, off the coast of Normandy, and part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a self-governing British Crown Dependency: Wikipedia describes it as having its own laws, based on Norman law, and its own parliament, the Chief Pleas. Wikipedia gives its population as 562 at the 2023 census, most of them living in the Village, and its area, with the neighbouring island of Brecqhou, as about 5.4 square kilometres. Cars are banned from its roads; only tractors, bicycles and horse-drawn vehicles are allowed. The island is in two parts, Greater Sark and, to the south, Little Sark, joined by the high, narrow isthmus called La Coupée.
Why it's worth knowing
The road along the ridge. Wikipedia gives La Coupée as about 300 feet long with a drop of about 330 feet on each side. The island’s tourism site and Wikipedia agree on the detail everyone remembers: until protective railings were added in 1900, children crossing on windy days went on their hands and knees. After the island’s liberation in 1945, Sark Tourism says, German prisoners of war were ordered to rebuild La Coupée, putting in the concrete supports and handrails that stand today, a job of about six months; Wikipedia adds that the narrow concrete road was built under the direction of the Royal Engineers. Isolated beyond it, the people of Little Sark once spoke their own form of Sercquiais, the island’s Norman dialect.
The field notes
A fief until 2008
Wikipedia records that Sark was granted as a fief to Helier de Carteret in 1565, and that until 2008 its holders of land sat in the Chief Pleas as of right, a system described as feudal and undemocratic. In early 2008 the Chief Pleas voted to reform itself as a chamber of thirty members, twenty-eight elected island-wide, with the hereditary Seigneur and an appointed Seneschal, and the reform took effect with the island’s first general election that year. The island’s highest point, at 374 feet, is named Le Moulin after the windmill of 1571 that stands there, which Wikipedia notes is also the highest point in the Bailiwick of Guernsey.
Dark on purpose
In January 2011 the International Dark-Sky Association, now DarkSky International, designated Sark a Dark Sky Community, and it became the world’s first “Dark Sky Island”. The association credits the island’s offshore position, its low use of electricity and, above all, its lack of public street lights.
Getting about
There are no cars to hire. Boats come in below the island’s cliffs, and an open tractor-drawn trailer, known on the island as the toast-rack, meets every scheduled boat to carry passengers up Harbour Hill for a small fee, according to the island’s tourism pages and Visit Guernsey. After that it is on foot, by hired bicycle, or by horse and carriage; Visit Guernsey counts four cycle-hire shops in the Village.
La Coupée in a hand-tinted print of about 1890–1900.
Photograph: Detroit Publishing Co. (Photochrom Print Collection) · Public domain · cropped
A car-free lane under trees, July 2011.
Photograph: Man vyi · Public domain · cropped
A field gate above the coast at evening, July 2010.
Photograph: Man vyi · Public domain · cropped
Creux Harbour on Sark's east coast, June 2009.
Photograph: Tswgb · Public domain · cropped
- Find out the time of the last boat back before you find out anything else, and write it on your hand.
- Cross the high narrow road at a walking pace, one hand on the rail; stop in the middle to hear the sea on both sides of you.
- This is somebody’s island before it is your day out. Step aside for horses and tractors, and wish good morning to whoever is driving.
- Hire a bicycle and expect to push it up the hills. I put cycling on the list, and pushing a bicycle underneath it, and just one of them got a tick.
- Stay for one night, and go out after dark without a torch until you can bear it no longer. Then use the torch.
La Coupée. A ridge of rock about three hundred feet long joining Greater Sark to Little Sark, with a drop of about three hundred and thirty feet to the sea on either side and a narrow concrete road with railings running along its spine. Until the railings went up in 1900, children crossing it in a wind went on their hands and knees; the supports and handrails that stand now were built by German prisoners of war after the island’s liberation in 1945.
Tally, in the marginRailings on both sides, and I still walked down the exact middle, as carefully as a full cup of tea. Not until the far end did I remember to breathe out.
Getting there
How to get there. Fly or sail to Guernsey first. From the Inter Island Quay at St Peter Port, the Isle of Sark Shipping Company runs passenger ferries to Sark all year, several a day in summer and fewer out of season, according to Visit Guernsey; it gives the crossing as about 35 or 50 minutes depending on the boat, and Wikipedia gives 55 minutes for the 9-mile crossing. Wikipedia also records a summer fast ferry from Jersey. On arrival, walk up Harbour Hill or ride the tractor-drawn trailer that meets each boat, then walk or cycle to La Coupée from the Village.
When to go. Year-round, with the most sailings in summer. For the dark sky, stay overnight and pick a clear night away from the full moon.
What to arrange ahead. Your return sailing, and its time: boats are the only way off. A bicycle if you want to cover the island in a day. A bed for the night if you want the stars. On La Coupée, stay on the road and behind the railings; cyclists are asked not to leave their bicycles on it.
Safety. The State Department has no separate advisory for Guernsey or Sark. It has the United Kingdom at Level 2, exercise increased caution, because of terrorism (9 September 2026); its warnings concern tourist sites, transport hubs and crowded places in Britain, and it notes a risk of isolated violence by dissident groups in Northern Ireland.
Mark this place
Common questions
Where is Sark?
Sark is an island in the south-western English Channel, off the coast of Normandy, and part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a self-governing British Crown Dependency. It is about 9 miles by sea from St Peter Port, Guernsey, and Wikipedia gives its population as 562 at the 2023 census.
Are cars allowed on Sark?
No. Cars are banned from Sark’s roads; only tractors, bicycles and horse-drawn vehicles are allowed. Visitors arriving by boat can ride a tractor-drawn trailer up Harbour Hill, then walk, hire a bicycle or take a horse and carriage.
What is La Coupée on Sark?
La Coupée is the narrow isthmus joining Greater Sark to Little Sark. Wikipedia gives it as about 300 feet long with a drop of about 330 feet to the sea on each side; a concrete road with railings runs along its top.
Why does La Coupée have railings?
Until railings were added to La Coupée on Sark in 1900, children crossing on windy days went on their hands and knees, according to Sark Tourism and Wikipedia. The present concrete supports and handrails were built by German prisoners of war after the island’s liberation in 1945.
Is Sark a Dark Sky Island?
Yes. DarkSky International, then the International Dark-Sky Association, designated Sark a Dark Sky Community in January 2011, making it the world’s first Dark Sky Island. The association credits Sark’s lack of public street lights and its low use of electricity.
How do you get to Sark?
By passenger ferry from St Peter Port, Guernsey, with the Isle of Sark Shipping Company, which sails to Sark all year, several times a day in summer. Visit Guernsey gives the crossing as about 35 or 50 minutes depending on the boat; Wikipedia gives 55 minutes for the 9-mile crossing.
Was Sark a feudal state?
Wikipedia records that Sark was a royal fief from 1565, when it was granted to Helier de Carteret, until 2008, when the Constitution of Sark took effect and the Chief Pleas became a chamber of twenty-eight elected members, the hereditary Seigneur and an appointed Seneschal. The old system was described as feudal.
Is Sark safe to visit?
The U.S. State Department issues no separate advisory for Sark or Guernsey. It has the United Kingdom at Level 2, exercise increased caution, because of terrorism, in an advisory dated 9 September 2026. On Sark itself, the main practical cautions are the cliffs: stay on the road and behind the railings on La Coupée.