This week I’m travelling from Paris back to London by coach and ferry with Flixbus and P&O Ferries. It’s not the quickest way to do it, but it’s certainly the cheapest (all things considered) and as well as that, you really get a sense of adventure with the additional highlight of boarding the ferry at Calais and crossing the English Channel over to Dover.
In this video I’ll tell you everything you need to know to do this journey yourself. I’ll show you the departure point in Paris, how to get there, what the coach is like, what the ferry is like and of course, how much it all costs. Hopefully you’ll agree, it’s a really good way of doing the trip if you’re on a budget like me.
Let me know if you’ve done it before and please consider subscribing if you haven’t already done so.
Many thanks as always guys for taking the time to watch my videos. All likes, comments, subs are massively appreciated and it really encourages me to make more content for you all to enjoy.
Cheers for now.
Mark
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📖Chapters
00:00 – Introduction
My Paris Hotel. Recommended:
https://hotelterminuslyon.com/
Picture Credits:
P&O MV P&O Pioneer, Davy-62 (no annotation made), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MS_P%26O_Pioneer.jpg
37 Comments
Id love it if the British travel Youtubers like Scottish Scott , Steve Marsh , Paul Lucas , Noel Phillips etc all went together on an overnight bus ! A bus full of Youtubers !
Well not quite epic as I think that one of the longest bus journeys you can do is Lima, Peru to Buenos Airies, Argentina and it's duration is 3 days!Bercy looks dire also as it's in south Paris not so logical for going north to places like London, Brussels, Amsterdam, etc.
Mark it’s always good your channel keep it going man. Lots of interesting aspects.👍🏻😎
Thanks for another great video Mark!
After following your videos for a while (since the Liverpool to Preston X2 bus video), I can definitely say you are one of my favourite travel reviewers. Your channel has so much content to enjoy, and the trips are always varied which makes for a great video every time.
I love the effort you put into these videos, as they’re always comprehensive, accurate, raw and honest reviews and I really do think this sets the standard for how this type of content should be.
I really appreciate the level of detail you go into and that they provide the raw reality of what an average passenger would get if they were to do these routes themselves. As a result I think these videos are also a great tool to help travellers decide which routes/methods of transport/companies to use as there’s no marketing hype/influence behind it.
As for the comments saying how terrible it is that you used P&O ferries, I definitely think these comments should be directed at the company, not you. While it is obvious from the news that P&O is a horrible company in terms of the treatment of workers and recruitment, I really don’t think that means you shouldn’t review them! I think it’s so important to give an honest outlook on all the options available, as there just might be a time and place where P&O provide the most sensible or only(!) options.
As usual I really enjoyed today’s video and please keep making excellent content like this!
Great video as usual Mark. That Bercy bus station is grim … it's almost as if the authorities want travellers to take SNCF rather than the bus.
Fully agree with you about that coach station, which I have also had the misfortune to visit personally, an absolute shithole would be an improvement.
Great idea Mark to do the trip the other way as you got to video in daylight and use the ferry where as most of the other vids on this trip are overnight going the other way. There is a direct FlixBus from Manchester to Paris but there is so much competition on the planes it can cost as little as £12 more inc a checked bag though at short notice the coach would be much cheaper of cause. I did not think there could be a worse bus station than the former Manchester Arndale one but I agree Bercy looks dreadful. It would be great to see you do a review on the new Railjet sleeper pods, they look great value for solo travellers.
Put less on your start video otherwise have seen most of the video in 20 seconds
Sounds like for once you had a good bus journey, with the exception of the toilet.I hope the rest of your journey home was as good, thank you and bye for now.
Great video mate . That station looked dodgy asf I hope you didn’t give any money to them beggars
Thank you mark great video fully agree they need to do something with the coach station in Paris keep up the great work your doing Paul in Kent
Brilliant video as always Mark!!
Hope that crossing was not too rough. Have you travelled across the Irish Sea when it is rough?? The ship looks great though.
Totally agree with the difference in price between the frieght dtivers and normal pasengers reataurants. Irish Ferries charge more rhan double for some of rheir meals.
Hope all is well and you have a great weekend, take care
Blimey, that coach station….no access for double deckers it seems. Honestly France can't you do a better job than that?;
I did the reverse journey overnight probably thye day after you. (I had already done Flix bus from Ediburgh to get to Victoeria) The French driver was solo and miserable, the bus was totally full and very cramped, and I arrived in Bercy at 9:35 am and the whole place stank of urine. The reason I chose the bus was to transport some fragile guitars but its a never again for me
❤ great
Enjoyed that mate, was your train to Woking more expensive than Paris to London? Can't have been far off I bet!
Briliant vid. So interesting. That new boat looked good but the breakfast box didnt look appealing. Any breakfast has to have two sausages and two rashers! Toilet on the coach was looking terrible. I always wonder what happens if someone gets a bad tummy! Thanks for the video.
