Skip to content

Short straits

Dover to Calais, the ninety minute hop.

Sailings run round the clock, all year, on three operators. Check-in closes an hour before departure, and the port is where the time goes.

DunkirkDoverCalais

Timetables checked August 2026, and how they are checked

1 h 30at sea30sailings a dayYear roundP&O / DFDS / Irish Ferries

The crossing

Three operators sail it, so something leaves within the hour.

Operator
P&O / DFDS / Irish Ferries
Sailings
Around 30 a day between the three operators, running through the night
Crossing
About 1 h 30
Check-in
An hour before departure on all three operators, and 90 minutes with a pet on any of them. DFDS advises arriving two hours before check-in closes at busy times.
Gas bottles
All three allow up to three cylinders, 47 kg between them, valves shut for the crossing. DFDS and Irish Ferries take the declaration at check-in. P&O wants it when you book, and counts a part-full bottle as a full one.
Pets
Pets can stay in the van on all three operators. P&O also runs a dogs-only Pet Lounge, and Irish Ferries has Pet Dens on the Oscar Wilde and the Isle of Inishmore. Both are supervised spaces you sit in with the animal rather than kennels, neither is free, and there's nowhere on this crossing to leave a pet unattended outside the vehicle. Book the pet in advance whichever you sail with.Paperwork: an EU pet passport or a GB Animal Health Certificate, a microchip, and a rabies vaccination at least 21 days old. A dog also needs a vet-administered tapeworm treatment 24 to 120 hours before it comes back into Great Britain. An Animal Health Certificate has to come from an official vet within ten days of travel, so it's booked well before the crossing is.

Seasons, weather and operators all move these, so confirm with the operator before you book.

Getting there

London is 1 h 40 away, Edinburgh 8 h.

Typical driving hours to Dover with light traffic
Starting fromDriving hours
London1 h 40
Birmingham3 h
Bristol3 h 30
Manchester4 h 30
Leeds4 h 30
Liverpool5 h
Newcastle upon Tyne6 h
Edinburgh8 h

Ashore

You leave the port straight onto the A16, without touching the town.

The exit puts you on the A16 and A26 interchange within minutes, so the town stays behind you. Cap Blanc-Nez and Cap Gris-Nez are 20 to 30 minutes west, Boulogne is around 40, and the Belgian border is about 45 minutes east on a toll-free stretch. The first hour is easy dual carriageway, and the signage at the exit is heavy about driving on the right.

Still asked

The crossing is ninety minutes. The port is the part that varies.

All three carry vans and all three cross in much the same time. DFDS doesn't take foot passengers here at all; P&O and Irish Ferries both do, though P&O restricts it to a few fixed sailings a day, booked online, with no pets. What differs in practice is when the gas has to be declared and the price on your particular slot, so price the sailing you want rather than the operator.

With this many departures a day, operators will generally put you on the next available one. Flexibility rules vary by ticket, so read yours before you plan around it.

More than the hour the cutoff asks for. The A20 through Dover carries all the port traffic, and both the UK and the French border controls happen inside the port before you board. Summer Saturdays and an Operation Brock queue can add hours on top of that.

Duty-free came back on UK to France sailings after Brexit, and the on-board shops are a genuine saving on alcohol and tobacco. Keep an eye on what you're allowed to bring home.

Checked against

The operator's own pages, not a booking site.

Checked in August 2026. Timetables move, so confirm with the operator before you book.

Send a correction

Free to share

Send this to whoever is coming

Dover to Calais in one page: the times, the sailings, the port and the first hour ashore. Free to read, no account needed.

https://quietroute.io/reference/ferries/dover-calais
ShareFacebook (opens in a new tab)

The crossing is one line of the trip

Quiet Route plans the rest. The overnights, the days between, the budget. One screen, under a minute.

Plan my trip

£28 a year. Full refund within 14 days if you bought on the web.