Traveling from calais to paris?

[jenny111]

im travelling to paris by train from calais in a few saturdays time, i wondered if some one could tell me how long it will take from calais to paris by train?

[Buenchico]

(2-part post):

There's no really convenient train from Paris back to Calais Ville. If you were prepared to take a chance on everything running to time (and there being a taxi available when you wanted one), you could theoretically take the 1858 TGV service from Paris Nord (with Bouloge as its destination) which gets you to Calais Frethun at 2041. (Fare = �36, pre-booking required)). But that only gives you an hour to get to your ferry and check in. As I've previously mentioned, Calais Frethun is some way outside of the town and I'm not sure about the availability of taxis. It would make far more sense to leave earlier and go to Calais Ville station.

Unfortunately, you'll have to leave Paris at around 5 o'clock. To be precise, you need to take the 1658 TGV (non-stop) service from Paris Nord to Lille Flandres. It arrives at 1800. Then take the 1821 service from Lilles Flandres. The destination will be shown as Boulogne Ville. Calais Ville is the 7th stop, arriving at 1940. The fare is �37 and, because it includes a TGV service, pre-booking is required. (Use the SNCF website or phone [phone]).

That gives you 2 hours before the ferry leaves, so you won't want to go straight to the port. Instead, walk a short distance along the main street and look for a great bar and restaurant called 'Au Calice'. (It's on the right-hand side). Get some food and drink there before heading to the port.
http://www.lecalice.com/modulosite2/fiche.php? fr=0&id=84&

Now I know that you'll just be in Paris for a few hours, I can strongly recommend buying the 2-zone Mobilis ticket for �5.60. That will give you unlimited travel on the Metro and RER trains (as well as the buses if you like), within central Paris.

[Buenchico]

A little more advice:
The best area for cheap, but good food, (e.g. a 3-course lunch from around �10) is the Latin Quarter. That's the area served by St Michel-Notre Dame RER station (which I mentioned in my directions to the Eiffel Tower).

If you want to ascend the Eiffel Tower, note that you need to allow at least 2 hours. There are usually long queues for the lifts from the base. These only take you part of the way up, then you have to queue again for the second lift. Then you queue twice over to come back down again.

If you want to see some of the other famous sites, Notre Dame Cathedral is served by St Michel-Notre Dame RER station (referred to above). To get from the Eiffel Tower to the Arc de Triomphe, walk over the river bridge which crosses the Seine next to the Eiffel Tower. This takes you to the Palais de Chaillot. At the far side of this building, you'll find the Trocadero Metro station. Look for signs for Line 6, with the direction shown as toward Charles de Gaulle Etoile. Take the train to the terminus (3 stops). You'll leave the Metro station right by the Arc de triomphe, which is at the top of the most famous shopping street in Paris, the Champs-Elysees.

You'll need a map of the RER and Metro services. You can print one out from here:
http://www.ratp.info/picts/miniplan/metro120x8 4.pdf

Chris

[jenny111]

Hmm,
Thank you for answering my question but you have now confused me even more ;-)
So does that mean we have to buy to tickets both ways �36 each way wow if thats what you mean then its expensive, god its going to be a long whole day, the only reason we are going for a day is becasue i won a competition for a day trip to calais and last time we went to calais was a bit boring so we thought wed explore, but it seems so confusing, do you thnk people there will understnad if we asked for hel[p?

[Buenchico]

(2-part post):

I thought that things were getting rather expensive as well!

Yes, those fare quoted are single fares. So you're looking at paying over �70 for the return journey. Paris is over 200 miles from Calais by train and the TGV trains aren't cheap.

My advice would be to leave Paris for another day. If you book far enough ahead you can travel for �59 return, on Eurostar, from St Pancras, Ebbsfleet or Ashford. (I've done that plenty of times so I can provide plenty of suggestions if you need them. About 18 months ago, I even met up at Waterloo with another ABer, who was visiting the UK from Colorado, to give him a personal guided tour of Paris!).

So that leaves the question of where to go on the 5th April. To me, the answer is obvious. Lille is a stunningly beautiful city. If you take the 0643 train from Calais Ville, you'll be there at 0802. Coming back, the 1821 train gets you back to Calais Ville at 1940, so you can still get a meal at Au Calice (or your own choice of restaurant), as above, before heading for the ferry.

The fare from Calais Ville to Lille Flandres is �12 each way. Pre-booking is not required because it's a TER (regional) train, rather than a TGV service. (NB: When heading back to the station in Lille, ensure that you go to Liiles Flandres station, not Lille Europe, which is the Eurostar station).

