Dieppe is the Normandy port you can sail to straight from Sussex, and the town is close enough to the ferry terminal that you can walk in. DFDS runs the crossing from Newhaven, and once you're off the boat there's a big Saturday market, a long pebble beach, a castle on the cliff, a fishing quarter and the scallops the town is known for.
This guide covers the crossing in brief, how to get from the terminal into town, and what to do in Dieppe once you're there. Everything about the town comes from Dieppe's own tourist office (Dieppe-Normandie Tourisme), and everything about the ferry from DFDS. Prices are the ones shown when I checked on 13 November 2026.
The crossing from Newhaven
DFDS is the only ferry company on this route. It says: "As the only cross-channel ferry operator on this route, we offer a convenient way to reach Normandy". DFDS calls it a "4 hour crossing", and its FAQ adds that crossings "take around 4 hours and 5 hours on certain overnight ferries to France."
How many sailings you get depends on the time of year. DFDS says the route "operates up to 6 daily sailings between England and France depending on the season". Dieppe's tourist office breaks it down from the French side: "jusqu'à 4 traversées quotidiennes en juillet et en août" (up to four crossings a day in July and August), "jusqu'à 3 traversées par jour en mai, juin et septembre" (up to three in May, June and September), and "2 traversées par jour le reste de l'année" (two a day the rest of the year). It also says the line runs all year.
For full times and the ships on the route, see my Newhaven to Dieppe ferry page.
| What | What DFDS or the tourist office says |
|---|---|
| Crossing time | "4 hour crossing" (DFDS) |
| Sailings | "up to 6 daily sailings" depending on the season (DFDS) |
| Car fare | "From £73 per car + 4 people one way" (DFDS route page) |
| Foot passenger fare | "autour de 37 € l'aller pour un passager piéton" (tourist office, as a guide) |
| Short break | "save 20% on standard ticket prices" on a 5-day break (DFDS) |
Fares, short breaks and discounts
The DFDS route page shows a headline fare "From £73 per car + 4 people one way". The small print says this is the "Lead in price based on one-way fare for a standard car carrying 4 (2 adults + 2 children) passengers". Other DFDS pages, including the FAQ on the same route page, give £117 instead, so treat £73 as the lowest fare you might find, not a typical one.
DFDS doesn't show a foot-passenger fare on its route page. Dieppe's tourist office says that, as a rough guide, "les premiers prix débutent autour de 37 € l'aller pour un passager piéton et 137 € l'aller pour une voiture avec jusqu'à quatre passagers" (the lowest fares start at around €37 one way for a foot passenger and €137 one way for a car with up to four passengers).
For a few days away, DFDS has a short-break offer on this route: "Book a 5 day short break with DFDS to save 20% on standard ticket prices". The ticket "is valid for up to a maximum of 120 hours from the scheduled time of departure of the outward journey".
DFDS also offers a "Dieppe City Break" that lets you "Combine your sailing from Newhaven with a hotel in one, convenient booking."
There are concession fares too. DFDS says "A reduction of 20% is available on the Newhaven-Dieppe route for passengers with a disability, students between the age of 18 to 27, young people between the age of 18 to 25 and seniors over the age of 60 years." These can't be booked online: "All bookings must be made by telephone on +44 33 058 787 87 or at the ferry terminal."
If you're comparing other Channel crossings, my Ferry to France guide and France ferry routes page list them all, and day trips to France covers the shorter hops from Dover.
From the ferry terminal into Dieppe
DFDS says "it's just a short 20-minute walk from the DFDS Dieppe port to town." The tourist office says "Le terminal Transmanche est situé à quelques minutes du centre-ville de Dieppe" (the ferry terminal is a few minutes from the town centre).
If you'd rather not walk, there's a shuttle bus. The tourist office says "Une navette Transmanche assure également la liaison entre la gare SNCF, le centre-ville et le terminal ferry" (a Transmanche shuttle links the railway station, the town centre and the ferry terminal), timed to the ferries. "Elle coûte 3 €/adulte et 1,50 € pour les moins de 18 ans, par trajet" (it costs €3 per adult and €1.50 for under-18s per journey), with tickets sold "à bord du bus (espèces uniquement) ou sur l'application DeepMob" (on the bus, cash only, or on the DeepMob app).
