Hello
I have been given the chance of a reaonably priced house for a week or so in August for a holday with my girlfriend and her 2 kids.
We live in the NE England and the house is in Brittany and I am considering the best way to get there.

Option 1: Drive to Dover, ferry to Calais then drive to Brittany (possibly with overnight stop if the kids are fractious)

Option 2:Drive to Portsmouth (or Southampton??)overnight stop, ferry to ST Malo then finish the drive

Option 3:Fly from Leeds Bradford to Paris (cheap flights are available at about £230 return for the 4 of us)then hire a car and drive to destination.

Anybody any experience of this type of trip with recommendations of alternative options.
The kids will be 10 and 8 and are very active.
Cheers
Steve

If you choose to drive, don't be a cheapskate – use the toll roads. Well worth it as they work really well and the Frenchies all drive with good lane discipline and you munch away the miles effortlessly.

Going over the Pont Du Normande (yes I probably spelt that incorrectly) is pretty cool too

Portsmouth to Caen (Ouistreham), then drive from there. Stop at any of the Normandy cemeteries en route. The Musee de la Paix in Caen is well worth a trip if you have time.

That drive takes you through the Bocage and along past Mont St Michel as well.

Definately worth going to Mont St Michel it's great. will be loads to do with active kids of that age. I would do Portsmouth to Caen I did it last August and it was fine, flew by as well, cost about £153 and that was the august bank holiday weekend and booking reasonably late (Mayish I think).

Never done it with a car always with bikes but have always done the overnight from Portsmouth.

Brittany is a fantastic place , in general the people are friendly and they make delicious cider thats more biased toward flavour than strength , always found the beaches there clean too.A lot of the Bretons in smaller villages actually prefer you to speak English as they aren't keen on the French , they're the French Celts.

Make time to visit a war memorial too , we should never forget the sacrifice our forebears have made!!

We did Perth to Brittany last year and will be doing it again this year.
Calais to Brittany is a long way, better to go from Portsmouth, Southampton, Poole etc.

We did Poole to St Malo with condor on the catamaran, which calls briefly in Guernsey and I would recommend it.

I've also done the Portsmouth – Ouistram ferry and that was a great big ship with more to do for the kids, but the crossing is longer and you are further away from Brittany.

See what sort of deal you can get on ferry savers etc., but personally I'd avoid the Dover-Calais end of things.

From Portsmouth the cat is better than the ferry if you don't mind paying. The ferry takes an age. Caen is closer to the motorway network than Cherbourg. I think the cat to caen is iro 3 hours. Not done St Malo but it looks further on the water.

What about the overnight ferry? you'll want, and have to pay for, a cabin mind.

If your not on a tight budget, take the ferry from Portsmouth overnight, bloody expensive compared to dover calais, but half the distance to drive in france with less toll roads. A few years back we went to Tours, driving overnight from calais without a proper map or satnav. Just went with a route plan from the AA site, big mistake! Took a wrong turn, went off the route plan and spent 11 hours trying to get to Tours. It took 6 hours to get back following the direstions! Would have helped if we could speak French (the joys of being an arrogant Englander!) or someone else wasn't to pi##ed to help with the driving! In short – you will be rested, with less chance of getting lost if you go to LeHarve or preferably StMalo!

Another option would be East Midlands Airport to Dinard then hire a car. For a week, it may be a cheaper option.

Plymouth to Roscoff ferry? or is the drive to Plymerf considerably more of a ballache than the one to Portsmouth?
You could have an overnighter in Devon then get the 8am ferry, be in Brittay by 2pm, drive to your detination, chill with un cidre au deux in the soleil.
Jealous as hell! did you know the Bretons tried to invade Plymouth? they lost…Plymerf is a fighting town (not something to boast about), and I guess it always was!

