London to Calais?

[JGurney]

It seems to have become very difficult to get from London to Calais! Most ferries seem to be for motorists only. The only ones I found that we could walk onto were either so early in the morning that we would have to stay the night before in Dover or so late that we would arrive too late to carry on to our destination (De Panne, Belgium).

The only coach service seems to be a BlaBlaCar Bus service leaving London Victoria at 8:30 and arriving in Calais at 14:15. That seemed the solution, but then I saw a number of comments on websites saying that BlaBlaCar Bus services are poor quality and unreliable, apparently often running hours late, toilets not working, etc. Does anyone have experience of this service and it's reliability? Or are there other ways of getting to Calais or Dunkirk which I have missed?

 

[bspahh]

It seems to have become very difficult to get from London to Calais! Most ferries seem to be for motorists only. The only ones I found that we could walk onto were either so early in the morning that we would have to stay the night before in Dover or so late that we would arrive too late to carry on to our destination (De Panne, Belgium).

The only coach service seems to be a BlaBlaCar Bus service leaving London Victoria at 8:30 and arriving in Calais at 14:15. That seemed the solution, but then I saw a number of comments on websites saying that BlaBlaCar Bus services are poor quality and unreliable, apparently often running hours late, toilets not working, etc. Does anyone have experience of this service and it's reliability? Or are there other ways of getting to Calais or Dunkirk which I have missed?

Rome2Rio has the recommended route from London to De Panne by Eurostar. There is also a Flixbus to Brussels.

 

[philg999]

Why not Eurostar to Lille then travel back to Calais on a TGV? Not exactly a low cost option nor very quick admittedly. You can also get a train connection from Lille to De Panne if that’s where you’re headed.

 

[johncrossley]

If you take a bike with you, you can use most ferries that foot passengers can't use. You have to ride the bike on to the ferry. Eurotunnel has a cycle service from Folkestone but only runs once a day.

 

[Alfonso]

It seems to have become very difficult to get from London to Calais! Most ferries seem to be for motorists only. The only ones I found that we could walk onto were either so early in the morning that we would have to stay the night before in Dover or so late that we would arrive too late to carry on to our destination (De Panne, Belgium).

The only coach service seems to be a BlaBlaCar Bus service leaving London Victoria at 8:30 and arriving in Calais at 14:15. That seemed the solution, but then I saw a number of comments on websites saying that BlaBlaCar Bus services are poor quality and unreliable, apparently often running hours late, toilets not working, etc. Does anyone have experience of this service and it's reliability? Or are there other ways of getting to Calais or Dunkirk which I have missed?

You can take P&o to Calais as a foot passenger but you're almost certainly better off taking a bike on dfds from Dover to dunquerque then the free bus from dunquerque to de panne, or Eurostar to Lille or a bus from London to Lille, Bruges, or Brussels then the train. There's also the bike on the Chunnel option or if there's lots of you, a UK taxi to Calais, dunquerque or wherever....or even the Harwich to hook of Holland ferry then head south depending on where you are in the uk

 

[adamedwards]

Lots of helpful stuff on this page by the Man at Seat 61: https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/london-to-paris-by-ferry.htm

Having said that for Calais he says Eurostar to Lille and then back to Calais by TGV.

 

[JGurney]

Thanks to everyone who made suggestions. I had looked at E* via Lille, but at 65km direct from Calais to De Panne, and less via Dunkirk, going 200km Calais > Lille > De Panne just seemed silly. It is what I would do if I had to go there for some reason, but it makes De Panne less appealing as a destination of choice. Taking an otherwise unwanted scrap bicycle and abandoning it at Dunkirk would mean having to leave London after the bike ban ended, and leave the problem of getting another such to travel back (or hope the original was still where it had been left several days earlier), and again just seems silly. We have ended up going somewhere else altogether. That a journey which used to be simple and straightforward has become so difficult is a strange kind of progress. (It must feel worse for inhabitants of Kent, for whom even the E* option would mean a journey the wrong way to get to London first only to come back through Kent again).

 

[duncanp]

Although going via Lille may seem a long diversion because of the distance, it is reasonably quick because the trains involved use the TGV line.

From London to Lille is 90 minutes, and then Lille to Dunkirk is 30 minutes non stop on the TERGV train.

At Dunkirk there are frequent buses to Leffrincoucke, from where you can change to a bus to De Panne which runs every 30 minutes.

