Day trip to Calais - advice needed please.

socks_uk

Thanks to a MSE posting on Boxing Day, I have managed to get P&O bookings for my husband and I for a day trip to Dover - Calais for £4 return.

We're going Feb half-term (21st Feb) and I was hoping for some advice from anyone who knows the Calais area.

We will be foot passengers relying on the shuttle bus from the port and we're not interested in doing a 'duty free booze cruise' but more interested in looking at French shops or the Hypermarket that might sell French things that we don't see here in UK. I think we'll get about 5 - 6 hours to look around so any advice about the bus or where the shops are will save us time and help us to not waste time while we're there. Language is not a problem as my husband is French Canadian and French is his mother tongue.

Thanks in advance.

klewis

Hi. normally now we drive to Citi Europe from the ferry port but quite a while back we used to go as foot passengers. from the port they used to run 2 services, one took you to the train station (bus stop) which is a short walk to the beginning of the main high street. (plenty of good shops there) and the other to Auchun hypermarket just on the outskirts of Calais (although this was mainly for food and booze), a local bus from around the station will also take you to the hypermarket. as i said this was quite a while ago so not sure if still available. your best bet though for a short day trip is to remain in Calais town. Hope this helps.

socks_uk

klewis wrote: »

Hi. normally now we drive to Citi Europe from the ferry port but quite a while back we used to go as foot passengers. from the port they used to run 2 services, one took you to the train station (bus stop) which is a short walk to the beginning of the main high street. (plenty of good shops there) and the other to Auchun hypermarket just on the outskirts of Calais (although this was mainly for food and booze), a local bus from around the station will also take you to the hypermarket. as i said this was quite a while ago so not sure if still available. your best bet though for a short day trip is to remain in Calais town. Hope this helps.

Thanks, I'll print off your advice and take it with me. I'll have another look on P & O website too.

BernadetteN

The P&O shuttle bus will take you either to the old town near their office on Place d'Armes or to the train station on the edge of the new town - from there the theatre area is a short walk. There is no free bus that goes to Auchan. There IS a free bus that goes up and down the main street, stopping in 22 places called the BALLADIN, but no idea if it runs at this time of year. If you want go to Cite Europe, it's no 5 bus. You can read up about the local bus services, the free town bus and also other tourist info on the Calais Ville website :
http://www.mairie-calais.fr/spip.php?article110