Many travelers opt for Eurostar for its sheer convenience. With a headline travel time of just 2hrs 16mins from the heart of London to the middle of Paris, Eurostar will invariably be the fastest option. Others favor the international rail service for its reasonable fares. Book when tickets first go on sale (four months before travel on the London to Paris route), and you’ll surely catch a bargain.

From edgy and unloved landscapes…

But there is quite another reason why canny travelers bound for Paris are so inclined to hop on Eurostar. This journey has a remarkable cinematic quality. Climb aboard, settle down in a comfortable window seat and just watch.

The departure from St Pancras is a gentle piece of theatre. Then tunnels and light interact, with screenshots of edgy and unloved landscapes in Essex and north Kent. Cut from a scene of the old automobile plant at Dagenham to a late Saxon stone church stranded on the Essex marshes.

… to the garden of England

The train zips under the Thames then over the Medway, suddenly entering a green and pleasant land, a more rural England than we have seen in the first part of our journey. The railway plays cat and mouse with the Downs, here and there diving through tunnels under chalk hills.

Along the way, there are gorgeous scenes of Kentish orchards and pasture land. This is pure therapy.

Flanders fields

On, under the English Channel, and you’ll be in France within an hour of leaving London. Here the landscape has a more expansive demeanor.

Cassel, a magnificently-situated hill town in the distance, is a reminder that Flanders is not totally two-dimensional. Dashing south from Lille, the line cuts through territory defined by its rivers. We bridge the Scarpe and the Somme. This is a journey that evokes memories of too many wars. But it captures too the blessings of peace.

Arriving in Paris

Two hours out of London and we are into the final act. Paris suburbs are pushing north into fields where not so long ago sugar beet was grown.

We surf the city, making tracks for the Gare du Nord. But watch carefully, for just before arriving at the terminal, the River Seine has a minor walk-on role. You’ll catch a glimpse of it on the right as the train cruises south through St Denis.

Just over two hours of pure cinema. And like all good movies, it’s one worth watching time and time again.

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Boulogne is situated in the northeast corner of France near Calais.

But onward travel through France was slow and so, for a generation of Brits, this little fragment of France abutting the English Channel was the only portion of the country that they really knew.

The Nord / Pas-de-Calais region

But what a lovely corner of France it was… and still is today. Its charms are too easily overlooked by British travelers today, whose arrival in France is often all-too-hurried. They are too intent to rush on, keen to head south to the Dordogne or Provence. Insofar as they stop at all in the Calais or Boulogne region, it is usually only on the way home and then merely to load the car with the cheap wine that has become the Brits’ favorite import from France.

Viewed from the perspective of Paris, and even more so from the salons of the Riviera, the cities and ports of the far north of France are still seen as impossibly remote. It’s a sentiment nicely captured in the hugely successful film Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis (“Welcome to the Sticks”). “North of Paris lie only the boondocks,” says our Avignon friend, going on to recount stories of pungent Maroilles cheese, cauliflowers and mining communities in terminal decline. Such are the prejudices of one too pampered by life in the sunny south.

Boulogne’s Old Town

Visiting Boulogne

So we told her that was nonsense and hopped on the next train to Boulogne, the one-time ferry port that once thrived on its links with Britain. The cross-Channel steamers have gone, now focusing their commercial efforts on Calais just 35 km up the coast. And, without the day trippers, that makes Boulogne all the more enjoyable.

The local tourism authorities still have a sharp eye on the British market, ever conscious that in terms of travel time Boulogne and Calais are closer to London than they are to Paris. “Real France, real close” run the ads prepared for the UK market.

Boulogne highlights

And this is real France, for Brits just a quick hop from London with Eurostar or a pleasant 90-minute cruise from Dover on P&O’s magnificent ferries.

Boulogne in particular is something special. We wandered the Gambetta Quai each morning, which boasts a superb fish market. And each evening we ate fresh fish in whatever manner Tony Lestienne favored that day. Lestienne is the most accomplished of chefs in a town with a rich culinary tradition. If you eat at the La Matelote restaurant, you are in for a treat. But if budgets are tight, head to the restaurant in the nearby Nausicáa Centre, where Monsieur Lestienne runs the in-house catering.

