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We would like to go to northern France Aug 2010. (Plymouth to Roscoff, possibly.)  I have been looking at prices and think its extortionate!!

Would readers give me an idea how much we should be paying, and what company?2 adults 2 children with a caravan?

Thanks

Hi, Welcome to UKCS.

First, short ferry crossings are cheapest.  The longer crossings are eye-watering prices!  This year we're paying £78.00 return for a car and caravan, (and up to five passengers) with Norfolk Lines, Dover to Dunkerque, in August.  We booked in September last year for the best bargains, although they did offer similar prices in February at the NEC show.  Even with the extra travelling, and perhaps overnight stops in each direction, you'll be saving nearly enough to pay your site fees for two weeks!

Book your own 'elements' of the holiday independently, rather than with Eurocamp Independent, or similar, too, and that usually will save you money.  However, if you're in the Caravan Club, then it's always worth comparing their prices as sometimes they offer discounts on ferry crossings, and cheaper site fees.   It always pays to 'shop around' and know exactly what you are paying, and to whom - so compare booking direct with the ferries, and then through the Clubs.

Second, depends what sort of campsites you want?   You can pay 40 euros or more for a four-star site in a popular area, all-singing, all-dancing, but you can pay as little as 7 or 8 euros for a municipal site in a small village somewhere.   If you choose your times wisely, too, you can use Camping Cheques, Touring Cheques, or an ACSI Card to obtain a discount on the normal site tariffs, so you could be saving quite an amount per night if you go the last two weeks in August, rather than in late July or early August. 

Hi

Without wishing to be flippant you pay what they ask (or not). Weve done Plymouth  - Roscoff on several occasions with a family of five and car. The prices have varied between £200 and £550 depending on the time of year. A decent rule of thumb is to book as early as possible as unlike lots of services the price of Brittany ferries doesnt come down the closer you get to sailing time.

You might want to try Condor ferries. They go into St Malo which isnt too far from Roscoff and are generally cheaper than Brittany Ferries.

Thanks very much for the replies. £78 sound ok to me. I will probably be going to the NEC show when its on, I didnt realise they had stands there.

I have just joined the C&C club through the free offer on Camping magazine. So I will look forward to reading about the offers on going abroad.

Thanks

They don't tend to publish the offers at all - you need to check out the Caravan Club website, starting in early September.  We booked this year's crossings on the 23rd September last year!

Norfolk Lines did have a stand at the NEC and were giving out 'codes' which you could use to get a cheaper than brochure price.  We were there, and I put the codes up on this (or another forum) and several people used the code to book their ferry.  There's always someone posting about bargain crossings, so the best place for information is probably on this website!