Traveling with your dog to England when you’re already in Europe
How the hell do you get a dog into England once you’re already in the EU? Are you trying to travel with your dog between Europe and the UK? Answers below.
Truthfully, the Eurostar passenger train is not dog-friendly. A private car service could cost upwards of $600, and who really wants to deal with renting a car and the hassle of city parking and more? Oh, and there are ferries you can take from France to England, but your dog is not allowed to be with you at your seat. Dogs must stay in a separate “pet area,” which is just a cluster of dirty crates — the thought of the Frenchies down there all alone, or worse, someone stealing them, freeeaked me out. No way. (And the ferry is not cheap, either)
But what about taking your dog through the Eurotunnel? Instead of traveling by passenger train, you can go by car. Makes it way easier to get you and your dog from the EU to the UK. Our brave friend Coco + her frenchie Elle shared with us their journey going through the Eurotunnel (London to Paris) last year via the ferry and on the way back took a ridesharing service called BlablaCar.It’s almost like an Uber but for planned trips.
You can look up rides like Paris to London or Paris to Nice and you can carpool with drivers which ends up being very cost-effective (anywhere from €20-60 one-way and pay for a second seat for the pooch)!
You just need to ask the driver beforehand if they allow dogs.
Perfect! This seemed like the way to go but there were no available rides during my dates. When a ride did pop up, it seemed to get booked right away or wasn’t pet-friendly. After waiting and crossing my fingers for a week, I bit the bullet two days before the trip and decided to go via trains/Folkestone Taxi Co.
From EU to UK with my dogs: Paris to Calais – Eurotunnel – Calais to London
First, buy a ticket from Paris to Calais. French trains are dog-friendly (up to two dogs per passenger) as long as your dog is in a bag. If your dog is more than 13 lbs then no bag is necessary — you can walk them on a leash and muzzle.
Find routes on Loco2 and Trainline. Cost: varies; mine was €42 (with a connecting stop) and the ride takes less than an hour. With a connecting stop, it’s a bit longer. It’s €7 for a dog in carrier or half the 2nd class full fare if your dog is over 13 lbs and on a leash.
Book this sooner than later as they book quickly!
This option is way better than traveling on the Eurostar with your dog. Thankfully, Weston didn’t have to wear the muzzle, as I kept it in my bag just in case someone asked for it. Nobody did — in fact, no one even asked to see my ticket or the dogs’ tickets!
This is where Folkestone Taxi comes in. You can book their taxi service to ride onto the Eurotunnel and arrive in Folkestone Central Train Station in England. This is the easiest and most comfortable way to bring your dog from the EU to England.
Your pup(s) get to sit with you and you never have to leave the car. They meet you at the Calais station with a sign, help you with your bags and then you settle into the car. They even provided blankets! Cost: £125 + £96 for the Eurotunnel ticket and the ride is thirty-five minutes.
The taxi drives to pet clearance first where you go in and have your pet’s passport + documents looked over. Make sure everything is correct and you have backup papers as they are very strict. There is also a local vet (cash only) nearby in case anything is missing and you need new paperwork or treatments.
Wow, lots of pets!
Then you drive through the Passport Control where they look at your passport, then onto the Eurotunnel shuttle! The car gets turned off and you sit in the car for thirty-five minutes. A good time to charge your phone, have a chat with your friendly driver and give your dog a treat. 🙂 A pretty hassle-free way to travel with your dog to the UK from France.
Once you arrive in Folkestone, you’ll need to book another train to get from Folkestone to London. They run every half hour. Find tickets on National Rail. Cost: on average £20 and takes 55 minutes. Pets travel free (up to two). If you want to to skip the train and continue the ride with Folkestone Taxi, it’s another couple hundred pounds extra but may be worth it if you have a lot of luggage and want to make your journey easier.
All pets entering into the UK need a tapeworm treatment within 5 days of traveling and a pet passport.
What to bring: your passport, your pet’s passport(s), tickets (mine were all on mobile) + Folkestone keeps a hard copy of your Eurotunnel ticket for you, treats and pet wipes.
Did you find this post helpful? You know what to do – please leave a comment!
Want to read more? Check out articles on my How to Fly With Your Dog page or stay connected by following along on Weston and Fira’s travels on Instagram.
Such good info!!! I’ve always wondered how to get around the quarantine, this is a great plan.
Woof Xo,
Michelle & Watson
https://www.watsonandwalls.com/
Thank you for this! I was looking for info all over the internet as renting a car from Paris and dropping off in London was insanely expensive. Everything seemed to inform that DFDS was the only company that would allow foot passengers with pets and when I tried to buy the tickets…. fail.
