need to get over to the UK by the 17th of this month.

was thinking of using the tunnel. it works out about double the price of the ferry (can only use my mum’s Tesco points when travelling from the UK), but should save me a potential four hours (waiting time for the ferry assuming i don’t arrive ten minutes before sailing).

has anyone done the journey to Calais recently? what is the likelihood of delays/having my van stormed by migrants?

do the Tunnel people check if a van is a van/camper? have a Caravelle, but in reality the only bit of the van that is a Caravelle is the badge on the back. it’s now a camper (although looking at it you wouldn’t know… Hilo roof 😉 )and says as much in the log book. going as a car saves me about 50€ compared to saying i have a camper.

experiences welcomed…!

A caravelle is a car. M1. So book as a car. Pay extra for flexiplus. It’s painless.

I did it a couple of weeks ago. No problems whatsoever.
Book a normal ticket and give yourself a bit of leeway. If you get there early, they often let you on the next train. If not, there’s enough to keep you busy in the terminal. The car park is secured etc so nothing really to worry about.
I have a Tourneo (like a caravelle). Booked it as a car but with high roof (follow the over 1.8m signs to board).

We’ve used it 6 times this year, not even seen a migrant never mind had any trouble

Did the Dover Calais and back returning last weekend. My Caravelle went in as a car at 1995cm high. No problems at all either side.

Not done it myself, but bloke who sits next to me at work had a nightmare with his Q7, tearing the sidewall on a tyre going through the gap between carriages.

He said to go in the lorry bit if you can.

Been out and back mid – end Aug and no trouble at all. Standard ticket always been fine and allows +/- 2 hrs at no additional charge.
Never seen a migrant nor in any previous trips ever …

Would never go back to the ferry

We came back via Dunkirk which is very quiet and low stress. Slightly longer on the boat but often a little cheaper too.

Personally I wouldn’t bother with felxiplus we turned up 3hrs early was told we could get on for 60 euro or wait and hr then get on for no extra charge. Time we did toilet stop and stretch legs the hr was up.

We use it 6-8 times a year. Have only ever used flexi-pkus once as its double the price, notnwe usually only have 2-ish drive to/from so we are always on time.

Can’t help on the Caravelle thing apart from is it under 1.8m if so then I think its definitely a car.

Carriages easily wide enough for A6, Q7 is a tank but if driver has hit side that’s user error. Have seen all sorts of large 4×4’s and Ferraris too in normal carriages and they are pretty wide

Eurotunnel doesn’t tend to have as much issues with migrants as the port, we have seen large numbers hanging around road side and walking up the motorway. They want to sneak into a truck not a van as you’ll notice. There have been attacks on cars though as migrants try and cause a traffic jam so they can get into a stopped truck. There is a huge amount of barbed wire etc around the place now. Personally I think you will be fine amd we’ll be on it again next week.

Carriages easily wide enough for A6, Q7 is a tank but if driver has hit side that’s user error. Have seen all sorts of large 4×4’s and Ferraris too in normal carriages and they are pretty wide

They fit in the carriage.

It’s when you drive through the bulkheads – they put crosshatch steel over the wooden bits which have worn away, which caught his tyre.

Did it in August in a multivan, ie the Yurpean name for Caravelle, coming from Spain.
Book online as a high car. No problem as long as you follow the right signs as others have said. Avoid M6 toll though, there you’re in a van and they Don’t enter into discussion. Another thing… We were driving some 10h per day and to be honest the extra enforced time out of the van would have been welcome on the ferry (used to use the Dunkirk route a lot) but then the ferry is a pretty rubbish place to spend even a couple of hours.

that is it… i’ll be on my own. ferry was a bit of a novelty with the GF and the 2-3 hours passed quickly (other than the time we were sat just outside of dover for three hours in thick fog, occasionally catching glimpes of the cliffs when the fog cleared, feeling the ship shake as massive waves cleared the bow also got a bit boring after about the 20th time….the dock had to be repaired after another ship was blown into it…)

the ferry is a pretty rubbish place to spend even a couple of hours

specially when it’s only 1hr30 😉

be pretty unlucky to have thick fog and crashing waves in September. will be a millpond and visibility from Calais to Dover.

if I lived in UK i’d do the tunnel with Tescos vouchers, but they discriminate against those of us living in Germany, where return journeys are going “the wrong way”. Every time they quote me €180 they can bog off, and P+O gets my custom at half the price.

