Overview

Dover is approximately 77 miles (124 km) from central London. On a clear day with light traffic, you can reach it in less than 2 hours.

The trains from London St Pancras to Dover typically take about 65 minutes. However, the less enjoyable part is traveling from your hotel in London to the train station, as well as the taxi ride from Dover Priory train station to the cruise or ferry terminals in Dover.

On days when major cruise ships are in port cruise bus services run to and from the Dover cruise terminals connecting to Central London hotels and Heathrow Airport providing a shared door to door service

Key points of travelling by train to/from Dover

• There are no direct train services between Dover and either Heathrow or Gatwick Airports, you will need to travel into Central London then out to the airport.
• Train services are faster and more frequent than the alternative bus public transport between Central London and Dover, but normally much more expensive.
• There are three separate train lines between Dover and London, all of which have an hourly train service. The fastest trains (by far) are from St Pancras International Station, the same station as where the Eurostar trains from Paris terminate. There is also direct trains from St Pancras to Heathrow and Gatwick airports.
• Your hotel may be much closer to the other main stations serviced by the other lines at Victoria, Charing Cross, Waterloo East and London Bridge. There are direct trains to Gatwick Airport from London Bridge and Victoria.
• On the train services to Dover there are no seat reservations. Your ticket just buys you the right to travel. There is also no assistance with luggage. You board the train with your luggage, find yourself an empty seat and stow away your luggage as best you can.
• At Dover the train station is not next to any cruise or ferry terminal. No shuttle service is provided, so you need to take a taxi the 10 minute journey to the cruise terminals. The busier ferry terminals do have a shuttle bus sponsored by the ferry companies but is in the opposite direction to the cruise terminals.
• There are no specific senior’s fares.
• The train station you want at Dover for cruise and ferry ports is Dover Priory.

Train services between Dover and London

There are three main trains between London and Dover. The two services to Charing Cross via London Bridge and Victoria follow the same route for most of the way to London and are similarly priced and take similar lengths of time to complete the railway journey.

The London St Pancras to Dover service is much faster as the trains utilise the high speed tracks built for the Eurostar express trains between England and France. You pay a small premium for this relative speed on the ticket. However, if you just miss one of these fast trains from Dover, you lose all that time advantage waiting for the next one.

For most people travelling to or from their accommodation in London the pragmatic choice is to identify which of Victoria, St Pancras, London Bridge or Charing Cross stations are closest to your hotel and select the train on this basis.

Both St Pancras and Victoria are major hotel districts in London. Kings Cross/St Pancras is particularly strong on budget accommodation options. Both are also excellent public transport hubs. Victoria has airport buses direct to all of London’s four major airports. St Pancras has direct train connections to Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton airports.

Dover – London Timetables & Ticketing

Purchasing train tickets