hi was looking at ferry prices from Dover to calais for my nissan primastar van with a canoe on top and adria altea 502dk caravan plus 2 adults ,for aug and 900 quid seems to be the going rate ,is me or have ferry prices rocketed . 3 years ago I payed 400 quid from Harwich to the hook of holland a 7 hour crossing same set up . Am I doing something wrong?
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In our experience, prices have rocketed since Covid. Before Covid, we used to go to France with the caravan every summer and get a reasonably cheap crossing from Portsmouth. After Covid, the same crossing had tripled in price. We thought it might be a short term price hike but here we are 5 years later and the prices are still crazy.
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Strangely I checked Hull to Rotterdam yesterday and it was £410 return , out 31st May back 12 June. Two people and 6m motorhome. That was with 20% black Friday discount. That's the cheapest it has been since we've been using it regularly for 10 years or so. That offer expires on 2nd December.
Newhaven to Dieppe is affordable. Especially if you are over 60 and phone then for the 20% discount. And if you want really cheap go in the middle of the night.
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It is a ridiculous price, but I am sure you have calculated correctly.
We paid 500 May / June last year on the tunnel.
The cheapest Dover Calais route is Irish ferries, pretty basic though! P&O and DFDS are pretty similar prices these days.
If you don't need the time on the ferry for a break in driving etc, then personally at a comparable price I would opt for the tunnel for ease.
Another consideration is whether you will still have to do the finger scanning malarkey for the first time. I think that may well be much less hassle at the Tunnel than Dover in August!
We are looking at prices for this summer, it's pretty depressing to be honest.
We aren't poor by any stretch but I'm resenting paying so much money just to get across 20 odd miles of sea.
Might book Newhaven to Dieppe as their prices seem very reasonable compared to the other routes, also worth considering that Dover and Folkestone are probably going to be mayhem in the summer months due to the new fingerprint and facial scanning.
You will still get Harwich Hook for about £400 return day crossing. As pointed out for channel crossing Newhaven Dieppe return is best & if you are ok with the Saturday midnight crossings out & back & sleeping in a chair then that is cheapest way.
If you are over 60 the book by phone for 20% off & if you are quick you will get the caravans go free on the Saturday midnight crossings. Probably the August free places now gone but I guess it could still be you cheapest option. We have paid £146 return for car caravan return out June back end of Aug but booked that last Sept.
I see your cost issue now. You have a van. It costs more. If you can delay your trip until September then if you go out & back on the Saturday night overnight crossings from Newhaven Dieppe you can get £215 return. If you stick with August then you can get a return on that route for around £500.
Part of the problem is that you're going in August when demand is at its highest and supply is maxed out. Granted, you may have no choice about when you make your trip. Also your van with the canoes on top plus caravan pushes it into a similar bubble to our moho (which is in the 3m x 8m envelope).
We've booked two separate trips for next year, one via Eurotunnel because we want to explore northern Europe and the other by ferry because we want to explore the French Atlantic coast. The Eurotunnel crossing was just less than half the price of the ferry crossing, this included using Tesco vouchers for the Eurotunnel and getting a Club Voyage discount for the ferry trip. Both trips are off-peak.
On the face of it, it would make more sense to use the Eurotunnel crossing for both trips but we only live 30 mins from Portsmouth whereas the Eurotunnel terminal is 140 miles or about 3 hours on a good run (the reality is that 3 hours will feel longer, much, much longer even if it isn't). Likewise, the distance from Eurotunnel Calais to St Malo which would be the starting point for the Atlantic coast trip is about 320 miles or about 6-7 hours drive.
The cost of the fuel alone is an additional £120 and then there's the 10 hours spent travelling to get there which for us is five stops worth of travelling in the area we want to explore rather than one we don't particularly want to explore.
So this means we'll bear the cost of the ferry because it suits our requirements. Are we happy that the costs have gone up? No, but as others have said, prices have gone up since Covid and it is what it is. The only way prices will go down is if people stop travelling, particularly at peak times but remembering Covid, I like the fact that we can travel now.
Can you get your canoes inside your caravan for the purposes of the crossing? Would that reduce your costs?
Hi, Along the lines of the previous post. Not sure if this will help, but we put all our bikes and camping stuff that goes on the roof into our caravan for the crossing, to avoid height and bicycle rack charges. We have done it for years.
We then put it all on the roof once we get to our first campsite or supermarket car park.
Can you possibly get your canoes in your van just for the crossing to reduce costs?
I booked my tunnel crossing for my sub-6m VW Crafter PVC for June 2026 in mid July 2025, and it cost 478 GBP including return for my dog which I thought was reasonable for just over 3-week stay in France and Germany.
Tuesday mid-morning crossing which I am hoping I would get there sufficiently early to be able to catch an earlier crossing by staying overnight near Folkstone.
Return is mid-afternoon on a Saturday to give me sufficient time to go for a grocery shop in one of the big supermarkets to stock up on French goodies.
DK
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Topic: outrageous ferry prices
via mobile 30/11/2025 at 6:27pm