The buses between Dunkirk and De Panne are free to use.

Alternatively from Lille you can take a train to Gent, and then another train from Gent to De Panne.

The advent of the channel tunnel and Eurostar train services has meant that there is less demand for travel from the UK to Calais, especially for foot passenger

 

[johncrossley]

The problem with Eurostar is that the walk on fare from London to Lille is £183. You wouldn't think twice about doing a short hop to northern France on a whim before Eurostar. Now that is only possible at a affordable price if you take the car.

 

[rvdborgt]

Alternatively from Lille you can take a train to Gent, and then another train from Gent to De Panne.

Actually you would change in Kortrijk.

 

[duncanp]

Actually you would change in Kortrijk.

I didn't realise there was a direct service between Kortrijk and De Panne.

Looking at the timetables, it seems that the direct service between Kortrijk and De Panne operates at weekends, and during the week an additional change at Lichtervelde is required.

There used to be passenger ferries from Dover to Ostend, and before the channel tunnel anyone wanting to travel from the UK to Belgium would use this service, and either take the train from Ostend or use the Coastal Tram to get to their final destination.

 

[Class45]

Before lockdown I travelled from London to De Panne via Brussels using the Eurostar any Belgian station ticket. A relaxed journey with time for a leisurely lunch in Brussels.

 

[rvdborgt]

I didn't realise there was a direct service between Kortrijk and De Panne.

Looking at the timetables, it seems that the direct service between Kortrijk and De Panne operates at weekends, and during the week an additional change at Lichtervelde is required.

Well, actually the trains to De Panne are being diverted because of engineering works this weekend and the next. Normally, you'd also change at Lichtervelde in the weekend. But you'd never go via Ghent, which would be a big detour.

 

[trivran]

It used to be that you would simply buy the London to Calais train ticket for little over 30 quid and there you were. Understanding staff at St. Pancras would even sell you the high-speed supplement saving one the bother of taking the slow train to Dover. What a shame that ticket has been withdrawn.

 

[JGurney]

It used to be that you would simply buy the London to Calais train ticket for little over 30 quid and there you were. Understanding staff at St. Pancras would even sell you the high-speed supplement saving one the bother of taking the slow train to Dover. What a shame that ticket has been withdrawn.

Hear hear. I'd not realised how difficult the journey had become.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Swim

 

[fandroid]

The problem with Eurostar is that the walk on fare from London to Lille is £183. You wouldn't think twice about doing a short hop to northern France on a whim before Eurostar. Now that is only possible at a affordable price if you take the car.

With Eurostar now being so expensive and with limited options, you'd think that a commercial opportunity has arisen for a coach service that uses the tunnel and picks up and sets down at intermediate places, including Folkestone and Calais.

 

[AdamWW]

With Eurostar now being so expensive and with limited options, you'd think that a commercial opportunity has arisen for a coach service that uses the tunnel and picks up and sets down at intermediate places, including Folkestone and Calais.

And the fact that it hasn't probably means that in fact there aren't enough people wanting to do this to fill a coach.

 

[bspahh]

With Eurostar now being so expensive and with limited options, you'd think that a commercial opportunity has arisen for a coach service that uses the tunnel and picks up and sets down at intermediate places, including Folkestone and Calais.

I've used https://www.goopti.com/en/ for a trip from Trieste to Ljubljana. They use 8 seater minibuses where you can book a seat. You get door to door service, within the areas that they cover. The prices vary depending on how flexible you are with the departure time. I think it would be a good model for the Channel tunnel.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The problem with Eurostar is that the walk on fare from London to Lille is £183. You wouldn't think twice about doing a short hop to northern France on a whim before Eurostar. Now that is only possible at a affordable price if you take the car.

Like with flying, though, book in advance and it's cheaper. The market for walk-up international travel is tiny. Almost everyone plans European trips in advance.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 Apr 2023 ==

And the fact that it hasn't probably means that in fact there aren't enough people wanting to do this to fill a coach.

Connex used to do one, the problem was that Eurotunnel wouldn't guarantee which departures it would be put on so it wasn't practical to continue it.

 

[johncrossley]

Like with flying, though, book in advance and it's cheaper. The market for walk-up international travel is tiny. Almost everyone plans European trips in advance.

