For a lot of us coming over from the Kent coast, Calais and Dunkerque are the closest bits of France there are, and the natural first or last French stop on a North Sea passage. They sit only about 21 nautical miles apart, both inside the Dover Strait traffic, both within a tide of Ramsgate, and they could hardly be more different to handle. One asks you to plan your arrival around a lock gate. The other lets you motor straight in whenever you fancy. Knowing which is which before you set off saves a lot of grief in a tide that runs hard and a shipping lane that never sleeps.
I have used both as a bolt-hole and as a jumping-off point, and I would pick differently depending on the forecast, the state of the tide, and how tired the crew is. Here is how they actually compare.
Getting there: the strait comes first
Whichever port you aim for, you have to deal with the Dover Strait first. The narrowest gap is about 20.6 miles, South Foreland to Cap Gris-Nez, but the sensible small-craft route crosses the traffic separation scheme at right angles to the lanes, which makes the real crossing nearer 27 miles. Cross on as near a heading of 90 degrees to the traffic flow as you can manage, monitor the right Dover Strait TSS for small craft procedures, and call up the coastguard if you are at all unsure of your timing through the lanes. The tide here can run at two to three knots at springs and will set you bodily up or down the coast, so work your ground track, not just your heading.
If you are doing this for the first time, the broader planning in crossing the English Channel by boat is worth a read before you commit, because the principles of weather window, tidal gate and traffic apply just as much at this end of the Channel as further west.
Calais: the lock decides your day
Calais is a busy commercial and ferry port with a marina tucked away behind it, and the marina sits behind a sea lock, which is the single fact that shapes any visit. The pleasure basins hold around 393 berths across the Bassin de Plaisance and the Bassin du Paradis, with roughly 30 kept for visitors, and you raise the marina on VHF channel 17 in the outer harbour, then channel 9 once you are inside.
The lock is the catch. It opens for a window around high water, broadly from a couple of hours before to a couple of hours after, and the published gate times shift through the season. Through high summer, from mid-June to the end of August, the opening hours run roughly 0800 to 2000, but outside that they tighten to morning and afternoon slots with a long midday closure, so a winter or shoulder-season arrival has to be timed carefully. Miss the gate and you are holding station in the outer harbour, in the wash of cross-Channel ferries, waiting for it to cycle again.
Get the timing right and Calais is a fine stop. The marina is well found, with a 24-hour self-service fuel berth doing diesel and SP98, a 30-tonne travel-hoist and a 25-tonne crane, free Wi-Fi across the pontoons, and the town centre within easy walking distance. It is only just over 20 sea miles from England, which makes it the obvious place to clear in or out if you want a short hop. On that note, if you are arriving from outside the customs area, check what you must do under clearing customs when you arrive in France by boat before you assume a quiet pontoon means nobody is interested in your paperwork.
One practical warning: the ferry traffic into and out of Calais is relentless, and they do not give way to a yacht. Keep clear of the main fairway, listen out on the port working channel, and do not try to nip across a ferry's bow to make the lock. Wait.
Dunkerque: open all tide, more room to breathe
Dunkerque is the easier of the two for arrival, and on a tired crew that counts for a lot. The Port du Grand Large marina lies up the eastern channel and stays accessible at any state of the tide, with no lock to time, around 250 berths, and the office on VHF channel 9. There is a second pleasure harbour run by the Yacht Club de la Mer du Nord nearer the town basins, which uses an automated berthing system with 24/7 access via a QR code, useful if you arrive at an awkward hour.
The downside of Dunkerque is the approach. It is a big industrial and commercial port, and the buoyed channel in is long, so you commit to a fair run past commercial water before you reach the marina. Keep to the small-craft side of the channel, watch for ships and dredgers working, and do not cut corners across the shallows either side. Once you are in, Grand Large is a comfortable, modern marina with water and power on the pontoons, showers, laundry, a fuel dock, a chandlery and a yard with a 24-tonne hoist for repairs and lift-out.
Because there is no gate to worry about, Dunkerque is my default when I am crossing on a marginal window or arriving after dark. You can come in, secure, and sleep without watching a clock.
What to do ashore
Both towns repay a stop beyond the practicalities. Calais is more than a ferry terminal: the old town behind the marina has a daily market, a fine Flemish-Gothic town hall with its famous belfry, and Rodin's Burghers of Calais on the square outside it. For a crew that has just crossed the strait, a walk into town for a proper lunch and a wander round the market is a good way to let the adrenaline of the traffic and the lock subside. Provisioning is easy, with supermarkets within walking distance and the cross-Channel shops well stocked for restocking the bilge before the trip home.
Dunkerque has more to it than the industrial approach suggests. The town was rebuilt after heavy wartime damage and has a good museum dedicated to the 1940 evacuation, a long beach at Malo-les-Bains within reach of the marina, and a relaxed, slightly less touristy feel than Calais. The Grand Large marina is a little out from the centre, so factor in the walk or a bus if you want the old town, but it is a pleasant base for a day while you wait for a weather window.
For a British boat treating these ports as the gateway to a longer cruise, both put the Belgian coast at Nieuwpoort and Ostend within a short hop to the north, which makes them natural first or last stops on a North Sea passage as well as a Channel one.
Which one, and when
The choice usually comes down to tide and crew.
- Pick Calais if you want the shortest crossing, you have planned your arrival to land inside the lock window, and you want to clear in or out at the nearest French port to England.
- Pick Dunkerque if your arrival time is uncertain, the crew is tired, or you simply do not want to plan a passage around a gate. The all-tide access removes the single biggest variable.
Either way, treat the Dover Strait with respect. Cross the lanes square, work the tide, and keep well clear of the ferries and ships, which have neither the room nor the inclination to dodge you. If you are coming the other way and want a softer first French landfall down the coast, Boulogne-sur-Mer as a first French port sits only a short hop south and dries less of a problem than people fear.
For the British boat thinking past the first hop, both ports put you within a day of the Belgian and Dutch coasts to the north, or set you up to work west down the French shore towards Normandy. Whichever you choose, get the gate and the tide sorted before you slip the lines, and the closest corner of France becomes one of the friendliest.
