Driving to south of France

[Andy G Bmth]

Evening all

looking at renting a villa in 2 weeks time in the south of France and driving down. just started looking into cost of ferries and eurostar and playing about with returning to a different port to get the best deal but still currently coming in about £280-250 for the ferry and £500+ for the eurostar.

for all of you that did a trip to Le Mans recently or a trip to france any tips on how to get the best deal?

thanks

Andy

[elster]

Anywhere in particular?

[Andy G Bmth]

Lusignac is looking quite nice as its quite rural so will be nice or possibly south of Toulouse just trying to sort the travel before booking

[Andy G Bmth]

mods - just seen travel section, could you move the post please?

[Mattt]

Are you talking Dover-Calais or elsewhere?

Eurotunnel will be about £100.

[littleandy0410]

A group of 20 of us just had a holiday 2 weeks ago in Millau, and got the ferry with Norfolk Lines. It was on the Dover - Dunkerque route, (about as far north as you can get without hitting Belgium!) but was about £60-70 per car return.

LD Lines are supposedly cheap too, but not used them, so can't comment on them.

[HereBeMonsters]

You're going in two weeks and only just started looking at ferry prices?

I guess that's why you have high prices then...you should be able to get a better deal, but you may be too late, and going at peak season too.

[Stu_00]

For Ferry try LD Lines & Norfolkline.

LD Lines should be better for South of France.

[Wanstead]

We are off to the South of France in two weeks as well. Paid £150 for the Eurotunnel, but that was booked back in January.
Be carefull planning your route, there is some kind of cycling event on from 4th to 26th July.

Edited by Wanstead on Wednesday 1st July 07:44

[elster]

Well I cam down here last time Portsmouth to Bilbao and it was fantastic, due to the fact lots of whales and dolphins.

Usually if driving I will head down from Zeebrugge or Calais and down to Orly/Orleans/Limoges/Montauben then to somewhere down past Auch.

My parents have Chambre d'hotes. However they know a few people with gites if that would be for you?

If not can ask at breakfast about any places to have. It is nice down here at the moment.

[CarlT]

We have just got back from the Dordogne, got the Tunnel across - about £200 return and then drove down from Calais. Stopped overnight at Rouen on the way down, but did the run back in one hit

We looked at the various ferry options, but with a 1 year old baby, we decided the Tunnel for the most convenient / flexible option.

[FPC]

Try Norfolkline - test dates of out 18 July, back 25 July show a price of about £100 at reasonable times. I sued them a few months back and was impressed with the service - the restaurant next to the first class lounge is very pleasant to spend the journey in.

[BoxheadTim]

At short notice the ferry and especially the tunnel is going to be expensive. If it's less than 14 days from now you also can't use Tesco clubcard vouchers to pay for the tunnel. Realistically you'll need at least three weeks because you'll have to factor in the time it takes them to send out the vouchers and you to send them on to Eurotunnel.

You might want to check LDLines if they're running their Boulogne service now (the old Speedferries one) as their prices looked quite attractive.

[Andy G Bmth]

FPC said:

Try Norfolkline - test dates of out 18 July, back 25 July show a price of about £100 at reasonable times. I sued them a few months back and was impressed with the service - the restaurant next to the first class lounge is very pleasant to spend the journey in.

you sued them!!!!

LD lines have been a good suggestion, come back at £150 return which is much better than £350+ so thanks for all your help.

yes its a bit short notice but i can be quite impulsive and only just decided to do it, just gonna have fun trying to pack an elise now!

[Stu_00]

Excellent, always good to give the Elise a European road trip !

Enjoy !

[FPC]

Andy G Bmth said:

FPC said:

Try Norfolkline - test dates of out 18 July, back 25 July show a price of about £100 at reasonable times. I sued them a few months back and was impressed with the service - the restaurant next to the first class lounge is very pleasant to spend the journey in.

you sued them!!!!

D'oh

[BigWithey]

BoxheadTim said:

You might want to check LDLines if they're running their Boulogne service now (the old Speedferries one) as their prices looked quite attractive.

We used LD for Le Mans, it's not the old Speedferries Seacat but a brand new bigger version. Can't beat the service or the price, the only down side is they're using the main Eastern dock so that can get very very busy and the on-board "duty-free" didn't have any booze they were still waiting for their permit? other than that no issues.

[Andy G Bmth]

With regard to tolls, any idea how much i should be expecting?

[FPC]

Andy G Bmth said:

With regard to tolls, any idea how much i should be expecting?

Use www.viamichelin.co.uk to find out exactly.

[Stu_00]

www.mappy.fr

Is also good