Did the ferry last month. P&O have more crossings than DFDS. We did P&O, wait time of 10 mins on the way out, about 20 mins on the way back. Both times we’d factored in 90 mins wait time before our scheduled crossing and were put on the next available one. We’ve always had a longer wait to cross on the Chunnel.

We book to cross at what might be a meal time so we can treat it like an extended service station stop – even if the food isn’t the best.

I went last month in my LWB transporter (with pop top), booked as a high van. The lady on the checkin window told me that in future I should book as a high car.

HTH
Dave

We’ve used the tunnel approx. twice per year for the last 5-6 years.
They always offer you the option of an earlier crossing if they have space, and we’ve worked out that a high car/roof box helps with this.

Last Sunday coming home from France was the only time we’ve been delayed, and that was due to a combination of an earlier incident + sheer weight of tourist traffic. they handled it fairly well, and we were on a train approx. 1 hour after our planned crossing time.

We’ve never seen any ‘migrants’ or had any trouble in that respect.
The site is pretty secure once you pass check-in.

I’ll always look at the tunnel as first option – even better with Tesco vouchers.

Had a van that was in the high car category. Fine going out but got hauled over coming back for them to check thoroughly in the back of the van.

So long as you don’t stop in Calais until the terminal you should be okay. If the French are on strike and blockading the place though, and you’re sat in the queue, you’ll have a full load of migrants in the back, underneath and on the roof 😉

Anyway, tunnel is usually nice and usually efficient, except when things are going wrong and there’s a delay. Then you’re sat waiting for hours. Only ever had that going from UK to France though.

Flexiplus is worth it just for the Coffee eclairs in the lounge.

We took the ferry once, and never again. Tediously slow compared to the Chunnel.

Came back about 10 days ago through it, hit Calais at dusk & didn’t see anyone even remotely looking like the ‘migrant stereotype’.

About 30 miles from Calais there were ~50 police in convoy on the A26. I can only assume they were making the trip for a fun night around the town.

Tunnel is like Heathrow Express. Expensive, but so much better that it’s worth it unless you absolutely cannot afford it.

Do you drive like a Muenchener yet? If not it should take around 9 to 10 hours to get to Calais or half an hour less to Dunkirk from Munich. The ferry only takes 1hr more than the tunnel overall and is a nice leg stretch after that drive. I came back from Austria last week, no problems anywhere (apart from the usual traffic around Munich).

to reiterate.
Caravelle definitely a car, book it as one over 1.85m. This means you get to go with the vans and don’t have to mess around with the double decker nonsense.
I have been with a T4 van which was converted with windows and rear seats and the guy said, oh, its an mpv.
Been twice in the last 6 weeks in my viano (also booked as a car over 1.85m) and only saw a couple of migrants walking along the motorway just before calais. No dramas either time. If you are worried make sure you fill up with juice 100 miles away from calais and dont stop.
I paid the extra for flexiplus as it removes any stress about being there at a certain time and also if you have any kind of emergency and need to get home earlier than planned you just go and get on the next train.
Also worth knowing is the car recovery and medical (includes mtbing) insurance with the tunnel ticket is very cheap.

Done the tunnel a good few times now – I always book a late night crossing, that way the m25/m20 is a breeze either way, as is the French end.

Interested in the Van high car booking questions. we have a transporter, complete with cooker sink and seats in the back. Always booked as a motorhome.
Might think about a high car for future bookings, what doe they check ion the french side? Seats in the back count as Le-MPV for them?
Love the train personally.
Like ken at night too as you can sail down the motorways at night when the idiots are asleep, cross while it’s cool and sleep in France.
I relax once I’ve left the UK.

Cross several times a year in our T5 Kombi, always book as a high car but have to call do so as their website sees the reg as a minibus and wants to charge extra. We tend to go out on a standard ticket but pay the extra £100 for Flexiplus on the return as we’re often coming back from the Alps at peak times with low availability unless booked very early. Takes you out of the stress of aiming for a particular crossing and if they have the Flexiplus dedicated UK Passport Control open saves an hour or so of queuing. In fact a couple of weeks ago we were given an open ticket for any train we fancied once through immigration. Only downside is high-space users don’t get to use the Flexiplus lounge so we miss out on the free coffee & cakes.

price for tunnel in €€s… 113€
price for tunnel in GBP… 81…. or 92€….??

reckon i can say i’m UK based when booking my German motor? let’S try…

it worked….! paid with UK account.