By sea (ferryboat) from the UK to North Spain

pcg2001

Hi,
I need to transport a lot of personal stuff from the UK to my home in Portugal and am thinking or renting a small van. However the prospect of making a return trip via France and Spain seems pretty tiring. Has anyone taken a (ferry)boat by car from the UK to northern spain (Santander)? Is it possible to save some money on that trip? I'm doing simulations and getting around £450 for 2 people and a van.

Many thanks for any help.

lexie55_2

Yes, much quicker and cheaper. Did it once, vowed never again, as it is a very rough crossing, Bay of Biscay. My husband was the only one on deck with crew, everyone else was in cabins....

dieseldog

We have done portsmouth to bilbao 3 times booked for the fourth this june always had good crossings ,but only ever been in june.Used tesco clubcard vouchers to pay for trip,sadly these deals have now finished.The only thing i would advise is to get an outside cabin,the inside ones have no windows at all.

sparrer

Have done the drive once - wouldn't do it again - and the Portsmouth/Santander ferry trip three times, two superb crossings and one 'interesting' one but I'm a good sailor so didn't bother me. It was no quicker (driving approx 20 hours or ferry 2 days) or particularly cheaper than driving down taking into account the cost of fuel, tolls and an overnight stop if you need to, but far less tiring especially if you have a long onward drive. Ferry food is expensive so we take snacks and just have one meal in the self-service restaurant - again not much difference in cost from the aires on the motorways.
hth