I've done Portsmouth to Caen, Portsmouth-Cherbourg and Portsmouth to St Malo overnight. Driving down from Doncaster so similar driving times. The overnighter is very expensive, but takes a lot of the stress out of the trip, and is comfy and easy to get a night's kip, the timings are great for this. Either of the others are good, in that you don't have the huge drive over from Calais, and the roads from Cherbourg and Caen are very good. Another vote for Mont St Michel if you're driving round that corner.

We have done Portsmouth Caen, often, & the St Malo one a couple of times.

Certainly sleeping on the ferry improves the experience and makes the journey appear shorter.. if you go by day its worth getting in to the on board cinema, thats a good way of killing a few hours as well.

Wouldn't want to do Calais to Brittany in one hit. Calais to Honfleur, then on to Brittanny is pleasant.

It very much depends on the car too – you can happily sit at 140kmh on the Autoroutes and people do get out of your way. But if doing that is deafening then it's still unpleasant.

That said, I'd not want to go on holiday to a non-resort or city break without a car.

Another thing to look out for is if your car's up to it. We did 2500 miles in 2 weeks or so in our old Golf, but it does 400 miles a week every week with no trouble. We saw something like 18 broken down cars at the side of the road as we got near Dover, and I'd bet most of them only do a few miles a week and didn't realise that their cars weren't up to doing hundreds of miles fully loaded / spending an hour or two idling on the M25.

Whereabouts in Brittany? We usually drive from S Yorks to Plymouth,overnight ferry out lands at Roscoff at 07:00,return is easy too.If your on the eastern side,Portsmouth to St Malo is ok.
Ian

LD Lines can be quite good value. I did the Portsmouth to Le Havre overnight crossing last year.

I always travel down after work on the Thursday or Friday and sail overnight. If you go overnight, get a cabin or you either get truckers snoring in your ear or kids running around all night.

I can certainly recommend the area around Honfleur.

Hi
I am obviously geting lots of options here!!
Was sort of hoping there would be one definitive answer but maybe not.
Cant remember the exact location and haven't got the details on me.
Budget is flexible (to a degree)so will have to price things up.
Cheers
Steve

The Cpt's suggestion of visiting some of the museums etc is well worth consideration if you/the kids are that way inclined.

We followed the coast from Caen a couple of years back & stopped for lunch in the coastal village where the longest day was filmed, also saw mulberry's & visited the american grave yard at Coleville su Mer, very moving.

As has been said before Mont St Michel is also well worth a visit

Another vote for overnight Portsmouth to Caen here, one cabin will be fine for the four of you (brother lives in northern brittany so done it a few times), tried the channel tunel the first time I went over – not a clever choice because of the extra driving required on the french side.

Up until 3 months ago my mother lived right in the middle of Brittany, from the North West our prefered route was Plymouth-Roscoff as we also have family in the south west, but CF's route is possibly easier if your coming down the M1.

Not sure about the "prefer you to speak english" bit but they are right that Bretons don't really see themselfs as French and align more with the Cornish/Welsh/Irish & Scot's

Also you don't need to worry about Toll roads in Brittany as there are non (old law IIRC)

If you choose to drive, don't be a cheapskate – use the toll roads

Not using tolls isn't being a cheapskate – if you're not in a hurry it's a great way to see a bit of France without zooming past it at 80mph.

The French Route Nationale are really good roads as well, just not as fast, but they take you through some wonderful countryside and towns.

Agreed, the French motorways are good though.

Don't forget the bayeux tapestry. Depending on the port you end up at, it can be your first stop off the ferry.

It depends where you're going in Brittany…. There are ferries to:

Le Havre
Cherbourg
Caen
St Malo
Roscoff

I go over about once per month – overnighter Portsmouth to Caen. I live on the edge of the Fens and travel to central Cote d'Amour (nr Guingamp) so the departure and arrival points make sense. We then day sail back slow ferry in winter, fast ferry in summer.

The Brittany Ferries cat goes from ~April to Oct so you could day sail both ways Portsmouth – Caen. Takes ~3 hours each way.

