Dover - If you could only pick one or two castles...

[Iamthesea]

which would you pick?

 

We will be in Dover port from 7:00 - 4:30. We would use public transportation - bus or train.

 

If we only had time for one:

Dover

Cantebury (and town)

Leeds

 

If we (do we with the time constraint?) had time for two:

Dover

Canterbury (and town)

Leeds

[LondonTowner]

Dover Castle and Leeds Castle are totally different. I would go to Dover Castle if I was particularly interested in WWII history. If it is a clear day there great views across The Channel.

 

Leeds Castle is great for earlier history and art.

 

I love Canterbury, but don't think you would have time to do the city plus one of the castles.

[Bob++]

Realistically you only have a little over six hours ashore - Dover castle is well worth a visit and you should take a taxi up there. There is a restaurant for lunch. It's not just WW2:

Dover Castle is a medieval castle in Dover, Kent. It was founded in the 11th century and has been described as the "Key to England" due to its defensive significance throughout history. It is the largest castle in England.

 

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/dover-castle/

[Iamthesea]

Dover Castle and Leeds Castle are totally different. I would go to Dover Castle if I was particularly interested in WWII history. If it is a clear day there great views across The Channel.

 

Leeds Castle is great for earlier history and art.

 

I love Canterbury, but don't think you would have time to do the city plus one of the castles.

 

Realistically you only have a little over six hours ashore - Dover castle is well worth a visit and you should take a taxi up there. There is a restaurant for lunch. It's not just WW2:

 

One of our Celebrity excursions last 6 hours and does Leeds and Canterbury, so thought we could make better use of our time and money and get two in. Really want to visit Canterbury. Supposedly, there is a train that takes 30 minutes, or a shuttle or bus.

Edited January 12, 2016 by Iamthesea

[John Bull]

I too would choose Dover castle.

As well as saving travel time, it's much more representative of a British castle than Leeds and has been an important defensive castle for all its life.

 

Although the first Leeds castle was Norman (12th century) it was re-built in Tudor times, primarily as a residence - virtually nothing pre-Tudor, apart from the remains of the original gatehouse, has survived. The exterior & it's surrounding moat & landscape gardens are extremely attractive, and promise much - but the interior is a bit of a disappointment, more like a country house than a castle. In the early 20th century the interior was further changed beyond recognition.

 

The site of Dover castle has been England's most important defensive site since before Norman times, there's a Roman lighthouse on the highest point. The castle retains its original Norman keep, which dominates the site, and there's a rabbit-warren of tunnels from medieval times through to WW2. On a tolerably clear day the coast of France is very visible.

 

Dover castle belongs to the nation - it's a national treasure, whereas Leeds castle is in private hands. That ownership makes a big difference to the experience, same as it does in the US - kerrr-ching ;).

 

Leeds castle & Canterbury fit reasonably well on an organised tour because Leeds only needs about 90 minutes whereas you could spend all day at Dover castle.

But by public transport Leeds plus Canterbury would cost about two hours on trains (including a change of train for Dover to Maidstone) plus 15 minutes e/w by taxi between Maidstone east station & Leeds castle.

 

Yes, you can combine Canterbury & Dover castle.

IMHO (and almost-certainly the opinion of others) you'd not do justice to either, but I do understand the desire to fit in both.

 

Taxi (£10 or less) from ship to Dover Priory station.

A day-return train ticket to Canterbury east costs about £9, half-hourly service, journey time 15 or 30 minutes (eg 08.52 from Dover arrives Canterbury 9.08) then a ten-to-fifteen minute walk to the historic part of town & the cathedral. Don't be tempted to take a train earlier than 08.20 (arrives 08.47) because at that time of day you'll struggle to even find a coffee :eek: But the cathedral opens to the public at 9am.

 

Train back to Dover around 11.30 (eg 11.20 arrives Dover Priory 11.37), then a ten minute / £10 taxi hop to the castle by noon. Concentrate on the Keep and mebbe the medieval tunnels - the WW2 tunnels are only in guided groups, at specified times (two tours, the shorter one takes about 40 minutes IIRC) and I doubt you'll have time to fit one in.

 

I think you'd need to arrange with your taxi driver to be collected from the castle at an agreed time, I've only ever visited in my own car. The return should only take ten minutes, but you need to allow 30 minutes (or more) before your back-on-board time to allow for snags.

