Dover to London - Day trip

[Iamthesea]

I hope this doesn't confuse anyone that has been helping me on another thread "Best time to visit Windsor castle" and the fact that I am going from London to Southampton on a cruise in October. My question here is for another cruise. :D

 

For a May 2016 British Isles cruise out of Amsterdam, I just realize that we will be making out first stop in Dover, England and will again get to visit London. :) I was trying to do a search on the best way to get from Dover to London, quickly, and found the following blog.

 

https://cruisecriticuk.wordpress.com/2010/06/15/fast-train-to-dover/

 

Could someone point me to the website to get information on this train? How far a walk it is from the cruise port, and where the train station is in London?

 

We have done a Fast Track from Civitavecchia to Rome before and it was very easy. ;)

Edited May 2, 2015 by Iamthesea

[HEPcruise]

Hi, you can book train for high speed on http://www.thetrainline.com or http://www.nationalrail.co.uk

 

Services are frequent and take just over an hour on fast train.

 

Hope this helps, have a great time in London

[Iamthesea]

Thank you! Looking forward to both trips, and I want feel like I have to get it all in on the first! :)

 

Congratulations on the new Princess, btw. So exciting. :)

[Bob++]

You need to choose a station depending on where you want to be in London: London Bridge - well... Charing Cross is beside Trafalgar Square in the center of London. Actually all distances to and from London are measured to Charing Cross.

[Iamthesea]

"I won't feel like" :o

 

Bob++ You need to choose a station depending on where you want to be in London: London Bridge - well... Charing Cross is beside Trafalgar Square in the center of London. Actually all distances to and from London are measured to Charing Cross.

 

Which would be better?

[HEPcruise]

The high speed train goes directly into St Pancras which is on most of the main tube lines, so you can choose where to go from there.

[Globaliser]

For a May 2016 British Isles cruise out of Amsterdam, I just realize that we will be making out first stop in Dover, England and will again get to visit London.

Even with the fast train, it will still take quite a long time to get to and from London, and you'll only have a limited time in port: 0700-1700, I think, which actually leaves you with only about 8 hours ashore. The total journey time from the ship to any central London attraction will be about two hours (or possibly more as the fast train only runs once an hour).

 

Given the number of interesting places to see which are much closer to Dover, I would recommend that you think carefully about whether you really want to travel as far as London.

[Bob++]

"I won't feel like" :o

 

 

 

Which would be better?

 

As I said - it depends what you want to see. St Pancras is to the North of the tourist area and any time you saved by catching the faster train will be lost getting to where you want to be

 

Charing Cross is hard by Trafalgar Square at the other end of The Mall from Buckingham Palace or a 15 min walk to the houses of Parliament (with Big Ben) and Westminster Abbey.

 

London Bridge Station is a 15 min walk from The Tower of London and a bit more to Tower Bridge (you could catch a ferry across the river and save your legs.

Edited May 3, 2015 by Bob++

[Iamthesea]

Even with the fast train, it will still take quite a long time to get to and from London, and you'll only have a limited time in port: 0700-1700, I think, which actually leaves you with only about 8 hours ashore. The total journey time from the ship to any central London attraction will be about two hours (or possibly more as the fast train only runs once an hour).

 

Given the number of interesting places to see which are much closer to Dover, I would recommend that you think carefully about whether you really want to travel as far as London.

 

I did not notice the time that we were in port (7:00-5:00 ). :eek: I thought this was a port stop for London and we would have more time. :rolleyes: What a shame! Based on what this article was saying, the fast train sounded doable.

 

I can’t believe Dover port or the local tourist board hasn’t made a bigger fuss about this, as it makes a huge difference to getting to the port and would completely change the experience of a day trip to London for visiting cruise passengers.

 

The new, super-speedy trains use the same fast track as the Eurostar trains and make the journey in just an hour and a quarter.

