driving to south france

DMC75_2

Hi,

Have a holiday booked in august to serignan plage.

Trying to weigh up whether to get ferry to bilboa and drive across in one day or ferry to calais and drive down with overnight stop but as we have 2 young children the less driving the better.

if we travel from dover would need overnight stop in dover and another in france.

Would love some help

spiro

If you go on the Michelin website you can input the 2 places in France and it will tell you the distance, time, tolls, fuel used etc.

I would say that a ferry to NW Spain was not be good as most roads don't go along the border as far I an know.

What my friends used to do when he drove to Costa Brava was get a late night ferry to Calais, drive until as far south as he could. Stop off overnight and complete the journey earlier the 2nd day. This allowed him to get well south of Paris before the rush hour.

With kids, get a dual screen DVD player it will keep them amused/asleep for hours.

Bob_the_Saver

DMC75 wrote: »

Hi,

Have a holiday booked in august to serignan plage.

Trying to weigh up whether to get ferry to bilboa and drive across in one day or ferry to calais and drive down with overnight stop but as we have 2 young children the less driving the better.

if we travel from dover would need overnight stop in dover and another in france.

Would love some help

We take two days to come down from the channel and I would strongly recommend this. I am not saying you can't do it it one day but why kill yourself?, especially likely in August if the locals don't get you first that is.

sunshinetours

DMC75 wrote: »

Hi,

Have a holiday booked in august to serignan plage.

Trying to weigh up whether to get ferry to bilboa and drive across in one day or ferry to calais and drive down with overnight stop but as we have 2 young children the less driving the better.

if we travel from dover would need overnight stop in dover and another in france.

Would love some help

Have you weighed up costs for the options. It must be a good 600 miles + from Calais plus journey from wherever in the UK (by the sounds of it you are not near the southern coast). Tolls won't be cheap (use the viamichelin site as someone has suggested)

Ferries will be expensive I would assume in August especially ones down to Bilbao. Cheapest option may be to fly/drive? Do you definitely need a car?

I wouldn't really want to go any further than we do in the Charente region of France which is about 470miles from Calais and do-able in a day from our house as we live in South East. Definitely invest in a twin screen DVD - best £100 we've ever spent for long journeys

This will be the first time we have done it in August though so we shall see! Definitely try and avoid the weekend for travel if you can during that period

nickyhutch

It's a nightmare, isn;t it? We're only going to the Vendee but travelling from Manchester. No tots, but 3 teen boys in the back seat to consider (had to change up to a bigger car!). We're trying to work out whether to spend out airmiles on the ferry crossing Portsmouth - St Malo (easiest time-wise) or do Eurotunnel (cheaper, but more driving and more time). Gutted about using my airmiles becuase they'd be better spent on a holiday for me and OH!

Good luck. If it were me with tots I'd go for the one with less driving.

sunshinetours

nickyhutch wrote: »

It's a nightmare, isn;t it? We're only going to the Vendee but travelling from Manchester. No tots, but 3 teen boys in the back seat to consider (had to change up to a bigger car!). We're trying to work out whether to spend out airmiles on the ferry crossing Portsmouth - St Malo (easiest time-wise) or do Eurotunnel (cheaper, but more driving and more time). Gutted about using my airmiles becuase they'd be better spent on a holiday for me and OH!

Good luck. If it were me with tots I'd go for the one with less driving.

With teenagers (presumably with Ipods, PSP's etc) I would do the Eurotunnel route and drive to Vendee. You could stop off near Folkestone or even in Calais/le Touquet area before setting off to Vendee early next morning to arrive in time to for afternoon siesta!

From St Malo I wouldn't think the actual car time is significantly better than the autoroute from Calais. You really can cruise at 80mph most of the way (traffic permitting of course)

DMC75_2

do the companies give any discounts on ferries ?

Oldernotwiser

If you want an overnight stop near the Channel, do it on the French side as this will be much cheaper.

nickyhutch

sunshinetours wrote: »

With teenagers (presumably with Ipods, PSP's etc) I would do the Eurotunnel route and drive to Vendee. You could stop off near Folkestone or even in Calais/le Touquet area before setting off to Vendee early next morning to arrive in time to for afternoon siesta!

From St Malo I wouldn't think the actual car time is significantly better than the autoroute from Calais. You really can cruise at 80mph most of the way (traffic permitting of course)

Thank you for that - food for thought. I'd thought the drive would be a lot, lot longer than the St Malo option. I'll have to do some more digging.

sunshinetours

nickyhutch wrote: »

Thank you for that - food for thought. I'd thought the drive would be a lot, lot longer than the St Malo option. I'll have to do some more digging.

Hmm just checked the map - depending on where you are going in Vendee, St Malo may be a fair bit closer actually. The Charente Maritime area where we go is further down and further over so the difference is not so much. Try the viamichelin site if you haven't already

Boxman

If it helps you decide, from experience it's 670 or so miles from Calais to Serignan Plage which if there are no hold ups should take about 10 hrs 30. Tolls about 50€ each way.

This is using the route via Rouen, Chartres, Orleans, C Ferrand and Millau which, again from experience is the way I would go. To keep costs down fill up away from the Autoroute at Calais and again at the Intermarche by the main road at Dreux.

Hope this is useful for you.