London France Daytrip Ideas

We'll be in London -- actually Finchley, near Woodside Park
underground -- visiting an elderly relative the first half of April.

Anyway, our kids really want to be able to say they were in France,
and I am inclined to accomdate up to a point, the main point being
that Eurostar to Paris is out on expense grounds.

Simplest and cheapest seems a single National Express bus/ferry ticket
to Calais. Boulogne and its Nausicaa aquarium sounds nicer than
Calais but too far from London for a public transport day trip.

Other options:

-- Rail to Dover then ferry to Calais. Sounds like you just show up
at Charing Cross and buy a combined ticket, but I can't find any
current web schedule confirming this.

-- Rent a car. Maybe saner, although I've never driven there.

-- Find a relative there who volunteers to drive to Boulogne. May
happen, in which case I didn't need this post, but probably won't.

So, the question is, how practical is a cheap public transport London
to France day trip, and what big options am I missing? All ideas
welcome.

Steve Eisenberg Wynnewood, Pennsylvania U.S.A.

"Steve Eisenberg" wrote in message
om...
We'll be in London -- actually Finchley, near Woodside Park
underground -- visiting an elderly relative the first half of April.

Anyway, our kids really want to be able to say they were in France,
and I am inclined to accomdate up to a point, the main point being
that Eurostar to Paris is out on expense grounds.

Simplest and cheapest seems a single National Express bus/ferry ticket
to Calais. Boulogne and its Nausicaa aquarium sounds nicer than
Calais but too far from London for a public transport day trip.

I would think that any non-car option is too much for a day trip.

Two hours (from finchley) to dover, an hour's transfer/wait for the
ferry, hour and a half on the ferry, hour transfer to anywhere sensible
at the other end, round trip 11 hours travelling and all with a 'last'
return time of about 19:00.

By car with the tunnel, the travelling time will be about the same but
you'll have minimal transfer times and crucially (IMHO) you can
come back at ten to midnight and arrive home at 2 in the morning if
that suits.

tim



Other options:

-- Rail to Dover then ferry to Calais. Sounds like you just show up
at Charing Cross and buy a combined ticket, but I can't find any
current web schedule confirming this.

-- Rent a car. Maybe saner, although I've never driven there.

-- Find a relative there who volunteers to drive to Boulogne. May
happen, in which case I didn't need this post, but probably won't.

So, the question is, how practical is a cheap public transport London
to France day trip, and what big options am I missing? All ideas
welcome.

Steve Eisenberg Wynnewood, Pennsylvania U.S.A.

"Steve Eisenberg" wrote in message
om...
We'll be in London -- actually Finchley, near Woodside Park
underground -- visiting an elderly relative the first half of April.

Anyway, our kids really want to be able to say they were in France,
and I am inclined to accomdate up to a point, the main point being
that Eurostar to Paris is out on expense grounds.

Simplest and cheapest seems a single National Express bus/ferry ticket
to Calais. Boulogne and its Nausicaa aquarium sounds nicer than
Calais but too far from London for a public transport day trip.

Other options:


Rail to Dover and use the Seacat service, Hoverspeed have a
special offer of £10 day return for foot passengers until the end of
April and the seacat is faster than the ferry

http://www.hoverspeed.com/special_offers/index.asp

Keith

"Steve Eisenberg" wrote
| So, the question is, how practical is a cheap public transport London
| to France day trip, and what big options am I missing? All ideas
| welcome.

Low cost airlines, if you can face the trek to the airport.

BMI www.flybmi.com fly London Heathrow to Paris CDG. On Wed 14 April they
are showing flights (per person one way) from GBP 20.

dep LHR 10:40 arr CDG 12:50 BD175
dep CDG 21:50 arr LHR 21:55 BD184

For 2 adults and 2 children you would be looking at about GBP 250 including
taxes.

For things to do, without having to go into Paris, what about the Astérix
theme park - Direct buses leave from Charles de Gaulle airport bus station
every 30 minutes from 9.30 am to 1.30 pm. Returns from 4.30pm until 30
minutes after the park closure (5.4 € adult return ticket and 3.8 € child
ticket). 31 € for adults and 23 € for children (age 3 to 11).

More ideas for Paris with children at
http://www.parisdigest.com/menus/with.htm

Owain

"Steve Eisenberg" wrote in message
om...
We'll be in London -- actually Finchley, near Woodside Park
underground -- visiting an elderly relative the first half of April.

Anyway, our kids really want to be able to say they were in France,
and I am inclined to accomdate up to a point, the main point being
that Eurostar to Paris is out on expense grounds.

Simplest and cheapest seems a single National Express bus/ferry ticket
to Calais. Boulogne and its Nausicaa aquarium sounds nicer than
Calais but too far from London for a public transport day trip.

Other options:

-- Rail to Dover then ferry to Calais. Sounds like you just show up
at Charing Cross and buy a combined ticket, but I can't find any
current web schedule confirming this.

-- Rent a car. Maybe saner, although I've never driven there.

-- Find a relative there who volunteers to drive to Boulogne. May
happen, in which case I didn't need this post, but probably won't.

So, the question is, how practical is a cheap public transport London
to France day trip, and what big options am I missing? All ideas
welcome.

Last September I got a very cheap Ryanair flight from Cork to Stansted,
Stansted Express to Liverpool Street, tube to Waterloo, Eurostar to Paris
and back (to Waterloo) (uk50). I stayed for a few days in London but it got
the idea of going on the Eurostar out of my system :-) (for another while).
I enjoyed the trip, had time to have a quick scoot around in Paris - buy a
few mags, bottle of wine etc and then back.

The ferry trip is also a good idea but remember that you end up in a ferry
port and not somewhere quite as renowned as Paris...

"Des O'Donoghue" wrote in message
...

"Steve Eisenberg" wrote in message
om...
We'll be in London -- actually Finchley, near Woodside Park
underground -- visiting an elderly relative the first half of April.

Anyway, our kids really want to be able to say they were in France,
and I am inclined to accomdate up to a point, the main point being
that Eurostar to Paris is out on expense grounds.

Simplest and cheapest seems a single National Express bus/ferry ticket
to Calais. Boulogne and its Nausicaa aquarium sounds nicer than
Calais but too far from London for a public transport day trip.

Other options:

-- Rail to Dover then ferry to Calais. Sounds like you just show up
at Charing Cross and buy a combined ticket, but I can't find any
current web schedule confirming this.

-- Rent a car. Maybe saner, although I've never driven there.

-- Find a relative there who volunteers to drive to Boulogne. May
happen, in which case I didn't need this post, but probably won't.

So, the question is, how practical is a cheap public transport London
to France day trip, and what big options am I missing? All ideas
welcome.

Last September I got a very cheap Ryanair flight from Cork to Stansted,
Stansted Express to Liverpool Street, tube to Waterloo, Eurostar to Paris
and back (to Waterloo) (uk50). I stayed for a few days in London but it
got
the idea of going on the Eurostar out of my system :-) (for another
while).
I enjoyed the trip, had time to have a quick scoot around in Paris - buy a
few mags, bottle of wine etc and then back.

The ferry trip is also a good idea but remember that you end up in a ferry
port and not somewhere quite as renowned as Paris...



But Boulogne is a great town to visit.