Overnight Parking at Calias

[PhilandMena]

Hi,
Were comming of the ferry at Calais at 04:00 Fri. and planning to park up and rest untill the hypermarkets open, fuel up and then head south on the toll roads.

I'm told it's risky parking up at night at the hypermarkets (carrefour) or the ferry terminal !

I would welcome your advice on this subject !

Kind regards,
Philip.

 

[Jim]

If you go out of the docks and turn immediately right, following the perimeter fence for around 500m you will see a lorry park on your right that always has one or two lorries getting a bit of kip waiting for ferry, Its well lit and has cameras on it, you could get a couple of hours kip there. I have done it loads of times. If you dont fancy that keep driving in toward the centre of Calais and use the aire thats there. I am not sure where it is I have never used it, but plenty of people on FUn will have.

All that said, arriving at 0400 is a great time to make a traffic free dash to wherever you are off to. Whatever you do, have fun


EDIT: Oh and by the way, welcome to the Fun:thumb:

 

[PhilandMena]

Thanks Jim,
Just what i need, this will suit me fine!
Regards,
Philip

 

[olley]

Hi we use the Calais Plage aire, as the ferry goes into the port look out to the right and you will see motorhomes parked on the seafront right up to the dock wall, usually anywhere from 10 to 50 odd.

You leave the port and following the road keep the port on your righthand side, it is signposted but not very well to start with, water, dump and waste, get there late and leave early and its free, might be free in the winter anyway, we were there two weeks ago and never saw anybody to take the money, €7 per night I believe last year. GPS is 50.9668 1.8436

Olley

 

[2escapees]

Yes the aire is just a few minutes from the ferry terminal and is better in my view than the lorry park and safer!

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[PhilandMena]

Thanks Mike,
I always welcome good advice! I enjoyed your photo's looks like you had quite a journey.

Regards,
Philip.

 

[TestPoster]

Hi Philip
Last year we (2 x ARVs, 1 towing a toad ) used this Aire, and we arrived about midnight and found it full (it was August though)....
We managed to get turned arounded, much to the delight of the incumbents, and went around to the next entrance on the right and found ourselves in the car park right on the front. There were height barriers but these had been opened to allow any sized vehicle to enter....

Maybe worth a try, good luck and enjoy your trip :thumb:

Keith

 

[Brisey]

We do not like overnighting in Calais, for us happiness is Calais in our rear view mirror. No matter what time of night we arrive at Calais we drive straight on to the motorway and head for the Auchan Hypermarket at Boulogne St Martin. We have spent many trouble free nights on their large car park along with other motorhomes. The Auchan opens at 8:00 am, we then do our shopping, fill up at the fuel station and then head on to our chosen destination. It takes about 30 mins to drive there from the ferry terminal.

 

[PhilandMena]

Dear all,
Thanks again for the sound advice folks! Our journey will be in August so whilst there may be a problem getting into the Aires at Calais it's only a short drive from the Ferry and worth a go-look-see.
I like the idea of driving on beyond Calais for a few miles and parking up in a Hypermarket but were heading down the E15 and I don’t know of any places within a short drive of Calais.

I'm hopeful we'll be OK in the Calais Aire and find a suitable space.

Thanks again for your kind help in this matter.

Philip.

 

[thefman]

you can park near the ticket offices on the ferry terminal your perfectly safe there
if you can put up with the comings and goings .

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[olley]

Dear all,
Thanks again for the sound advice folks! Our journey will be in August so whilst there may be a problem getting into the Aires at Calais it's only a short drive from the Ferry and worth a go-look-see.
I like the idea of driving on beyond Calais for a few miles and parking up in a Hypermarket but were heading down the E15 and I don’t know of any places within a short drive of Calais.

I'm hopeful we'll be OK in the Calais Aire and find a suitable space.

Thanks again for your kind help in this matter.

Philip.

Hi Philip, if its full you can always stay in the boat yard, its just before the Calais Plage aire, as you make your way to the aire you will have to drive under a block of flats, they have been built right over the road, (maybe a hotel) you immediately turn right to go to the Calais aire, if you immediately look to your left after turning right, you will see a very large area, in the summer many motorhomes park there against the trees, no facilities and its free, lorries use it as well, but quite safe from reports I have read. GPS 50.9607 1.8471

We have also stayed in the first services with petrol just after the first toll on the road to Paris, I think that's about 30km from Calais. But for some people services are a no no.

Olley

 

[Mangled]

Hi does all these still apply. I will be arriving through the tunnel at 01:00 and was looking to park up somewhere so that I can stock up on beer and wine before heading of to Eurodisney using the Peage. Would I have to drive back into Calais to use the Aire or is there somewhere closer to the tunnel.

