Ferry to St.Malo,France in September

SallyD

Can anyone advise me the best and cheapest way to travel to St.Malo with car and two, possibly three passengers in September.

budgetflyer

Not St Malo, but
see
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=59766

at £5 I'd drive a bit further through France.
If your trip is longer, book 2 or use it as a single and then you will only need a single back from St Malo

The_Lambton_Worm

Portsmouth - St Marlo is the only direct route by ferry from England that i'm aware of. Its an overnight trip of about 12 hour out and 12 hour day crossing return. Could be expensive if you've got sprogs or you don't fancy dossing in a reclining chair in cattle class.

Why not cross from Dover to Calais or Boulogne and then drive across.

SallyD

Thank you Budgetflyer and The_Lampton_Worm. For a £5 ticket I would be happy to drive the 5 hours it would take from Calais to St.Malo and take in the scenery, not having driven overseas before I was quite relieved to see a ferry goes direct to St.Malo albeit awful timings. I would be meeting up with pals and would feel more confident about driving around the area. However, £5 sound very good to me so will hopefully come across a Co-Op on the way up North over the weekend. Quotes to St.Malo are in the £300 mark yet Calais seems to have offers sometimes bringing it down to £78 if you leave it late,so it really is becoming an appealling option. Any tips on driving in France?

The_Lambton_Worm

SallyD wrote:

Any tips on driving in France?

Drive on the right.;)

On a serious note, its pretty easy once you get used to everything being on the wrong side. eg In the UK you give way to vehicles coming from the right at roundabouts etc. In France you give way to vehicles coming from your left in the same situations.

The roads are better and you can travel faster on the motorways than you can here but be warned about exit/entrance slip roads. They're about half the length of ours. You also pay tolls on motorways but not in urban areas. You should be able to get from Calais to St Malo without paying tolls.

BTW St Malo is a lovely town steeped in history. If you get the chance visit some of the German fortifications from WWII. Not to mention its virtually 100% intact medieval town walls.

SallyD

Thank you for that information.

Former_MSE_Andrea

Just wanted to add although it's certainly not cheaper than a fiver, if you really want to go to St Malo you can travel from Weymouth or Poole using Condor Ferries.

The site has regular special offers, which change at the start of each month.

Andrea

SallyD

Yep, special offers for next month are on the site. I will hold back booking and will wait till nearer the time and keep an eye on the web pages. I can be really flexible with the dates and timings so will keep my fingers crossed.
Thank you all for your advice and suggestions.

Weymouth_Man

SallyD wrote:

Can anyone advise me the best and cheapest way to travel to St.Malo with car and two, possibly three passengers in September.

Have a look at CONDOR from Weymouth OR Poole :cool:

boatman

Another cheap option is Speed Ferries from Dover, £50 return for car and up to 5 passengers.

http://www.speedferries.com/

I believe they will have a second ferry very soon!! So lots of availability.

Tommy_C_2

St.Malo is great. Nice to go for an evening out to bars and restaurants in the old part of the town (which is out to sea).

See: http://arno7173.free.fr/galerie/albums/bretagne/coucher_st_malo.jpg

When we went, they had a 'festival of the sea' with fireworks at night. It would have been about this time of year.

Every hotel was sold out so we went in a small bar for a drink, and by luck they let us have B&B there, and it was really nice.

The overnight trip from Portsmouth isn't too bad at all.

Perhaps stay at St. Malo for your last night before going home?