Another top video Mark.
Sounds like good value for money but agree about P&0. You could have mentioned their disgraceful treatment of their staff even if you have not got a choice of ferry company. They need to be scorned by independent travellers so that they suffer in the pocket!
The music when you left port side for the uk was very fitting and very therapeutic
Many years ago (pre-2000) I transited through (I presume) this Paris bus station on the way (and return) to Turin. It was late night, and it was grim even then. I remember a hussler waiting as we disembarked the Eurolines coach, he was touting for students to offer cheap hotel rooms to! Very dodgy place, and not one judging by this video that I would want to go back to. It's baffling that in an era where they are trying to get people out of planes that they think this effective transport cattle shed is fit for purpose? It takes a special kind of dive to make Victoria coach station seem good, but Paris you achieve it with room to spare… Well done! 🤦
Back in the 70s, I regularly used to use the Hoverlloyd coach servive from Victoria Coach Station to Paris Gare Du Nord. I think it left at 0900 and arrived at about 1800, so an 8 hour trip as well. The 'East Kent' red and cream luxury coach didn't board the Hovercraft but it was a short walk through the Hoverport at Pegwell Bay (Ramsgate), for checking in and passports and onto the Hovercraft. I think suitcases were loaded for us – it was very much like boarding a plane, and the hovercraft services even had flight numbers! There were lots of smartly red-uniformed staff and stewardesses – all very helpful and pleasant .
After an exciting (or 'gutchurning' if the sea was rough) 40 minute hovercraft sea crossing (some of which might be over the Goodwin Sands at low tide), we would arrive at the rather impressive Calais Hoverport where we would be directed onto a comfortable French coach. There was a 30 minute coffee stop on the old RN1 road before Arras (no autoroute from Calais then) then we would join the Peage Autoroute to Paris. I remember it being a very nice trip, comfortable, spacious and warm – actually better than the train/ferries I also tried a few times, and a lot better than the slow and noisy antiquated Night Ferry, where the London-Paris train was actually loaded onto the Dover-Dunkirk ferry, decades before the Channel Tunnel.
😮😮 wow Mark glad to see you home 🏠 safely after that dodgie bus station in France absolutely what a joke of a place it's a wonder there wasn't any muggings 🤔 anyway Pal your back safe 👍 thanks for the 🎥 until next week all the best John 😊
Im not sure about nowadays, but bus and coach drivers used to be able to get a meal at the services for 1p! Presumably because you taken 50 or so paying passengers. I managed it once and was transferring an empty bus between depots 😅
I saw the White Cliffs of Dover about twenty years ago, and even then they were in need of a new coat of paint!
Looking at the state of the coach Flixbus provided in this journey, not acceptable at all. Makes you wonder why some bus company hasn’t come into the market and looked to provide a better service, using the eurotunnel for starters and then a better on board service, surely can’t be worse than Flixbus. Also why only were the announcements in french, surely should have been in English as well, as highly likely English speakers or other Europeans on board.
Nice one, Mark! I’m fluent in French as I grew up there – and can safely say that there wasn’t an announcement regarding the broken toilet (from what can be heard in your clip at any rate).
Personally I like Flixbus, I recently took it from Cambridge to Manchester as there are no direct trains, and on the whole I found it good value for money. The Wi-Fi wasn’t working and the toilet wasn’t the greatest (but there was a tap). Also, the driver didn’t stop at all, apart from a scheduled stop at Birmingham to drop off and pick up passengers – and it would have been nice to have had an opportunity to stretch the legs. Still, compared to the train, it was a lot cheaper and also direct.
10:30Maybe that was why they stopped at the rest area
14:30It was probably closed off on account of the weather; you can see the water on the deck there
Cracking video again mark. What’s the one trip report you’ve done on your Channel you’ve made that you regret making now? 😂
The coach driver announcing the Deck number 'deck sank' doesn't sound the most reassuring when on a ferry! Great video mark thank you
i would like you to try Blah blah car at least one day though 😊
Thank you for the video, was a good watch 🙂
Good work from you.
Blah blah car is a car ride share with somebody? That will be interesting to see
Excellent video👍👍👍. Used from go from Grenoble to London via Bercy in the 80s. Used to be awful then! Looks like it hasn’t changed. Quick question. Hoping to get the Flixbus to Paris soon. Any recommendations on which seat for someone who is 6ft 3ins? 👍👍
24:50Is that something that's been painted out or a scrape above the rear wheel
That bus terminal is absolutely disgusting. You need an armed guard to escort you to and from the bus! They should build a new above ground bright terminal with proper waiting areas and armed security. That bus terminal would stop me from using this service
Do all Flixbuses have toilets?
Great video. How did you blag your way into the driver's lounge? Full English an absolute bargain