Ferry To Cherbourg and Drive to Perpignan?

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flusteredma

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Hi all,
wondering if anyone could help me with the above. Was going to fly to france for our three week camping holiday but flights and car hire work out about 1800. Just found tesco vouchers worth 400 euro with Irish ferries whicth means we can get to cherbourg for 800 euro return.

It works out about 1000 euro cheaper AND we will have our own car etc.
We will loose two nights at the camping place inbound/outbound as the journey is 11 hours by car so we plan to do one overnight to break up the drive each way.

Has anyone done anything like this kinda drive in france before and is it a potential nightmare or adventure? Travelling with 15 and 9 year olds.
replies really appreciated as we need to book soon. thanks.
 
Ok, I've done similar journeys many times and there are a couple of things I'd point out.

First of all, such a journey is very doable without losing your hair, particularly with an overnight stop. However, to make that timescale you are talking about motorway driving probably all the way but if you don't mind that then you'll be fine. The French autoroutes are excellent and the only downside is the tolls which can add up.

Only other thing I'd caution about is be careful with your dates. The French all head on holidays en masse around the 14th July (Bastille Day) and the motorway tailbacks are scary around that time.

Oh, and the French police are very strict on speeding, some would say particularly so with foreigners, so don't be tempted.

Go for it.
 
I'd certainly advise a stop halfway down. You can look up the Premier Classe accommodations which are all throughout France and are very reasonable (small rooms, very few facilities but you really only need a bed/bathroom for the night). Make sure you have all the stuff you need in the car in France (headlamp deflectors, visi jackets, spare bulbs, red breakdown triangle, self-breathalyser kit) all of which can be bought on the ferry. Follow the speed limits, and stay in the inside lane all the time unless you're overtaking - in Ireland, most drivers seem to think the outside lane is just a second lane to stay in for the length of the journey! Stop in Cherbourg and load up (Aldi/Lidl/Leclerc) for the journey with bread/cheese/ham/fruit/water etc. then you just need to purchase coffees at the roadside stops, of which there are many on the motorways. We travel twice a year from Cherbourg/Roscoff down to just north of Biarritz (about 8.5 hours) and it's a very doable run with the great (but expensive) motorways.
 
Thanks for the advice!

Hi ...
Thank you so much for the great advice. We are lucky that we will be there and back before bastille day so hopefully no big traffic problems. Motorway is no problem. We hire a car every year once on the continent and are used to most european motorways.

So it seems not such a bad idea plus we can bring our racing bikes and anything else we need. I am just so used to hopping on a flight and arriving within hours that I wondered whether the inconvenience of travelling for so long might not be worth it...sounds like it might not be so bad after all....thank you.
 
Hi,
this trip is very doable, have done it a few times and doing it this June again. Toals are about €60 each way. Stopover prob essential. We stopping nears Tours on the way down. Etap hotels are basic but convenient and good value.
It might be worth your while pricing your trip with Celtic link ferries. They seem to be offering great value this year. We have booked for around €600 return trip with 2 cabins each way. It might still be cheaper than using the tesco vouchers with irish ferries. I think they often put up the fares when you search following the tesco link.
 
Most kids enjoy the boat - especially if they haven't been on it before. There is an extra charge for cabins - make sure you have included that in your sums.
The Tesco vouchers are great - we used them to pay in full for our trip to France last year, and our trip to Wales this year.
 
flusteredma said:
Just found tesco vouchers worth 400 euro with Irish ferries whicth means we can get to cherbourg for 800 euro return.
Click to expand...
Are you sure the Tesco vouchers work out like that. When I looked at such previously there seemed to be different (higher) pricing when using the vouchers which negated a lot of the saving. Also 11 hours seems a little optimistic to me. I'd definitely do an overnight on each leg.
 
Also don't forget the petrol costs

ViaMichelin is the best site for accurate toll costs and petrol costs

they estimate that for a Family car with Petrol at €1.50/l (not sure if this is accurate for France, might be a bit higher at the minute) that you're looking at a cost of €215 each way (€64 in Motorway tolls and the rest in Petrol as you'll use quite a bit driving 1100km!)

Factor in an overnight at say €80 each way and then you're looking at probably €600 in cost there and instead of a 2 hour flight it's 20 hours on the Ferry and 12 hours driving

If you'll enjoy the road trip go for it .. but I don't think it's a clear €1000 saving really
 
Also factor in the boot full of lovely French wines on the return journey, at an average price of €3 - €4 per bottle (each adult is allowed to bring home 120 bottles, or 90 litres, of wine, in addition to spirits, beer, etc. etc.).
 
There are no limits so long as it is for personal consumption. Those figures are merely guidelines.
 
You might have to leave out the children to make room for the wine. It's for you to decide if that is a good deal.

Be careful about overloading: 90 litres of wine in bottles comes to over 200kg.
 
Hi, have you tried your flights again? I just booked four tickest into Bordeaux in June for less than €900 incl bags. Admittedly we're only going for one week so not sure if there's a big jump in fares to return in late June. Got car hire for €260 through Hertz.

