Day Trip to the Hoverport at Boulogne-sur-Mer

Last year The Tim Traveller created an excellent video about the last remaining Hoverport from the halcyon days of cross channel Hovercraft operations - at Boulogne-sur-Mer.

Tim's video spurred the thought - would it be possible to do a day trip from London to Boulogne?

The easiest option would be to drive to Folkestone, take Le Shuttle, and drive straight to Boulogne.

But what about travelling without a car ... going by train to Dover ... and ferry Calais ... and train to Boulogne ... is that feasible?

Train to Dover

In order to make the 10.40am DFDS ferry (see below) you'd need the 7.10am train from Victoria (arriving Dover Priory 9.09am) or the Javelin departing St Pancras at 8.07am (arriving Dover Priory at 9.12am).

In order to make the 11.30am P&O ferry (see below) you'd need the 7.29am train from Victoria (arriving Dover Priory 9.31am) or the Javelin high speed departing St Pancras at 8.07am (arriving Dover Priory at 9.12am).

Ferry to Calais

Unfortunately there's only three P&O ferries a day which take foot passengers - with departures from Dover at 9.45am, 1.40pm and 4.40pm.  P&O also have a 90 minute checkin deadline, so with the port being a 20 minute taxi ride from the station (or 30 minutes walk downhill or a 15 minute cycle), you'd need to get into Dover Priory by 7.45am / 11.40am / 2.40pm to make the checkin cutoff.

However, if you're on a bicycle all the P&O sailings become available, including the 11.30am departure (getting into Calais at 2pm) - and cyclists also benefit from a more civilised 60 minute checkin requirement.

Irish Ferries do not accept foot passengers or cyclists across the Channel. Thankfully DFDS do allow cyclists (but not foot passengers) on their services, including the 10.40am departure which arrives into Calais at 1.20pm with their slightly longer sailing time.

Train to Boulogne

Getting from the Port of Calais to Calais Ville station takes about 15 minutes by taxi, 20 minutes by bus, 15 by bicycle or half an hour walking.

The train from Calais Ville to Boulogne-sur-Mur takes just 27 minutes, with the slower service taking 32 minutes but delivering you into the centre of Boulogne at the Tintelleries station.  The Calais Frethun service (as well as being 10km out of town) uses a TGV trainset.  Trains operate every couple of hours.

Cyclists can bring standard bicycles on regional trains in the Haut France region without a reservation between start of November and the start of May (subject to space).

The Velo A Bord website from SNCF confirms that no reservation is needed until the end of April.

Getting from Boulogne-sur-Mer station to the old Hoverport takes about 45 minute walking, or 12 minutes cycling or 6 minutes in a taxi.

With the two hour gap between trains, on Saturdays the last train back from Boulogne to get to Calais in time for the 8.10pm ferry (see below) departs Boulogne soon after 5pm, arriving into Calais Ville just after 5.30pm.  On weekdays there's departures around 5.27pm and 6.13pm which get into Calais Ville with enough time to catch the 8.10pm ferry.

Back to Blighty

The last P&O ferry which takes foot passengers departs Calais at 7pm arriving into Dover at 7.30pm - so you'd need to be at the port in Calais to check in by 5.30pm.

Cyclists have extra P&O ferry options including the 8.10pm departure (arriving 8.40pm) and the 10.25pm departure (arriving 10.55pm) - with a normal 60 minute checkin time.

Cyclists also have the option of DFDS ferries including their 6.05pm departure (arriving 6.45pm), the 7.35pm departure (arriving 8.15pm) and the 11.10pm departure (arriving 11.50pm) - also with a 1 hour checkin deadline.

London bound

Getting to Dover Priory station from the ferry terminal takes about 10 minutes in a taxi, 15 minutes on a bicycle or something over half an hour on foot.

The last direct train to London Victoria on Saturday departs around 10.15pm (taking just over 2 hours) and the last Javelin high speed train to St Pancras departs around 10.45pm (taking just over an hour).

On Sundays the last departure for London is before 10pm.  On weekdays the last Victoria departure is around 9.45pm with the 10.45pm high speed Javelin departure the last of the day.

Pricing

Taking Le Shuttle for a day trip can cost around £100 for a car and up to nine passengers if booked in advance.  If you wanted to travel tomorrow it would cost £148 plus fuel costs.