 

I'm guessing you're on a back-to-back. If you're obliged to attend lifeboat drill for that second cruise, the back-on-board timing could royally screw-up your day.:(

 

You do have the advantage that you need arrange nothing in advance, so you can choose last-minute whether to go to Canterbury + Dover castle or just Dover castle, depending on timing, weather, mood etc.

 

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

(if the timetable doesn't go out as far as your date, choose an earlier date same day-of-the-week & double-check closer to your date)

 

There are other options out of Dover (pre-booked boat trips, countryside etc) but the town itself has nothing to offer other than the castle.

 

JB :)

Edited January 12, 2016 by John Bull

[Iamthesea]

Thank you so much! This is a wealth of information.

 

We really want to see Canterbury and then the Dover Castle. As you said, we can decide once we know what the weather is going to be like. Cool and rainey...castle only. Cold and dry...we will see. :D Very nice...we will strive to do both. ;)

 

I did find the following on another thread and wonder how to get to this bus?

Seems that this might be a better option to get to Canterbury. Of course the schedule would also come into play.

 

 

Having said that, while it takes 15 mins longer than the train, the bus to Canterbury (operated by Stagecoach) brings you into town at the bus station at the top of town which is the perfect location to start and finish your exploration. It's also a double decker bus so upstairs would give you very scenic views of the countryside. It's the number 15 (also known as the diamond).

[John Bull]

 

I did find the following on another thread and wonder how to get to this bus?

Seems that this might be a better option to get to Canterbury. Of course the schedule would also come into play.

 

The bus might make some sense for folk lodging in Dover town centre who want to spend the day in Canterbury, but IMHO not in your circumstances.

 

You'll need a taxi from your ship, whether you take the train (Dover Priory station) or the number 15 bus (Pencaster Road, town centre).

https://tiscon-maps-stagecoachbus.s3.amazonaws.com/Timetables/South%20East/15%2015A%2015B%20wef%20040116.pdf

Ditto for your return - although Pencaster Road is a lot closer to the castle than the train station, the castle is at the top of a very steep hill so you'd want transport from train station or town centre.

And even if there's a bus route that goes up the hill, there'd be a further steep hill from the narrow entrance through the castle wall (for cars but not buses) up to the main part - you'd be puffing & cussing & wishing you'd taken a taxi :p

 

Any cost difference would be trivial, and the train is quicker by 15 to 30minutes (depending which train), though Canterbury bus station is five minutes closer to old town / cathedral.

Unfortunately fare structures mean that the variety of taking the bus one way & train the other way is twice as expensive.

 

JB :)

[Iamthesea]

Alright, so assuming we skip Canterbury and go to the Dover castle and town center, what about this option versus a taxi to get there?

 

http://www.whitecliffscountry.org.uk/Cruise/Shuttle-Service.aspx

[AntjeG]

I was in Dover port during my 2012 AIDAmar cruise and took this shuttle bus from the port via the castle to the central bus station. We thought it was good value. We took the bus to Canterbury and just loved our day in this beautiful city.

Edited January 12, 2016 by AntjeG

[John Bull]

Alright, so assuming we skip Canterbury and go to the Dover castle and town center, what about this option versus a taxi to get there?

 

http://www.whitecliffscountry.org.uk/Cruise/Shuttle-Service.aspx

 

Don't know it (I'm not local to Dover) but yes, it makes a good deal of sense, especially with AntjeG's response. And it avoids having to fix up a taxi for the drive back to the ship.

There's still a bit of a slog up from gate to castle but come to think of it, there's a LandRover & trailer shuttle from near the gate up to the castle.:)

 

Due respect etc to the town of Dover, but even with a full day I'd be inclined to spend it all at the castle - unless you have need of any mid-cruise shopping.

 

JB :)

[Iamthesea]

Hmmm...what to do? I'll have to talk to the other 3 in my party and we will probably come up with two plans and then decide the day of.

 

Thank you all, again!

 

AntjeG - Did you stop at the castle to sight see, or just go straight to Canterbury?

[need2cruisesoon]

You're smart, we did the BI on Celebrity this past summer and instead of doing the castles we did the day trip to London (Embankment).