This helped me loads and also aligned with the sort of path I was going eventually. I booked with the Taxi company and it was the same price you put here which made me trust them as another company gave me a quote for 250€ + EuroTunnel and they were quite rude.
Anyway, thanks! Great info, very helpful!
So glad to hear!! 🙂
Thank you very much for your advice. I have to travel with my dog from Paris to Calais, but I can’t book pet’s ticket online.
I feel like calling a number but I can’t use it from Italy, so how can I book the Paris – Calais train signaling the presence of my little dog?
Thank you!
Thanks for the great info!
Hello,
Can I ask you where do you get this nice muzzle?
Hi there, thank you su much for this! very helpful.
can I ask which train from Paris to Calais you booked? You mentioned it’s 30 mins but I can only find 2h+.
Agreed I can’t find any either. Did you figure it out?
http://www.sncf-connect.com
Here you can find trains that take 1.5 hr from Paris to Calais
Thank you so much for this 🤍😭 as you can imagine, traveling from the US to the UK is a pain in the A** right now with quarantine & brexit. This is helpful. Thanks !
Hi, Just read your post. It was quite helpful! Does the company also do the trip back – Folkestone in Kent, to Coquelles in Pas-de-Calais, France?
Thanks
Hey,
Im travelling from Canada to UK, flying to france and taking the ferry.
Im nervous about the issuing country for the health certificate.
Is it ok to travel with a health certificate from Canada, which is signed off for both france and UK entry. Or will I need a health cert issued from France?
Hi!
I have a similar question. I will be traveling to the UK from the US via France and I want to make sure I have the paperwork needed. I know I will need a health cert to enter France but will I need to obtain a new health certificate in France to enter the UK?
Any info would be greatly appreciated!
I am in the same boat as you were. How were you able to get to the UK via France from the US? Did you need to get multiple health certificates?
As you said, any help would be greatly appreciated!!
I am in Ibis hotel at Charles Degaul airport how do I book my ticket with Folkston taxis I have to get a cab to train station in the morning to go to Calais all alone and very worried please help my email is,Cocopopsicle2015@gmail.com
Thank YOU so much, just saved me so much money 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing your experience. This is extremely helpful. I have been trying to funds ways with a reasonable cost. Thank you soooo very much again. I need to do the same.
Gratefully,
Ravipa, David, two Shitzus and a Cavalier
Hi, is there a fee for them to check over your dog’s health certificates etc when you arrive in the UK? I know if you travel by plane to a UK airport they seem to charge over £400 to check the dog’s paperwork.
Hey this is all incredibly helpful, I want to travel from the UK to France with my doggo and am I right in assuming it would work the same the opposite way around?
Great article but it needs to be updated. The cost for Folkstone taxi was quoted at a much higher rate than suggested in the article. Also the link for the ride-share is nonexistent. The website domaine is up for sale
Yeah, I also got an expensive quote from Folkstone taxi. It states
175 (taxi) + 234 (Eurotunnel ticket).
For one way from Folkstone to Calais on 15th of October.
Anyone travelling at the same time? May be we can share perhaps.
Hi, Nice blog. I also used Folkestone Taxi services in 2021 to bring my cat from USA –> Paris –> UK (Folkestone was used for the Paris-UK leg) because the UK does not allow pets to fly in cabin to enter or leave UK. We used their service the whole way from Paris to London which was a few grand. Expensive but we were traveling with a lot of baggage so the least hassle option we had. Entering/leaving UK with pets is a nightmare (worsened by Brexit) so best of luck to all pet owners working on this!
Hi – like others, I am very grateful for the information you have supplied, thank you!!! I am travelling Air France, Toronto to Paris, on 09 January 2023 with a small dog. Has anyone done this trip recently? Can you offer any other guidance? Thanks Annie
We are doing Air France from Dallas to Paris Feb 1 2023 with 2 dogs. Would love to hear how it goes for you. I’m especially interested to hear how it is with Air France and how strict they are. We’re nervous they might reject one of our dogs for being slightly too heavy (he’s 15lbs, bag is ~3lbs – limit is 17.5), or that we’re using an oversized pet bag for him.
Good luck!
super helpful and detailed, thank you!!
Hey, what is the closest train station called to the pet reception center in Calais?
Thank you!
this is great info thank you! doing pretty much the same for my cat! one thing just to note: only dogs need the tapeworm treatment 1-5 days before entering uk. Cat’s don’t need anything else than the heath certificate.
This was a great post. what you said is really helpful to me and it was really interesting as well. Keep up with your good work.