Nausicaa in Boulogne France Review
A family day trip to Nausicaa in Boulogne, France
Reviewed by Ian Ballinger
We are a family of four, living in Exeter, Devon. Along with my wife, Angelica and I, we have two girls, Amie (12) and Sophie (10). This trip was our first on the ferry and a first time in France for everyone but me.
I must start by saying what an eye-opener this trip was. I would never have considered a day trip to France to be possible before and was incredibly surprised how easy and accessible it is to hop on the ferry and open up everything Northern France / Europe has to offer for a day or short break. Obviously this isn’t the case for everyone in the UK, and I include us in that as we live in Devon, but fortunately, we have an accommodating Uncle who lives in Isleworth, who was happy to put us up on the Friday on the Saturday, reducing our journey to and from Dover to about two hours, which made it very manageable.
I planned the itinerary starting early, on the 7am ferry to make sure there was plenty of time to enjoy France. In hindsight – now knowing how easy and quick it is – this was an error of judgement and overly cautious, and we should have caught a later crossing so we could have slept longer. As it was, we were up and out of the house for 5am, which wasn’t necessary and I wouldn’t advise doing that unless you have a set time to arrive at your destination.
I haven’t been on a ferry for about 15 years and all of my ferry crossings until now had been coach trips with the school, with no responsibility on me to arrange anything. As my only comparison for foreign holidays is against flying, I was literally speechless and overwhelmed by how smooth the entire process of arriving and checking in was. Everything is better than the airport and I mean everything…
Minimal or no queuing – on the way out we didn’t queue at all. They have so many lanes open to receive vehicles that you don’t have to wait to be checked in.
No repetition – unlike the airport where you have the same conversation with the check in staff, passport control and maybe again with the person on the gate. At the port your car registration is your identifier, so they know who you are before you even stop. They have all the booking details of who should be in the vehicle, so they have a look through the window for stowaways, check your passports and hand you the ticket for boarding telling you which lane you need to board from.
Speed – I can’t believe how quickly you pass through the check in to the line where you board from. It takes about 2 minutes to check in, but from entering the port of Dover to sitting in the boarding line takes about 10 minutes.
Friendly – I don’t know why it should make a difference as they do the same job, but passport control on both sides of the Channel are friendly and chatty. Why the airport passport control staff are the way they are is a mystery, but this again was incomparable.
We had the priority boarding for the ferry so we were the second car to board and leave the vessel and were able to get on deck before the crowds, which is a great help with children and a bargain. We also had club lounge access guaranteeing a comfy time for the 1 hour 45 minutes journey and the added luxury of great seats, complimentary drinks and snacks and a very reasonably priced menu which took advantage of.
The girls shared a continental basket with croissants and pain au chocolats, while Angelica and I had a wild mushrooms on toast that was very pleasant.
The service in the club lounge was first class. The staff were warm and friendly and very personable. I was really pleased when we arrived back to Calais to see that the same vessel, The Spirit of France, was taking us home.
If it worth noting that French car kit is a legal requirement to drive in France. I was not prepared before we travelled so purchased the kit on the ferry for £40, but they are available for less than £20 – see Amazon here, also available from other stockists. The kit includes breathalyser tests, high vis jacket, reflective triangle and stickers to stop glare on the lights when driving at night.
Bienvenue en France!
Into the relatively unknown we descended from P&O Ferries the Spirit of France, bon voyage et bon chance. As you can see my GCSE French was not going to be very helpful, but like most of the world I have seen, France is prepared for the British tourist and welcomes us despite our “Je ne comprends pas”. I had expected a struggle to communicate but there were no issues, from receiving the directions from the hotel concierge when I got lost, throughout our visit to Nausicaa Sea Life Centre and also at the cash and carry near Calais on the way home – everyone spoke English! What a relief.
The journey to Boulogne-sur-Mer where Nausicaa is should take 20-25 minutes down the quiet and rural dual carriageway. Unfortunately I managed to point us in the opposite direction leaving the ferry and needed to stop and ask, but it was still no problem to get directions and back on route.
We arrived at Boulogne-sur-Mer before noon and eagerly entered into Nausicaa which stands on the shore on the entry to the town. The locating of Nausicaa in Boulogne is interesting as the town is the principle fishing port of France and one of the leading centres in Europe for fish preparation.
Nausicaa was established by a group of oceanographers and set out a clear mandate that it was to be more than an aquarium. It is immediately clear that the focus of Nausicaa, which is evident in the majority of displays, is that of education, conservation and the ongoing battle that the world faces with marine habitats and wildlife being threatened due to human activity. This added a great deal of interest to the trip, especially for Angelica and I.
The message, though serious is delivered with a positive outlook. Large displays are dedicated to how conservation is already working in a variety of places and how this can be applied to greater areas to make the necessary changes that would ensure sustainability.
Nausicaa is also involved in breeding programmes for a variety of endangered species and they are on display both to enjoy and to highlight the fragility of marine life and the often baffling reasons these creatures are used for.
It was the variety of Nausicaa that impressed me the most, too many animals to list but penguins and cayman are also present in the vast marine roll call. In addition to the animal displays there are videos, written displays and a really cool 3D cartoon in a cinema (everything in English and French) that made for a more interesting way to communicate and inform.
From an animal point of view the big shark tank was a huge ‘Wow factor’ but my favourite was the Sea Lion display. This was the only part of Nausicaa with no English translation but it didn’t matter at all. The handlers expertly displayed the intelligence and understanding of the animals through a wonderful repertoire of games and tests in a display that lasted about 15 minutes and thrilled the capacity crowd that came to watch.
After snaking through the maze of corridors, we ended our trip at the huge gift shop, which is a mixed up hotch potch of Nausicaa related, France related and generic could be anywhere tat. We all picked up souvenirs for the trip and set off for home extremely pleased with the day.
I felt like a veteran traveller on the way home, armed with the knowledge of the journey and what was to come, we flew up the A16, even stopping at a cash and carry before arriving back to Calais.
Arriving home on the Saturday night, we were all exhausted, partly due to the crazy start time I imposed, but full of that really nice feeling of having an action packed day and enjoying loads of cool stuff and experiences.
In so many ways a day trip to France is exactly the same as any other excursion you might do with your family. But when you throw in the added adventure of the ferry and driving on the right and foreign voices, every little thing takes on a new and exciting meaning.
Travel and excursion costs
Ferry for two adults and two children from as little as £15 each way with P&O Ferries. Peak time costs up to £90 each way for standard crossing. Added flexibility options are available for £20-£30 each way.
Priority boarding and club lounge £52 each way for a family of four when booked in advance.
Club lounge entry is available on board, if it’s not full, at a cost of £14 per person.
For more information or to make a booking visit www.poferries.com.
Nausicaa Sea Life Centre
A family ticket for two adults and two children costs €51.60 (about £42.50). For more information or to make a booking visit www.nausicaa.co.uk. Save money by booking online.
As a day, this will live long in the memory for all of us. France is a beautiful place and very easy to transition between even for a short trip. If you are unsure of where you experience something new and exciting, I can highly recommend every individual element of my trip and I know we’ve not even scratched the surface of wonderful attractions available to us on the other side of the Channel.
Nausicaa **** Four stars
P & O Ferries ***** Five stars
Rating: 4.5/5
