Day trip to France; Advice needed

B2_LNW

Hey everyone,

really in need of some advice, planning a day trip to france on 3rdApril, it's my first one and I am unsure what will be best for me. Eurotunnel or Seafrance, plus what is advantages and disadvantages of each? Also the best price I can get is £24 for Seafrance and £55 for Eurotunnel leaving at 12 and coming back at 9. Are there any offers or promotional codes?

Also I am only 19 and have only been driving under a year, someone mentioned it might be the case that you need 3 years experience to drive abroad? can't see this anywhere on internet?

thanks in advance for any advice

Edit, not going now! But if anyone has got any info it would be greatly appreciated! Many thanks

mssjab

Hi,
First off check with your insurance company to see if you'd be covered.
As far as I'm aware the following companies provide a cross channel service from Dover to 'Calais': P&O, Seafrance, Hoverspeed, Eurotunnel. Check all of the websites for the best price (if that's what's the most important to you) P&O are currently £10 for a mid-week day return if you leave Dover on the 12.15 sailing and return on the 20.30 (gives 6 hours in France). 'Special price' codes are usually only available from Newspaper promotions.
Crossing time for Eurotunnel is 35 mins platform to platform, P&O and Seafrance is about 75 minutes quay to quay and I think (but haven't checked, so have a look at their website) that Hoverspeed is either 35 or 45 minutes.
Eurotunnel of course go under the sea so, depending on the channel, the journey should be smoother (although it has to be said that the ferries are very well stabilised), but I've found that if it's very windy (and Northern France can be) the journey time with Eurotunnel can be around the same time as crossing by ferry.

I hope this helps - bon voyage for when you do go.

malcolmwilliamson

Your info. is a bit out of date mssjab. Hoverspeed stopped their Dover-Calais service last Autumn. A shame because it always offered good value and was quick; we often used it.

mssjab

Many thanks malcolmwilliamson for correcting me.
You're right of course - the website says that the service stopped last November.
It's been a couple of years since I've been over and (as you see) I hadn't checked the site before making my comment.
Unlike yourself, I went off Hoverspeed when they stoped running the Hovercrafts and settled instead for P&O (or Eurotunnel if the price was right!!!)
I hope that the other info was correct as I wouldn't want to mislead anyone.