When we planned our trip back to see family with Lilly, we knew travelling to the UK from Europe with a dog wasn’t going to be straightforward. Over the years we’ve grown used to just hopping in the van, on a plane or train, no questions asked and no extra luggage. With Lil, there was so much more to consider, especially when it came to travelling on the Eurotunnel with a dog.
Since this would be our first time off the mainland with her, we had so many questions… Can you take dogs on Eurotunnel? How often does Eurotunnel run? How much is it to take a dog on Eurotunnel? What are the Eurotunnel dog requirements? How easy is it to get a European dog passport?
Thankfully, it wasn’t as complicated as we were anticipating so here’s our guide on how to travel with a dog from the UK to Europe… and vice versa! Covering everything you need to know about Eurotunnel dog travel!
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In short, yes. You can travel between the EU and UK with a dog. There’s just a few key differences when returning to the UK from Europe with a dog, than when you first leave the UK with your dog.
Don’t worry, we’ll talk about all of the Eurotunnel dog requirements & pet passport control later!
While there are lots of ways to get between the UK and Europe in this post we’ll talk about UK to Europe pet travel when you have your own car, and more specifically, Eurotunnel dog travel between France & UK (both ways).
Our friends at Travelnuity have a great post about Ferry travel with dogs between the UK and Europe, so I highly recommend checking that out if you’re planning on travelling with your dog and want to take the Ferry!
For those considering travelling on the Eurotunnel with a dog between France & UK, our guide covers essential information to make your trip even easier!
Eurotunnel Dogs To The UK From France
Here’s a quick overview of the Eurotunnel dog requirements when travelling on the Eurotunnel with a dog to the UK. Understanding these rules will make your trip go a lot smoother!
- Your dog must be microchipped
- You must have an EU pet passport or UK health certificate
- Your dog must have been vaccinated against rabies – it will also need a blood test if you’re travelling from an country that is not ‘listed’
- Your dog must be treated for Tapeworm
- It is not on the banned breed list
Eurotunnel Dog Worming Requirements
These requirements are the same regardless of how you travel to the UK with your dog and are almost the same requirements for when you leave the UK with your dog, except your dog requires worming between 24 hours and 5 days before you get on the Eurotunnel.
This worming tablet must be administered by a vet and must cover for tapeworm – not all worming medication does, so be sure to check with the vet!
We were able to get our regular vet in Portugal to administer the tablet & write it in our EU pet passport, we then spent 3 days travelling to France to catch the Eurotunnel before our 5 day timer ran out.
If you’re on holiday in the EU, most vets in Calais will do walk-ins for the worming treatment and know the procedure well but you’ll need to be in Calais at least 24 hours before you board the train for it to be valid.
Microchip & Rabies Vaccine – MAKE SURE IT’S RIGHT!
If you live in Europe and plan to travel to the UK with your dog for the first time make sure the dates on your EU pet passport show the microchip was implanted/scanned before they had their rabies vaccine. Or, that they were done on the same day.
I don’t know why, but if they were vaccinated for rabies before the microchip was done, their rabies vaccine is invalid.
This very nearly tripped us up because although Lilly’s was done on the same day, and her vet health booklet says this, when they did her pet passport they scanned her chip again to make sure it was working then wrote down that date instead of the implant date.
So according to her passport, the vaccine was done months before her chip. Thankfully we had her vet health booklet with us at pet check in and the staff at the Eurotunnel were kind enough to accept this, but we could have easily been turned away at the border over it!
The other thing to remember is the rabies vaccine is only valid after 21 days, with day 1 being the day after the vaccine. This means if the vaccine was done on the 1st of the month, you can’t travel with them until the 23nd of the month.
How To Get An EU Pet Passport
This is a really straightforward process for residents of the EU. All you need to do is go to your local vet, or the nearest one to you who is able to issue pet passports, and have them do the paperwork for you. It’s a one off €25 and in most cases, you’ll walk out with your EU Pet passport the same day.
Information they’ll need includes:
- Dogs breed & colour
- Dogs name & birthday
- Your name
- Your EU address
- Your mobile number
- The dogs microchip number
- Vaccine records
- Worming records
- Flea treatment records
- Any additional medical records
Once you have this, any EU vet can update it if they receive any treatment while in the EU.
DO NOT allow a UK vet to write in your EU pet passport, this will completely invalidate the document. The only exception to this is the tapeworm treatment which is also required if you leave mainland UK for Ireland. You do not need worming treatment when travelling from the UK to Europe with a dog.
If you’re a British Citizen/Resident who travels to the EU regularly, you might be able to get an EU pet passport if you can provide proof of address. Fewer and fewer vets are willing to do this for non-EU residents, but if you travel to the same place all the time it might be worth asking.
Please always check the rules & regulations. Your dog may fall under a restricted or banned breed even if they are listed on their EU passport as something else so please be sure to read through everything before travelling with a dog to the UK.
