Portsmouth to Copenhagen

[Traffic]

Hi,

I am planning a summer trip in Europe, leaving Portsmouth by ferry (on foot) and then traveling to Copenhagen via public transport.

My first question would be what are the nicest French ferry ports served from Portsmouth to land in, I have been in Cherbourg a few times and was not overly in love with it and St Malo seems a bit too far.

Ideally we are looking at taking a train to Paris and then after that we are open to ideas but want to end up in Copenhagen.

Travelling with a 3.yr old and 9 yr old.

Cheers

[Every day a journey]

Would you not be better getting train from Portsmouth to Brighton then Newhaven, ferry to Dieppe, train to Paris is about 2hrs I understand

[RicksAlfas]

St. Malo or Caen are nice towns as far as ferry ports can be.
But wouldn't you be better heading for the Eurostar?
Or Hull?

[Traffic]

Thanks, we are not in a total rush I should point out. Perhaps 7-9 days for this journey to allow some time to see things and stop and enjoy the culture etc, will need to find things for the kids too which is always a challenge with their age difference.

[Traffic]

RicksAlfas said:

St. Malo or Caen are nice towns as far as ferry ports can be.
But wouldn't you be better heading for the Eurostar?
Or Hull?

I thought it would be nice for the family to experience a ferry trip and we will be spending time with family locally near Portsmouth ahead of the trip, keen to avoid as much "public transport" in the UK as possible if I am honest.

[RicksAlfas]

Sounds good. Enjoy it!

[RizzoTheRat]

Caen is worth a visit to look at some D-Day stuff. Sword beach is pretty close to the ferry terminal, and Pegasus Bridge is half way between the ferry and the centre of Caen.

If you're then planning to visit Paris, Brussels is only a couple of hours on the Eurostar, which then also goes on to Rotterdam and Amsterdam. The standard intercity from Brussels to Rotterdam is only about 20 mins slower though. Rotterdam has some great architecture and museums if that's your thing, and there's a decent car museum in The Hague (https://www.louwmanmuseum.nl/en)

If you fancy something different than trains, there a ferry from Germany to Malmo, which is then a short train ride from Copenhagen

[Screenwash]

That’s a fairly awkward journey by rail I think.

I believe that you have to hook in to the German rail network at some point and get to Hamburg, from where there is a boat/train to Copenhagen.

Amsterdam to Hamburg requires a change of train in Osnabruck (I think). So from Paris it’s either up to Amsterdam, or alternatively across to Frankfurt presumably?

[Ussrcossack]

RicksAlfas said:

Sounds good. Enjoy it!

Got to agree there, hope the 3YO travels well!

[Bill]

Screenwash said:

That s a fairly awkward journey by rail I think.

This. That's a lot of time to occupy bored kids on trains.

Only practical advice I have is that Caen ferry port is at Ouistreham which is a fair way from Caen and its station.