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Arriving to the UK by Land

The Eurotunnel

The Eurotunnel runs between Folkestone and Calais. It is the quickest way across the channel, taking around 35 minutes. The website has a lot of useful information, we encourage you to have a look particularly at the vehicle type section, as you can see you do have the option to use the tunnel as a cyclist as well, which might be an attractive option. Prices do vary and you can only book around 6 months in advance, so check the website for a quote before you decide.

Folkestone is not far from Dover; if you are driving it is around a two hour journey. Bear in mind that as a driver you will have to pay a toll at the Dartford Crossing.

Pedestrians can use the tunnel by travelling on a coach such as Megabus/Flixbus.

Arriving by train

The Eurostar runs several services from all over Europe to London, fares will vary so have a look at the website. You can also look at their map of destinations, which will show you their direct journeys and those which require a change. You can get to central London directly with the Eurostar into London St Pancras station; From there you will need to head towards either London Euston or Marylebone to go forth towards Birmingham.

If you are arriving at a dock or airport further afield, you will need to take a train. Depending on the area, different services operate. The best way to navigate the train system is to book online either on the trainline or national rail website, and keep to the journey outlined in the booking. A few more tips:

• If you miss your specific train you can catch another, as long as it:
  1. Is the same service provider, e.g. Chiltern Railways, Cross Country. This can sometimes be unclear, the name will be on your ticket, and to ensure you are on the correct train try to catch one that does the same route as the one you booked: e.g. I want to go to Birmingham through Banbury because my tickets say so, I will not take the train that does not stop at Banbury. Alternatively, ask someone who works at the station.
  2. Is within the same time restriction, i.e. is it off-peak, super-off-peak or peak times? This restriction will determine the price - the more off-peak the less the tickets cost.
• Book off-peak or super-off-peak if you can: peak time tickets are only necessary for those travelling in rush hour (09:00 and 16:00-18:00 company dependant).
• Keep up-to-date with news about rail strikes, these rarely mean no services run at all, but often will result in reduced services and changes to timetables. The travel update section of the national rail website lists all disruptions and is updated often.

Arriving by coach

Megabus was acquired by Flixibus so now the two are the same provider. This is possibly the cheapest route from Europe to London, with so many different stations available you can probably start your journey from quite close to home. It probably will take longer than train or flight, but it is worth considering. Have a look here for the route map and the website. Do zoom in on this map as you may notice that zoomed out it looks like Estonia has no stops, but zooming in you will see them; visitors from Finland may have to travel to Estonia in order to catch a coach.

Travelling from within the UK, the other option is National Express, which is also quite cheap and has a lot of stops around the UK.