Taking the ferry, either as a foot passenger or on a bicycle, costs around £50 for the return journey.  The return train from London to Dover is around £30 with a Network Railcard.  And the return train from Calais to Boulogne about £17.50 giving a total of nearly £100 per person.

Conclusion

Since there aren't any trains from London that get into Dover in time for the 8.15am morning sailing checkin deadline - it is not possible to do this daytrip as a foot passenger.

Taking a bicycle opens up more ferries, with 8.07am Javelin from St Pancras connecting nicely with the 10.40 DFDS ferry, arriving at 1.20pm into Calais.

Taking the 2.34pm train from Calais Ville you would have a couple of hours in Boulogne before getting the 5.08pm service from Boulogne back to Calais.

Departing Calais on the 8.10pm P&O or the 7.35pm DFDS ferry would get into Dover in plenty of time to catch a train back to London.

Fred Olsen Express - Web Plus

Booking a ferry from El Hierro to Tenerife the morning before flying out of TFS seemed a little risky, so I opted to spend some extra euros on a Fred Olsen Web+ fare in case the weather looked dicey and I needed to change to the previous day.

The Web+ fare came with "1 Free Consumption" ... but despite searching high and low I couldn't find any information about this free consumption that they spoke of!

Having successfully obtained my freebies, I'm sharing how it works.

My first advice is do what the locals do and queue early at the cafe.  The ferry does roll significantly even in calm waters, so it's much easier to get your consumptions in before things get too sporty!  I even saw one passenger being escorted / dragged around by a crew member as she was too unsure on her feet.

Secondly you need to decide what you want - your One Consumption means a Main Option (mostly sandwiches) + Drink + Snack (mostly crisps).  You will hear the staff telling the people in front of you what the sandwiches options are long before you reach the front of the queue!

Once it's your turn you simply give them your name, and they find you on a list on their till, and then you place your order.  No scanning your ticket or anything complicated.

For our party of three I ordered coffees, sandwiches and fruit.  The lovely lady kept offering me crisps, and seemed to have so much fruit that we got double helpings!

Then the challenge is to get back to your seat without spilling your consumptions!

Comfort

If you choose to upgrade further you can pay for a Comfort fare.

This includes a more spacious lounge, but is probably only worth it in the height of Summer as the main cabin wasn't that busy when we travelled just after Christmas.

Here's what the Oro cabin looks like - take from the door as I was passing by!

Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental

Back in September 2003 I flew on Concorde from Heathrow to JFK just a month before the iconic aircraft ceased commercial service.

And whilst I've flown on Boeing 747-400s over half a dozen times, I've never had the pleasure of flying on the final version of the Queen of the Skies!

Sadly there's only a handful of airlines which fly the Boeing 747 (either 400 or 8i) with the number gradually reducing year by year.  Many of the B747s are flown by cargo airlines.  And most of the remaining passenger aircraft are exclusively flown on long haul routes.

Air China's fleet of four B747-400 and five B747-8s do still get used on short haul flights.

So last year I booked a ticket on CA1557 from PEK to SHA in the hopes of getting a ride on the scheduled B787-8i, well aware that aircraft swaps regularly happen.  Sadly an aircraft swap did indeed happen, and I ended up on an old Airbus A330.

Chastened by the the experience, I started to build a spreadsheet of when the B747-8i did actually operate CA1557 to see if I could establish any patterns.

With 15 months of data, the headline is that you have less than a 1 in 3 chance of riding a Queen if you book a random CA1557.

For those lucky enough to travel on the week commencing 14th April 2025 they had a 5 in 7 chance of a B747-8i, otherwise the best weeks had a 4 in 7 chance.

Sunday was the best day of the week with more than a 1 in 2 chance last year, with Wednesday having just under a 1 in 2 chance.

Spring and Summer Sundays

Between the end of March and the end of August, 20 out of 23 Sundays saw a B747-8i operating the flight.  Of the three Sundays where a smaller plane operated, two of the following Monday saw the Queen in service.

Conclusions

For the best chance of catching a ride on a B747-8i you really need a flexible ticket, so that once an aircraft has been allocated a couple of days in advance, you can swap your flight if needed.

Book a seat on CA1557 on a Spring or Summer Sunday to give yourself the best chance of success.

Let me know if you find any other short haul flights with a decent chance of a B747-8i.