Arriving 8pm Calais - customs procedure?

[Captain Crisp]

Hi - hoping to get to sail Ramsgate to Calais next weekend. I think we'll arrive about 6pm and sit on the waiting moorings till they open the lock around 7pm...

What do I need to do in terms of customs? Do I have to take whole crew to the PAF office that (Sunday) evening?

Also, do need to email/print off a form in advance?

I have passports, boat registration, proof of ownership, Coastal skipper cert, VHF Cert, insurance cert...

Also, half the crew are taking the train/ferry home the following day and the rest of us are spending a day in Calais before heading back to UK - can I get exit stamped at the same time do you think, or will we need to return to PAF office?

Any other advice?

Many thanks!

Crisp

 

[LiftyK]

There is a free baby bus that goes from near the marina to the PAF. As the offices are by the ferry port, I would imagine they are open all hours. After the bus drops you at the passenger terminal, walk in the direction you were travelling and you will see the PAF office in the distance between two car checking gantries. From memory, there is a set of arrows on the pavement that guides you to the front door.

Knock on the door as ask to have your passport stamped. When I was there in the summer it took a little explaining as to why we were there. Once they understood, they called for the "big chief" (their words) who was a jovial chap and took good care of us.

Meanwhile I have tried to keep up with the new arrangements with some ports where it is all done by email. I'm not sure if Calais arrangements changed since I was there. I did send a message at the time of my visit to Calais Marina via Contact | Calais marina and found their response to be prompt and helpful. You could ask about evening arrival procedures there.

 

[st599]

There is a free baby bus that goes from near the marina to the PAF. As the offices are by the ferry port, I would imagine they are open all hours. After the bus drops you at the passenger terminal, walk in the direction you were travelling and you will see the PAF office in the distance between two car checking gantries. From memory, there is a set of arrows on the pavement that guides you to the front door.

Knock on the door as ask to have your passport stamped. When I was there in the summer it took a little explaining as to why we were there. Once they understood, they called for the "big chief" (their words) who was a jovial chap and took good care of us.

Meanwhile I have tried to keep up with the new arrangements with some ports where it is all done by email. I'm not sure if Calais arrangements changed since I was there. I did send a message at the time of my visit to Calais Marina via Contact | Calais marina and found their response to be prompt and helpful. You could ask about evening arrival procedures there.

If you go to a non-PAF port it's done by email, but the OP can't do that as his crew needs a stamp to get the train home

 

[Captain Crisp]

There is a free baby bus that goes from near the marina to the PAF. As the offices are by the ferry port, I would imagine they are open all hours. After the bus drops you at the passenger terminal, walk in the direction you were travelling and you will see the PAF office in the distance between two car checking gantries. From memory, there is a set of arrows on the pavement that guides you to the front door.

Knock on the door as ask to have your passport stamped. When I was there in the summer it took a little explaining as to why we were there. Once they understood, they called for the "big chief" (their words) who was a jovial chap and took good care of us.

Meanwhile I have tried to keep up with the new arrangements with some ports where it is all done by email. I'm not sure if Calais arrangements changed since I was there. I did send a message at the time of my visit to Calais Marina via Contact | Calais marina and found their response to be prompt and helpful. You could ask about evening arrival procedures there.

Many thanks very helpful!

 

[LiftyK]

Hello again - I found the notes I made when entering Calais for the first time, in May this year. These should put you at ease.

Police Aux Frontieres - Calais

The police are a 12 minute bus ride away. The free bus is called the Balad’in and runs from 7am to 7pm every 15 minutes. The route is a loop so you can stay on and enjoy a tour of the town. To catch the bus:

• walk over the bridge you passed through to enter the marina
• at the main road turn right and proceed for about 50 yards. Cross the road when you see a free standing bus stop, with much pink, opposite
• The bus stop will say Balad’in
• When the pink bus arrives, it will be short and tall. It even goes down bike lanes.
• Jump on the bus. There is no need to state your destination or hand over any money
• After a tour of town and waterfront, the bus will arrive at the ferry port, do a u turn at a roundabout and stop by a large gold building with perforated sides
• Get off here and walk towards the sea, in the direction you were travelling before the bus did a u turn at the roundabout.
• The road has a footpath so you can proceed with confidence
• Ahead you will see two large white vehicle check-in gantries. In between the gantries is a two storey modern grey building. Aim for that. On the roundabout as you head that way you will see a reassuring sign to Police Aux Frontières.
• Arriving at the grey building, there are white lines set into the pavement. Follow those.
• As the white lines turn into the building you will see in the door a) a sign indicating Police National badge) a less obvious printed sign saying Police Aux Frontières.
• Press the buzzer or knock on the door
• I was greeted by an officer who seemed very confused as to why I was there. I stressed that we’d arrived at the marina by own boat. The officer went off to get the big chief
• Big chief, with his bushy beard and big grin, was the most charming man you could hope to meet. Fluent in English, he took our passports and his assistant went off to get us stamped in. While that took place, Big Chief engaged us in polite conversation about life, the universe and everything. It was a pleasure. I mentioned I looked forward to lowering my Q flag and he asked what that was. Not everything is joined up in law. Either way, it was a very pleasant experience
• Schengen shock. I had read that when entering the EU from a non Schengen country, even EU passport holders would have to visit the PAF. Not so. Big Chief was most insistent that you only need to visit the PAF to get a stamp. And you only need a stamp if you are non-EU.
• Walk back to the gold building where you can use the loos while waiting for the Balad’in bus to return you to the marina or transport you to town
• Note: many, but not all, establishments close on a Monday.

 

[kev99]

Be aware that Balad'in doesn't run on Sundays, otherwise Calais has a cracking public transport network! ..... see Public Transport Networks

Real time bus tracking here... Imag'in Calais Opale Bus

 

[MikeBz]

Just to bring this thread up to date… we arrived today (Sat 9 August 2025) having crossed from Ramsgate. Directions to the bus stop posted above are no longer correct. From the Marina cross the opening bridge through which you passed to enter the marina, and when you get to the mini roundabout do not turn right, carry straight on a short distance until you see Jude’s Bar. The bus stop which takes you the short way to the PAF at the ferry terminal is there, on the same side of the road as the bar. As we found out you may be better off turning left at the mini roundabout and going to the first bus stop on the other side of the road - we boarded the bus outside Jude’s and then spent 15 minutes roasting in a stationary glass box with no air conditioning because the bridge opened to let boats in causing complete gridlock for some time. Other than that all went well. We had filled the Formulaire Immigration form in in advance and emailed it to the marina, but (a) they hadn’t seen it, (b) the only point of doing that is so that they can print it out for you to take to PAF, and (c) PAF were not interested in it at all and only wanted to see our passports. Getting in to the PAF building involved knocking on the door and then waving when someone inside happened to walk past the door and notice us. None of the buttons on the outside of the building did anything.

The whole experience made us wonder why one bothers to check in at all, other than the British fear of being caught not complying with the rules.

Bus route is here: Imag'in Calais Opale Bus