 

My sister-in-law really wants to go back to London. If we caught the 8:00 train (get to a point of interest in London - 2 hours), that would only leave us 4 hours before we needed to catch the 2:00 (14:00) train back.. DH would want to get back in plenty of time to get back on the ship. It does sound like we should stay close to Dover. I checked the Celebrity tours and they are all to Canterbury, or Canterbury and Leeds Castle combo's. ;)

 

When we did this in Rome, I believe that we had more time. Once we got off of the train, we were able to catch a Papal showing at St. Peter's and then hired a cab to visit some sites that we had missed on a previous visit. it was a whirlwind day, but fun!

[Cshgrand]

Canterbury is also very easy to visit from Dover using public transport and I think an easy city to explore. Lots of good quality information around the city to explain attractions. Dover castle and the South Foreland light house are also worth your time. The lighthouse mostly for the amazing natural beauty of the area and the view from the top. I live locally if you want any specific information, pleased to help if I can.

 

I agree with the poster who said consider alternate stations in London for tourist areas. Getting to the underground from St Pancras station takes ages and actually the 'fast' train can be a false economy. I'd use Cannon Street. We only use St Pancras if we are travelling onward or for North London (Regent's Park, London Zoo etc).

[Bob++]

Civitavecchia to Rome takes just over an hour by train; Dover to Charing Cross half an hour more. So you would have an hour longer in Rome.

 

I agree that Dover Castle or Canterbury are the places to go. With only a short day, I would choose Canterbury - An hour or two in the Cathedral, a nice lunch somewhere like Deesons (maybe sample a half of some locally brewed beer, or some top class English wine. Then you can walk it off with a stroll round the town.

 

http://www.deesonsrestaurant.co.uk/about.php

Edited May 4, 2015 by Bob++

[Iamthesea]

Canterbury is also very easy to visit from Dover using public transport and I think an easy city to explore. Lots of good quality information around the city to explain attractions. Dover castle and the South Foreland light house are also worth your time. The lighthouse mostly for the amazing natural beauty of the area and the view from the top. I live locally if you want any specific information, pleased to help if I can.

 

I agree with the poster who said consider alternate stations in London for tourist areas. Getting to the underground from St Pancras station takes ages and actually the 'fast' train can be a false economy. I'd use Cannon Street. We only use St Pancras if we are travelling onward or for North London (Regent's Park, London Zoo etc).

 

Very helpful, and thank you for offering help. ;)

 

Civitavecchia to Rome takes just over an hour by train; Dover to Charing Cross half an hour more. So you would have an hour longer in Rome.

 

I agree that Dover Castle or Canterbury are the places to go. With only a short day, I would choose Canterbury - An hour or two in the Cathedral, a nice lunch somewhere like Deesons (maybe sample a half of some locally brewed beer, or some top class English wine. Then you can walk it off with a stroll round the town.

 

http://www.deesonsrestaurant.co.uk/about.php

 

Oh, our time in Rome was much longer, as the port time was longer than we are getting in Dover.

 

Well, my sister-in-lae will be disappointed, but we may have to make a detour and visit London on the back side of the cruise. :D

[tacotam]

I was thinking of going to Canterbury during our stop in Dover. My daughter wants to do some shopping and I hear there is not anywhere to shop in Dover. What do you suggest for getting to Canterbury from the Dover Port?

[Cshgrand]

Canterbury would give you shopping plus culture or in the other direction Ashford has a designer outlet village five mins walk from ashford international station - search ashford designer outlet kent for details. Both are easy to get to by train from Dover Priory station. Standard journey time is around half hour for either destination.

 

Having said that, while it takes 15 mins longer the bus toCanterbury (operated by Stagecoach) brings you into town at the bus station at the top of town which is the perfect location to start and finish your exploration. It's also a double decker bus so upstairs would give you very scenic views of the countryside. It's the number 15 (also known as the diamond).

 

Canterbury has a couple of decent department stores plus the UK high street staples like next, Zara, h and m, primark and river island also Jack Wills, Cath Kidston and some other smaller shops. The town is laid out very well and easy to navigate.

[tacotam]

Thanks for your great information. I think we will pursue the trip to Canterbury. The double decker bus sounds like a great idea.