Question about France?

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Graham I

If you are from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain or Switzerland, then yes, you can legally travel to France with just your national identity card. If you are not from one of these countries then you need a passport.

The first verified swim of the channel by Captain Matthew Webb in 1875 took over 21 hours. The current record is just under 7 hours, but I assume that you have not been in training ;-)

Tony

If you re a british or irish citizen, you don' t need a passport, you just need your ID, that' s all.
You can live, work and retire in France.

I'm afraid that despite being part of the EU you do need to have a passport to get into France, no matter what form of transport you take. You will find that coming back into the UK you will also need your passport.

cheekybear

claim asylum...other than that get a passport

elliott

From above <<you don't need a passport, you just need your ID>> In England your Passport is your ID although this is likely to change in the next few years.

Kate J

Swimming the channel, for those who are trained and in great shape, and can bear the cold (it gets REALLY cold!) takes something like 28 hours, if I remember correctly. And even Gertrude Ederle didn't do it alone. She had someone in a boat accompanying her, just in case something went wrong, like wild animals, or cramps, or exhaustion or hypothermia.

Of course, that WAS a long time ago...maybe with global warming, the hypothermia thing isn't an issue...

And, yes, I believe you have to have a passport, or you USED to, before the EU, anyway. Even on a ferry! You are still passing through border checks. If they still have border checks.

Why not just get a passport? Saves a lot of problems.

Cabal

If you are from a European country which has identity cards and is part of the Shengen area you can travel to France with just your id card. If you are British you don't have an identity card so you need a passport to prove you are British and don't need a visa to enter France. Even if you swim across the Channel.
Actual temperature of the water is around 14.2 C

George C

you could always swim the english channel.

other than that you'll need a passport if you enter at a port/airport

Tina H

I am pretty sure any way with out a passport wouldnt be legal.... Don't try it, the French police can be brutal if you get on their wrong side.

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