Dover UK to Normandy

when will the trip be?

How many in the party?

Take a taxi from Dover to Ashford International railway station, transfer to the Eurostar to Paris Gare du Nord. From Gare du Nord you can continue to Bayeux, via Gare St Lazare or just stay in Paris.

I just did a dummy booking with P&O and it was possible book a ticket without a car. When you come to "select vehicle" in the booking process you simply select "foot passenger".

Ok, more info. There will be 4 adults. I know it is too early to book since this trip is for next August. The P&O site says no 2021 dates available yet. I chose a November date, 2020 as an example and can book with a car but not on foot. Google is saying this is due to Covid. I am going to go with our plans and assume we can do foot traffic by August. Still open for ideas. Don't want to train all over Europe just to cross the channel.

After staying in Bayeux we will will go to Paris for several days and then on to Brussels and Amsterdam before flying home.

Thanks!

It seems like they don't take foot passengers at the moment due to the pandemic. And while we can't tell what it will be like next year, I think the chances are pretty high that they will take foot passengers if the situation is under control enough for tourism to be allowed.

My usual warning when someone mentions a Channel ferry: Two of my five intended ferry crossings between St. Malo, the Channel Islands and England were canceled, one of them for three days. Those were huge ships, and I was traveling during late spring and summer of different years. It's annoying when a flight is canceled, but usually the situation clears within a few hours, and there are typically many airline options available. The situation with ferries is often different: You may have traveled quite some distance to reach the ferry port, and the next ship may be 24 hours (or more) later.

I once booked passage on a ferry from Poole, UK to Cherbourg (2008). When I got to Poole, I received word that the French fisherman were protesting and blockading the port of Cherbourg. Brittany Ferries got us into a cab to Portsmouth, where they had gotten us a reservation to Ouistreham (Caen) and re-booked our Hertz rental from Cherbourg to Caen. It worked out in the end, but was a hassle. Kudos to Brittany Ferries though—I've got to think they lost any profit they might have made from my fare by paying for the taxi from Poole to Portsmouth.

We spent 5 days in Bayeux exploring the region in 2015. Stayed at the Manoir Sainte Victoire, which was one of the most memorable and beloved places we've yet to stay at. Also, highly affordable at the time (less than 100 euro/night with parking). For four people, you would need two rooms (they offer 3 rooms, all in an ancient turret).

One of our best investments was to hire a private tour guide for the day. I think we spent around 500-600 euros. He was a historian who had served as a consultant to "Band of Brothers", "Saving Private Ryan" and "Braveheart". We spent the day tracing Easy Company's D-Day +1 movements (from "Band of Brothers") and he had access to property/areas that the big operators did not due to his contacts. Worth every penny. The next day, we took a separate 10-person tour of the bigger sights and the quality was substantially less impressive.

For something different, the Bayeux Tapestry Museum is worth 2-3 hours of your time. Bayeux also has a weekly farmers market that is not to be missed. Super interesting vendor stalls and delicious food! Be sure to enjoy some local cider.