There's road work to know about if you're driving. DFDS says: "Construction work in Dieppe Road traffic will be diverted as part of the restoration of the Colbert Bridge. For pedestrians, a footbridge has been installed."
Foot passengers should note one DFDS rule: they "must leave their large luggage (larger than 56cm x 45cm x 25cm) in the dedicated baggage storage onboard". For the return trip from Dieppe, the tourist office recommends arriving "1 heure avant le départ pour les passagers piétons" (one hour before departure for foot passengers) and "2 heures avant le départ si vous voyagez avec un vélo, une moto, une voiture ou un camping-car" (two hours if you have a bike, motorbike, car or motorhome).
The Saturday market
If you can, go on a Saturday. The tourist office says the Dieppe market "was voted the Best Market in France in 2020", and that "Every Saturday morning, the streets of Dieppe are lined with stalls run by local producers and street traders."
Its times, from the tourist office:
- "Saturday mornings from 8.30 am to 1 pm (main food market and street traders): Grande Rue, Place Nationale, Rue Saint-Jacques, Rue de la Barre"
- "Saturday afternoons from 1.00 pm to 5.00 pm ( street traders): Grande Rue and Place Nationale"
- "Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 8.30 am to 12.30 pm (small food markets and street vendors): Place Nationale"
For cheese and farm produce, the tourist office says to head "around Saint-Jacques Church and onto the Place du Puits Salé", and it picks out Neufchâtel as a local cheese worth trying.
If you can, go on a Saturday.
The seafront and beach
The tourist office puts it simply: "Sea bathing was born in Dieppe!" It says "In 1824, a bathing establishment* opened. The famous Duchesse de Berry was one of its first customers, and launched the trend."
The beach is pebbles, with a wide stretch of grass behind it. The tourist office says "The beach stretches for 1.5 kilometers", and that "8 hectares of lawns line the seafront." Along the promenade there are beach huts, a large children's playground and a cycle path.
Some practical points from the same page: "From June 15 to September 15, lifeguards supervise swimming areas from 11am to 7pm." And if you're bringing a dog, "From June 15 to September 15, dogs are not allowed on the beach. The rest of the year, they are welcome on a leash."
The château and its museum
The castle stands above the west end of the beach. The tourist office says it "was first built at the same time as the town's fortification walls (between 1340 and 1360), of which the two turrets on the beach are the most visible part."
Inside is the town museum. The tourist office says "Housed in the fortress, the Musée de Dieppe presents the rich maritime history of the town and its port." Dieppe was a centre for ivory carving, and the museum shows "More than a thousand objects" from the 16th to the 21st century, including "statuettes, ship models, fans". Even if you don't go in, the esplanade outside gives you a view over the town and the beach.
The harbour and Le Pollet
Dieppe calls itself "the town of four ports": the ferry port, the fishing port, the marina and the commercial port. The tourist office says the fishing port "specializes in scallops" and describes it as the "First shellfish port of France".
The fish market is worth an early start. The tourist office says you can "Meet the fishermen's wives at the fish markets on Quai Trudaine and Quai Henri IV from Tuesday to Saturday (from around 7.30 am to 1 pm)." It warns that "in the event of severe weather, the boats do not go out to sea, so there is no sale the following day."
Across the water is the old fishing district. The tourist office says that to reach Le Pollet "you will have to cross over a metal swing bridge, Pont Colbert, the only one of its kind in Europe and a listed Historic Monument." (That's the bridge DFDS says is under restoration, with a footbridge for pedestrians.) The district has "brick façades, pretty hidden courtyards, modest fishermen's houses" and old cave dwellings at the foot of the cliff known as gobes.
Saint-Jacques church
Saint-Jacques is the big Gothic church in the middle of town, and it's free to visit ("Gratuit pour tous"). The tourist office's French page says it was "Fondée entre le 13e et le 14e siècles" (founded between the 13th and 14th centuries), and that "L'architecture mêle le style roman, le style gothique et des éléments Renaissance" (the architecture mixes Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance styles).
It's a stop on the pilgrim route: "L'église est consacrée à Saint-Jacques et est une étape du pèlerinage jusqu'à Compostelle" (the church is dedicated to St James and is a stage on the pilgrimage to Compostela). Look for the sailors' graffiti; the tourist office says "Les marins ont gravé des graffitis sur les murs de l'église toujours visibles sur le mur de la sacristie" (sailors carved graffiti on the church walls, still visible on the sacristy wall). The Dieppe shipowner Jehan Ango is buried in his chapel in the choir.
