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Hi All

We are off for our first overseas camping trip and are staying in Monfreville Normandy...

I am just looking for some advise from those of you who have done it before on what is the best ferry crossing to take.

I will be coming from Suffolk so have a bit of a drive to any of the ports. I am just trying to weigh up cost against driving time etc..Brittany Ferries are so expensive ! dover Callais very cheap although three hours further to drive on the other side...

Any advise to help with the desision would be much appreciated

Thanks

Steven

Hi, is it the wonderful Chateau de Monfreville campsite you're going to? If so, we went there last year & the owners gave us their regular users code for Brittany Ferries & that saved us a bit (not much admittedly but it all helps). 

We went via Portsmouth/Cherbourg & came back Calais/Dover, the best journey was definately the first. It was so much more relaxing & civilised somehow.  The journey back up north from Dover was horrendous so I would definately recommend Brittany Ferries.

Personally from where you live I would go Dover/Calais and do the driving on the otherside as the roads are better and far less busy.

David

Quote: Originally posted by David Klyne on 02/2/2011

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Personally from where you live I would go Dover/Calais and do the driving on the otherside as the roads are better and far less busy.

David

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This is what we're doing - after spending ages deliberating.

Normandy will our first camping trip abroad so both nervous and excited.

You need to sit down and work 'backwards' from the ferry times at the various ports, and the arrival times in France.  You may find that in order to catch a ferry on the longer crossing, with a shorter drive in France, that you have to set off very early, or arrive in France very late, or have an overnight campsite near the port - depending on your chosen route.  If that's the case, then it may make sense to choose the shorter crossing, with a longer drive in France, as going on a short crossing means there are sailings approximately every hour and a half during the summer, so timings are a lot more flexible.  This means that generally you can work out timings so that you can do the whole journey during the course of one day, rather than have to have additional overnight stops.

I speak from experience, as we have a long drive to the ports from home, and over the years we've played around with timings/costs and always the shorter crossing has come out on top.  Even more so, since we narrowly missed a Portsmouth sailing some years ago, and as we were on a special offer sailing would have had to wait forty-eight hours for the next available 'offer' crossing!

I would think that Poole/Portsmouth to Cherbourg is likely to cost an arm and a leg more than a short crossing.  There is a possibility that Norfolk Lines (DFDS now) may repeat their special offer at the NEC Caravan Show in a fortnight or so - and this gave lots of members on here a return ferry crossing for car and caravan, any low season dates, or timings, for £58.00 return, and £78 return in high season!  We booked both our return crossings for 2011 back in October at these prices!

We are off to Carantec in Brittany for Whitsun week, living 45 miles from Portsmouth we thought the best route for us would be Brittany Ferries Portsmouth to Caen but how wrong I was.

Cost £750, 3 adults and 1 child and a twin wheel caravan. We have opted for Dover Calais with the extra fuel, cost for ferry £391.

Worked out additional costs and will still be saving money via the Dover route

which month are u travelling in ?

HI Steve

We are travelling at the end of July and return start of August...

Thanks everybody for the feedback so far ... it is really helping as we still havnt booked our crossing !!!