Hi we are seriously thinking of camping in S.W. France this year, but I'm put off a bit by driving from Calais (I'm the only driver). I notice that a couple of sailings go from SW England to either Bilbao or Santander, which reduces the drive to under a couple of hours. The catch, is that the ferries generally take over a day to get there and cost in the region of £800 for a return during the high season. However, with the campsite costing about £300 and a couple of tanks of diesel, it compares very favourably with the £2500 that it would have cost us to go to Greece this year on the normal package holiday. I just wondered if anyone else had considered the Spain route to France, or is it considered to be way too expensive?
------------- Mmmmmmmmm......beer
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We've driven down to the South West Coast of France from Calais (our first trip in our caravan abroad!!). We never considered the ferry just because I do get a little seasick It took us about 3 days but that was short days stopping about 3 in the afternoon and we stopped in a few places of interest on the way down.
We have two children and they don't mind the journey either, perhaps it's because we invested in DVD players to keep them occupied. We stop every hour or so for a toilet/ drink/ stretch your legs/ ice cream break and everyone seems to enjoy it.
Driving is possible but so is the ferry (or perhaps even just do the ferry the one way). Other people will be able to provide you with the Maths on the costs of fuel, tolls, stops overs versus the cost of the ferry and I can't quite remember how it works out. It's down to personal choice really, I don't think I would get the ferry if it were any cheaper just because I don't like sea travel and it depends how you view starting your holiday, ours is as soon as we get off he train/ ferry in France, we enjoy the journey down as well as our holiday.
We are doing the Plymouth to Santander route in August.We are going to tour Northern Spain, go across to the Med, and then back through France and home from Roscoff.We usually drive down,and have done Roscoff to La Rochelle in one hop, and then on to St Jean de Luz the next day.This year we fancied a change.
We leave Plymouth at 4.30pm, and get to Santander at 12,30 lunch time the next day.You have to have a cabin,but we have gone for the cheapest as its only the two of us, and its only to sleep in.We also paid for a bike rack.
OH,s bro has a house in France, and gave us a discount voucher, so our bill came to £473.80 return.Plus an eveing meal, and breakfast.
Where in SW France are you going? From Bilbao or(even further)Santander, you still have a fair drive possibly more than 150miles.
The drive from Calais isnt that bad if you take the right route avoiding Paris, fast road & not that much toll, there are plenty of campsites for overnight stops on the way down, so with a bit of forward planning you would be on your campsite halfway thru day 3, the same as taking the ferry to Spain.
Buy a couple of Quechua popup tents for your overnight stops & with ferries from Dover less than £70 return you will save a whole heap of money.
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have you thought about western channel ports. ld from either newhaven or portsmouth are reasonable and depending on where you're ending up in france, you could comfortably do it in a couple of days n staying overnight is a fun way of seeing other areas. whatever way you decide to go, have fun. we're going to spain saturday 18th on the pride of bilbao, it's a great boat and a nice trip. weather permitting that is. Jan
Thanks for all the replies. We're probably going to go around Biscarosse, somewhere in that region anyway. Karim - my OH can't be bothered camping overnight along the route, she fancies a B&B. I've never driven abroad in a RHD car before, so I'm a bit wary of doing a huge journey anyway. It's about 180 miles from Bilbao to Biscarosse. Then again, I guess in terms of getting used to the driving 180 miles isn't a lot different to 600! Jan - We did think of landing at St.Malo or Roscoff but didn't think it saved us much given the distance we'd still have to go.
We still haven't decided what to do yet; although my OH reckons a holiday consisting of 2x2 nights on a ferry, 12 nights in Biscarosse and a night in Bilbao is exciting enough
if you do take the ferry, it has to be Brittany Ferries for me. P&O's Pride of Bilbao is getting a bit long in the tooth, and they have been "cost cutting" for a while, so don't know what to expect in the present climate. At least with Brittany, you are "in France " from the off, and at 18 hrs, it is much quicker than P & O 's 30 + -------------- (water ski ing off the back is an optional extra )
When you say 'SW France' do you mean the Atlantic coast, north of Biarritz? In which case, it would be a much more comfortable, pleasant and shorter journey than driving down from the north.
Quote: Originally posted by JEM48 on 09/4/2009
Hi we are seriously thinking of camping in S.W. France this year, but I'm put off a bit by driving from Calais (I'm the only driver). I notice that a couple of sailings go from SW England to either Bilbao or Santander, which reduces the drive to under a couple of hours. The catch, is that the ferries generally take over a day to get there and cost in the region of £800 for a return during the high season. However, with the campsite costing about £300 and a couple of tanks of diesel, it compares very favourably with the £2500 that it would have cost us to go to Greece this year on the normal package holiday. I just wondered if anyone else had considered the Spain route to France, or is it considered to be way too expensive?
We are travelling down from Calais to spend more time down south france or north spain. Ferry is back from Bilbao to Portsmouth (only one night as opposed to 2 nights on the south crossing) Both ferrys in July, car, roofbox, 2 adults & 2 kids with outside cabin. Didn't think this was too bad considering cost of driving south and time it takes etc.
Fiona
------------- July - Avignon
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we drove from Calais last September to Barcelona and on through Spain and Portugal then back up through France. We took an early morning crossing and arrived in Calais around about 3 am, we drove on to get around Paris before the rush hour and continued on to Clemont Ferrand and set up there for the night, we then got up the next morning and drove from Clermont Ferrand to Barcelona. Have you considered St Malo?
------------- GO outdoors, breath outdoors, Love the outdoors. Be friendly to our planet!
Thanks all for the replies. As I am the only driver, I just didn't fancy the hike down from N. France to S.France. Especially since we're coming down from Lancashire the day before.
We've booked on the Brittany service to Santander. But would you believe it, we're having a dog of a job trying to book a campsite for the last two weeks in July. Sheesh!
Last year we did Yorkshire to St Malo and then drove to the Perigaux - guess what this year we are sailing to Bilbao and as we are in Spain then we will stay in Spain but Biarritz is only a couple of hours drive.
Still awaiting advice on camp sites though for Spain
We did the Bilbao (sp?) a few years ago when you could use Tesco vouchers. I would have really enjoyed it if I hadn't been so sick!
You can make it into a mini cruise which many of the passengers seemed to be doing. The 'entertainment' was funny, but not sure if it was supposed to be. They did dolphin watching with one of the crew, had a couple of cinemas and a choice of bars and resturants - the bar prices were the same as here and the resturants weren't cheap.
But even with the sea sickness I would do it again,
Sailing from Portsmouth to Bilbao then driving past the wonderful town of
San Sebastian in Spain to get to Bairritz / France etc imho is ,two steps forward and one step back!
Spain is likey to be slightly warmer,
Spain is a lot cheaper,Spanish shops/bars/restaurants will be open 7 days and 7 nights,unlike most of France .
San Sebastian is said to be the gastronomic capital of Spain AND IS NOT TO BE MISSED
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Travel to S.France via Bilbao
It took us about 3 days but that was short days stopping about 3 in the afternoon and we stopped in a few places of interest on the way down. 