Thanks Gord

 

[scotjimland]

Hi does all these still apply. I will be arriving through the tunnel at 01:00 and was looking to park up somewhere so that I can stock up on beer and wine before heading of to Eurodisney using the Peage. Would I have to drive back into Calais to use the Aire or is there somewhere closer to the tunnel.

Thanks Gord

Hi

When you exit the tunnel, there is motorhome parking at Cite Europe where you can also do your stocking up .. see map

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=cite+europe&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=11.852959,42.758789&ie=UTF8&hq=cite+europe&hnear=&ll=50.936418,1.813002&spn=0.023312,0.083513&t=h&z=14&iwloc=C

and picture

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=cite+europe&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=11.852959,42.758789&ie=UTF8&hq=cite+europe&hnear=&t=h&ll=50.932794,1.810856&spn=0,359.916487&z=14&layer=c&cbll=50.93269,1.810806&panoid=JB_90LvSACMRXBtKnrGb_A&cbp=12,50.02,,0,8.77

 

[ShiftZZ]

Hi

We have parked in the motorhome car park in Cite Europe a number of times, its no more than 50 yards from the police station.
We have never had a porblem..

ShiftZZ

 

[PeterandLinda]

Hi

Right next to the Calais Plage Aire is a municipal campsite, which is not much more expensive than the Aire (€25 for two nights during the ferry strike in April 2009) - not much use if you arrive in the middle of the night but worth bearing in mind.

P&L

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[wayfarer]

1 is the Aire, 2 is the truck park.

 

[Loddy]

I always use Cite Europe In the coach park never had a problem and is next to the police station

Indy

 

[Terry and Nicola]

Cite Europe

hi all
me to we have used Cite Europe many times over night as long as you can find it ,we all ways forget how to find it and its allways is at 2 in the morning so all ways over tried
i see you are going to disney let me no how you get on with over night parking i did email disney about it but no one got back to me .we went 3 times last year :thumb:

 

[Minxy]

We've used the Cite Europe parking a few times now, no problems at all, if you have sat nav this is the easiest way to find it, just put in your destination as:

Boulevard du Kent, Coquelles, France

If this works, this is an aerial view of where the motorhome parking is:

overview of Cite Europe

The parking bays are located in the centre of the image, you can see a large car park with the coaches at the bottom, the motorhomes go in the entrance at the top left of the car park, coming up past the coach bit - it shows 'La City' and a little handbag sign literally where the motorhomes go.

close up of parking

 

[Venita]

we have stayed at the port at Calais a few times with no problems. The main draw-back is that it gets quite noisy. Hope this helps

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[warwick]

I stick by my own thoughts drive straight through the place.

 

[Malg56]

Just come back from the Loire Valley - used toll road to save time but next time would plan to use ordinary roads as tolls cost about £50 each way from Calais to Saumar.:Sad:

 

[creativeglenn]

When everyone mentions ''problems'' what exactly do they mean?
I t would take an extreme idiot to think they could enter a motorhome and safely trouble its occupants without getting eaten by the dog and stabbed/beaten with a bat by the owner.
Naturally this is a last resort.

 

[hilldweller]

If this works, this is an aerial view of where the motorhome parking is:

Brilliant. If you go to street view you can even look through the entrance with an EU clown coming OUT of it. But at least it shows how high the height barrier is.

 

[hilldweller]

I t would take an extreme idiot to think they could enter a motorhome and safely trouble its occupants without getting eaten by the dog and stabbed/beaten with a bat by the owner.

Then there are a lot of lucky idiots out there.

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[gogocrosby]

Calais Plage aire is part of our hols, we love to eat frites from the stalls ,sit out with our beer wine watching the ferries, the beach is great, loads of fellow travellers to compare note with and you can walk into town from it in about 15 minutes. If it's full during the summer, the lorry park just by the town ,one mile nearer, always has a dozen or so m/hs parked up we would use it if needed.

 

[Hopesy]

WE have used the car park by the ticket office. Last year we drove at about 0200 to the Aire at Le Touquet about 45 mins drive along the A16 getting off just before the toll. two aires in the town on the seafront which was quite a nice start to the holiday.

 

[chftech]

Brian, is that not an entrance AND an exit gateway?

 

[lebesset]

personally if I come in to calais in the evening I always use the car park with the ticket offices for the night

don't know where the not safe comment has come from , in 25 years I have never known anyone have a problem , maybe because of the 24 hour security and now , someone tells me , security cameras

noise from the trucks ? what noise

 

[wasp]

We always park in the lorry park it is a bit quieter than the aire, no boats but the trucks set off any time after 6 in the morning.Last time we went to Disney and it was late we drove down to the entrance gates ,turned onto the exit road and went right instead of left the wrong way into the park and just parked up in the car park with all the others . You just need a car park ticket from the gate the following morning.:thumb::thumb:

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