London to Brussels by train/ferry?

[Howardh]

Can't find any site that does an all-in-one ticket, makes me think that it isn't possible these days. Or am I just looking in the wrong place?
Used to be Dover - Oostende in the good old days, I suppose now we have to go via Calais?

 

[AlexNL]

All-in-one tickets don't exist anymore, but that doesn't mean that the journey itself is impossible. It's just a bit more challenging than it was before the Channel Tunnel opened.

If you want to avoid high speed trains altogether, your journey would look something like this:

• London to Dover Priory: train
• Dover to Calais: ferry
• Calais to Lille: train
• Lille to Brussels: train

To get there, you'll have to...

• Buy a 'London to Calais Day Tripper' ticket from Southeastern.
  • This ticket gives you a ride from selected stations in the southeast to Dover Priory (not via HS1), and includes a sailing from Dover to Calais as a foot passenger on a P&O ferry.
  • While this is a return ticket, there's nothing stopping you from using it as a single.
    
  • See Seat61.com for more information about this ticket.

• Look at TER Hautes-de-France's website for a journey and tickets from Calais to Lille.
  • Be aware, the site is in French only and there's a myriad of tickets available.

• Head over to B-Europe to buy a ticket from Lille Flandres to Brussels (Bruxelles).
  • Disregard any itineraries which you might get via Lille Europe, these are high speed trains!
  • If you're under 26, it may be worth splitting at Tournai and buying a Go Pass 1 for the journey in Belgium.

Please note, there are no shuttle buses between the railway stations in Dover and Calais and their respective ports. You'll have to arrange transportation yourself, either by calling a taxi or by walking for a while.

 

[Lewlew]

You could also potentially go via Hull. P&O Hull to Zeebrugge overnight and then shuttle bus to Zeebrugge/Bruges for a train to Brussels.

Definitely takes longer but a fun trip.

Either that or Harwich to Rotterdam for a train to Brussels.

 

[AlexNL]

Harwich to Hoek van Holland is an excellent alternative, and less convoluted than going via Dover. You're spending more time on the water though.

If you use the Stena Line Rail & Sail ticket you can get from any GA station (including London Liv St) to any Dutch station for £49. If you want to travel overnight you'll have to add the price of a cabin to that. Using that Rail & Sail ticket, you can travel to Breda in the south. From there, you'll have to use a separate ticket to get to Brussels. It's best to buy that ticket beforehand as prices go up.

Tickets for Breda - Brussels can be bought at NS International. Tickets for those IC trains are only tied to a specific day and not to a specific train, so even if the boat arrives late you won't have to buy a new ticket.

 

[Alfonso]

All-in-one tickets don't exist anymore, but that doesn't mean that the journey itself is impossible. It's just a bit more challenging than it was before the Channel Tunnel opened.

If you want to avoid high speed trains altogether, your journey would look something like this:

• London to Dover Priory: train
• Dover to Calais: ferry
• Calais to Lille: train
• Lille to Brussels: train

To get there, you'll have to...

• Buy a 'London to Calais Day Tripper' ticket from Southeastern.
  • This ticket gives you a ride from selected stations in the southeast to Dover Priory (not via HS1), and includes a sailing from Dover to Calais as a foot passenger on a P&O ferry.
  • While this is a return ticket, there's nothing stopping you from using it as a single.
    
  • See Seat61.com for more information about this ticket.

• Look at TER Hautes-de-France's website for a journey and tickets from Calais to Lille.
  • Be aware, the site is in French only and there's a myriad of tickets available.

• Head over to B-Europe to buy a ticket from Lille Flandres to Brussels (Bruxelles).
  • Disregard any itineraries which you might get via Lille Europe, these are high speed trains!
  • If you're under 26, it may be worth splitting at Tournai and buying a Go Pass 1 for the journey in Belgium.

Please note, there are no shuttle buses between the railway stations in Dover and Calais and their respective ports. You'll have to arrange transportation yourself, either by calling a taxi or by walking for a while.

