Best Ferry Route to France.

[Francie]

As an occasional ferry traveler I wonder if I could get your opinions as to which ferry routes you prefer. Last time I traveled in August I left Sheffield at 18.20. I got the Sea France ferry at Dover to Calais some time after 2300 and drove on to our house in the South Aveyron arriving at 12.40. I slept a little on the ferry and stopped for two cat naps and two coffee/breakfast breaks along the way. Coming back was fairly similar except it took for ever to get through passport control and check in at Calais.  Perhaps you can offer some advice on your prefer route and why?    

 

Regards,

 

Francie.

[Iceni]

I prefer Speedferries Dover/Boulogne but cannot imagine that it would significantly improve your journeytime though your pocket may be a little fuller. The crossing is quicker but the route from Boulogne to the S is not entirely motorway unlike the Calais option and of course B is a bit further W anyway.

No doubt others with a better grasp of geography will know more.

John

not

[jc]

The advantage of Dover Calais is the frequency of ferries-I have suffered hold-ups at Uk immigration in France but last week just went thro'-choice of several with no queues.

[johnv]

We have now pretty much settled on Dover - Calais (house is just South of the Loire) .. On cost grounds mainly  as well as the killer (6+ hour)  crossing from le Havre to Portsmouth is just not worth the extra 2 hours drive up to calais

[PeterCD]

Its all a matter of location (UK and France), cost, time available, etc, etc.

Our preferred route used to be Portsmouth/StMalo (house is in the Charente Maritime) but this has changed in the last two years.  Cost was a major influence and we now only use LD.........OK it's another 90 or so miles but the roads are excellent (nearly all motoway).

[cooperlola]

Tunnel every time - I get seasick! 

Quick, clean, efficient (barring occasional problems - but not many) and straight off the other end onto the motorway without any more formalities.

[PaulT]

Travelled back on the tunnel (or should that be in) on Saturday. Arrived early and they booked us onto the 20:50 instead of the 22:20. When they showed on the displays that our group could proceed we did (this was prior to any tannoy announcements). Went through passport control, were then directed to a lane at the end of which the barrier was open so we proceeded down on to the platform and directed on to a shuttle, being one of the last on. The shuttle was the 20:20 - they were obviously filling it up.

I understand this is a normal thing when there is still space on a shuttle.

[Pierre ZFP]

[quote user="cooperlola"]

Tunnel every time - I get seasick! 

[/quote]

Me too!  The only exception is when I have to book at last minute when I use Norfolk Lines out of Dunkerque who are far cheaper

[Will]

We generally use Portsmouth-Caen, occasionally St Malo or Cherbourg. Though today I am travelling Newhaven-Le Havre. It al depends on what criteria you are looking for as 'best'.

 

[Alane]

For us it's mostly the Tunnel as my wife gets seasick on smaller ferries and it's quicker than any other route for us - the extra drive time more than makes up for the extra crossing time on the Western Channel routes to our house in Normandy. In the winter we tend to do overnight Brittany Ferries Portsmouth Caen but really our ideal was the now defunct P&O ferry Portsmouth-Le Havre on a Friday night in the 90s when it was usually full, the bar had a pianist and the restaurant a jazz band and we could then have a good sleep before disembarking at 7am. I guess the truth is that the routes weren't really viable at a fare that could give P&O a profit and after several seemingly misguided makeovers the route closed a couple of years ago. I've never managed to book a cabin on the LD ferry and so haven't used them but gather it isn't the same as the old P&O ships.

[Ford Anglia]

It's quite noticeable that, as yet, no-one has preferred to crossing from Hull to Zeebrugge.

Arm and a leg, anyone?

[Llwyncelyn]

Naturally we all are travelling from differing parts of the UK but when I go back to the UK and have to put up with the M275 from Portsmouth then the M3 and again the A34 and whether its to the Court in Oxford or Bristol I just love getting back on the ferry to St Malo.  Last week it took me three hours from Portsmouth to the Oxford Crown Court and thats at 7.00 in the morning.

At least you have a good nights sleep on the return journey and in my opinion a very good meal in the restaurant with the buffet to start and then arrive in St Malo at a sensible time and its just one hour from where we live.

However not to everyone's taste.

Still moving hopefully to the Vendee in December and that might be more of a challenge.  However in the spring and summer the flights take us to Southampton or Bristol or Birmingham and that has certain advantages.  However again perhaps a problem for others.

Love to retire and perhaps the man with the big mouth and of small stature might try to force us all back to the UK.    Just a throw away remark and of no value but in London at the moment there are 300000 individuals of French origin.  We obviously need them.

 

take care everyone.

[powerdesal]

Llwyncelyn,

We always go via speedferry and use the A40 to Oxford (Abingdon) after the M25.  The A34 is awful mostly. The 4hrs to boulogne (same for you) is a bit boring but generally we dont get that much traffic on either side. Of course 0700 is not feasible on that route.

[Frederick]

Llewyncelyn ......you may find next year that Ryan Air will as this year fly from  Nantes to and from Bournemouth...... I have family that used the service this year and 45 minutes  from Nantes after a quick run up the motorway from the South Vendee has given us an alternative to La Rochelle / Bristol and  Southampton  . Bournemouth is getting a new terminal building soon so I am hoping for even more services from there .

[nectarine]

We usually do the Newhaven-Dieppe route, since it is the most direct for us (from Surrey to the Lot et Garonne) and the drive down to Newhaven is quite pleasant.  When you get to Dieppe you are quickly on the road to Rouen and the road is usually clear on a Sunday.  If we took the Calais-Dover route it would be another 100 odd miles on the French end and another 20 or so from Dover, just not worth it.

Fare-wise, the prices are usually comparable.  We usually book one-way and so you don't get a P&0 discount if you used the Dover-Calais route, so the fare there would be around £55 or so.  Newhaven-Dieppe is £58 so well worth it for us.

I have found, however, that on off-peak sailings you can negotiate a fare.  I have often got another fiver off by asking the bookings operator if she could reduce the price by applying any secret discounts that she knows .... and surprisingly many of them say "OK, I'll say that you're with xxx company or using xxx magazine's voucher" and then the price goes down.  Always worth a try.

 

[johnnyboy]

We are renovating a house/barn in Haute Vienne and live in Sussex at the moment.Our preferred route is S'ferries(especially since move to Western Dock),time is good for us too(0700).

Newhaven - Dieppe would be an option too,but is more expensive and does not save much time on UK side.

Route from either would be via Rouen, Chartres,Orleans and on to A20.Often making a stop for lunch at about halfway point (Chartres/Orleans) area.

Only gripe with S'ferries is that Croissants not usually available on first sailing [:@]!!

Have taken to providing our own,just to get in mood when getting away from it all.

Johnnyboy.