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Dover to Calais is less than 40km the channel’s shortest crossing. Dover to Calais by ferry takes around 90 Minutes & cost’s anything from £20 or less if you have taken advantage of a newspaper promotion. If you are traveling by car you may want to consider the Eurotunnel shuttle takes 35 minutes and is a very pleasant, especially if you suffer from sea sickness. You board the Eurotunnel at Folkestone (not far west of Dover) to Calais.
Get a Ferry To Calais
Calais France By Ferry
Get a Ferry To Calais
With ferries prices starting at only £20 or possibly less in connection with a newspaper offer & it is the busiest french passenger port by some distance nine million British travellers per year & another million day-trippers can’t be wrong about Calais as a destination!
Calais France by Air
Calais Marck Airport only handles private, local flights. International travellers are most likely to fly into Paris’ Charles de Gaulle International Airport, the closest major airport to Calais. From here, Calais can be reached by train, including high-speed TGV and Eurostar services, which depart from Gare du Nord.
By car
If youre driving, you can cross the English Channel via the Channel Tunnel, with the trip from Dover to Calais taking just 30 minutes on Eurotunnel trains. The ferry from Dover to Calais is also quick and inexpensive.
If youre driving to your onward destination from Calais, there is an excellent autoroute system, which will comfortably take you to your destination. An alternative to the autoroute is driving along the N1 (the old route), on which you can follow the coast from Dunkerque through Abbeville and many charming towns and rolling countryside before heading inland for the drive to Paris.
By rail
English rail services have trains running from London to Dover and the high-speed Eurostar service links London to Calais and beyond. The Eurostar passenger trains are also an option crossing from Dover to Calais, with a crossing time of just 30 minutes. Travelling to Calais from any major French city should also pose no problem, as there is TGV (high-speed) services to Gare Calais Frthun, just outside Calais.
From Calais, Eurostar trains to London and Paris depart are arrive at the TGV station (Calais Frthun). You can reach the station either by bus or by one of the regular Boulogne trains from Gare Calais. Once on the TGV, you can change at Lille for direct, high-speed service to many cities in France including Avignon, Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Nantes, Nmes, Perpignan and Rennes.
Hotels In Calais
Bed & Breakfast
- Le Cercle de MalinesChambres d’hotes a Calais
- Chambres d’hotes a la villa
- Kerloan
- Au Manoir
- Alex Factory
Restaurants
Bars & Cafe’s
Places Of Interest:
- Town Hall – now Unesco World Heritage site
- Statue des Six Bourgeois by Rodin,
- Church of Notre Dame
- Fortresses (Nieulay, Risban) constructions realised by the French engineer Vauban at the end of the seventeenth century.
How to get to Calais from the UK
By train :
Eurostar from London to Calais Fréthun in just 1 hour
With your car :
Eurotunnel from Folkestone. Crossing time just 35 mins
Ferry from Dover, crossing time 90 mins.
For further information please contact :
• Town hall: 00 33 3 21 46 62 00
• Tourist office: 00 33 3 21 96 62 40
And why not combine your trip with a visit to the international City of the lace and fashion or the museum of fine arts, both located in Calais
Mairie de Calais – Place du Soldat Inconnu – Boite Postale 329 – 62107 CALAIS Cedex – Tel : 03 21 46 62 00
The History of Calais
The origins of Calais are obscure. It was founded as a fishing village some time prior to the 10th century. In 997, it was improved by the Count of Flanders and fortified by the Count of Boulogne in 1224. In the last war the British destroyed it to prevent it being used as a base for a German invasion. The French still refer to it as “the most English town in France”, an influence that began after the battle of Crécy in 1346, when Edward III seized it for use as a beachhead in the Hundred Years War. Calais divides in two: Calais-Nord, the old town rebuilt after the war, with the place d’Armes and rue Royale as its focus, is separated by canals from sprawling Calais-Sud, centred around the Hôtel de Ville and the main shopping streets, boulevards Lafayette and Jacquard – the latter named after the inventor of looms.