cwn

We have purchased tickets- Houston to London 6/15 and return Paris to Houston 7/8. Got a great bus class fare. We will rent a car and drive down to South Hampton am on the 16th. My husband wants to visit the area again missus two kids before we board the Sea Princess for two weeks.

We return on 7/1 to South Hampton. My first plan was to do the Hertz car/tunnel crossing, but they say they haven't renewed the contract yet so I can't set that up. Any other rental group doing that?

My next plan was to rent a car in South Hampton, drive to Dover turn it in, ferry to Calais and rent another car there for the rest of our trip ending in Paris on the 8th. The problem with that is the Hertz place closes at one Sat with no after hours or Sunday drop off. My husband doesn't think we can get to Dover by 1pm.

He is into history and wants to revisit some of the WWI and WWII sites, again missus children. I wouldn't mind a trip that included the St Malo area, but the more northern crossing is probably beter for his interest.

I can't get the Tunnel internet timetable to come up. We really do not want to have to pick up a car in Paris and backtrack. But I am having no luck on the London to Calais or Ashford to Calais Eurostar trip. Also could we make a easy train connection in London or Ashford starting in South Hampton.

Can someone help with this idea? Are there any other crossing options worth looking at or maybe airlines? I have looked at some of the other ferry connections, but have not yet checked on car rental details at the French ports. Late Sat or Sun pick up may be a problem there. We do want the freedom of a car. Just having a hard time figuring out how to get it! We have driven in England and France before, but we used the hoovercraft connection for that crossing. That was easy.

Thanks

flanneruk

Isn't the simple answer to get Brittany Feries from Portsmouth to Cherbourg or Caen or fly from Shoreham to Le Havre? They're all a lot handier for WW2 sites anyway

If you want to be closer to WW1 sites, fly from London to Beauvais. There are no other airports between Paris and Brussels with regular winter flights from London.

If Calais's where you want to be, why not just leave your hire car at Ashford and Eurostar to Calais? The Eurostar web site's working fine right now.

You might find googling all this easier if you remember you're heading for Southampton, and not for Long Island.

GeoffHamer

I'd suggest booking a cabin on Brittany Ferries' overnight sailings from Portsmouth to Caen or St-Malo (www.brittany-ferries.com). There is also an afternoon sailing from Portsmouth to Caen.

willit

As suggested by others, drive from Southampton (one word) to Portsmouth - it is only 21 miles. If you need to kill some time, there is a good D-Day museum in Portsmouth, and a superb naval museum. You can then get a ferry, or fast catamaran across to France, and drive from there.

rex

Consider also flying Ryanair to Dinard.

Best wishes,

Rex

GeoffHamer

As far as I can see, Ryanair flies to Dinard from Luton, Stansted and East Midlands, none of which is remotely convenient for Southampton.

david_west

Southampton is an odd destination for a tourist! I lived there and I wouldn’t want to go back.

If your old man is into WWII stuff he may be interested in the Hall of Aviation which is full of old warplanes from the era (Southampton is the home of RJ Mitchell – the man who designed the Spitfire)

Also (and not a lot of people know this) the Mayflower set out from Southampton, not Plymouth. It stopped in Plymouth for repairs. The Titanic also left from Southampton. To be honest I think the wrong one sunk!

cwn

Thanks Everyone for the comments! But I still have a couple of questions/problems!

Sorry about the spelling, I couldn't remember how it was spelled on the cruise reservation. I had been using the phones, and looking at internet Ferry info, so spelling wasn't a problem till last night.

Did get the Eurostar timetable to come up today. There seems to be only one afternoon train stopping at Ashford and Calais (17:59-19:31). There is also one train (13:11-17:23) to Calais from London that would probably work given that we can't depart the ship till after 7 to 8. I know Calais Hertz channel terminal location is only open till 18:00 Sat. Does anyone know if this is enough time to get the car?

There is also an earlier connection to Calais at 12:09 that is definitely OK from the car stand point. What are the train connections Southampton to London like- Could we make this work?

Driving to Ashford or Dover and crossing there seems more trouble than it is worth. I have emails out to 1st UK Car Rentals about their France options in Calais, Cherbourg and St Malo. Hertz closes at 18:00 Sat in Cherbourg and isn't open on Sun. They don't have a location in St Malo. So....

I was thinking the afternoon ferry to Cherbourg might be our best bet if we can pick up a car there before Monday.
However when I searched here, I read some posts that felt the way to go was on the Channel Train.

I haven't yet worked on the plane connections. Am trying to see if we can't do it with the ferry or train.


Thanks again for any help you can give!

rex

<<Ryanair flies to Dinard from Luton, Stansted and East Midlands, none of which is remotely convenient for Southampton...>>

I missed the fact that Southampton is actually a desired destination; I thought that they were simply making a trip there to get to France.

Sorry.

DCJones

The train from Southampton to London would work. The journey is only 1.5 hours and arrives at London Waterloo. Trains leave about every 15 minutes and every other one is nonstop. At Waterloo you can catch the 12:09 to Calais. Enjoy the Chunnel trip.

cwn

Thanks Everyone!

I agree that Southampton is not high on the list of great places in England to visit. However that is where the ship sails from...and my husband is looking forward to a couple of attractions in the area. We will have 2 days before the cruise and a car.

DCJones- thanks for the train information. Can we wait till we arrive in June to get the Southampton-London tickets for July 1? I know we should get the Eurostar tickets before we come. Thanks

GeoffHamer

From Southampton to London, trains are at least every half hour. Just buy a ticket at the station and get on the next train; there is no advantage to buying tickets in advance. It would be best to wait till after the morning peak as the early trains will be busy with commuters going to work, but after nine, trains will be quieter.

cwn

Thanks for all the information!

david_west

If you're in Southampton (of which you will soon tire), hop on the train or bus to Winchester. It's only 13 miles north and is absolutely lovely (I'm biased - it's my home town, but it really is worth a trip)

willit

I agree completely with David's Winchester suggestion, it is a beautiful city.