If travelling into France or the southern part of Europe I generally prefer the 'Chunnel' as the trip over is quick & will not be affected by adverse weather conditions. I usually try to get a 7.30ish morning slot as that way I miss most of the traffic travelling down to the UK terminal & due to the time difference you miss the rush hour on the French side too. If I want time to relax when getting to the continent I prefer to get an overnight ferry as you can have a few beers, chill out & then get your head down but you are still back on dry land first thing in the morning & can get a few miles done before hunting down a breakfast stop.

Another Tunnel plus (and in fairness I have only used a ferry for 1 'one way' trip since the tunnel started any operations, trial or commercial) is that there are up to 4 departures an hour.

If you miss your exact booked Departure, but arrive within the booking 'window' thereby avoiding surcharges, you will not wait long for the next train.
But between 11.0pm and 7.00am it can be 90 minutes or so - the same waiting period as ferries in peak times!

I'm a ferry man. No one has said about cost. The ferry is a lot cheaper if you are going for more than a few day's. The tunnel charges you not only for the crossing, but for the amount of time you are away. The ferry on the other hand charge you for the crossing no matter how long you are in Europe.

A bike crossing for one day return is round about £38.
No matter how long you are in Europe. With the ferry it's the same price, One day or one month. The tunnel will charge you more the longer you are away.

Have a look and see if I'm not right.
John933

Cannot really add anything other than to say i always use the train, i only used the ferry once and it was delayed 8 hours due to bad weather, book the train online in advance and its about £10 more expensive but get there super quick and the trains leave every 30 mins or so. Also if you are coming into london then you must go to the Ace Cafe on the A406 near Wembley it would be a crime to miss it!

I can understand why you'd choose the tunnel over the boats - speed and no bad weather delays being the main two reasons, but for the life of me I cannot understand how it is even close to competitive on price. Just looking back at the quotes I got for my last trip a couple of months ago - ferry £26.00, tunnel £108 for a Thurs morning departure / Wed afternoon return.

I've never, ever managed to get a price quote for the tunnel that wasn't at least double the cost of taking the boat at the same day/time. And that's summer or winter, day or night, bike or car, last minute or six months ahead. Where all these cheap fares come from I've no idea. I've never seen them. :confused1::confused1:

looking back i have noramally paid between £50 and £60, no more, im not up to date on the ferries prices, as i say only used it once and it could have been free and i still would rather have been on the train. But i think it was around £35.00.

I wouldn't bother with the UK at all.... Straight to 'Europe' for me.

Roads are a whole lot less crowded, and not so many 'jobsworths' making sure you don't stop/park in the 'wrong' places.. accommodation is also cheaper and better value.

Just my view, but the UK is not a place I would choose for my main motorcycling (or any other) holiday.

It's not known as 'Rip off Britain' for nothing.

Hop skip, jump.
 

Miss England out >>> thats a Southern thing, fly into Manchester, Stay over night free at our place.
Ride some of the best roads in Europe (North Wales, Penines, Lakes, Yorkshire Dales). Ride to Hull, off at Zeebruge having a boozy night on board. (About £200), France in 40 mins, the rest is optional.


If not..... I have used the tunnel 100 times since it opened.
At the gate, Buy a single ticket or ask how much a 24 hrs return is, sometime cheaper, Do not rely on ON-LINE booking as you will need to adhere to times and the tunnel isn't cancelled due to bad weather or French blockades.
Go to the booth, pay as you go, I have never waited more than 20 mins. and the train is easy to get on/off. NO tie downs, NO greasy ramps, no expensive refreshments. YES you have to sit on your bike or stand, but if you have survived the M25 motorway, you might need to stand for a bit.

Exit in Calais is straight onto the motorway network, so no 1st French miles through a town centre.

This week prices for tunnel quoted at £29 single..... not bad for July4th .

Note about online. It would seem that even when I was told by both net and telephone booking for the tunnel that there were no tickets for the Valentines weekend (2009) I drove to the coast (from Manchester about 280miles) to get to the ferry. As I was on the way, there was Zero traffic on the motorway, so I pulled off at the tunnel exit and was on a train in 3 minutes.

Us Brits have this odd 'need' to see ourselves crossing the great divide and watching Blighty dissapear ....... sod that I want to make things simple. Tunnel 4 me.

beer

Pretty much always the tunnel for me. Ride on, ride off forty minutes later.

I don't think we've ever paid more than £40 for a one way crossing, and you can normally get it down under £30 if you pick your time of day. Even when we rocked up to Calais a day early coming back this summer we only paid about £6 surcharge each. I've also never seen any price difference depending on single/return/length of stay on the train, unlike the ferries and contrary to what someone said above.

I've never taken a bike on a ferry across the Dover-Calais route. Too much pissing around for a marginal saving. On four wheels it works out the other way round.

I find it easier to make the case for the overnight Portsmouth-Caen crossing if you're heading for the South, because it saves you a nights camping/hotel and kicks you out on French soil at ~6am, meaning you can make a good amount of progress on the first day. But it is *really* expensive, so recently we've used the tunnel and put up with the extra mileage.

LD lines do Portsmouth - Le Havre.
I've just got a quote for return trip out 24th Apr - back 10th May - both midweek.
Outbound departs 23:00 and lands 08:00 so you get your head down ready for a good ride in the morning.
Price £102 for bike + rider.
You can pay more if you want a cabin!
Minor snag - return leg lands 21:30 so unless you live within 100 miles of Portsmouth you've got a rather late last leg or are looking for digs in South UK.

It is possible to mix and match crossings - one way - outbound on 24th April is £35

Sorry that's £35 for travel today