I'm hoping to find something more "interesting" than the Eurostar to get from the UK to France (ultimate destination: Paris).
Ferries to Dunkirk no longer take foot passengers. I'm not keen to take a ferry to Calais at the moment.
Can anyone recommend a routing for ferry + train from the UK (any starting point) to Paris? I will be going approximately October 1.
Thanks!
So right about Calais! What about the Portsmouth to St Malo route?
I second the route to St. Malo...it's also much shorter to Paris from there!
So you have changed your plans and no longer have Barcelona as your fixed point after the UK?
Portsmouth doesnt really fit in with your 'modules' unless you start a new south coast one.
I would never have thought about it being shorter to Paris from St Malo than from Calais. Interesting. I would think of both as being out of the way and taking quite a while to get to Paris.
To me it just seems like so much more trouble to go some alternate route like this but if one has unlimited time on one's trip, why not I suppose.
Thank you for the suggestions; I will check out the St. Malo option, which looks like it might be quite interesting. Seat 61 is also has some train-ferry-train suggestions.
Marco: on the England forum, I said I need to be in Barcelona by October 11. I do not say I will be going directly from the UK to Spain. My trip goes from the UK to France, and thence south to Spain. Thank you.
OK - just there was no mention then of needing to go via Paris.
We took the ferry from Portsmouth to Quistreham, which is the ferry port in France. There are buses from there that meets the ferry and take you the 10 miles to the Caen railroad station. Trains to Paris are frequent and you could easily get one upon arrival or soon after. I recall we docked around 1500, got to the Caen RR station around 1530. WE used www.seat61.com for all of our train AND ferry needs. The ferry trip was around 6 hours or maybe 7 but very relaxing, maybe even a bit boring. Snoozing was allowed. The train into Paris was about 2.5 hours and we bought tickets at the station, not in advance, since they are regional trains and the cost is the same on the day of travel. It's worth doing once. We spent two nights in Portsmouth prior to taking the ferry since there was lots of British naval history to enjoy. We landed at Heathrow and were met by www.aquacars.co.uk and whisked to our waterfront hotel in Portsmouth for less money than two train tickets and no hassle with getting to a train station.
George,
Thank you for the suggestion.
I have, in fact, settled on a crossing to St. Malo. I will explore St. Malo, spend the night, and the head to Paris the next day.
Thanks also to everyone who suggested St. Malo.