If taking any amount of luggage you're likely to be challenged using the Calais Day tripper ticket, at least in theory. Harwich-Hook is a more pleasant and joined up way of doing it. There is also a recent thread on here of going to Calais or Dunquerque then taking the bus over the border to De Panne and taking the train from there

 

[Howardh]

Thanks for all that wonderful information, Hull/Zeebrugge or Harwich/Hoek seems simpler, but it's a shame there are no x-channel through tickets for those of us who want a more leisurely journey (add the nostalgia of times past).
Possibly an option is Eurolines from London to Lille.
How many days is the Calais DT valid for (ie. when would I have to return?)
Also - is Trainline any good for selling the best (ie most appropriate rather than cheapest) Calais - Brussels tickets?

 

[eastwestdivide]

How many days is the Calais DT valid for (ie. when would I have to return?)

One day, hence the daytripper name! But it is also possible to buy singles between Dover-Calais on that route, around €40 I think, last time I did it.

 

[AlexNL]

Also - is Trainline any good for selling the best (ie most appropriate rather than cheapest) Calais - Brussels tickets?

I had a cursory glance at Trainline yesterday, and I'd say no. Trainline don't have the TER (SNCF) and NMBS fares in their inventory.

As far as I could see they can only sell you tickets for Eurostars, TGVs and BlaBlaBuses. If you're going to use Eurostar to get to Brussels... you might as well do that directly from London.

 

[urpert]

I had a cursory glance at Trainline yesterday, and I'd say no. Trainline don't have the TER (SNCF) and NMBS fares in their inventory.

As far as I could see they can only sell you tickets for Eurostars, TGVs and BlaBlaBuses. If you're going to use Eurostar to get to Brussels... you might as well do that directly from London.

Not sure I agree about the Trainline and cheap TER tickets - I’ve just booked a couple of Rang du Fliers - Paris returns through the Trainline app and got offered the “Prix Cassés Hauts-de-France” cheap advances (€15 each way for an adult and 2 kids!)

 

[AlexNL]

Ah alright, then it might have been a case of Trainline thinking "Why would you want to take a slow train if there's a route with TGV?"

 

[Howardh]

Ah alright, then it might have been a case of Trainline thinking "Why would you want to take a slow train if there's a route with TGV?"

Sometimes I feel we (those of us that like to linger!) are the forgotten passengers!

 

[StephenHunter]

Hoek is no longer on the main NS network; it is now on the Rotterdam Metro. So you will need to change trains.

 

[AlexNL]

That's true, you'll have to change at Schiedam for a train towards Rotterdam (and a train to Brussels from there). But the metro fare is included in the price of the Sail&Rail ticket

 

[dutchflyer]

Its very, very easy to book this all in 1 if one is able to exchange trains on rails for such things called BUS. Both FLIX bus and BlaBlabus do this trip a few times/day. They roll on the ferry (or sometimes even the Chunneltrain) and off with you on board. This is also loads cheaper as the above cumbersome method. PLUS that one can then use the ferry any time, whereas foot-pax are limited to the daytime ferry only by P&O (again seat61 for the details). The total time in that bus is likely also shorter as the T-F-T-T route. No wonder then that they have taken over 99,99% of cent/penny-watching people. Yes, the days that one could buy at any BE-station a special day-excursion London/Londres (actually travelling both ways in the overnight ferry) on the strike-prone Regie for maritime transportation via a long walk at the Oostende station and in Dover marine short and right into a paleblue BR train with doors that one could open even during the ride with draughty windows anywhere are long gone. That even the once still existing ´shuttle´ buses in both Dover and Calais from port to station/gare are now also history simply confirms this.
Just 1 tip for those not ju/senior: There are also low prices on the HS-TGV trains Lille(EUR)-Bru/xel/sse/l/e trains for more speed with some conditions, but I think not on the Eur* just coming in from LON (that left hours, hours later as you). If one has time a plenty the cheap but very infrequent local buses between Calais to Lille could be used to save even more+see more of the landscape.(Arc-en-Ciel or rainbow).
Once the cheapest way to do the ferry crossing was to kind of ´hitchhike´ as there was a single price for car+any pax on board, hence asking a kind fellow/wo/man if s/he would allow you on board. Offer her/him a drink whilst sailing. Also definitely a thing of the distant past with todays checks and borders etc.