Because I've only visited Lille via Eurostar, I can't give you directions from Liiles Flandres station into the old town area but there's a good bus tram and metro network. A single journey costs �1.25 or you can buy a day pass for just �3.50. (Alternatively, you get free travel with the City Pass. See below). For a map, click the second link here:
http://www.transpole.fr/c/c_a_a_acrobat.aspx

[Buenchico]

I suggest making your way from Lille Flandres station into the old town. That's where you'll find the tourist information office (which opens at 0930). If you plan on cramming in as much as possible, you might want to consider buying a City Pass, which covers most of Lille's principal attractions, for �18. (The pass also includes free travel on the transport network). As stated, you can buy it from the tourist office, or you can purchase a pass online, here:
http://www.lilletourism.com/CITY_PASS_LILLE-1- 0-43-gb.html

Lille is packed with great bars and restaurants. It's got incredibly beautiful architecture and offers good shopping opportunities. It's crowning glory, though, is the Palais des Beaux-Arts. Even if art galleries don't normally interest you, you shouldn't miss it. Many people say that the experience is superior to that of visiting the Louvre because it's much cheaper (�5 if you don't buy the city pass), there are no queues and it concentrates on major works by artists such as Rubens, Van Dyck, Goya and Rodin, rather than filling miles of walls with inferior works by little known artists. (Allow at least 2 hours to visit the Palais des Beaux-Arts):
http://www.pba-lille.fr/spip.php?rubrique31

There's also a 1� hour guided (walking) tour of the old town on Saturdays at 1030. (�6 or free with the City Pass). If you'd prefer to sit in comfort, there's a 50 minute bus tour which runs hourly from 1000. (�9.50 or free with the city Pass):
http://www.lilletourism.com/Lille_guided_visit s_for_individuals-1-0-57-gb.html

For further information, start here:
17:28 Mon 24th Mar 2008

[Buenchico]

Oops!

The link has been cut off. Here it is:
http://www.lilletourism.com/index_gb.php

Hoping that I've helped you to plan your day out,

Chris

[jenny111]

ok thanks for all that info but when i went on the website to book its saying click return and is telling me its �38 but this is confusing me, does it mean single or returm? whys it so expensive?
jenny

[jenny111]

ok, is there anywhere we cab go by bus out of calais that wont cost to much, as you know so much about france etc? thank you x

[mushroom25]

the french tend not to go in for inter-urban bus services as you might find in the UK - from Calais, aside from the town services one of the few bus companies that advertises itself is BCD, who run a service from Boulogne to Dunkerque, timetable at http://www.tcrb.fr/pdf/fiche-bcd-hiver-2007.pd f
..........but, for a day out from Calais, you really won't better Chris' suggestion of Lille.

[Buenchico]

SNCF price most of their return tickets as two separate singles. That's fairly common across much of the world and, for example, is exactly the same way that the budget airlines price their tickets.

There are a few special offers available on some routes, such as a slightly cheaper ticket if you include an overnight stay on Saturday. That's why the system asks if you're making a single or return journey. It's designed to ensure that it shows any special offers which are only available to specific travellers.

When you use the SNCF website it adds together the fares for each of the 2 sections of the journey. That makes your total fare return �80.50. (You shouldn't select the �38 outbound fare because that states that the 'weekend condition applies'. That requires an overnight stay on Saturday. You have to select the �39.50 fare outbound and then �41 back).

SNCF's prices are among the most expensive in Europe (especially for express services such as the TGV) but they're still cheaper than regular UK fares. For example, the distance between Calais and Paris is roughly the same as between Leeds and London. Return fares on that line are �122.50 off-peak or �199.00 peak. So that means that SNCF's return fare, for the same distance, is about one third cheaper than you'd pay in the UK for off-peak travel.

It's up to you but I still recommend saving Paris until a later date and looking for some bargains on Eurostar. Lille is only 70 miles from Calais and the �24 return fare is much more reasonable than the fare to Paris. You'd still have a good day out.

Chris

[Buenchico]

Further to Mushroom25's post (which was sent while I was typing):

Unfortunately, there don't seem to be any useful bus services out of Calais (other than the one mentioned by Mushroom25). The French tend to use trains between towns and only use buses to get around towns.

If you were going to Boulogne, you could either use the bus or take the train. There's a rail service at 0647 which gets you into Boulogne at 0732. If you returned at 1845, you'd be back in Calais at 1921, in time for an evening meal before the ferry.

http://www.tourisme-boulognesurmer.com/uk/blgm .php

However, to be honest, I think you might find a long day in either Boulogne or Dunkerque rather boring. (They're both OK for a short visit but they've got nothing to compare with Lille).

Chris

[jenny111]

Hiya,
Just want to say thank you very much for all the informtion, we have now decided to not go to paris as it is to expensive, so we will go to calais and probably go to lille for the day or we will go to the tourist information thats in calais and ask for advice other wise.
thank you very much

Jenny

[jenny111]

Hiya, just to let you know had a good day in france yesterday, we went to lille was a fantastic place, ws a good deal because it only cose us 7euros each wich was a bargain, thanks for all your help.
jenny

[alanuk]

hi jenny111 if your planning to to calais again there are quite a few things you can do within no more tha a 30 to 40 min drive, on a saturday visit the market at arras great for shopping and great for eating , visit the underground tunnels dug out by the british during ww1. whilst on the ferry or channel tunnel loads of info about the area around calais is available visis arque the glass making town or vimy ridge the canadian war memorial may sound strange but is thought inspiring, quinnes a great little village with a great wine store.