With its ramparts, walled Old Town and maze of narrow streets, Boulogne is pure France. And there are enough sights to detain you for three or four days.

The castle museum is a gem, with its oddly eclectic mix of exhibits. The range runs from a hall devoted to the funereal rites of Ancient Egypt through a stunning collection of Alaskan masks to delicately beautiful paintings of local Opale Coast beaches and dunescapes.

The big-draw sight in town is of course Nausicáa, an aquarium and environmental education center that lies on the northern fringes of town. It is justifiably celebrated.

Riding the coast: North to Calais

We left by bus, taking the morning local service up the coast to Calais. This is a roller coaster of a route that takes in cliffs and bays aplenty, the entire run enlivened by wonderful views of the white cliffs of the Kent coast just across the Channel. It is a good reminder that this is a corner of France whose fortunes have been forever shaped by its proximity to England.

Getting to Boulogne

From England, we strongly recommend the P&O ferry link from Dover to Calais. This is travel as it should be – relaxed, sedate and stylish. From Calais Port, it is an easy (if not exactly beautiful) hike into town to take one of the regular local trains from Calais Ville station to Boulogne.

Calais Ville station wins no prizes for grace or grandeur, but do take a few minutes to see Calais town hall, just south of the station. It is one of the most strikingly beautiful buildings in all of Flanders.

The rail route from Calais down to Boulogne runs inland, which means that you will only get occasional glimpses of the sea. So you might consider taking the none-too-frequent local bus service that departs from the Place d’Armes in Calais and hugs the coast all the way down to Boulogne. (Just note: No Sunday services on that bus route.)

From London St Pancras (and for that matter also from Brussels Midi), there are Eurostar trains direct to Calais Fréthun, in each case with a travel time of just one hour, where you can walk down to the very spartan local platform for the onward train to Boulogne. Calais to Boulogne takes just 30 minutes.

And if you are in France and can overcome local prejudices about the far, far north, you’ll find great rail connections from Paris to Boulogne. We recommend the line via Amiens, used by classic old-style but very comfortable InterCité trains, which take about 2hrs 45mins for the journey.

There are also five-times-daily TGV services which speed from Paris to Boulogne in just over two hours. The route they take is less immediately appealing than the more traditional Amiens line, but you do get some nice views of the landscapes of Picardie and Flanders.

The post France: Visiting Boulogne and Calais appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Of course, there are plenty of other ferry options, many of them with much longer crossing times than the short but sweet shipping routes which we highlight here. Those longer options includes several North Sea crossings from the eastern England ports of Harwich, Hull and Newcastle to the continent. And there are also a range of routes linking the south and southwest England ports of Newhaven, Portsmouth, Poole, Weymouth and Plymouth with France and Spain. The “short-sea” routes on which we focus below are all year-round services.

Four companies compete with ferry services from the Kent coast to the continent, three running from Dover to France and the fourth operating out of Ramsgate to Belgium.

Cruise-ferry comfort with P&O

Top choice from Dover to Calais is P&O, which offers cruise-ferry comfort on the 90-minute crossing to France. The company currently shuttles to and fro 46 times each day, but services will be a shade less frequent in the quieter winter months (from early January to mid-March 2012).

These are wonderful, well-appointed ships. Crossing the Channel by sea is a chance to relax, see the White Cliffs of Dover and recall how that short stretch of water separating Kent from the French coast so powerfully shaped English identity.

Daytime-only for foot passengers

This P&O ferry route to Calais is the only route from Dover on which foot passengers are permitted. And remember that foot passengers may not use night services. They are restricted to daytime sailings (viz. sailings that leave Dover between 8:10 a.m. and 7:35 p.m. or those that leave Calais between 6:30 a.m. and 10:00 p.m.).

One-way fares for a car (including up to nine passengers if you can squeeze that number in) start at £25 single, and that fare also applies to car travelers wanting to return the same day – good for shoppers making a day excursion to France to stock up on cheap wines and French deli produce.

