To: Ireland from: USA, Europe, rest of the world. Fly to Dublin or Belfast via London - Belfast City airport 30 miles (48Km) Belfast International 50 miles (80Km) from Portaferry. Both airports have regularly bus services into Belfast city centre.
To: Portaferry from: Belfast Follow the A20 through Newtownards, Grayabbey, Kircubbin then Portaferry.
To: Portaferry from: Dublin Follow signs for The North/Newry, then through Downpatrick to Strangford - a 5 minute ferry crossing then takes you to Portaferry.
Ferry Crossings from Strangford - a half-hourly service runs every day, except Christmas Day - only very extreme weather conditions affect crossings. Times are as follows: - for departures from Portaferry ADD 15 minutes. First Sailing - Mon-Fri 07:30 Sat 08:00 Sun 09:30 Last Sailing - Mon-Fri 22:30 Sat 23:00 Sun 22:30
Buses: Translink, the main (or rather, the only) transport company in N.I. runs Ulsterbus, the N.I. bus company. Ulsterbus timetables Belfast has 2 main bus stations: Europa (Glengall Street) and Laganside (Donegall Quay). To the best of my knowledge, Laganside is still the one that serves Portaferry.
There aren't any trains. N.I. has about 2 train tracks. Neither go anywhere near the Ards Peninsula.