Having said that, If I had three weeks to play with I'd prefer to drive
 
The thing to remember is that the journey should be part of the holiday, not somethig you have to go through before you start your holiday.
 
Have driven similar distances loads of times- going to Bern. Its a long drive anywhere south of Bordeaux. If you are doing it, I suggest a stop somewhere like La Rochelle for a night .
I dont like the long crossing from Cork/Rosslare. I prefer to go via the UK.
 
We have driven down through France and on to our holiday homein Spain many times. The autoroutes are great even if you have to pay tolls. The petrol is always much more expensive in France and I'd say it's probably €2 a litre at least at the moment especially in the gasoline stations along the autoroute. Supermarket prices are always considerably less but unfortunately not worth the hassle of a detour off the autoroute. We have broken the journey around Nantes when going down by Bordeaux and Stayed over near Brive La Gaillard when going down by Carcasonne which is near Perpignan. It depends what time the ferry arrives in Cherbourg and how long you are comfortable to drive. When we cross into Spain we normally do the whole journey down to Alicante in one day - about 8 hrs driving. As some of the others have said I also noticed that Irish Ferries seem to charge a higher fare when you key in the Tesco Voucher code. I got a lower price by not using the vouchers. It is nice to experience the drive down rather than flying if you're not in a rush to get there. We drive because we have a dog to bring but we usually stay for a few months so it's worth the journey. If you can manage to stop off at Carcasonne it's well worth the effort and not far off the motorway. Enjoy France and all that fab food and wine!
 
Hi,

As per other posters the journey is certainly doable particularly if you stop over as you have 3 weeks. We did this journey a few times when I was between the ages of your children. Although it's a long time in the car once you have something to read/watch they should be OK. If your car has aircon it will be a lot more comfortable.

The holiday begins on the boat! It's great for kids. Going out on deck at night (with adults) is great fun. There are a few restaurants on the ferry, but I would recommend going for the formal one....it's not that formal but the food is good and it's comfortable. We ate in this restaurant on our last wine run.

A common mistake that lots of people make IMO is that they kill themselves (not literally!) trying to get to their destination as quick as possible. I'm not familiar with the route suggested by the AA (via Tours, Limoges) so I would suggest asking someone for recommendations...we used to go via Brittany Ferries and we stopped in Santes which is lovely.

The motorways get quite monotonous but are the way to go. I would highly recommend printing off the AA route planner a few days before you go and have your co-pilot get familiar with this.

The area around Perpignan is great for kids with lots of beaches. Beziers is a nice town to visit. Another thing that we did was to drive to Andorra for the tax-free stuff. The port town of Adge is also lovely worth a visit.

There are usually weekly markets in the villages so check this out before you go as it's a nice hour to spend.

Another thing you could consider is a day-trip to the more posh Cannes/Monaco...there's a motorway to these too. St. Tropez is lovely and the shopping in Cannes is great.

On the wine front you'll be spoilt for choice! Something nice to try that you won't get easily here is Cotes du Layon from Loire. It's a lovely dessert wine but not at all sickly sweet. When bringing back wine, if the budget allows, I would recommend spending 5 euro per bottle for anything from Bordeaux and Burgundy...from experience anything less than this is only OK but once you spend a fiver the wine improves a lot (these are supermarket prices). I usually some wine in bladers/cardboard boxes too which are handy if you just want a glass of something ordinary during the week with dinner without having to open a full bottle (we call these Chateaux Cardboard!) These come in 3 litre boxes (4 bottles) for about a tenner....very handy to pack into the boot too.

Another drink I would recommend you try is Pineau (an aperitif)...it's usually about 8-10 euro and is absolutely gorgeous before a meal. Myself and my mother used to have a glass of this most nights last year when cooking the dinner (which in France is one of the most enjoyable things about the holiday).

Bon Vacances!
 
you're massively over-estimating the savings

  • you don't get any online-booking discounts with Irish Ferries if you use tesco tokens
  • It'll cost you at least €400 in petrol and tolls (+ overpriced food en-route)
  • its a lot of driving

if you do decide to do it, make sure to book your ferry crossings as 2 one-way trips and only use the tokens for one leg of the journey, that way you'll get the discounted rate for the other leg.
 
Luternau said:
Have driven similar distances loads of times- going to Bern. Its a long drive anywhere south of Bordeaux. If you are doing it, I suggest a stop somewhere like La Rochelle for a night .
I dont like the long crossing from Cork/Rosslare. I prefer to go via the UK.
Click to expand...

Went via the UK about 3 years ago Rosslare/Fishguard, & Dover/Calais, then back to the west coast, all towing a caravan. Worked out ok but a serious jaunt, getting Celtic Link Rosslare/Cherbourg this year, cheaper all round as great ferry prices in August.

Maybe UK works better if going striaght to south of France, if going to the west its like doing 2 sides of a triangle ....(instead of just one, IYKWIM).
 
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