Until the end of March 2023, you can enjoy a free day trip on the Calais/Dover route with P&O Ferries when you spend €300 or more with Calais Vins – the wine and spirits warehouse in Calais. This includes wine, beer or spirits for orders which must be reserved online in order to get your free tickets.
And you can also make extra savings by claiming 15% VAT back.
How the free day trip to Calais offer works
Head to Calais Vins website to browse and shop the fabulous offers with wines and spirits from all over France and around the world. Calais Vins are the biggest online caviste in France with a vast range of wines, champagnes, beers, cider and spirits. More than 4000 different types of alcohol in fact. They have two superstores in Calais, one near the ferry port and one near Eurotunnel, making collection easy. They have frequent special offers.
And they also have an in store service to help you claim back your VAT – saving you 15% on your purchases.
Plus if you order €300 worth of products online, they have a prepay €23 Euro day trip offer. Calais vins will refund you with a ticket you can spend in the P&O boutique. You can claim the refund when you collect your goods from Calais. The offer is for a car (not per passenger).
Please check the offer details, and be aware that you will be charged extra if you don’t fulfil the conditions, when you book your refundable day trip.
What’s in stock?
Well apart from thousands of wines, from excellent table wines to grand crus wines, there are also 300 types of whiskies. Armagnac, cognac, gins, Champagne and sparkling wines. There are plenty of ciders from neighbouring Normandy and Brittany, and a great choice of beers. And you’ll likely find that the prices are generally cheaper in France as alcohol is more heavily taxed in the UK.
What can I take back to the UK?
Since Brexit, the allowance has been reduced. But you can still make significant savings.
The per person allowance over the age of 17 is:
The amount of alcohol which you are allowed to carry with you depends on its type. You may bring up to:
42 litres of beer
18 litres of (still) wine, the equivalent of 24 bottles
You can also bring in either:
Four litres of spirits or liquor containing over 22% alcohol or,
nine litres of sparkling wine, fortified wine or other alcohol drinks up to 22% alcohol
This last allowance can be split, meaning that you could carry up to half of your allocation for each type of alcohol. For instance: 4.5 litres of fortified wine and two litres of spirits.
Note that you can’t combine your personal allowance. In order to avoid issues with British customs, split the allowance before hand so that it is clear to them how much each person has. It doesn’t matter if between you you have an allowable amount. If you don’t split the allowance clearly and one person has more in their box than the other passenger, it may take that person over the limit and customs won’t care if the second person is under the limit. It’s not about a bulk lot per car, it’s about a personal allowance. You can find more information on the UK government website: gov.uk
Visit Calais Vins
Calais Vins are open 7 days a week from 09h to 19h except Sundays and bank holidays: 10h to 18h. Free parking is available at each store, both of which are a few minutes from the port of Calais and the Eurotunnel terminal.
Calais Vins have teamed up with Customs and refund services to enable easy VAT reclaims on all your purchases (UK passport holders only). When you pay for your good in-store, they will generate the form for you. Their quick and easy service that allows you to scan a code at the Calais port terminal (or Eurotunnel terminal) to activate the refund process.
Ordering on line is simple and secure, you can see the whole range of products here: wine-calais.co.uk
