Off to the Dolomites this summer and not that keen on the 12 hour drive from Calais. Has anyome done Motor Rail, how do the costs compare and was it worth it?

done south of France a couple of times. works out at nearly 700 squids IIRC -WORTH IT? cost of fuel, tolls, poss accom over night, driving stress etc….

Would getting a ferry further South make things easier?

Does it still run? Thought I heard it had stopped.

We go down to the Pyrenees each summer and have been meaning to work out the total driving cost. To be honest the drive in France is not nearly as bad as you expect – you keep moving at a constant speed nearly all the time. By far the most stressful part of the journey is the bit in the UK.

I got it once to Limoges through work

IIRC it was a bit of a palaver with having to drop the car off the day before etc, I’d have rather driven TBH

http://www.seat61.com/Motorail.htm

Pretty expensive from what I’ve heard

but no longer (as of 2010) from Calais

OK – so the route that we would have used *has* stopped

We did Paris to cote d’azur in 2009
Was very easy. Arrived refreshed in the morning with a short drive to the campsite. Cost £675 for car 2 adults 2 kids though!
Overall cost of transport with motor rail one way driving back ferries etc was same as it would have been to fly and hire a car for 2 weeks

My brther went and he says it was way too expensive for what it was!

Done Perpignan to Calais once. Interesting experience, but expensive and not something I’d do again. As above way quicker and cheaper to fly/drive, or even TGV/Drive.

Could you not just register at an address in the Dolomites, with a French breakdown company, & break down in Calais ? 😛

I know someone who deliberately disabled his motorbike in the South of France and got the AA to take him home to Durham, purely because he had no money for fuel 🙂