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We arrived in Calais at 16.45 our time (France is an hour ahead) got off with no problems and preceded towards the wine and Beer places! We had seen a program on TV once about a guy who had set up a warehouse selling alcohol and was now a millionaire! We stopped off there first the place ... Read review
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Advantages: cheap, fun, quick. Disadvantages: None! We are after all talking about cheap booze and fags!
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We arrived in Calais at 16.45 our time (France is an hour ahead) got off with no problems and preceded towards the wine and Beer places! We had seen a program on TV once about a guy who had set up a warehouse selling alcohol and was now a millionaire! We stopped off there first the place was called Eastenders! We left the port and took sortie 3 (Exit 3) from there we took the last turning on the roundabout (not forgetting they drive on the ... ...and not a problem find.
The prices in there were better than the Wine and Beer Company which is the first shop you come to, just go round the corner and you will find them.
We bought plenty of lager. 24 cans of Kronenberg was £9.00, better than the £15-£20 you pay here! We also bought 24 cans of Coca cola (for my mixers) for £5, that’s nearly half price to here. 24 cans of Woodpecker for £7.50 (the cider and lager ... more
You know what it’s like on a Sunday, pretty dull and only a roast dinner to look forward to, you also have the dreaded feeling that you will be at work the next day! That was my one day off as I had to do some overtime on Saturday and I wanted to make the most of it, as usual my bf comes up with 20,000 idea’s and I um and ah about all of them. He’s losing his patience a bit when he comes up with the idea of doing a booze and fag run to France!! ‘Hmmm, good idea!’ I say. At this point he collapses with exhaustion as it’s taken him most of the morning to get me to agree to something!
It was 11am and he quickly logged onto the Internet to book us a ferry ticket. It doesn’t take long, one stop at SeaFrance and we have a ticket for 2 people and a car for £31 what a bargain! He also quickly checks out for the opening times of the local shops, you have to be aware that not all shops will be open.
We jump in the car and fill up at the local petrol station (and I fill up with lots of newspapers and magazines – bf is obviously going to have a very quiet journey!) We leave our little village in Cheltenham and we’re on our way, we’re booked onto the 16:15 ferry and the 22-15 for the way back (‘what!’ I say ‘I’m at work at 6am tomorrow! – Never mind’!)
We get to Dover at 2.45, a very good clear drive that only took 2 and a half hours. We got to Dover far too early for our ferry so went to collect our tickets from the SeaFrance desk, taking the confirmation slip with us that we printed out on from the internet. While we were there we asked a very helpful (not bad looking!) man if we could change the times to come back earlier, he advised that we could go on any ferry at any time as long as there was room! Brilliant, we got a wriggle on and instead of having to wait an hour to get ours we got on the 15.15!
We drove straight onto the ferry and left the car to go on deck. The ferry had a duty free shop selling cigs, wines and spirits. There was a café, a brasserie, a pub, a kiddies play area and a games room, plenty to keep you occupied for the 70 or 90-minute journey. Our journeys both took 90 minutes, there is just one of their ferries that will do it in 60 and that is the newest and largest – The Rodin. The other ferries are The Cézanne and The Manet. The crossing was calm and quite pleasant, I have never been on a ferry before but I much prefer it to flying.
We arrived in Calais at 16.45 our time (France is an hour ahead) got off with no problems and preceded towards the wine and Beer places! We had seen a program on TV once about a guy who had set up a warehouse selling alcohol and was now a millionaire! We stopped off there first the place was called Eastenders! We left the port and took sortie 3 (Exit 3) from there we took the last turning on the roundabout (not forgetting they drive on the wrong side of the road!) About 5 minutes away and not a problem find.
The prices in there were better than the Wine and Beer Company which is the first shop you come to, just go round the corner and you will find them.
We bought plenty of lager. 24 cans of Kronenberg was £9.00, better than the £15-£20 you pay here! We also bought 24 cans of Coca cola (for my mixers) for £5, that’s nearly half price to here. 24 cans of Woodpecker for £7.50 (the cider and lager were all the large cans). The cider is mine I’m afraid, my taste buds have not yet matured enough to appreciate the more finer, quality wines! But they are there, the average Ernest & Gallow wine is from about £2.20 - £3.50. When you think they are over £5 a bottle here you could save a fortune. Asti was another purchase, £11.00 for a box of 6, the Asti was the proper stuff too! (You can tell by the paper label stuck on the bottleneck) These once again are about £5.00 in the shops another great saving.
If you were getting married or having a party this is well worth a visit, you could save an absolute fortune.
Now we move on to cigarettes. Eastenders have another shop in Belgium where they sell cigs, about a 35-minute drive from Calais. We just got on the A16, which was next to where we were and got off at Exit 36. It couldn’t have been easier. When we arrived we found that cigs were not much different from on the ferry, tobacco is though so if you want that it’s worth the extra drive. I didn’t mind it was my way of having a little peak round France and liking what I saw. The drive was lovely, greenery everywhere and the sun was shining, can’t wait for my next holiday, France it will be… by ferry!
If you would like to find out further information about SeaFrance or book you can call 08705 711 711. For group reservations you can call 08705 301 301 or visit seafrance.com to book or for further information online.
Was the journey worth it? Absolutely, a nice day out and a saving of about £250. We paid £31 for the ferry and about £30 on diesel. Not forgetting you could actually save more money by filling up in France, as diesel was only 50p per litre.
We got the 20.45 ferry back and were home by midnight, this could have been much earlier had we thought about this first! So if you’re thinking about this try to go earlier than we did!
I would recommend this to all, good fun and money saved too!