1/2 the day is on the bus going to and back plus traffic in London...good choice with the castles.

[AntjeG]

 

AntjeG - Did you stop at the castle to sight see, or just go straight to Canterbury?

 

We took the shuttle right to the bus station and went to Canterbury. We loved Canterbury and in my opinion it is worth to spend as much time as possible there. But we love architecture and spent more than 2 hrs of our time in the cathedral. If that would not be for you maybe half day in Canterbury would do.

 

I will be back to Dover in October on my AIDAsol cruise and this time want to go to Dover castle.

[Bob++]

Dover is not a great town for visiting as JB has said. If you want to do some supermarket shopping, ask your taxi driver on the way back.

 

It may be worth noting that Canterbury Cathedral charges for admission £10.50 for an adult (£1 less for over 60s). At busy times (ie when a couple of coaches arrive just before you), there is a queue at the entrance.

[Iamthesea]

Thank you. I had the cost on my list to look up. ;)

 

I do not think that we would spend 2 hours in the cathedral, but you never know. We also wanted to just walk around the village.

 

I do wish we had more time in Dover. :(

 

You're smart, we did the BI on Celebrity this past summer and instead of doing the castles we did the day trip to London (Embankment).

1/2 the day is on the bus going to and back plus traffic in London...good choice with the castles.

 

Had we not been to London this past October, we would probably try to make that trip. :cool:

 

I do wish we had more time in Dover. :(

 

We took the shuttle right to the bus station and went to Canterbury. We loved Canterbury and in my opinion it is worth to spend as much time as possible there. But we love architecture and spent more than 2 hrs of our time in the cathedral. If that would not be for you maybe half day in Canterbury would do.

 

I will be back to Dover in October on my AIDAsol cruise and this time want to go to Dover castle.

 

Could you give me more detail on the transportation part of your journey? Where you catch the shuttle, how long it takes to get to the bus station. What bus you took and the time, etc? Exchange time?

 

I need to find the bus schedule to and from Canterbury before making the 1st plan. 2nd plan will be Dover Castle, only. I am an optimist, however. ;)

[AntjeG]

 

 

 

Could you give me more detail on the transportation part of your journey? Where you catch the shuttle, how long it takes to get to the bus station. What bus you took and the time, etc? Exchange time?

 

I need to find the bus schedule to and from Canterbury before making the 1st plan. 2nd plan will be Dover Castle, only. I am an optimist, however. ;)

 

You may want to double check the following information as it is "fresh" from September of 2012:

 

We took the shuttle bus from the port to downtown dover (the company you mentioned earlier), the ride was only a few minutes (I´d say less than 15 minutes from my memory). The shuttle starts at the cruise pier. The walkway to the bus is marked - no chance to miss it even if you would try LOL Around the corner from where the shuttle stops in downtown there is a bus stop for busses to London and Canterbury. I recall walking through some sort of park to get there. There are signs so you can find the bus stop easily. The name of the bus stop is Priory Station.

We then took bus No 15 / 15A which gets you to downtown Canterbury in about 30 minutes. Busses run frequently. The schedule can be found here https://www.stagecoachbus.com/

 

Hope this helps.

 

A little bit off topic here but where in Germany do you stop - Warnemünde or Hamburg or Kiel? Need info for that port? I live around the corner of all of them...

Edited January 13, 2016 by AntjeG

[Iamthesea]

Helps greatly! You information seems to match what I posted in response #6. I believe that information came from a newer post. :D

 

A little bit off topic here but where in Germany do you stop - Warnemünde or Hamburg or Kiel? Need info for that port? I live around the corner of all of them...

 

:confused: I am a little confused because I don't remember saying that we were going to be porting in Germany. Maybe I did, though. LOL Anyway, we did visit Germany in May of 2014. Berlin (land trip on-our-own), Warnemünde, and Bocholt to visit friends.

 

For this upcoming cruise, we are sailing out of Amsterdam again. We thought about starting in Germany and making our way to Amsterdam, but could not work out the logistics. We hope that our friends will come visit us for a couple of days in our Amsterdam apartment, however. From there, we plan to go to Brussels for a day trip (possibly Brugge) and then tour further in the Netherlands area. But thanks for the offer of help. ;)

[AntjeG]

I am a little confused because I don't remember saying that we were going to be porting in Germany.

