Cherbourg ferry port to the train station
What's the experience like for foot passengers arriving at Cherbourg ferry port who want to make their way to the train station. Here's what I learned on my recent (April/May 2024) return trip with Irish Ferries from Dublin.
In short, get used to sustainable travel being literally slow travel where the foot passenger is at the very bottom of the pecking order!
Foot Passenger Disembarkation
On arrival from Ireland into Cherbourg Port, Irish Ferries foot passengers must gather at the ship's reception area and wait to be called to a vehicle deck to take a shuttle bus to the ferry terminal. It seems the deck must be fully cleared before the shuttle bus can be driven on to the ship. Access to the vehicle deck is by lift or several flights of stairs. I assume the process is the same for Stena Line and Brittany Ferries as the terminal is remote from all berths. As this is a Schengen border, passport and customs checks are performed on arrival to the terrminal building. In my experience this whole process takes about 45 minutes from the ferry docking to exiting the controlled area of the terminal building.
The building has limited facilities: several ferry company desks, a cafe/bar, general seating and toilets. It's not directly served by public transportation and don't expect taxis to be waiting at the taxi rank. Options to get to the train station, are as follows:
4km Walk
On a fine day the walk to the train station could be quite pleasant even though you begin by walking in the wrong direction for half a kilometre. With development works for a rail freight terminal ongoing, the pedestrian route exiting the port includes some temporary pathways that are only surfaced with gravel. If you are travelling with wheeled luggage be prepared to carry it over the gravel - probably 200m in total. Thus, I'd only recommend walking if the weather is dry, your luggage isn't too heavy and you are fit enough for a 45 minute walk.
The currrent (May 2024) pedestrian route is well signposted with temporary signage erected as part of the development works. Bear to the right leaving the main entrance of the terminal building and follow the path (eastwards) alongside the vehicle boarding lanes. Navigate your way carefully through the junctions at the entrance to the port where the pedestrian crossings are laid our to benefit road traffic rather than those on foot.
From the roundabout exiting the port follow the signs (westwards) to the town centre. The temporary path is just gravel at this point and is quite close to a busy road. About 100m before a road junction the path turns left to cross a rail line to a side road and it's here that you will find the bus stop (more below). Passing the bus stop, the side road meets up with the busy port side road again.
Keep heading westward past the large blue industrial buildings of the CMN shipyard, towards the 15 story residential apartment tower in the distance. On reaching the apartment block, which is on the corner of a junction controlled by a roundabout, continue straight ahead. The road now curves away from the sea, heading towards the town centre.
The town harbour will shortly come into view. The train station (still about 1km away) is behind fishing warehouses at the southern end of the harbour but won't be visible until you're almost right at it. Make your way there along either side of the harbour, the nearside has a large modern shopping centre and smoother paving, while the actual town centre and renovated quay is on the opposite side.
Bus (except Sundays)
Six days a week, Monday to Saturday, the local bus service is another option. The Irish Ferries website says free bus tickets are available at their desk in the ferry terminal. Otherwise, payment of €1.50 in coins can be made to the bus driver or by contactless payment at the on-bus validator. €1 advance tickets via TixiApp and SMS payment (probably only French SIMs) are also options.
The Gare Maritime stop of Line 2, is situated outside the ferry port environs. Allow 15-20 minutes to walk there with luggage - see the pedestrian route described above. The stop (direction Digard) with the bus shelter is the correct one for train station.
2024 timetables for Line 2 are available on this comprehensive local transportation website (in french): www.capcotentin.fr. The timetables show the journey time to be 8 mins but bus frequency is generally one bus per hour!
Note: Due to the rail freight terminal development works, the directions to the bus stop on the Irish Ferries website are now out of date:
Irish Ferries bus information. Also note that the timetable information says it's for 2023.
Taxi
The ferry port taxi rank is directly in front of the main building entrance. In the likely event that there are no taxis waiting, call for a taxi on the following number: 0233 533 638. This number used to be displayed on a taxi rank sign that read: "02.33.53.36.38 English Spoken" but the sign has been removed in the last 12 months.
Alternatively, staff at one of the ferry company desks may be able to call a taxi for you. A lady on the Brittany Ferries desk volunteered to do this when we asked for a number. Surprisingly, no taxi numbers seem to be listed on any of the information boards in the building.
Taxis seem to arrive within 10 minutes of calling and in light traffic, the journey to the station takes about 10 minutes. In April 2024, the fare I was charged was €10. This is a flat fare for the journey regardless of the number of passengers and suitcases. On Sundays and overnight the fare is 50% higher.
Uber is also available in the Cherbourg area but it may be more expensive than a regular taxi.
How much time to allow to catch the train?
It's wise to allow 2 HOURS between the ferry's scheduled arrival time and your train's departure time but if everything goes to schedule you could find yourself being dropped at the station by a taxi around an hour from docking.
However, SNCF (French railways) operates dynamic pricing meaning that showing up at the station and buying a ticket for the next train comes with a price penalty. In addition, seat reservations are compulsory for many of the services on this line making it possible, at busy times, that the next train may be sold out. Cheapest tickets bought well in advance have limited flexibility so leaving a long connection between the ferry and the train is advisable.
For my latest trip in April 2024, I purchased "semi-flex" tickets to Paris at the end of January for ~35€ each. These "semi-flex" tickets are fully refundable/exchangeable (adjusted to currrent price) up to 1 day before departure. Thereafter, they are subject to a 50% charge for refund/exchange up until the departure time.
However, Irish Ferries sailings are typically scheduled to arrive at 11:00 or 11:30 and last year we made our 12:48 train from our 11:00 arrival on a Sunday with 45 minutes to spare. This year, I took the risk with an 11:30 ferry arrival on a Friday and the same 12:48 train departure time. It didn't work out! The ferry was 20 minutes late docking, the taxi rank was empty and it took us precious minutes to find the taxi phone number (no longer displayed on the taxi rank sign). It was clear we weren't going to make it even before the taxi arrived.
So I think my advice must be to allow 2 hours from ferry arrival to catch the train. Take any extra time to explore the centre of the town or if your arrival is around lunch time Cherbourg has good choices for food. We had lovely meals at Le Comptoir des Halles after missing our train and also in the Mercure Cherbourg Centre Port hotel on our return leg.
Irish Ferries Sail Rail Information
Irish Ferries have significantly improved their information for foot passengers sailing to France since our trip last year. This may be due to the introduction of a new Sail Rail offer. Unfortunately, as mentioned above some of the information included is now out-of-date.
Edit 21/05/24
Added details of extra payment options for the bus and noted the availability of Uber under the taxi section. Many thanks to @parigotmanchot for this information.