Eurotunnel Dogs From The UK To France
Here’s a quick overview of the Eurotunnel dog requirements when travelling to France from the UK with a dog.
- Your dog must be microchipped
- You must have a UK health certificate (or EU passport)
- Your dog must have been vaccinated against rabies
… It’s much easier this way round with fewer things to consider.
How To Get A UK Pet Health Certificate
A UK pet Health Certificate for your dog is really easy to get, but much more expensive than the EU Pet Passport. I’ve seen prices range from £99, right up to £250 so I think it really depends on your vet.
They also only last for 4 months which means you need to be back in the UK, or get an EU pet passport, if your planned trip is longer than this.
For the appointment you’ll need to take your dog & their proof of rabies vaccinations, along with other medical records.
EU pet passports issued in the UK are no longer valid! After Brexit, your EU pet passport is only valid if it was issued in another EU country.
How Much Is It To Take A Dog On The Eurotunnel?
One of the biggest questions we’ve been asked since our trip is how much is it to take a dog on the Eurotunnel. When returning to the UK with a dog, you’ll probably be surprised to hear that the price of taking your dog on the Eurotunnel might just be the cheapest part of your trip (if you’re staying in pet friendly hotels, anyway!)
It cost us €22 for Lilly, each way, in addition to the cost of our van. As far as I know, this price is the same regardless of the size of your dog.
We use Booking.com to find pet friendly hotels along our route!
Eurotunnel Rules For Dogs
The biggest rule we saw when it comes to travelling with pets on the Eurotunnel was the limit of 5 pets per vehicle. I think that’s reasonable for most people?
Aside from that the Eurotunnel rules for dogs included:
- They must stay inside your vehicle once boarded onto the train.
- They must stay on a lead when walking around the waiting around grounds & check in centre
- Dogs are allowed inside the duty free area but not inside the food courts
The crossing only takes 35 minutes and there’s plenty of toileting space while you wait to be called to the train, so I think the rules are pretty reasonable! These rules are the same whether you’re going UK > France or France > UK.
Eurotunnel Dog Check In – The Process
Our Eurotunnel crossing was at midnight, and it was surprisingly quiet at every part of the check-in process.
If you’re not familiar with travelling on the Eurotunnel with a car/van, you have to go through several passport control stops but the first, and most important one is the Eurotunnel dog check in… do this first before you go anywhere near the main gates!
You’ll receive these directions in your confirmation email too… make sure to read that email thoroughly because it will give you a link to the most up to date google directions for the right terminal based on your vehicle. There are a lot of road works going on around Calais at the moment and, trust me, you don’t want to take a wrong turn and end up at the lorry terminal.
Once you arrive at the terminal entrance, look for signs for the Pet Reception. Here you’ll need to take your dog to have their microchip scanned and their paperwork checked. There was nobody else around when we arrived, so for us it was a really quick & easy process considering the mistake on Lilly’s EU Pet Passport. You’ll probably want to allow plenty of time for this if you’re travelling in peak times or through summer.
We were given a sticker for our van window and that was it. Lilly was checked in and ready to board her first train!
From here we went through the UK and French passport control, answered the usual immigration questions and were eventually free to wait in the Duty Free area.
Not pet travel related but if you’re travelling on a British Passport but also have EU residency… give them both your passport and residency card straight away. It’ll save you time and make their job easier.
Ferry vs The Channel Tunnel With Pets
Returning to the UK from Europe with a dog was actually quite easy with the Eurotunnel, but why didn’t we take the ferry instead? What made us choose travelling on the Eurotunnel with a dog, over the comfort of a ferry?
Aside from the Eurotunnel being quicker (and cheaper), travelling by ferry with a dog usually means either leaving your dog in the car or putting them into the onboard kennels, and not every ferry has this option. Some ferries have pet friendly cabins but they get booked up months in advance and we tend to travel pretty last minute. We don’t like the thought of leaving dogs in the car, and Lilly isn’t a fan of being left alone – especially in kennels surrounded by other potentially stressed dogs – so being able to stay in the van with her was the biggest draw to travelling on the Eurotunnel with a dog, instead of a ferry. Maybe one day we’ll treat her to a luxury pet cabin.
Important Things To Know About UK Pet Travel
Like most countries, the UK has a few laws when it comes to travelling with your dog around the UK. Especially if you’re driving! The most important one is that all dogs, big or small, must be secured when the vehicle is moving. You can do this in several ways:
- A seat belt lead attached to a comfortable harness
- For small dogs, a crate secured on the back seats
- For large dogs, a crate secured in the boot/trunk of the car
- Using a car divider while the dog sits in in the boot/trunk
This not only keeps the dog safe & secure in the event of an accident, it also keeps passengers safe too and is less distracting for the driver.
Dogs can also use the public transport without restrictions, unlike many EU countries where they’re required to be wearing a muzzle and/or under a certain height. Depending on the city/town that you visit, there may be an additional charge for taking your dog on board, so always ask the driver/ticket person
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