Ferry from UK to Spain

KahrenS

hi, we are planning a motorcycle trip to Spain (the Pyrenees) in September this year. Any tips on the cheapest ferry would be greatly appreciated.

spadoosh

Youre pretty limited.

Theres 3 routes (from uk, you can sail from Cork, EIRE). Portsmouth to Santander or Bilbao. Plymouth to Santander.

Think theyre all operated by brittany ferries, all over night ferries which increases the cost versus the likes of chunnel and the speedier routes into France although whats saved in ferry costs can be offset by petrol costs.

Brittany ferries have a loyalty club/scheme which offers something of a members discount. This will probably be the cheapest way of doing it if you know someone who has one.

maman

spadoosh wrote: »

Youre pretty limited.

Theres 3 routes (from uk, you can sail from Cork, EIRE). Portsmouth to Santander or Bilbao. Plymouth to Santander.

Think theyre all operated by brittany ferries, all over night ferries which increases the cost versus the likes of chunnel and the speedier routes into France although whats saved in ferry costs can be offset by petrol costs.

Brittany ferries have a loyalty club/scheme which offers something of a members discount. This will probably be the cheapest way of doing it if you know someone who has one.

There are regular threads on here with people offering to let people use their membership.

MEM62

If you want to go direct then there is only one operator - Brittany Ferries. Book early, the places get snapped up quickly, and pay the small extra surcharge for an external cabin.

Stick Jaca and Broto on your route, you will not regret it. If you have time to venture a little further west the N623 from Santander to Burgos is a great ride. Small, Spanish two and three start hotels and cheap and mainly of a decent quality. The spring and autumn give you the best riding whether as high summer is too hot. Even then, we prefer early starts when it is cool and stick to between 100 and 200 miles a day. This means you are in a fit state to explore and enjoy whatever town you are staying in that evening. Be prepared to get addicted to the experience.

AlexMac

MEM62's advice is great, as Broto (and nearby Torla) are the gateway to the Ordesa national park- Europe's oldest and well worth a stroll up leafy valleys (or on to rugged scarps and skylines if you're walkers) but...

We (and eight mates) booked our Sept '19 crossings as part of their great-value ferry & accommodation packages months ago so you might struggle as many in Sept are now fully booked, so ring 'em up; the staff are really helpful.

Either
- scrounge a "Club Voyage" discount code (see the other BF threads above and below this one on this forum) or

- try for an accomodation inclusive package as with these, the price of ferries falls, and cabin upgrades are dirt cheap (eg upgrade to an outside 4-berther so no bumk ladders plus a window for £15 instead of the ferry only price of over £100 each way). hotels at around £80 B&B are great value and you only need 3-4 nights to get the discount- and you can tour different ones. Try cheap and cheerful Hotel Villa de Torla" for at least one of your independent nights.

Or plan ahead- maybe for next year - as this winter they'll doubtless be discounting their ferry-accommodation holidays by 20-25% as they have done each year; we usually get a week with the car and 5-7 nights in a variety of great hotels for £650-£1k for the two of us

zagfles

Ferries are considerably cheaper if you book via Eurocamp, in the region of half price, you could just a book a couple of nights with them to get the ferry discount. (it might be different with a motobike, not sure). People offering codes will only get you 10% off I think.

mark1959

Eurocamp ferry discounts only apply to cars as we've booked with them for many years [always on a motorbike] but not the crossing. The one campsite in northern spain they go to, camping playa joyel, is nearish the picos and is a very good [and big] campsite.But book direct as it's much cheaper for a mobile home/caravan than eurocamp.

maman

zagfles wrote: »

Ferries are considerably cheaper if you book via Eurocamp, in the region of half price, you could just a book a couple of nights with them to get the ferry discount. (it might be different with a motobike, not sure). People offering codes will only get you 10% off I think.

I've had better ferry prices by booking a package through Brittany Ferry Holidays. They do hotels and apartments as well as cottages but not sure if it would work for touring.

shinytop

All the replies assume a ferry to Santander/Bilbao. While that's Northern Spain, it's not the Pyrenees. That's another 4-5 hours. If you get a ferry to Brittany, it's about 10 hours riding time to the Pyrenees. I've done Spain several times getting the Brittany landing going out and the Santander departure coming back.

maman

shinytop wrote: »

All the replies assume a ferry to Santander/Bilbao. While that's Northern Spain, it's not the Pyrenees. That's another 4-5 hours. If you get a ferry to Brittany, it's about 10 hours riding time to the Pyrenees. I've done Spain several times getting the Brittany landing going out and the Santander departure coming back.

Of course you're right about the distances but when I've done the trips I've made the travelling down and back part of the holiday. We've often travelled down through Spain and back through France and taken the ferry from Caen on the return.

MEM62

shinytop wrote: »

All the replies assume a ferry to Santander/Bilbao. While that's Northern Spain, it's not the Pyrenees. That's another 4-5 hours. If you get a ferry to Brittany, it's about 10 hours riding time to the Pyrenees. I've done Spain several times getting the Brittany landing going out and the Santander departure coming back.

The drawback there is that you need to spend time in France :rotfl: