London to / from Dover By Bus
National Express Bus Services Between Dover & London
 |
| Dover Pencester Road Bus Station |
National Express Coaches
National Express are the largest scheduled long distance bus operator in Europe and operate the only truly national network in England carrying over 18 million people a year.
They are a large public limited transport company with operations globally.
Key points about using National Express buses between London and Dover are:
-
Coaches are full size and all have toilet and washroom facilities
-
Your ticket guarantees you a seat, but does not reserve any particular place, so you can sit on any vacant seat when you board the coach.
-
Tickets are for a specific journey, miss the departure and you lose the ticket. The notable exception is for departures at airports including Heathrow and Gatwick. Here can you use your ticket on later schedules if your flight is late and you miss the bus as a result. This is subject to seat availability on the following bus.
-
Once an individual schedule is sold out, no relief buses are put on to provide extra capacity.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Typical National Express Coach |
-
Advance purchase promotional fares are often available on the Dover - London route - these can be very, very cheap.
-
Unlike the trains, full etickets are available on-line and delivered instantly by email.
-
Unless you get a good promotional fare, return fares are much cheaper than two single fares each way.
-
At Dover most buses visit the ferry terminal, but do not visit the cruise terminal. The distance between cruise terminal and ferry terminal is over a mile - too far to walk. On the National Express ticketing system, Dover cruise terminal is shown as a stop but you will be very, very lucky if any bus is scheduled on a day you require, let alone at a convenient time. It has been reported that some drivers have in the past diverted into the cruise terminal on the bus down from London if there is a lot of people on-board going on a cruise. If this happens treat it as an unexpected bonus, but plan on the basis you will be dropped off in the town bus station or ferry terminal.
Luggage
Luggage allowance is often a lot less than flight baggage allowances if you are traveling to/from North America. Luggage entitlement is limited to two cases per person in the hold, neither of which should weigh more than 20kg (44lbs). In the cabin you can take a small item of luggage like a handbag or laptop.
Drivers do not weigh the luggage and typically are quite flexible, but don't count on it and don't abuse the allowance.
National Express have introduced an excess luggage policy with charges and if you have outsize items or unusual items you really need to check out the detail of the luggage policy.
If you are concerned about the security of your luggage in the hold it is rather good. The blog video right depicts the controlled manner in which luggage is loaded and unloaded.
London (Victoria) - Dover National Express Route
There are two National Express coach services connecting Dover with London Victoria. Both start and finish points are the same.
The slightly faster and more frequent route operates via Canterbury, the other via Ashford. Each route has a handful of other stops along the way
The fastest buses are scheduled to take just over 2 hours for the complete journey between London Victoria and Dover Town Centre, the slowest around 3 hours.
For the cruise terminals its probably on balance best to get off at the ferry terminal at Dover where there is always a taxi waiting to take you over to the cruise terminal. On disembarking your cruise there is a well marshalled taxi rank with local fares displayed on a board.
 |
| Transfer options |
| Central London |
| Heathrow Airport |
| Gatwick Airport |
| Paris |
| Private Cars And Group Transfers |
Dover To/From London's Airports
There is no direct public transport between Dover and any of London's airports.
However there are direct airport buses from London Victoria to all four of London's major airports enabling one stop connections between the airports and Dover.
Heathrow Airport, the busiest airport is the other side of London from Dover. Apart from being cheaper than train, the other key advantage of using the National Express buses is the seamless connection between buses at London Victoria under one roof.
The alternative rail option between Dover and Heathrow is tedious in that the main train lines from Heathrow and Dover into London go to different stations within the city requiring a taxi or underground transfer between. There is also the option of using the London Underground out to Heathrow. With luggage and the crowded carriages iis not attractive to most, but is the cheapest way of travelling between Heathrow and London..
National Express offer frequent airport buses to both Stansted and Gatwick airports from Victoria.
Across the road from the coach station at Victoria, there is a Luton airport bus run by easyBus.
National Express Bus Timetables, Fares & Ticketing
It is possible to buy tickets on the day subject to seat availability.
However, the deep discounted fares are only available on-line in advance. Tickets are true etickets and are sent to you immediately by email.
In the Dover to London direction, morning departures around 9 a.m. that connect with cruise disembarkations are often sold out well in advance. National Express do not put relief buses on once an individual schedule is sold out.
Unlike the train alternative, National Express do offer seniors fares open to anyone over 60.
If you are travelling to or from the airports with National Express from/to Dover a single ticket covers both journeys. If you are unable to get promotional fares, a return ticket is normally much cheaper than two single tickets.
 |
Taxi Cabs at Dover Between Rail / Bus Stations & Cruise Terminals
 |
| Typical Dover Taxi Cab |
Taxi cabs at Dover come in a wide range of sizes and shapes, the image left is fairly typical. If you have two cases per person and more than 2 people you may end up with multiple taxi cabs.
Its just a 5 minute drive between the cruise terminals at Dover to/from the railway and bus stations and ferry terminal. Dover Castle is up a steep hill out of town, a matter of taxi there, walk back perhaps.
For private transfers to London and its airports we have detailed pages discussing your choice of transfers between:
 |
Taxi Fares From Dover Cruise Terminal 2012 |
Taxi Cab Fares at Dover
All fares within Dover should be on a meter. Indicative fares to and from the cruise terminal are shown right.
For longer journeys outside Dover never leap into a taxi without agreeing the price before hand. Better still arrange your private car in advance, (see links above).
Although drivers may offer to accept your Euro or Dollar currency it will almost certainly be at a very, very poor exchange rate. Only do so as a last resort.
The Eastern Docks is where the ferry terminal is. The Ferry Terminal is a much busier place than the cruise terminal. If you are taking the National Express Bus to London its much nicer to get the bus from the ferry terminal than from the town centre.
The ferry terminal has toilets, coffee shops etc and is a relatively comfortable place to wait for the bus. The town centre bus stop is in a run-down area at the back of the shopping area.
The taxi rank at the cruise terminal is well marshaled. Porters from the ship will normally take your luggage as far as the taxi rank immediately outside the front doors of the cruise terminal.
It is customary to leave a small tip with cab drivers, (assuming they provide a good service).
Walking From/To Cruise Terminals
It is a couple of kilometres or well over a mile between the rail and bus stations and the cruise terminals. With luggage we would advise against walking. The taxi cabs really are not expensive and walking through the port is not the greatest way to end a cruise.
Dover Rail, Bus Station, Hotel & Cruise Terminal Map
 |
 |