We are starting our trip in Belgium, continuing on through parts of France, and would like to end our trip flying out of Gatwick in London. We do not use rails (we like to see small towns) and will be renting a Left hand drive vehicle in Brussels. Can someone there give us some advice as to how best to cross the chunnel? Is there a place to drop off our car at the Calais entrance and can we take the Eurotunnel passage without a car? I thought this would be inconvenient with all our luggage... Is there a place close by the Folkestone tunnel that we can exchange cars for a right hand drive model? I just looked up cars on Travelocity and it looks like Hertz is the only one that will let me drop off a car in England. I asked about Gatwick drop off, but we really don't want to be driving a LHD car in a RHD country. Any help is greatly appreciated!
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33800 posts
It would probably be cheaper to drop a car rented in Belgium - in Belgium, not France and you'd be mad to do it in England. You can take the Eurostar from Brussels, or if you'd rather Lille use a Lille Belgian suburb for the drop off and get to Lille Europe Station.
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9371 posts
Nigel is right, of course (I missed that the car was being rented in Belgium, not France). Drop in the same country you rented in.
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9371 posts
I would suggest dropping your car in France, taking the Eurostar train to England, then renting another car. Drop-off fees when renting in one country and dropping in another can be astoundingly high.
Posted by
London, United Kingdom
4684 posts
The shuttle trains through the Channel Tunnel from Calais are only for people with vehicles. A very small number of Eurostar trains stop at Calais Frethun station which is quite isolated and I don't know if there are car hire places nearby. My advice would be to drop the car at Lille or Paris, whichever is closer to where your driving tour ends, and get a Eurostar there to St Pancras. It is easy to get to Gatwick from there as there are direct First Capital trains to Gatwick Airport from the same station. Just turn right out of the Eurostar exit, walk to the end of the shopping mall, and the entrance to the underground First Capital platforms is directly ahead, with the ticket office just to your right.
Posted by
Oak Park, Illinois
4535 posts
Agree with the above, once you discover the cost of dropping off your continental car in the UK, you will abandon that plan. Drop off the car in France, take the Eurostar to London, pick up a car near London if you need one in the UK.