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Late reply to this, but if you’re considering staying overnight at dover for this then why not try the Eurotunnel bike service (disclaimer: not actually tried it myself, the minibus only has ~6places and was full when I tried to book it to get to Corsica overland in September). Gets you to Calais tgv station in an hour, rather than the many many hours of ferry limbo, costs less than a bike on the Eurostar too. I think the bike has to be assembled however, so you’d be rinko’ing it in Calais.
https://www.eurotunnel.com/uk/travelling-with-us/vehicles/bicycles/
CowHen
frank9755
Thanks - good info about ferry booking and check-in times. I saw the 90 mins but was hoping that with a bit of pushing in at the front of the queue I could shorten that a bit.
I've been looking into it as well. The objective is to get from London to Munich by 11:30pm so I can catch the sleeper to Zagreb (and there are other useful trains eastwards from there too).
I'm west so mainline stations work fine for me - either get crossrail there if bike is bagged, or just ride there. So I reckon that, if I get the first train from St Pancras, I can get to Munich that night:
London St Pancras 07:07
Dover 08:14 (station)
Port 08:30 -ish
Ferry 10:40
Calais 13:10 (port)
Calais 14:31 - change at Lille, Paris, Suttgart
Munich 23:26
On that setup I would keep my bike whole until either Lille or Paris, then bag it - wheels off but with forks still in - for the rest.
There's not a lot of slack in the system though. Taking Eurostar adds a few hours more - could theoretically get to Munich by 16:26
The other option is to go the previous night on the Harwich ferry. I've done it loads of times before . I've always done it overnight - for work and with family - and it works well but is not that cheap as you have to get a cabin. The day ferry is a lot cheaper but takes loads of time so not very efficient, and must be pretty boring.
TL:DR - it should be possible to get to Munich in a day, hence to Zagreb in just over 24 hours. Cheapest option is the ferry, but it's a bit tight. Eurostar saves a bunch of time but costs a good bit more and needs a smaller bag. Harwich ferry works well but expensive.
Thinking as I write, best option might be a late train to Dover the night before then hotel (or actually kip on ferry / trains), early ferry - they seem to go right through the night, and leisurely trains onwards.
Honestly, after navigating all this lot, the ride will be a piece of piss.