Ferry Dover - Dunkirk

Dover – Dunkirk with DFDS Seaways

This route links Dover with Dunkirk, operated by DFDS Seaways. The two ferry terminals are about 65 kilometres (35 nautical miles) apart in a straight line. Use the search engine above for current timetables and fares, or use the Direct Ferries button at the top of the page to compare the sailings.

Founded in Copenhagen in 1866, DFDS is one of the oldest shipping companies in Europe still sailing under its original initials. For British travellers it runs Dover–Calais, Dover–Dunkirk, Newhaven–Dieppe and the overnight Newcastle–Amsterdam crossing, mostly on routes it gained through its 2010 purchase of Norfolkline.

Dover

Few harbours have a better claim to be the front door of Britain. Dover Museum holds the Bronze Age Boat, found in the mud beneath the town in 1992 and dated to around 1550 BC, thought to be the oldest known seagoing boat in the world, which tells you how long people have been crossing here. Above the docks, the Napoleonic-era fortifications of the Western Heights and the cliffs themselves, cared for by the National Trust along this stretch, make for some of the best short walks in Kent. A little way along the coast, Samphire Hoe is a nature reserve built from chalk excavated during the Channel Tunnel works and now home to wildflowers and seabirds. The town is a short train ride from London St Pancras, so a sailing from the Eastern Docks combines easily with a day in the capital.

Dunkirk

Dunkirk once belonged to England. After Cromwell's troops fought alongside the French at the Battle of the Dunes in June 1658, the town was handed to the English, who held it until Charles II sold it to Louis XIV in 1662, partly because he needed the money. The name is better known to British visitors today for the evacuation of 1940, and the wide beaches east of the town carry memorials that are well worth a stop. In the old docks, the Duchesse Anne, a three-masted sailing ship built in 1901, is moored beside the Port Museum. The town itself is flat, windswept and Flemish in origin, and its belfry and seafront are easily explored on foot between sailings.