The 1942 raid and the Canadian memorial
On 19 August 1942 Allied troops, most of them Canadian, landed at Dieppe and the beaches around it. The tourist office says "6,000 soldiers, including 5,000 Canadians and 1,000 British (including 50 American rangers and 15 Free French commandos) on 150 ships set sail for Dieppe." It calls the raid "a military fiasco": "1200 men lost their lives. 46 civilians also perished in the attack."
The 19 August 1942 Memorial is in the town's old Italian-style theatre. The tourist office says it holds "documents, objects and models which pay tribute to the soldiers, sailors and pilots who participated in the raid", along with "the Memorial Wall, a list of the 1,197 casualties of the raid". It's run "by a team of volunteers and supported by the town".
Outside town, the tourist office suggests "the Cimetière des Canadiens des Vertus, in Hautot-sur-Mer, or the beaches of Puys and Pourville (Blue Beach & Green Beach)".
Scallops and the herring fair
Scallops are the town's signature food. The tourist office calls the scallop "Dieppe's white gold" and says the "scallop fishing season begins from October to May." For a dish to order in a restaurant, it suggests the Dieppe stew, which "combines fish and shellfish — scallops, mussels, langoustines, king prawns and even shrimp — delicately cooked in a creamy sauce made with crème fraîche."
Every November the town holds a food festival around its catch. The tourist office says "the Herring and Scallop Fair, which takes place every third weekend in November" is when "Dieppe celebrates its long-standing connection with the sea and the fishing industry." This year's fair is on "14 & 15 November 2026". <!-- until:2026-11-15 --> Book early if you want to stay over: the tourist office says "Many accommodation providers are already fully booked for the night of Saturday 14 November, several weeks before the event."
The kite festival
Dieppe's other big event is every two years. The tourist office says "For nine days in September, the International Kite Festival transforms the eight hectares of lawns along Dieppe's seafront into a veritable open-air theatre." The next one runs "from 11 to 19 September 2027", and it's "a huge, free community celebration."
Varengeville-sur-Mer and nearby
If you have a car or a bike, Varengeville-sur-Mer is the obvious trip out along the coast. The tourist office says Georges Braque is buried in "the small sailors' cemetery overlooking the ocean", and that "the church contains one of his stained glass windows". Claude Monet painted there too: "You can walk in the footsteps of Claude Monet, who painted multiple pieces here".
In the same village, the tourist office says "Shamrock Garden is home to the biggest collection of hydrangeas in the world, boasting more than 1,000 varieties", and that the shipowner Jehan Ango "had this summer palace built by Italian architects between 1530 and 1542."
Closer in, the Château d'Arques at Arques-la-Bataille is a ruin that the tourist office says "was most likely built between 1040 and 1045". And if you're cycling, the tourist office says the Avenue Verte London-Paris runs from Dieppe, and "la partie entre Dieppe et Forges-les-Eaux est une ancienne voie ferrée devenue une piste cyclable sans voitures" (the stretch between Dieppe and Forges-les-Eaux is an old railway line turned into a car-free cycle path).
Questions about Dieppe by ferry
How long is the ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe?
DFDS calls it a "4 hour crossing". Its FAQ says some overnight sailings take around 5 hours.
Can I walk from the Dieppe ferry terminal into town?
Yes. DFDS says it's "a short 20-minute walk from the DFDS Dieppe port to town." There's also a Transmanche shuttle bus between the terminal, the town centre and the railway station, which the tourist office says costs €3 for an adult.
What day is the Dieppe market?
The main market is on Saturday morning, from 8.30 am to 1 pm, according to the tourist office. There are smaller markets on Place Nationale on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.
What is Dieppe famous for?
Its tourist office points to the scallops ("Dieppe's white gold"), the Saturday market, the seafront where it says sea bathing started in 1824, and the 1942 raid, remembered at the 19 August 1942 Memorial.
When is the Dieppe kite festival?
It's held every two years in September. The tourist office says the next one is from 11 to 19 September 2027.
Are there discounts on the Newhaven to Dieppe ferry?
DFDS offers 20% off for seniors over 60, students aged 18 to 27, young people aged 18 to 25 and passengers with a disability, booked by phone or at the terminal. It also has a 20% saving on a 5-day short break.
