Ferry Calais - Folkestone

Calais – Folkestone with Eurotunnel

This route links Calais with Folkestone, operated by Eurotunnel. The two ferry terminals are about 48 kilometres (26 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.

Opened in 1994 by Queen Elizabeth II and President Mitterrand, the Channel Tunnel runs for about 50 kilometres, around 38 of them beneath the sea. LeShuttle carries cars, vans and coaches by train between Folkestone and Calais in about 35 minutes, with passengers staying in their vehicles throughout the crossing.

Calais

The Strait of Dover has always made Calais a place people cross from. Captain Matthew Webb became the first person to swim the Channel unaided in August 1875, setting off from Dover and wading ashore here after almost 22 hours. In July 1909 Louis Blériot took off from the dunes just west of town and landed beside Dover Castle, making the first flight across the Channel in a powered aeroplane. Calais is also where Charles de Gaulle married Yvonne Vendroux in 1921, at the church of Notre-Dame. Today the ferry port sits a few minutes from a town centre that is easy to explore on foot, and the Opal Coast begins just beyond the harbour: the chalk headlands of Cap Blanc-Nez and Cap Gris-Nez, from where, on a clear day, you can see across to the English coast.

Folkestone

Folkestone was once known as the gateway to the trenches. Between 1914 and 1918 more than ten million men passed through its harbour on their way to or from the Western Front, marching down the steep slope that is now the Road of Remembrance. At the top, the Step Short memorial arch, unveiled in 2014, recalls the order given to the troops to shorten their stride on the hill. Further along the Leas clifftop, Mark Wallinger's artwork Folk Stones, built from individually numbered pebbles, remembers the 19,240 British soldiers killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Today the revived Harbour Arm, with its bars, food stalls and sunset views, is a cheerful place to wait for a crossing.