Calais ferry terminal to Calais Frethun

Jason - It takes 20 minutes from the ferry terminal in Calais to get to Gare de Calais Frethun. You will have more then enough time. You can take a taxi.

Why Calais-Fréthun?
Calais-Fréthun is a station outside Calais, near the Channel Tunnel mouth, and really only useful as an interchange with rare Eurostar trains.
If you are heading to somewhere else in France, the better station is Calais-Ville, in the centre of Calais. Many more trains and a lot easier to get to.

Edit: What date is this? I see no 17:07 for next Sunday.

I would add caution to reply 1. How are you travelling? `It's 25 mintes by car, then you have to park, etc

If youre travelling by foot it could be really tricky - there is only a bus service in summer, and that is the Ferry to Calais centre-ville, then you have to get to Freethun, which is a whole new level of trickiness. You may find it impossible to get a ferry.

My advice would be to take the tunnel from the UK.

Simon mon ami, I think they already book their ferry trip. It may not be possible for them to take the tunnel route from UK. Perhaps you can advise them of a more efficient way to obtain transport from the ferry to the train terminal so they can catch their train to Paris.

Thank you for all the wonderful replies! Very helpful. Our day of travel is 5 Jan 2020, so we have some time to sort this out. Sounds like getting to Calais Frethun from the ferry can be very tricky and time consuming. (we are traveling on foot and relying soley on public transportation). The 1 hr 20 min will probably not be enough time.

My initial search on trainline.com only gave me trains departing from Frethun, but after a search today, I am seeing some from Calais Ville. They are more expensive and longer duration, but it sounds like that may be a smarter option to ensure we make our train.

45 minutes should be plenty of time to get from ferry to Calais Ville, right?

I wouldnt be too sure - in January there could be ferry delays due to the weather, and even when the ferry arrives there is no telling how long it would be before you're anywhere where you could catch a bus/taxi.

The man in seat describes the ferry to train transfer

https://www.seat61.com/London-Paris-ferry.htm

scroll down to Transfer from ferry to station in Calais...

Thank you ramblin'. That link is a great resource for my inquiry.

Thank you all for the advice and suggestions.

please don't underestimate the possibilty of weather delays (or cancellations) on the Channel in January, or the possibity of the SNCF nationwide strikes for the holiday season continuing.

It is worth contemplating a "Plan B".

Thank you Nigel. We will be sure have a Plan B.

to emphasise what lisalu910 said - the DFDS ferries don't take foot passengers and the P&O ones only grudgingly. Foot traffic across the Channel between Dover and Calais is a miniscule part of their service so they make very few concessions to making it easy. Those ferries are there to take trucks - mostly - and cars across. The vast bulk of foot traffic across the Channel use the high speed Eurostar trains to Brussels, Lille and Paris.

I think that in all the years I have been writing here I have heard one positive review of the foot passenger/ferry combination for Dover/Calais. It isn't easy or fun.

In the pre-Channel tunnel days it was a lot easier, there were two stations at the docks, "Dover Western Docks" and "Calais Maritime". You got a train from London to Dover Western Docks, which stopped beside the ferry. Covered walk to the ferry, and the same thing at Calais. Trains from Calais Maritime to all over Europe. If the ferry was late, the train waited.
Click for photo of Calais Maritime.

That was then. "Dover Western Docks" and "Calais Maritime" were closed when the tunnel opened. Dover Western Docks station is now the cruise terminal.
"Foot passengers" use the Eurostar trains, and the majority of the car, bus and trucks also use the Channel Tunnel; faster and more reliable.
The ferries survive as the cut-price end of the market. Slower, every expense spared and anything to keep prices down and undercut the tunnel. They make some money out of cost-sensitive but non-time-sensitive trucks. Virtually no profit from foot fares, so they don't bother to cater for them. One company doesn't even accept foot passengers, the other does it at minimal cost.

Any way you could backtrack to Ashford and take Eurostar from there to Paris? Ebbsfleet is also an option. It will be much quicker! Not sure sales for 5 Jan are open yet but worth a look.

Thank you for the info, everyone. I think our plan will be, train to Dover (get there about 3 hours before ferry departure). Taxi to the White Cliff park and check out the views. Walk down the trail (google says 30ish minute walk - downhill) to foot passenger shuttle. Ferry across and enjoy the beautiful views (crosses fingers). Take a train from Calais Ville to Paris with departure nearly 2 hours after scheduled ferry arrival. This leaves us a lot of cushion for delay, on both sides of the Channel. And if we still run into issues, we'll adapt, and have a funny story to tell our family and friends.

How are you handling luggage, if any?

Carry on sized backpacks. We are light travelers, and it's a short one week trip.

Please write a trip report after you make the journey and let us know how it went.....