Message Forums

for the last couple of years i have been wanting to take the tent to France, but the ferries are so expensive if you dont go Dover Calais. Each time I have priced it up it has worked out as cheap, or cheaper to go in a tent that is already up, this summer (August) is costing £499 including cherbourg ferries and nine nights in a tent. Everytime i have looked at ferries they have been almost this on thier own without pitch fees.

Does anyone have any ideas on cheap ferries, dont want to go to Calais and have a long drive to south vendee with three kids, done it before and never again.

Thanks, will take a look, seems a shame to leave my lovely tent at home to go in one that is already up. we have used Vacansoleil the last couple of times we have gone as they are cheaper than Eurocamp etc which seem really expensive these days, we have used them in the past. But i want to use my tent!!

http://www.vacansoleil.co.uk/

We went to the Vendee last year with car, trailer (Under a total of 7 metres) and went Dover to Boulogne with overnight stops factored in   (3 kids 8, 7 and 2)

Speed Ferries return     GBP 58.00

Overnight stop in Rouen (2 rooms in a Formula 1) Overnight stop in Boulogne (2 rooms in a Formula 1)    GBP 98.00 (Including breakfast)

Total GBP 156.00

Plenty of stops each way and it worked out fine.   

try Transmanche at Newhaven, theyre on the web but trips after april/may you have to ring for-theyre still sorting out the timetable-LD lines have taken over the running of the ships.  But usually they are uber cheap-we usually pay about £30 for a 3 day return, car and 3.

    hope this helps Neil 

thanks for all your help, will look into the options, we have stayed overnight in Bonsai hotels before as we can get rooms for 5, its just such a long drive from up here (Bolton, Lancashire) to dover (5hours) then to have to drive from calais to vendee is a long way, have driven from near caen to calais a couple of times and by the time we got home i never wanted to get back in a car again ( to be honest i think the kids are less bothered than me, they just cabbage in front of endless dvds in the back)

cheers, ruth

hello

last year we did the poole to st malo crossing( condor ferries), only cost £300. which included high car, 5 people - its much quicker, only about 4 and a half hours and not as crowded as the normal ferry. you also have an allocated seat so there is none of that fighting to get on ready to bag a seat. it is only about 3 hours drive to the Vendee.

we arrive in st malo about 7.30pm and rather than driving down that night we have one night in one of the eurocamp tents and that is only £50 for all of us for the night.

going mid week brings the price right down and camp sites in france dont care when you turn up.

we have booked again for this year going in August

be warned though if it is a choppy crossing there is a distint smell of vomit !

julie

A thought for next year.......

We have travelled from Portsmouth, Newhaven and Dover previously, landing at various spots along the French coast.  There is little to choose between them but to our mind the worst bit of the journey to the Vendee is the drive in the UK.  The drive on the Continent is bliss by comparison.  This year we're sailing from Hull and landing in Zeebrugge.  Not the cheapest of crossings I'll admit but paying for the crossing with Tesco club card points brought the price well down (less than half the Dover - Calais crossing).  Getting to Hull takes us about 1 and half hours max, whereas travelling to either Dover or any of the channel ports takes us 5 hours(if the roads are empty and road work free).  The last twice we've gone from Dover actually took us 7 hours plus and Portsmouth took the same time due to the M1 problems. Having slept overnight ( 12 hour crossing) landing at 7.30 we will be about 45 mins from Calais and the we plan to stop in the Normandy area - our friends have a tent and they use the B&B chain of hotels not a lot for a family bedroom and breakfast.  Then a nice steady drive south on the following day.

Must agree with Pennine Plodder, If you live in the north as we do there's a fair bit of driving to do, and we would sooner do the driving on the other side than in this counrty, take into consideration the fuel for getting to Dover or Portrsmouth and return and the hours on the road, Hull gets our vote every time, bearing in mind that fuel (diesel) is a fair bit cheaper over there than here, and there roads are a pleasure to drive on, Roll on June.

Stu