Right, we are four adults plus one 2 year old and we'll be landing in calais about 2200hrs on a friday evevning in July, bound for Morzine.
I don't fancy the drive all the way there in one go so was thinking about stopping the night somewhere and doing the rest in the morning. Maybe Reims?
Has anyone out ther got any reccomendations for travelling tactics and/or accomodation?
Anybody? Actually, has anyone tried going via one of the other channel ports? This is our first time to the alps and my first time to france since I was about ten so I'm keen to hear others' experiences...
No experience of kids fortunately, but have made that drive several times (but to Chamonix and Saas Fee). We've stayed over in Dijon, Strasbourg and Rheims, all good cities to spend an evening. Sound like you just need somewhere for a few hours kip though? If you're in a campervan you could just pull up at a service station for a few hours?
To be honest, the drive from Calais to the mountains is very dull until you get to the edge of the Jura Alps.
we stayed here in Reims doing exactly the same trip with a 1 year old.
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We always use Formula1. There is one in every big town, usually on the ringroad. They are very basic, just somewhere to sleep. Every room is identical with one double bed and one bunk bed. There are a few similar chains that are slightly posher and more expensive. You can either drive until you get tired and find one or pre-book on line. You can check-in any time with a credit card. They do fill up at busy times so booking is wise.
We've always found that driving through the night is far better with small kids. Parents are exhausted, but little 'un doesn't get bored and fractious in the car.
Failing that, Formule 1
Formula 1 = car theft. 
I would suggest driving an hour or so direction Belgium & take a hotel there. If you drive across Belgium & down through Luxembourg you can fill your tank cheaper plus the tolls are cheaper on the Route de Soleil...
marge
have you a route plan for that or a green flag/michelin link
I could take a look at.
thanks
faint
Not quite the same but myself and my girlfriend are heading from Calais to Morzine Via Lagorse at the end of July.
We are going to drive down a bit on the first night and then stay here: http://www.etaphotel.com/frm_fiche_hotel.svlt?code_hotel=5486&code_langue=gb
Depending on how much distance you want to leave yourself the next day it may or may not be useful. Seemed reasonable on price and not too far off the route we will be taking.
Then we will be camping for a week in Lagorse and heading on to Morzine!
Nickf or anyone else that knows...... Do you know if the service stations on the autoroutes are open all night and if not what time do they shut? Doing a through the night drive to Chatel in early July and need to make coffee plans!
Gotama
me and the family have stopped over for a few hours in some bigger services no problems. restaurants shut but the toilets and coffee facilities have always been usable. As I say this is the larger services like the UK ones not the smaller "Aires"
Cheers faint, that's what i was hoping for, somewhere to grab a hot coffee whilst doing the driver change.
Fuel stations are often 24 hour - even rural ones. They may not be staffed though and you will need a card that works abroad.
To the OP:
Done this many times now. Just get on the autoroute and hammer it. The sprog will sleep most of the way with luck. Find a quiet 'Aire' with a picnic area and no trucks at dawn. Brew and a fried egg sarnie as the sun rises. Sorted! You should be in Morzine by 12.
Hth
Marko
Driving through the night is a national sport in France & Spain. It's loads of fun. 3am queuing up to use the coffee machines. Going through the motorway service car parks and seeing motorcyclists asleep on the ground.
One time we swapped driving at 1am. I filled up the tank then had a doze as Mrs BigJohn took the wheel. I woke up as we were pulling back into another services at 4:30. I asked why were filling up again, she said we needed fuel. I looked and she had covered well over 300 miles in 3 1/2 hours, with boards & bikes on the roof. Well done that woman.
I agree with the driving through the night idea.
I've done the Morzine trip twice now (four drives), once with a wife+2year-old and once on my own, and three of the drives were through the night affairs and one had a stopover half way. The latter wasn't better - felt like further and I was still tired when I got home.
To the OP, why not just stay over nearer to the port and get an early start the next day?
We just stayed over at the Ibis near the channel tunnel for a couple of nights, came to E70 for 2 adults + 1 child each night when pre-booked via the internet, standard room rate with no prebooking was nearly double that. The Tunnel hotels are quite secure too, as they are all grouped near Cite Europe shopping centre and have a 6 foot fence with security gates around them.
Accomodation wise, I'd go for Ibis over come of the other chain hotels, they tend to be a bit comfier. Campanile tend to be a bit more scruffy and noiser due to the motel style.
My Visa debit card also worked in automated pumps on that last trip, so access to fuel should be a bit easier than it used to be.
We always drive through the night on the way down (adrenalin and want to get there straight away, and awful French traffic heading south) but do a stopover (somewhere like Auxerre) on the way back.
If you have a couple of drivers I would be inclined to drive it in shifts overnight, it is incredibly easy to eat up the miles driving at night compared to during the day in bright sunshine with more traffic.
If I was breaking the journey I would still do at least 3 or 4 hours on the Friday night when it is quiet, if you can get as far as Auxerre on the A6 then you will have a nice easy drive on the Saturday. We got into Calais early on a Saturday morning last year and the roads in the North of France were very busy. Traffic, queues at tolls etc probably added an hour to the driving time, and a fair bit of stress. We came back through there at night on the way home and couldn't believe the difference.
Ferry port wise it makes very little difference between boulogne, calais or dunkerque. I prefer norfolk line ferries in to the latter from choice (always happy to change if you're early/late, nice ferries, good breakfast and mainly for freight so fairly quiet) but end up booking whatevers cheapest.
do this regularly. Novatels at Reims or Troyes 3 & 4hrs in respectively. About 70 Euros for a family room & a lot nicer than F1.
WOW! What a fantastic response! Thanks to everyone that's replied, I'm goign to forwards this link to my sister in law (mother of the 2 year old) and let them decide I think.
Re: taking bikes, roof or rear mounted? I've got a friend willing to lend me either type of rack, the roof type seems much more straightforward but perhaps limits speed? The aforementioned friend says he uses both, roof mount to travel to ferry port, then switches to rear mount so he doesn't have to pay excess height allowance, then back to roof mount on the other side. Seems a lot of faff, but I guess it means you don't need a light board with number plate etc etc????
one of the villages in Alsace? Magic place
Sometimes we have independant B&B, which is fun but not very fast, but now we just want to get there so we are doing the big Holiday Inn in the North of Dijon. Just going for it on the way home though, no stopping...
Cheers OP-I'm also heading to Morzine next month and was about to post this same question!
Re: taking bikes, roof or rear mounted?
I've just booked with Seafrance - £65 return with the car. There doesn't seem to be an excess for roof mounted bikes - you just have to indicate when you book that you have them.
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