But you don't have to do that with Eurotunnel. It is cheaper in advance but short notice fares are still affordable. Ferries have very cheap day trip offers. So you can decide to have a day trip to France or Belgium if you see that the weather is fine.

 

[Bletchleyite]

But you don't have to do that with Eurotunnel. It is cheaper in advance but short notice fares are still affordable. Ferries have very cheap day trip offers. So you can decide to have a day trip to France or Belgium if you see that the weather is fine.

The market for doing that is very small - and don't try to travel for longer using a day trip fare, they'll come after you for the full fare.

As to the OP's question, does Flixbus go anywhere useful?

 

[zwk500]

The market for doing that is very small - and don't try to travel for longer using a day trip fare, they'll come after you for the full fare.

As to the OP's question, does Flixbus go anywhere useful?

There is a London-Brussels-somewhere that stops at Da Panne on Flixbus's website but I couldn't find anything actually available. Similarly both Dover and Folkestone are listed as stops and you can select a route to Calais or Bruges on the website but I couldn't actually find when the buses run.
I understand why they don't but it's frustrating Flixbus don't have a static page of departure times.

 

[johncrossley]

The market for doing that is very small - and don't try to travel for longer using a day trip fare, they'll come after you for the full fare.

Eurotunnel manage to fill four trains per hour so surely there must be quite a few cars on there who haven't booked weeks in advance?

 

[zwk500]

Eurotunnel manage to fill four trains per hour so surely there must be quite a few cars on there who haven't booked weeks in advance?

Hopping in the car and having a jolly in Calais or Boulogne is much easier than travelling across as a foot passenger because you have the issue of getting from the ferry/train terminal to the actual town (on both sides although Dover is the least problematic of the 4 main terminals).
What a folkestone taxi would charge you to take you across on the train to the beach I don't know...

 

[AdamWW]

Hopping in the car and having a jolly in Calais or Boulogne is much easier than travelling across as a foot passenger because you have the issue of getting from the ferry/train terminal to the actual town (on both sides although Dover is the least problematic of the 4 main terminals).
What a folkestone taxi would charge you to take you across on the train to the beach I don't know...

I believe there is actually a well established market for taxi trips through the tunnel - primarily for people who want to take dogs with them.

Like with flying, though, book in advance and it's cheaper. The market for walk-up international travel is tiny. Almost everyone plans European trips in advance.

To some extent that will be because people have to in order to afford it though.

And while many people can commit to dates for a trip months in advance, not everyone can and "walk-up" travel gives the flexibility to abandon a planned trip if necessary for reasons that insurance wouldn't cover.

 

[littledude]

The market for doing that is very small - and don't try to travel for longer using a day trip fare, they'll come after you for the full fare.

As to the OP's question, does Flixbus go anywhere useful?

Can you not just buy a day trip return for tomorrow, and one for 4 days later, and just use the outward portion of both?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Can you not just buy a day trip return for tomorrow, and one for 4 days later, and just use the outward portion of both?

It's part of the T&Cs of these tickets that if you don't return on the booked sailing you are charged the uplift to a full single. Though whether that's automatic or just done to people who are obviously taking the mick is a bit unclear.

I've also come across the situation that if you book a day trip ticket on foot you have a very small luggage allowance, but that's possibly a bit moot now people have got used to minimalist packing to do a weekend away on Ryanair at the base fare. Though not always - many years ago when I spent a year studying in Hamburg my Mum came across on a cheap day trip on the Harwich boat specifically to courier my luggage back as I was heading elsewhere for a while afterwards.

 

[JGurney]

Ferries have very cheap day trip offers. So you can decide to have a day trip to France or Belgium

The ferry fare was not an issue. The problem was that from Dover only three per day carry foot passengers, one early in the morning and so only useful if you live in or near Dover or stay the previous night there, the other two late in the afternoon leaving little time for onward travel. Those only go to Calais, not to Belgium. They are also P&O, who I would rather avoid in view of their treatment of their workforce.

 

[johncrossley]

The ferry fare was not an issue. The problem was that from Dover only three per day carry foot passengers, one early in the morning and so only useful if you live in or near Dover or stay the previous night there, the other two late in the afternoon leaving little time for onward travel. Those only go to Calais, not to Belgium. They are also P&O, who I would rather avoid in view of their treatment of their workforce.

My message was really talking about the cost of ferries for motorists and I was making point that people crossing the Channel by car are well catered for. As you are aware, foot passengers have been forgotten.