Flying vs Driving to the South of France

Lemoncurd

Has anyone faced this dilema and what did you decide? I'm trying to weigh up the options...

We are 2 adults, a 4 yr old and a 1 y old

If we fly we need
Travel to airport (we are right by Heathrow but probably would need to fly from Stansted)
Parking near airport for 2 weeks
Flights (last time I looked we could get returns to Bergerac for about £250 for all of us with Ryanair)
Two weeks car hire, must arrange two child car seats + would have a smaller less comfortable car than we are used to.

If we drive:
Journey will be approx 650 miles/12 hours
Would need
European breakdown cover
Ferry crossings
Possible accomodation for one night each way if we decide to break the journeys

Dover - Calais would be the fastest cheapest crossing but is there another port which might mean an overnight crossing/ less driving in France? We are nearer to Plymouth etc than Dover.

Voyager2002

Any reason why you are determined to go to the south of France? You could have a very good time in Brittany and Normandy. Overnight crossings (with cabins) are offered by Brittany Ferries and by Condor, with regular sailings from Portsmouth, Plymouth, Poole, etc.

Anyway, I'm sure that there are flights to places like Nice from Heathrow, or at least from Gatwick. And if you live anywhere in the Reading area you can get trains to Gatwick that bypass London, and cost much less than driving and parking.

I think that driving all the way to Bergerac would be terrible for the children.

Lemoncurd

Thanks for the reply, a close family member has offered us their appartment there for two weeks as it would be empty otherwise and we are meeting family there. Will have a look at Brittany Ferries and Condor and see if any of those options work out better, thanks

Poppy9

I have a friend who is from the South of France and when she goes back home she always goes by plane. She said it's a very long journey by car and quite expensive as you have to pay to go on the motorways.

Lemoncurd

Thanks Poppy, I did not know about the tolls

Louisa_Jane_2

Fly Fly Fly!!!

unsure

Hi Lemoncurd there is an alternative to both flying and driving but it is not cheap. You can use Motorail and put your car on a train in Calais. You then retire to a sleeping carriage for four and wake up in the morning in the South with your own car waiting for you. We did this a couple years ago rather than drive to Carcassone. It was very successful but it did cost about £1,000. We figured that between flights, airport parking and two weeks of car hire it was just about worth it fore the comfort and convenience. I don't know if the equation would be the same in your own case.

Ems!

didn't realise that motorail was that dear!! I was just going to suggest it but I thougt it was "only" about £250 e/w. Also , just to reiterate, the tolls on the motorways can really add up!! Luckily we had a list of how much they woudl be when we went last time so only went on the ones we thought were worth it. Some of the N roads were almost as good as the motorways anyway and I think the spedlimit is abt 30k/hr diffrence. ( maybe 20 or 40 - not sure!!)

Ems!

oh if you end up deciding to drive pm me and i'll send you a list of the tolls ( will have to type it out if a book so only want to do it if you need it!!)

DKLS

My mate and his GF have just done it in his new Maserati, His verdict, he will fly next time, was too tiring and time consuming to enjoy the drive.

dzug

When I've done this I've made the journey part of the holiday - taken a couple of nights over it and as far as possible kept off the autoroutes (so no tolls). Stopped off for the odd bit of sight seeing.

But if you don't have the time for that flying is probably better.