I'm planning to travel by eurostar train from London to France but only need to get as far as Calais. When trying to book a ticket, I found that booking to Lille is cheaper than to Calais, even though Lille is further than Calais. Does anyone know if it is possible to book a return London - Lille and get off at Calais, and on the return journey board the train at Calais?

As far as I can see, none of the trains from London to Lille stops at Calais.
Is there any reason why you want to go to Calais? It's a fairly dreary port. You can get there easily and cheaply by ferry from Dover or by train from Lille, but Lille is a much more interesting place to visit.

Eurostar to Calais-Frethun and Lille are the same price - but not too many train stop at Calais-Frethun (at the entrance to the Chunnel a few miles from Calais itself. For details on fares and schedules for trains to Calais-Frethun i'd call BETS (800-441-2387) - and talk to Byron, a Eurostar expert - though a RailEurope agent BETS doesn't also charge some of RE's fees. Cheapest fare should be about $84 one way or round trip from London - higher on some trains.

Thanks Geoff. Relations will meet me in France by car, and its easier for them to get to Calais than Lille, so no reason to go as far as Lille. I'll have a look at the ferry option, but being on a tight schedule I'd hoped that the train would be the simplest means of getting from central London to the French side of the channel. But paying $288 for a return fare to Calais seems unreasonable when I can get to Lille for just over $100.

Hi C,

I checked the rates at www.eurostar.com.

The cheapest fare London to Calais is 27.5 GBP each way.

Same fare to Lille.

What is BETS?

BETS is Budget Europe Travel Service and they specialize in European trains only - details www.budgeteuropetravel.com. I recommend them over RailEurope because whoever you talk to will have actually traveled dozens of times on Eurostar and they have booked thousands of Eurostars for years and provide great service - they work thru RailEurope but i've found RailEurope staffers brusque and not always as knowledgeable.

Cottager2: the fare on Eurostar to Calais-Frethun is exactly the same as the fare to Lille - always so i don't know where you got you Calais fare info - put Calais-Frethun into you search. As cheap as $84 round trip in the US, or as Ira says 27.5 pounds in UK.

We will be an hour and a half away from Ashford, not in London. I'm thinking about a daytrip to Lille. I love France, so I think the family would enjoy this and that it would be less exhausting than a day trip to Paris. Although I'm not sure this is true or that Brussels also would be fun.

Any opinions on these day tripper plans as a good day outing? This is an 8 night trip. Our accomodations are set in one place - we can't really overnight. ALthough, I guess I could give thought to that.

I used to laugh at how carefully people on this site planned things, but after 5 trips to Europe, I'm now convinced.

This is not Eurostar question, but taking the car on the ferry from Folkstone and driving in France for the day: too exhausting or beautiful scenery? Sites? Anyone experienced this day trip and have tips or advice?

ttt..................bump

cymbeline:

There's no ferry from Folkestone. You can get the tunnel, though to get half-way decent fares you need to book (some time in advance)for a pre-0600 departure. As a general rule, allow 75-90 minutes between arriving at the Folkestone tollbooth and driving onto the motorway at Calais.

Driving from wherever you are to Dover, hanging round the port, then taking 90 minutes to cross by ferry, it's hard to see an Ashford-Calais journey taking less than 3 hours.

Now you can certainly have a pleasant day out: personally I wouldn't go beyond the Pas de Calais region. There are a lot of pleasant towns in the area, many with spectacular Flemish central squares, and/or v. pleasant markets. Nothing in quite in the Taj Mahal league, but it certainly makes an enjoyable day trip for many.

But ferry/tunnel prices are surprisingly high, unless you start very early in the morning. And it's certainly not relaxing: however you travel, the cross-Channel bit, twice in a day, takes up a lot of time and involves a lot of stopping and starting. Getting into and out of central Lille, and finding somewhere to park, is also as time-consuming as in any largeish city.

Mrs CS and I do this reasonably frequently: if we ever get round to divorcing, one of these trips, with their inevitable navigational squabbles and "we're going to miss our booked ferry" tensions will probably be the trigger.

I've done the Channel Tunnel by car often, and it is usually very quick and convenient, but what really annoys me in Folkestone is that they make you drive across the shopping center parking lot. We usually try to drive straight to the train, and if it's not busy they let you take an earlier train than the one you're booked for.

tulips: what is the typical charge for a car and passengers - is it a flat fee or are there many different and confusing fares like on Eurostar trains?

PalQ; check prices on eurotunnel.com. Different fares, as on Eurostar. There is one fee for the car, regardless of number of passengers.
They will say that you have to take the train that you are booked for (unless you book a premium ticket) but we have found that usually they let you take an earlier train, unless its fully booked.

So i gather that you can usually just drive up and get on fairly quickly - that according to your experience of showing up and getting on an earlier train than the one you've booked. Obviously you pay a premium for drive up fares but just wondering if there are ever long delays this way waiting to get on.

http://www.eurotunnel.com

So according to the site the price is for the car irregardless of the number of passengers. I wonder if there is any kind of hitch-hiker thing where someone outside the check-in catches a ride thru the Chunnel or is this somehow tightly controlled? And perhaps drivers would be aloof to pick up someone knowing there will be security checks and Customs controls.
I wonder if it would be feasible to hitch or even pay a little to a motorists to get to France?