 

Well, your signature says you are going to Germany and the British Isles on the Silhouette, that´s where I got the impression of a port stay in Germany.

 

Anyway, Brügge is great! I love Brügge.

[Iamthesea]

:D I didn't think anyone ever read those!

 

Yes, we had planned to fly/start in Frankfurt, and then take train onto Rothenburg, and then Cologne and finally ending up in Amsterdam. We really needed a couple of extra days to get it all done. DH didn't have those days as he is still working. :(

 

Guess I should change that signature, but we may end up going over the border in that direction to see our friends if they cannot come to us. ;)

[shiphappy]

If one were to take a taxi to Dover Castle, is there a steep incline to navigate to start touring. My husband would have a bit of trouble walking uphill.

[John Bull]

If one were to take a taxi to Dover Castle, is there a steep incline to navigate to start touring. My husband would have a bit of trouble walking uphill.

 

 

A taxi can go into the grounds of the castle, but I don't know if it's allowed right up to the main Keep.

 

On this pic

http://guest-travel-writers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/dover-castle.jpg

cars comes into the grounds from the bottom left & certainly as far as where you see cars parked.

But there's a moderate uphill path from there to the Keep - possibly it's allowed up there to drop you off.

http://www.visitkent.co.uk/website/var/tmp/thumb_11516__media-gallery-image.jpeg

Or possibly up another road in the grounds to the left of the Keep, where he could drop you off - I've seen delivery vans & official vehicles there.

 

There are innumerable steps up to higher levels in the Keep, down to the medieval tunnels, etc and they would restrict what he gets out of the day - but I think he'd see a fair bit.

 

There's a LandRover-drawn land-train which shuttles between the parking lot and the entrance to the WW11 tunnels, but those tunnels also involve gradients & steps.

 

Dial "Dover Castle" and "Dover Castle map" into googleimages for a selection of other photos.

 

And drop them an e-mail at customers@english-heritage.org.uk (I think that's a national e-address, so make sure you mention Dover Castle).

 

JB :)

Edited January 30, 2016 by John Bull

[shiphappy]

Thank you very much John. I will look into this further with the websites you provided.

[Hatters cruiser]

It might also be useful to look at English Heritages page on access to Dover Castle.

 

To quote from it

"

Pathways: Surface and GradientsExtensive grounds mainly accessible on tarmac paths, however, there are some very steep slopes. Gravel, tarmac and cobble some steep and sloped."

 

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/dover-castle/access

 

I do not think Taxis are allowed past the carparking areas if I recall my visits correctly.

[John Bull]

It might also be useful to look at English Heritages page on access to Dover Castle.

 

To quote from it

"

Pathways: Surface and GradientsExtensive grounds mainly accessible on tarmac paths, however, there are some very steep slopes. Gravel, tarmac and cobble some steep and sloped."

 

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/dover-castle/access

 

I do not think Taxis are allowed past the carparking areas if I recall my visits correctly.

 

Well found, somehow I missed that page. :o

The access is way better than I'd thought, no need for a taxi driver to break any rules.

 

And I'd hunted without success for a decent site map - should've checked out googlemaps, which has excellent streetview all over the castle :)

Shiphappy - if you have googlemaps on your computer, streetview allows your screen to traipse all over the castle. :)

You can see from this view from the disabled carpark (even shows the land-train) that access to the Keep from there is a short and gentle slope.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.1286154,1.3221553,3a,75y,327.52h,86.54t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sa7VOl5AzAqSWKrnu_U-ApA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

Do make the effort to go up one floor in the Keep for the Great Room - further floors are comparatively uninteresting, more for access to the views from the roof.

 

JB :)

Edited January 30, 2016 by John Bull

[Bob++]

Fascinating to see the virtual tour of the castle. I lived in Dover for a few months back in the early 50s. We only went a couple of times because it was still a garrison then I think.

 

We lived the other side of Dover and my sister and I (both children then) used to play in the Western heights Fort. It was completely unprotected then and we could freely explore the tunnels and play soldiers on the ramparts. We also walked to school by going down the Grand Shaft. This is a shaft with three staircases spiralling down the inside. The story we were told was that one was for men and their women, one for NCO's and their wives, and the third for officers and their ladies. It was pretty scary then but has now been restored