Best way from Dover to Canterbury

[TGBarbie]

DH and I have been to Dover before, did a very nice tour of the Cliffs, Leeds Castle, etc. We walked thru the town of Canterbury early in the morning and said someday we'd like to go back. Someday is in May. My question is regarding the best way to get from the port to the town of Canterbury? Train, taxi, bus? I've searched on the boards but haven't seen any info...thanks for your help.

[John Bull]

Broadly hourly train from Dover Priory station to Canterbury East, journey time 30 mins, fare £10.10  return

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

 

JB 🙂

[TGBarbie]

Thank you John. And one other question, how far is it from the port to the railway station? Best way to get there, taxi? Guess that's 2. Thanks for your help.

[John Bull]

3 hours ago, TGBarbie said:

Thank you John. And one other question, how far is it from the port to the railway station? Best way to get there, taxi? Guess that's 2. Thanks for your help.

 

It's about a mile & a half from the cruise terminal , or about £10 by taxi

 

JB 🙂

[EllieinNJ]

On 1/4/2023 at 7:38 PM, John Bull said:

 

It's about a mile & a half from the cruise terminal , or about £10 by taxi

 

JB 🙂

I read on one website that there is a shuttle from the port to the Priory and Dover Castle.  Is this true?  Also, we are on a back to back on Carnival  with Dover as the turn around day so will there be enough time to go to Canterbury and back?

[John Bull]

20 minutes ago, EllieinNJ said:

I read on one website that there is a shuttle from the port to the Priory and Dover Castle.  Is this true?  Also, we are on a back to back on Carnival  with Dover as the turn around day so will there be enough time to go to Canterbury and back?

 

I'm not a local and hadn't heard of a shuttle, but a search of the web brought up

http://www.ymstravel.co.uk/blue-bus-company

Guessing it's a new service.

It provides a service to the castle, but there's no map of the route and no mention of Dover Priory station. It mentions a stop in Market Square - that's a 10-minute walk to the station vs 25 minutes from the cruise terminal.

 

With Dover as a port-of-call there'd certainly be plenty of time to visit Canterbury, but with a B2B it depends whether the cruise line wants you back on board by the same time as new-cruiser registrations. That in turn might depend whether you have a change of cabin, the timing of the lifeboat drill and whether you're obliged to attend.. 

 

The train journey to Canterbury East station takes about 30 minutes, return tickets £10.10

The service is hourly, more-frequent before 9am but since the Cathedral & Close and many other places aren't open til 10am it's probably not worth taking a train before  8.50 or 9.18. 

From the station it's a half-mile / 10 minute walk thro the town wall to the cathedral, the interesting narrow streets start about halfway.

Depending on the time you have to be back on-board you might need to catch the 2.18pm train back, or you might be fine with the 4.08pm train. Even with that early train back you can make a decent fist of exploring the cathedral and the historic part of Canterbury

https://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

 

JB 🙂

 

[EllieinNJ]

Thank you so much for this info.  It was exactly what I was looking for.