Tara

Is there anything interesting to do in Dover besides just see the White Cliffs?

wendy

Yes!! Dover is a great town. Dover Castle is perched on the White Cliffs, don't miss the tour. I like the White Cliffs Experience, it's a history of the city of Dover from Romanization to WWII, and the Dover Museum is very cool too, with exhibits about the city's life.

arjay

Don't by-pass Dover! I was surprised to see one of the major guidebook 'blow-off' Dover as a place to see... <BR> <BR>Once we got there - to take the ferry, not the chunnel to France, we found it is worthy of at leatst a day: <BR> <BR>The Cliffs, the Castle, the (rudimentary) underground hospital...what an experience. <BR> <BR>We (in the US) are SO insulated from what real war/combat is like. It's a most privileged position...and an arrogant one. If you do not visit the WWII sites at Dover, do, please, make some other sites a focus of your attention..Without a knowledge/appreciation of what happened...it will be so easy to let it happen again (esp in this antiseptical, disassociated military that we've developed) Dover is WORTH a trip! Then...read "Losing Julia".

Ben Haines

Fodors <BR> <BR>I am less a fan than the other writers before me, but I do think the Castle is a remarkable place. There are a Roman lighthouse, an Anglo-Saxon church, the Norman and later castle, the defences against Napoleon, the control centre for war against Hitler, the newly-opened artillery control centre, the underground hospital, and last but not least the Regional Seat of Government, a set of caves in which some 200 civil servants and a handful of soldiers could live for two years without going outdoors, to stay in touch with other Seats, and to stay alive until the worst of the nuclear contamination had blown over, after a nuclear war. The assumption was that all the rest of us would be dead. The RSG closed 12 years ago. <BR> <BR>All of these are in the castle. In town there's less to see (no fault of theurs: the nazis bombed them and even shelled them during the war). The Dover Mudseum is an ordinary town museum, and the White Cliffs Experience is an ordinary set of reconstructions. The Castle could easily take a whole day: if it doesn't I'd pop half an hour along the railway and have a glimpse of Canterbury. <BR> <BR>Please write if I can help further. Welcome to England. <BR> <BR>Ben Haines, London <BR> <BR>

Dave

The castle is great, but as for the White Cliffs, keep in mind that they face the Channel, not the tourists. Most of those famous postcard photos were taken from offshore - the views from landward aren't nearly as spectacular.

Am

Is it do-able in one day from London? We only have five days in the city...

Lindsay

y

arjay

Someone like the very helpful Ben Haines could give you quite a precise answer, I'm sure...but I'm also quite sure it would be day-trippable. It's not that far from London, by train.

Ben Haines

<BR>Fodors <BR> <BR>For Am: What a polite person arjay is. And correct: you can readily make this a day trip. The reference library of a city near you may have the Thomas Cook European Timetable. Table 100 has your trains. The return fare is twenty pounds (nineteen on some trains, but it's not worth hunting those out). Monday to Saturday leave platform three or nearby at Victoria station at 05 or 35 minutes past each hour (but at 0833, not 0835) and take an hour and forty two minutes to Dover Priory station. Sunday leave at 0805, 0905, and so on. The train has no catering, so you might ask your hotel for a packed breakfast. You're running along the Old Dover Road of the Romans, Geoffrey Chaucer and Charles Dickens, so about 30 minutes after you leave Victoria you'll see the Medway, Rochester Castle, Rochester Cathedral, the back of the biggest second hsand bookshop in England, and Rochester market. Exactly 100 minutes after you leave Victoria, looking far away on your right as you face the front of the train you'll see Canterbury Cathedral riding above the fields. Before and after Canterbury are the hop gardens and orchards of bountiful Kent. <BR> <BR>There are trains also from Charing Cross in London, but they take a route with less history and less to see. <BR> <BR>When you walk out of Dover Priory station the castle is two miles uphill to your left. There are free busses to Dover Port, and you might like to take one of those, but you still have the great climb up to the castle. So you might blow the expense and go to the castle from the station by taxi. <BR> <BR>Various pubs on and by the market place have a decent lunch. <BR> <BR>Please write if I can help further. <BR> <BR>Ben Haines, London <BR> <BR>

Ann

If you want to see the white cliffs, try to get to St Margarets Bay, a small village outside Dover. I think buses still run to there. The main village, St Margarets at Cliffe is very attractive, and from there you can get down to St Margarets Bay - a rocky/shingle cove surrounded by the cliffs. You can wallk down the cliff by a steep path or take the twisy road. Alternatively you can walk out to the headland where the lighthouse is, or to the headland on the Dover road. It really is a delightful part of the world.

Ann

Not in Dover, but if you have a car there are several neat places nearby. The town of Sandwich, less than a half hour if I remember correctly, was very interesting.

doug

The view of the cliffs from the beach at St. Margaret's was one of the highlights of our trip to England. Well worth the effort and the winding road down the cliffside was great. Dover Castle was also a good stop.

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mpprh

Hi<BR><BR>Hi, Dover is worth an overnight stop if you are crossing the channel.<BR><BR>I've been travelling through Dover, and staying there fairly often for 30 years.<BR><BR>The town has seen recent misfortunes. It was a bustling, prosperous place 15 years ago. The creation of Europe took away many of the freight and customs jobs. The strength of the GBP reduced the number of French day trippers. Finally the tunnel was built somewhere else ! <BR><BR>Facilities became run down (empty shops, ex Holiday Inn was awful last time I stayed, Dover Stage Hotel demolished, my favourite Italian restaurant closed down, etc) <BR><BR>Last time I was there (2 weeks ago) it seems to have started to improve again.<BR><BR>If you are travelling on to Europe, it is probably better to stay in Calais. It's cheaper and has a better choice of hotels/restaurants. It even had an openair ice rink in the main square over Xmas !<BR><BR>Peter<BR>http://tlp.netfirms.com<BR>

Hugo

Peter<BR>have you tried the &quot;Chunnel&quot; - in my opinion its the best way to the continent from England these days. Eurostar (passenger train from London Waterloo or Ashford International in Kent) takes you direct to the centre of Paris - Gard du Nord- much better than flying too!) If you have a car you can drive down to Cheriton near Folkestone in Kent and drive onto 'Le Shuttle' to arrive in Calais without any sea sickness and in a very short space of time (about half an hour I think!).I don't particularly like Dover -its certainly not a pretty place, and you can get better views of the White Cliffs elsewhere although yes, the castle is fascinating. <BR><BR>My preference would be to travel down from London to Kent , stay somewhere near Sissinghurst (beautiful, classic,world famous english garden) say in Cranbrook or Tenterden, and enjoy the lovely countryside (known as the 'Garden of England- because of the orchards, hop gardens etc) and historic places like Scotney Castle, Hever Castle, Great Dixter House and Garden,Leeds Castle and Penshurst Place, before heading to Ashford International Station and straight to Paris.

AnnM

ttt for the attractions of Dover