Advantages: Cheap, Cheap, Cheap Disadvantages: Time
I have been viviting Calais for a number of years to regularly stock up on wine and cigarettes. My husband and I both smoke and we also like a tipple of an evening. When visiting Calais we chose one of two modes of transport. The Channel tunnel or the ferry depending upon which is giving the best offers at the time, (such offers can be found on the Internet or in national newspapers).
Advantages of Channel tunnel
It is a lot quicker and only takes ... ...off from Calais with shops available to buy those last few things that you forgot.
You do not get sea sick if you have a weak stomach.
Advatages of Ferry
It allows my husband to get 40 winks before we drive home.
Wit nice weather it is wonderful standing outside on the deck.
Less claustrophobic than the tunnel.
Once in Calais there are a number of outlets you can go to if you wish to buy wine, beer or cigarettes.
My favourites include:
Cheers ...
mkberridge 11.10.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Calais (France)
Advantages: very cheap wines and spirits Disadvantages: none
...accross the English channel to calais in France will do very nicely.
I have been 3 times this year.The money I spend on petrol driving aproximately 250 miles each way to Dover and back plus the cost of a ferry crossing is
easily made back by the savings in the hyper-market that I shop in.
You can travel as a foot passenger but then you are very limited with what you can carry.I recommend taking the car as the hyper market is only a 10 minute
... ...markets in calais but I always go to the same one as it is so easy to get to.
The shop I use is called 'carrefour'and is situated in a complex called city europe which has many other shops including a toys r us and a tesco wine store as well as several cafe's,clothes shops,electrical shops etc.
The easiest thing is to buy a map of calais from a service station in the UK before you board the ferry.
You only need to take 2 short stretches of motorway, ...
welshlad33 30.09.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Calais (France)
Advantages: shopping opportunities Disadvantages: ugly, full of day-trippers
Calais is an unattractive town. It's flat and the architecture varies from concrete blocks of flats to those run-down cementy houses of the France of 50 years ago. The place has grown enormously in the last ten years, mainly on the proceeds of the booze cruise, which remains the best, if not the only, reason to go there. There are now a number of downmarket drink outlets placed conveniently near the ring road; these large sheds with loud names do ... ...best bits of Calais are the old centre, where you can find some of the flavour of France,, and the little villages inland or on the D900 to Boulogne. Here you can find good restaurants, but if you prefer to eat in Calais head for the street behind the beach. ...
Elagabulus 30.08.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Calais (France)
Advantages: A lot of sights, cheap accommodation Disadvantages: Traffic can be busy
...any visitor! However Calais is much more than a stop-off destination for ferry/train passengers. There is a wealth of things to do and places to go in and around Calais. There are many castles around Calais, a visit provides a good historical insight into the town and surrounding area. Calais, despite a negative reputation for refugee camps and concrete tower blocks, actually has some spellbinding architecture. The town hall is incredible, as is ... ...for families.
Getting to Calais is easy. Take your car on the train or ferry (I prefer the train, it only takes 35 minutes, even though it's more expensive) across the channel from either Folkestone or Dover. To get to Dover head down the M20 from the M25.
Hope you found this useful, thanks for reading! ...
hellocello 05.09.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Calais (France)
Value for Money
Sightseeing
Shopping
Nightlife
Ease of getting around
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Advantages: Relaxing hotel, easy to get to Disadvantages: maybe a little pricey
I had to travel to Germany, in fact it was the furthest part of the old West Germany you could get to, so I needed to break my journey (after travelling from the West Country), just coming out of the Channel Tunnel, Calais seemed a good place to stop off over night.
*** Where is it ***
The Holiday Inn "Calais - Nord" is located just out of the centre of Calais near the car ferry port. So it is very convenient for both the Channel Tunnel and the ferry ports. It took me about 10 minutes to drive there from the Channel Tunnel.
The hotel is located at
6/8/10 Boulevard des Allies
62100 CalaisFrance
Tel +33 321 34 6969
Fax + 33 321 97 0915
www.holiday-inn.com/calais-nord
The hotel is very easy to find, in fact the directions on the Holiday Inn website are perfect. The hotel is located right next to the car ferry ...
Advantages: Style without too much cost Disadvantages: Spent a foutune on Taxi's
doors banging or unacceptable behaviour. The hotel did not make us feel discouraged from having a good time, just to show polite consideration for other guests - nothing whatsoever wrong with that - if you can't manage it then stay somewhere else.
Checkout was 11am but the hotel was happy to look after our luggage for the handful of us who wanted to spend a few more hours exploring
I wouldn't hesitate to take a young family to this hotel or mixed group or enquire about single group bookings. Not sure if it was the best place for a hen party but was great fun never the less!!!
All round - 10 out of 10. A great choice.
Rating 3 Stars
Rooms 134
Type Hotel
Address 4 Boulevard de la Canche, 62520, Le Touquet
City Le Touquet
Country France
County Nord-Pas-de-Calais ...
Advantages: Scenery, buildings, location. Disadvantages: None that I can think of.
across from Calais to France and get to Sweden, the start of our holiday as soon as possible with as few stops as possible.
*Why Lubeck?*
When we decided to throw in an overnight stop as we figured that it was just too much to expect all of us to happily make it to Sweden in one day we looked at our precise planning and decided to stop at around 4pm of day one. This happened to be around Hamburg. As my husband had previously visited this city we decided to try somewhere else close but that none of us had visited. We got out our map & out trusty friend Google and began to Google in the cities and towns in this area. The first city that we looked at was Lubeck and we were instantly won over by what we saw and read. We managed to find a nice looking Hanseatic hotel and got it booked promptly.
*The day of arrival*
We left Calais ...