By coach and ship to France: Eurolines

Selected departures on Eurolines’ London to Paris express bus service also use the P&O shipping service from Dover. (Others take the less romantic option: the Eurotunnel vehicle shuttle). Services using the ferry are marked as such on the Eurolines timetables.

Grab one of Eurolines’ Advance Single fares and you may pay as little as £29 for the one-way ride from London to Paris, with a short cruise with P&O along the way.

DFDS and Sea France

Two other companies operate from Dover to French ports, namely Sea France (to Calais) and DFDS (to Dunquerque). Neither carry foot passengers, although the DFDS services will carry cyclists – and they have a very reasonable £10 one-way fare that covers both cyclist and bike.

Ramsgate: A link to Belgium

Kent’s second port at Ramsgate is very much smaller than Dover. Ramsgate is north of Dover and the travel time from London to both ports (whether by car or by train) is broadly similar.

Transeuropa Ferries offer thrice-daily services from Ramsgate to Oostende in Belgium. Crossing time is 4hrs 30mins (so more than twice as long as on services from Dover to France). Transeuropa do not carry foot passengers – a travesty as the ferry port in Oostende is right by the train station and this route would be so convenient for rail-sea travellers.

And – surely this must be against the law – Transuropa say that, for the time being, they will not accept cars that have a passenger who relies on a wheelchair. We have never used a Transeuropa ferry, but we understand from those who have that there is little by way of creature comforts.

The post England to France by Ferry: A few short routes appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Europe’s car train network

Car trains don’t usually feature in the regular train schedules, and are often not so easy to find out about. Europe’s largest operator is DB Autozug, a division of Deutsche Bahn, which this year celebrates 80 years of operations. Apart from a network of routes within Germany, DB Autozug operates services from seven bases in Germany to ten destinations in France, Austria and Italy.

Other car train operators to bear in mind are:

• ÖBB (Austrian Railways): Six routes within Austria plus international services to Germany and ItalyAustria plus international services to Germany and Italy
• Trenitalia: Six routes within Italy
• SNCF Auto-Train: Some two dozen routes within France including some very useful cross-country links, such as from France’s Atlantic coast to the Riviera or Brittany to Alsace
• Optima Tours run the Optima Express which makes a big leap across the Balkans from Austria to Turkey.

In addition, there are useful domestic services in Croatia and Finland, plus of course a large number of short-hop car trains that transport vehicles and their passengers through Alpine tunnels, under the English Channel or to offshore islands linked by rail causeways to the mainland (as in the case of the German holiday island of Sylt).

Car train fares

Car train services can be pricey, but at the top end they offer a very high level of comfort with overnight journeys in modern sleeping cars, along with a good on-board restaurant where you can enjoy dinner before retiring for the night. It is possible to board a train in northern Germany mid-afternoon and wake up next morning on the shores of the Mediterranean, having traveled a thousand miles but without having spent a cent on fuel.

Some operators offer discount options for travelers prepared to book very early or last minute. Early bookers with ÖBB, for example, can pick up a one way ticket for car and driver from Vienna to Hamburg from just €133, a journey which by road would take about 11 hours and cost (depending on vehicle size) upwards of €80 in fuel.

National and international services: DB Autozug

DB Autozug has a great one-way special for inner-German route, offering fares of €99, which covers car transport and couchette accommodation for the driver. For international journeys, there is a €149 fare (similarly for vehicle plus driver with couchette).

Regular fares for international journeys for those not wanting to book well in advance start at €179 for car with driver or €319 including car transport plus couchettes for up to five passengers. Not cheap, we know, but really an amazing way to start or end a European car tour. And, once your car rental company has told you that their one-way drop charge from Germany to the Med is over €400, the idea of using a car train to return to your point of origin begins to look like a decidedly attractive proposition.

Car train services are also a credible option for British travelers looking for southern sunshine who want to avoid the long grind south on continental motorways.  The DB Autozug terminal at Düsseldorf is less than a three-hour drive from Channel ports.

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