Southampton to Dover

I need advice on best way to transfer between Southampton and Dover

Three options:

1 Private transfer.

150 miles & journey time about 2.5 to 3 hours. Mebbe a shade more Monday-to-friday if, as I suspect, you'll be starting around 8.30 / 9am.

At a vague guess about £170 for a sedan, but get quotes from www.smithsforairports.com and www.westquaycars.com and www.aquacars.co.uk

2. National Express coach (bus)

http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx

There's no direct service, you take a coach from Southampton coach station to Victoria coach station in central London (about 2.5 hours) & switch there to a coach to Dover (also about 2.5 hours).

Because you have to go in and out of London it's pretty time-consuming, and depending on connection times at Victoria expect the journey to take about 6 hours. But cheap at about £20 per person, and an easy switch of coaches at Victoria coach station.

Booking is strongly advised.

You will need a £6 to £8 taxi ride from ship to Southampton coach station.

And theoretically a £10 taxi ride from Dover town centre to the cruise terminal (that's not the "ferry terminal" on the Nat Express website - the ferry terminal and cruise terminal are at opposite ends of the town). But the coach drivers usually offer to take cruise passengers round to the cruise terminal - "no problem, sir, glad to oblige - oh, thanks very much for that £5 tip from yourself and your missus", Everybody wins ;)

3. Train.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

Your start point is Southampton central station, your destination is Dover priory station.

Again there's no direct service, again you take a train to central London & another from central London to Dover.

Journey time about 3.5 hours, fares a staggering £70 per person, and you have a 10 (?) minute walk between London Waterloo station and London Waterloo (East) station. (Ignore train options to / from other London stations, because they mean crossing central London by tube (with luggage???) or taxi).

But the service is hourly mon-sat and no need to pre-book so it's a useful Plan B if your other plans go belly-up.

Taxi in Southampton from ship to station £6 to £8, taxi in Dover from station to ship about £10

It is possible to do this journey more cheaply by being selective about which trains and by booking separate tickets Southampton to Waterloo and Waterloo East to Dover. Known as split-ticketing. Gets complicated. Play with the website LOL

JB :)

John, thank you so much for providing the excellent choices and detail. One finally question.

When I use my iPad to check times and fares, I usually get a pop up that says buy this fare right now for say 11 pounds vs 37 pounds. Of course you have to make sure that you make the specific time you have reserved. I don't get this option when I use my desktop computer for some reason. Are this low buy now fares on the up and up?

thanks again

John, also I am trying to check the times and fares for the coach from dover. we are returning to dover on sept 28 and have decided to take the coach from dover to Waterloo. when I enter sept 28 and anytime for departure, the website will not display any timetable for that date. am I doing something wrong.

Sorry I mean aug 28 not sept 28. this is driving me crazy trying to get from Southampton to dover

John, thank you so much for providing the excellent choices and detail. One finally question.

 

When I use my iPad to check times and fares, I usually get a pop up that says buy this fare right now for say 11 pounds vs 37 pounds. Of course you have to make sure that you make the specific time you have reserved. I don't get this option when I use my desktop computer for some reason. Are this low buy now fares on the up and up?

 

thanks again

I'm probably not the best person to ask about anything to do with electronolical technocolology - I have a deep mistrust of the dot-con industry.

Yes there are deals but when they're available, on my desktop the price shows automatically in the price box on the website. I use a tablet as rarely as possible so I don't get those pop-ups and I don't know whether they're genuine.

John, also I am trying to check the times and fares for the coach from dover. we are returning to dover on sept 28 and have decided to take the coach from dover to Waterloo. when I enter sept 28 and anytime for departure, the website will not display any timetable for that date. am I doing something wrong.

That one's easy. If you choose London Waterloo station, or a dozen other London locations on the Nat Express website, on 28th August or 28th September or any other date you'll get the same "no can do" message.

That's because the coaches don't go to Waterloo

So why is it offered on Nat Express website? :confused:

I have no idea. Just to confuse visitors perhaps. :rolleyes:

Choose your destination as Victoria coach station.

All coaches end up there.

You'll see the times & prices for your date.

Click the (i) icon against your preferred coach time, and in the resultant information box click where it says "click here for details of the journey".

This will show the stops en-route from Dover to Victoria coach station.

If Waterloo is where you want to be, your nearest stop is Elephant & Castle - it's only about half a mile from Waterloo. So book to Elephant & Castle.

From there either walk or hail a black cab in the street.

If you stayed on to Victoria coach station you'd end up 2.5 miles from Waterloo.

National Express operate a very good coach service, but their web designers seem to know as much about computers as yours truly. :rolleyes:

If you think their website is poor, try using the Italian rail website, Trenitalia.

I think they employ Nat Express's reject nerds :p

JB :)

One other thought for Dover to London by Nat Express.

You have the choice of starting from Pencaster Road (town centre) or Ferry Terminal. The Cruise Terminal is about the same distance from either, and you'll need a taxi hop to either.

Choose Town Centre.

The coach starts from town centre, then picks up at the ferry terminal. Seats aren't allocated, so you'll get a better choice of seats if you board at town centre.

John, thank you once again for the detailed information you provided me. It has been a great assistance in my planning. And yes, the websites need some redesign work for sure.

thanks again!!