how to get a cheap ferry to spain?

[cragswinter]

i'm lucky swmbo has agreed to let us do my lifes ambition of touring italy/south of france in my car for our honeymoon next year

as a little dry run this year i was hoping to jump on a ferry to santander & have a little tour around there for a week or so, nothing too flash-bit of camping, a few b&b's & a couple of hotels.

might even have driven up the west coast of france to make it home via the channel.

but blimey those ferries are expensive!

i'm guessing on starting some time around the beginning of august so obviously in the school hols, maybe staying over 10-11 days max?

any ideas chaps? i was hoping i'd find something reasonable booking this early but nothing doing unfortunatly.

i'd even try doing something on the other side if it was cheaper-say getting the newcastle to holland ferry & seeing germany/austria but there just doesn't seem to be any deals around

[PGM]

There's no getting around it, it's just expensive. Very good though, we did it a few years back in the 996 with the kids, touring the Spanish Pyrennees for a week camping and then onto the South of France for a week, fantastic.

Stuck in a small cabin for a couple of days too - an ideal start to a honeymoon

[cragswinter]

Hmm I thought this may be the case, what's the ferry like going over there?

[rsv gone!]

The ferries are very good.

You should definitely do this as the roads within an hour of Santander are brilliant. Much better than the Alps IMO. Who wants to accelerate then brake for yet another hairpin? I want roads that flow.

Scenery is wonderful and the Spanish towns are thankfully short on 'English Breakfast' cafes. Very much unspoilt. The flipside is you will need to know (at least) a little Spanish.

[cragswinter]

Cool, I used to live in Spain so although my hoblos espaniol is a wee bit rusty I'll hopefully get back into the swing of things!

Just wish there was a cheaper way of booking the ferry

[sawman]

cragswinter said:

Hmm I thought this may be the case, what's the ferry like going over there?

The bay of biscay can be pretty choppy. We took the old bilbao route a couple of years ago. The P&O ship was a bit tired (I understand the brittany ferries option is a better boat). My best tip would be to book a room as low down in the ship as you can - the movement gets worse the higher up you go. It was pretty rough for us going out, my wife and little lad suffered a bit and we considered driving back through france and taking the shuttle, but checked the shipping forecast before the return trip and the Bay of Biscay turned out to be like a mill pond

We booked the ferry through eurocamp or something and had a few days in a caravan on the coast - seemed to get a preferential rate doing this compared to booking ferry directly.

[rsv gone!]

I've done both crossings and I reckon the older P&O ship moved around less.

[pointedstarman]

If you've got Tesco vouchers you can change them to avios (air miles as was) to subsidise cost.

[PGM]

When we did the crossing (P&O) I remember having got a bit drunk in the cabin during the night (cabin was roughly at sea level). The following morning I woke up with a small hangover and went up to breakfast at the top of the ship. It was moving about a fair bit up there despite relatively calm sea and I felt dreadful. Had to return to the cabin straight away to continue with the drinking

[cragswinter]

How long is the crossing?

[PGM]

I seem to remember turning up on an evening around 9pm, being on it all night, all the following day and night and then got off it at around 8am the next morning. Quite lengthy! That's why I suggested that it was a good start to the honeymoon!

[DP1]

The other thing to consider is although the ferry looks expensive if you look at the savings in fuel and peage fees it's not as bad as you first think

[Puggit]

DP1 said:

The other thing to consider is although the ferry looks expensive if you look at the savings in fuel and peage fees it's not as bad as you first think

Plus 2 nights of hotel

[cragswinter]

Puggit said:

Plus 2 nights of hotel

Yeah I think you psychologically always forget that-it's just after doing the hull Rotterdam ferry for ring trips all these years I fail to see ships as hotels, more like lower class 18-30's holidays with some grumpy truckers thrown in!

[Bluebarge]

If you wanted to break up the journey a bit, LD Lines do 3 sailings a week from St.Nazaire to Gijon, which, mid-week in August for 2 + car and 2-berth outside cabin is about £400 return. The ship leaves about 9pm and gets in at noon.

You will need to get to St.Nazaire, which will either involve a dash from Calais, a ferry to Dieppe for a slightly shorter journey, or a fast ferry to Caen, and will probably involve an overnight stay in Normandy or Brittany, but you could make it part of the holiday so that you spend a couple of days touring Normandy etc and then the rest in Spain or travelling on the boat.

Just a thought.

[cragswinter]

Bluebarge said:

If you wanted to break up the journey a bit, LD Lines do 3 sailings a week from St.Nazaire to Gijon, which, mid-week in August for 2 + car and 2-berth outside cabin is about £400 return. The ship leaves about 9pm and gets in at noon.

You will need to get to St.Nazaire, which will either involve a dash from Calais, a ferry to Dieppe for a slightly shorter journey, or a fast ferry to Caen, and will probably involve an overnight stay in Normandy or Brittany, but you could make it part of the holiday so that you spend a couple of days touring Normandy etc and then the rest in Spain or travelling on the boat.

Just a thought.

not a bad idea but i think i'd just drive the whole way once i got that far

Eta
Plus I'm doing the lemans classic this year so I'd rather not add too much to their economy

Edited by cragswinter on Wednesday 29th February 18:58