Hi! I'm currently scheduled to fly from Los Angeles to Paris (via Heathrow) on November 28, arriving in Paris on November 29. However, my mother has just passed away, and she wanted her ashes scattered off the White Cliffs of Dover. I am therefore now considering flying out two days early and taking a cab or shuttle from Heathrow to a hotel in Dover and staying two nights near the Cliffs. I was thinking I could then take the Eurotunnel/Chunnel on to Paris on November 29 to get back on my original schedule. I am not at all familiar with the geography or the Chunnel, but this seems doable. I would love insights and advice from this community!
Posted by
Yorkshire
1359 posts
Plenty, plenty trains from various London stations to Dover Priory station.
St Pancras International likely the widest choice
Journey time just over an hour, fares from £14 ( advance ticket)
NationalRail is the website to use to check
Posted by
Yorkshire
1359 posts
There are 70 trains a day from Dover to Ashford International to get an inward train to Paris.
27 min travel time ,about £15 fare
Posted by
Santa Cruz, CA (USA)
38 posts
Assuming you are thinking of traveling by train - -
When I looked into this a week or so ago, I learned that Eurostar trains currently are not available at Ashford or Calais. So one must go back through London to get from Dover to Paris. My interest was just curiosity, so I didn’t pursue questions about when these stations might re-open for international service. Perhaps you can do that through the Eurostar website, or someone here on the Forum may know what is planned.
All I know about driving yourself through the Eurotunnel or taking a ferry is that rentals can be complicated and ferries have their own problems.
Good luck!
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
34007 posts
Condolences on the loss of your mother. I am sure it is a sad time. I lost my mother 15 years ago and still miss her.
I'm sorry by Ashford is a non-starter these days for getting to France. After you have the moments with you mother I'm afraid you need to backtrack to London for the Eurostar to Paris.
You could try to get a ferry from Dover to Calais but the main company - P&O - is in deep trouble with the government after firing most of its crew and bringing in untrained and unskilled foreign workers from India to work the ships for much less than the legal minimum wage. They have failed government safety inspections multiple times but are now transporting trucks and some cars. For a long time after this blew up they were not taking non-freight, then after they started to allow cars back they were still not taking foot passengers.
I don't know if they have resumed foot passenger travel, but personally I wouldn't touch them with a 10 foot pole.
P&O were the last company to take foot passengers on the Dover - Calais route.
If you did get to Calais you can get a slow French train to Paris several times a day. The station is decent cab ride from the ferry docks. No buses.
Posted by
OP
14 posts
Thanks, everyone. And thank you, Nigel, for your kind words. Yes, it has been an overwhelming and very sad couple of weeks. I have been researching, and, yep...there is no easy way to get from Dover to Paris. I will most likely head back to Heathrow and fly to CDG as I had originally planned. Darn...I had really wanted to try the Eurostar, but then I would need to either change trains or rent a car and drive. I'll be driving through the Loire later in my trip so don't want to drive into Paris. Thanks again!
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
34007 posts
Michelle, going all the way back to Heathrow and flying to CDG and then getting into Paris will take much longer than the Javelin high speed train from Dover Priory to St Pancras International, down one escalator (elevator if you like) around one corner in the hall to the left a very short walk down the main hall of the station, and one more left turn right into Eurostar check-in.
You'll probably be in central Paris before you take off from Heathrow, certainly before you land.