Hello all, I'd appreciate your views on this journey please especially how to manage the stopover on route to Sarlat.
Sailing Rosslare to St Nazaire France arriving at approx 7pm. 3 kids travelling too the youngest is 8. We will be staying in a mobile home so no equipment with us.
The onward journey is long at 5 and a half hours excluding breaks. We will have been on the ferry all day and I cant predict whether we will want to check in somewhere near St Nazaire and have food and sleep off a long sailing! LD lines were a great price but the sailing times are brutal
Should we keep going get two or three hours driven but then it would be very late to check in anywhere and get food. It would be 2 hotel rooms too by the look of it, unless I hide the 3rd child!!! Not having much luck getting a room for 5 people! Don't want to spend too much on one night dinner and breakfast for 5 either.
What should we do??? I'm also a bit afraid that some of us may have been sea sick if it was rough. Any ideas greatly appreciated, thanks
Any ideas appreciated please
------------- Give your children roots and wings
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I would stay no more than half an hour/an hour from St Nazaire. I would take a 'proper' picnic - and some paper plates, plastic knives and forks, and check in early(ish) to a hotel. Eat in the hotel - the best don't mind you using the communal areas or outside tables, the worst can't stop you eating in your own room! Have a stroll around outside, and then go to bed. Early start in the morning, and you'll be up and off after breakfast. It's what we always used to do when staying in Eurocamp or Canvas Holidays accommodation.
Either than or eat at the Flunch on the D213 just outside St Nazaire, where you can generally get 'family' food at reasonable prices (and help yourselves to as much veg as you can eat) and don't go as far on the first night - find a hotel in St Nazaire. The Brit Hotel in Saint Nazaire centre has a 'Superior Suite' for five, for £82.00 (from booking.com)
Have a look at booking.com for somewhere which will sleep five. I had a quick look and the Ibis at Nantes sleeps 5, for £56 per night and is 56 minutes from St Nazaire. Obviously you'd have to look for your specific dates, and busy weekends may be more difficult, but on the date I looked there are plenty of other options, including a farm in Le Temple de Bretagne, (between St Nazaire and Nantes) with a pool.
Thinking about it, I would have thought that the onward journey would take longer than 5 and a half hours - although it's not a journey we've done - it doesn't seem long enough to me. Are you sure you've got the timing correct.
More like seven and a half hours on day 2, but I agree with ValA. After that long ferry journey with three children I'd fall into a hotel pretty soon after the ship docks. Good luck.
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Google maps say 5.5 hours but via michelin says 6 hours 52 seems a bit odd to be so different.
You can usually get an Ibis for a pretty good price, but you will need two rooms. I wouldnt travel very far at all on arrival, just pre book a hotel, get your head down, have picnic food on standby
Yes, I'd agree with the others. Get your head down. We're off to a similar area at whit and will be crossing after work on the Friday, getting our head down in an Ibis (it is two rooms for 5 though, I'm afraid) and then straight down to the site on the Saturday first thing after breakfast.
------------- Amanda
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Check this out. Airbnb.com. Great rooms in London and wherever.Just rooms in peoples' homes. A bit like B&B.
£59 st brevin les pins near St Nazaire
Good Luck
Quote: Originally posted by AMBD on 23/4/2014
https://www.airbnb.co.uk/s/Saint~Nazaire--France?checkin=14-06-2014&checkout=15-06-2014&guests=5&source=bb
Check this out. Airbnb.com. Great rooms in London and wherever.Just rooms in peoples' homes. A bit like B&B.
£59 st brevin les pins near St Nazaire
Good Luck
Thank you, Can I ask you does airbnb include a breakfast for that price do you know? Is breakfast part of the package?
For what it's worth, RAC route planner also says 5.5 hours !
We have found the RAC site to be spot on for us and it always quotes less time than Viamichelin for the journeys we have done. OH does tend to drive at max allowable speed on autoroutes though and we don't tow anything.
Worth checking too the earliest check in time for your mobile home... not much point making your first day long and then getting to the mobile home on day 2 and its not ready for you !
Re airbnb. I haven't used it but read about it in the Observer or somesuch. Since then my colleague has booked a great room in central London and her mate a room in Paris. I reckon breakfast may sometimes be provided, sometimes you have a whole place to yourself so could self cater!!! Others maybe not. I would contact the individual places to enquire. Anyway, it's also a great way to earn a few bob if you have a spare room!?! best wishes
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We used to stay in a Formula 1 or an Etap with our 3 children (who are now grown up with their own) it was very cheap compared to our hotels - with cancellation opportunities at every point. They have secure parking too but we did need 2 rooms and they were very popular. I have just found their website - they have changed to F1 and Etap have become Ibis Budget. Haven't used them for a few years but they were always very clean although basic - Etaps had their own loo. They had a double bed with a bunk bed over the top. I'm sure they're a bit different now but you could arrive late at night and I see they are now about £20 to £40 depending on location. They issued a pin number when you booked so you could get into the hotel late at night - last time we used them was the one in Calais when we arrived on the last ferry before midnight. They were always the first to get booked up because they were so cheap! Good luck with your trip!
Problem solved, We have booked an Ibis budget hotel near Nantes which is only about an hours drive from St Nazaire.
The family room sleeps 5 with a double bed and three beds overhead.
The reviews on trip advisor are fine and the price is right at €68
Quote: Originally posted by juneg on 24/4/2014
Problem solved, We have booked an Ibis budget hotel near Nantes which is only about an hours drive from St Nazaire. The family room sleeps 5 with a double bed and three beds overhead.
The reviews on trip advisor are fine and the price is right at €68
Thanks for all the advice everyone
That's probably the one I looked at in my first post! I hope you have a great holiday and the children enjoy their overnight stay!
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Topic: stopover dilemma, how to manage it
