Dream Trip: 30 days in Great Britain part 2: Paris via Dover?
 

I really want to see Dover Castle and the WWII tunnels, and would like to see Canterbury as well. There is a day-long coach tour from London that visits Canterbury, Dover Castle and Greenwich, returning to London by boat.
Instead, how practical or difficult would this be to do on my own via train on the way to Paris the day we leave London? I'm a newbie about rail travel.

Greenwich is in London - it's a short train, Tube, DLR or boat ride from central London.

Whilst getting to Canterbury & Dover by train isn't difficult (take the fast train from St Pancras) the problem is that there's nowhere to leave luggage. If you want to use Eurostar to travel onto Paris then you get one of the few trains per day from Ashford - which isn't too far from Dover / Canterbury or more likely return to London or Ebbsfleet.

There are ferries from Dover to Calais which take foot passengers - but then you'd have to get to the station at Calais for the train to Paris.

And to repeat - there's nowhere to leave luggage at either Canterbury or Dover

Go to Ashford International train station, store your bags there if possible and I believe it is - take the to Canterbury and Dover and back to Ashford International then hop the Eurostar to Paris in just about two hours. Best time-wise.

No left luggage facilities at Ashford

If you want to do Canterbury / Dover then it's easiest done as a day trip from central London. Then when you do travel to Paris get a late train there to maximise your time in London

Or hop the ferry to Calais and stay overnight in that seaside (but drab IMO) town - but a non-touristed regional town that most folks just transit thru - shuttle buses link the ferry termini to the town center and train station.

Considering that the fast train from St Pancras goes to Dover, and that train is far faster than a coach, I'd take Alan's suggestion and do a day-long train trip. You can reach Greenwich with the Jubilee line and DLR from London easily enough.

Totally agree.

I'd forget about seeing Canterbury/Dover in conjunction w/ your travel to Paris. As alanRow mentions -- there is no place to stow your bags. And the to-ing and fro-ing from station to town to station to Eurostar, etc would be a schlepp.

And I'd also forget about that guided coach tour. Most tours do Dover, Canterbury, maybe Leeds Castle, and Greenwich-- which is a stoooopid use of time. Greenwich is IN London so you can very easily visit by boat or tube.

And Leeds castle has very nice gardens but not much else to write home about.

If it was me --and IF you are allowing adequate time in London -- I'd take the train to Dover, a taxi up to the castle, 3 or 4 hours later (Dover Castle is HUGE) cab back to the station, train to Canterbury. Then train back to London.

This would be a totally doable day trip.

If you decide you must see Dover/Canterbury, then I'd second what the above say, especially janisj. We did Dover as a day trip from London (train, long time in castle, long time along cliffs, train back) one year; last year we, in a car, arrived at Canterbury mid-morning, spent a couple hours, drove to Dover, spent afternoon at the Castle and a very short walk along the cliffs, and spent the night there. I would not want to combine any other site (like Greenwich or Leeds) with these two sites. Dover (and maybe adding Canterbury) would be a great day, BUT you'd have to give up another one of your days in London. If you add a lot of day trips, you won't have time in London to even begin. Believe me, I understand the desire to squeeze so much in, but you can easily overschedule. With the amount of other travel you seem to have planned and limited time in London, I wouldn't suggest more than one day trip from London(either that Oxford/Cotswolds day from your other thread or a Dover day).

I agree - with a week in London I would only do 1 day trip. There is so much to see in London, you dont want to spend alot of your time on trains trying to cram a few hours in each place. Pick and choose what you want to see and enjoy that!

Thank you, all, for your wise advice regarding Dover/Canterbury. I have been worried that we would "day trip" ourselves into exhaustion. But it's so tempting to want to visit as much as you possible can, and everything looks appealing.
The insight regarding coach tours to Dover from London vs. going on your own by train is invaluable, and just what I was hoping to receive from this group.

janisj, I like your suggestions for using the train to visit Dover/Canterbury as a day trip on our own.
jamikins, texasbookworm (and anyone else): your opinions would be welcome on the topic of day trips. I'm finding it hard to limit myself! If you could only choose one or two, which would you recommend? Dover/Canterbury, Bath, Stonehenge, Oxford/Cotswolds, Stratford-on-Avon? We are definitely planning to visit Hampton Court Palace and Windsor, if those count as day trips.

Hampton Court would make a great 1/2 day trip if you get an early start, so you woudl have time to see something light in the afternoon.

As for actual full day trips - my favourites are Bath, Stonehenge/Salisbury (the cathedral is amazing and the town lovely)or the Cotswolds. You cant really go wrong, depends on your interests. Some people love stonehenge, others could give it a miss. I like the combo with Salisbury because I think the cathedral (with the best preserved copy of the magna carta) is wonderful.

But I would limit yourself to Hampton Court and 1 further full day trip! Enjoy!

Bath really deserves more than a day. I personally didn't love Stratford-on-Avon, too touristy and tourist-trappy. And I've never been to Stonehenge in I-don't-know-how-many trips to England. But Salisbury is a pretty town.

We went to Hampton Court on a boat (on one of the London Walks tours). Boating up the Thames from Richmond and arriving at HCP like Henry VIII on his barge was a highlight of the experience. This took us most of a day.

And I could easily spend a day in Windsor; there's the castle (a half-day itself), the shops, and a walk across the river to Eton College.

You can cram these things into quicker visits but I think you'll feel cheated. So better start planning another trip to England. There's so much to see there in a relatively small area.

"<i>Boating up the Thames from Richmond and arriving at HCP like Henry VIII on his barge was a highlight of the experience. This took us most of a day.</i>"

A Thames trip is great. But IMO it is much better to take the train to the Palace, and then if the weather is decent and you have the time, take the boat back into London.

Reasons being: 1) If you go up river from London there is no way you'll arrive before early afternoon, whereas if you take the train you can arrive at HCP at opening time. (Traveling to Richmond and taking the boat from there does shorten the journey,but the boats don't sail early in the AM so it will still be afternoon)

2) The river is tidal so journey times vary--but in general it takes about an hour longer to travel up river than down river.

So one would miss arriving at the Palace like Henry, but for the typical visitor w/ somewhat limited time -- train to the Palace and then either a boat or the train back makes more sense. If you do take the boat back to London (it can take as much as 4 hours depending on the tides - usually about 3-ish hrs) - then it definitely becomes a full day trip and you probably won't have time for any other sites that day -- except for the Eye which is directly across the river from Westminster Pier.

I did a lovely walk from the Hampton Court Palace back to Kingston/Thames all along the northern bank of the Thames, on nice paths - very interesting and pretty - about two mile I think.

If you are doing Hampton Court and Windsor, which each take at least a half day, I'd definitely limit myself to one other day trip. My favorite is Oxford--just Oxford. Dover (MAYBE add Canterbury)or Salisbury/Stonehenge may be tied for second. I think Bath and Stratford too far to travel to to then enjoy in remaining day time hours--possible, but other ideas work better for limited time. So if you really have 7 whole days in London, then two half-day trips and one full day trip is all I'd plan.

Thanks to everyone for the recommendations on day and half-day trips from London. I will heed your advice on going to Hampton Court and Windsor and just one other day trip. Now to decide which one! :)