We will be traveling into England from France in May. Our last stop in France is the Normandy area, where we will spend 3 nights. We will have a rental car that we need to return before leaving France. Does anyone have suggestions about the best departure point: Le Havre, Calais? We will be foot passengers. We will be renting another car and touring southern England upon arrival and don't have a big interest in going all the way in to London. I have looked at Eurostar but can't see a destination choice other than London. Suggestions?
Posted by
Oxford, United Kingdom
5457 posts
There is a seasonal ferry service from Le Havre to Portsmouth that starts up operations on 19 May. There is an all year round service to Portsmouth from Ouistreham (close to Caen). Both are run by Brittany Ferries.
The station in the Eurostar would be Ashford, but the number of services calling there is limited (and may depend on going to Paris as the stops at Calais are also limited).
Posted by
Pensacola
9110 posts
You can drop the car at the Caen train station. Buses leave from there to Ouistreham and they're timed to the ferries.
I'm fuzzy on the Portsmouth end. I can picture car rental places down on the south end of the naval base around the Victory and over on the eastern side of the island, but none very close to the ferryport - - it's probably going to be a bus or a taxi for a couple or three miles.
Posted by
OP
Bené, AZ, Usa
30 posts
Thank you for the replies. We will heading over before May 19 so the seasonal Ferry won't be running. Dropping the car in Caen, taking the bus to Ouistreham for the Brittany Ferry to Portsmouth looks like a strong possibility. I'll look in to it.