Jenny755

Hello fellow travelers,
We are traveling in southern England by car starting in London and ending in Rye. We need to get to Paris and am hoping to get ideas on the best way to do so. We prefer not having to drive back to London and so are considering dropping the car in Dover, however, this requires taking a train to St. Pancras station then the Eurostar to Paris-not sure if this is easiest way.
Also considering flying and dropping car at Gatwick airport ( not Heathrow because it is north of London and we would be south), then take a flight to Paris. This seems to be a less expensive option, but I am open to suggestions on how to streamline this process. We are two seniors and will have two small luggage.
Thank you and look forward to your input

JohnEW2912

If you can drop the car in Dover you could take a ferry from there to Calais and then train into Paris. It probably isn't much quicker than going back via London and is a bit messy but it would surely be much more interesting. This page from seat61 (the bible for train travel anywhere) will help -https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/london-to-paris-by-ferry.htm#London_to_Paris_via_Dover-Calais. There are full details of how to get to the ferry terminal and how to get from the ferry to train in Calais. A note of caution on this - the page refers to travel from London to Paris via the Dover ferry, so misses out an earlier ferry time. P&O have a ferry at 10.05, which would probably be the best one to take.

Here is the P&O ferry page for foot passengers -https://www.poferries.com/en/routes/dover-to-calais/travel-information/travelling-as-a-foot-passenger?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsq6t6_Pfh QMVnERBAh3cGAZOEAAYASAAEgKShfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

There's another alternative - a ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe. A longer ferry ride but with better ferry - rail connections. You could probably drop the car in Brighton and take a cab or train the 10 miles or so to newhaven. Here is the Seat61 page -https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/london-to-paris-by-ferry.htm#London-Paris_via_Newhaven-Dieppe

Altogether a much more interesting adventure than either going back to London for the fairly unexciting Eurostar or the tedium of the airline process.

bilboburgler

Heathrow is west of London

Jenny755

Thank you for your responses and thank you for pointing out Heathrow being west of London, however, my point that Gatwick is a closer airport to Dover led me to consider this airport as a departure point.
I have checked on the ferry/ train routes and although it would be a more interesting route, it seems too many changes for us.
I think we are concluding to take a train from Dover to London which drops us off at St. Pancras station where the the Eurostar departs to Paris. At this time, interestingly enough, the Eurostar is more expensive than flying but I am assuming a less tedious process than flying. To book the Eurostar, is it best to go directly to eurostar.com for best rates? Also, according to Eurostar procedures, we need to arrive at least 1 hr. 15 minutes before departure but have read that 2-3 hrs. is better- is this necessary?
Thank you again

hetismij2

Have you looked at long distance buses such as Flixbus?

janisj

Easiest by far IMO would be to drop the car at LGW and take the train right from the airport to St Pancras -- no changes and takes about 45 minutes

TDudette

Be sure to reserve in advance the ferry from Dover to Calais..

janisj

I personally wouldn't faff about with Dover and the ferry. Only a few rental agencies are represented there and driving near the docks in Dover can be a real Bee-atch. All the majors are represented at LGW and it is an easy train ride to St Pancras

Jenny755

Thank you everyone for your input. Considering Gatwick, we will be driving from Rye and either taking a flight to Paris leaving at 1:50p.m. or transferring to St. Pancras to take the the Eurostar at 1:30. Seems that at this point a flight is easier or am I missing something?
Looks like the drive from Rye to Gatwick is about 1.5 hrs., should I allow another hour for car drop off ? Is dropping off a car in England pretty straightforward?

janisj

" Is dropping off a car in England pretty straightforward?"

No different than back home -- depends o the company

Re flying or the train from St Pancras . . . Flying is maybe cheaper. But that will only get you to CDG (or maybe ORY) then you have to go through Immigration (not always a big deal but sometimes its a mess)) and the schlepp into central Paris either by RER or a taxi. And check in/bag drop/security at LGW can sometimes be a mess as well. City center to city center the train is faster but in your case you have the added travel up to St Pancras. So the total elapsed time will be pretty close.

Jenny755

Thank you Janisj- Since there seems to be no big issues dropping off at Gatwick and with time lapse being almost equal, we probably will fly and just accept the potential mess of the check-in/immigration process. I will not be going into city center of Paris so that headache is avoided, but instead traveling directly to a small town south of Paris and thus thinking to book flight into Orly airport.
Thank you dear fellow travelers for your input and Janisj, you are a wealth of knowledge!