LD lines are sailing the Portsmouth routes this year and may be a good price option.

The Calais crossing is cheap though the longer journey might be aggro for a young family. You'll probably want to break the journey which will negate the cost advantage (as will the additonal peage and fuel costs).

Flying might be slightly quicker but you'll be limited on luggage and you'll need to hire a car as getting around darkest Brittany on public transport is not for the faint hearted!

If you want any specifics, feel free to PM me to avoid boring anyone to death 🙂

Did the St Malo overnight one a couple of years back, also from the North East. Ditto above about a night on the ferry is ideal for a break from driving.

Believe we did Portsmouth and would recommend that over Southampton because they guide you in from the motorway right up to the key. Where as the S'hamton one is a drive through the town center to a beachfront industial estate.

Or was it the othe way round?

Just got myself and I flew and used the train from Paris.

Depends what you want and how much time.

I find sitting on a ferry overnight etc depressing.

Hire a car but check your excess!

We went two years ago, day ferry from Plymouth (after an over-night in Plymouth) and then night ferry back.

We liked Brittany.

Not sure about the summer, but empty when we went.

captainflasheart`s suggestion +1

Plymouth to Roscoff ferry? or is the drive to Plymerf considerably more of a ballache than the one to Portsmouth?
You could have an overnighter in Devon then get the 8am ferry, be in Brittay by 2pm, drive to your detination, chill with un cidre au deux in the soleil.

Plymouth > Roscoff + 1

Did it last year on their new ferry. Fantastic and I'd also recommend getting a cabin, if you hunt around you can get deals on upgrades which IMO are worth it. We had one of the top cabins and it was great – food bought to you, nice views for the kids out of the portholes etc.

Depends I guess on whereabouts in Brittany you're going though – I think in total out of my 33 years I've only spend 6 or 7 summers without holidaying there so have done the whole gamut of ferry options and we just prefer shorter drives on the French side (for one, it seems like you're there quicker!)

not going this summer 🙁 – can't afford it unfortunately.

Your choice of French port will depend on whereabouts in Brittany you're going.

A couple of things to remember:

[list]Getting an overnight ferry with a cabin makes the trip a whole lot less stressful. Cabins cost about £100 more and sleep 4.

Avoid going through Rennes on a Saturday in August.

If you get the day ferry on the way back you can end up being awake for what feels like 24hrs especially if you have a bit of a drive on the French side.[/list]

We generally go from Portsmouth to either Caen or St Malo. Although this year we're going St Malo on the way out and Roscoff on the way back.

Crikey…people are agreeing with me! 😉

I lived in Normandy for a while and I love the place, Brittany is also rather nice, but for me Normandie will always win!

The drive across from Ouistreham is rather nice, and as mentioned, plenty to see en route.

The drive across from Ouistreham is rather nice

Agreed. Just depends where you're heading for.

If you go to St Malo you can avoid the Rennes traffic.

Do the drive, the drive from Calais to Brittany is easy and quick (if you use the tolls). Did Consett to Bilbao over 2 days. (The Calais to Bilbao leg was just one). If you stay overnight just use Formula 1 hotels, near the motorway, dead cheap, a bed and a shower is all you need.

If you are in the north east is there not a ferry from newcastle or hull you could take?

I use the rosythe / zebrugge ferry – it saves me 1000 miles of driving compared to going to the channel ports and a night each way on the ferry saves you a night in a b&b near the channel port. Makes up for the cost of the ferry and I hate the drive back thru england on the return.

TandemJeremy – Member
If you are in the north east is there not a ferry from newcastle or hull you could take?

TJ, do you have ANY concept of geography? A ferry from Newcastle or Hull to Brittany, even if anyone were daft enough to run such a route, would take 3-4 days or so!

*Shakes head in despair!*

Ferry to a French or Belgian channel port then drive from there. ( I don't know which ports the ferrys go to.) I didn't think anyone would be daft enough think I meant to Brittany.
I would prefer that to drive to an English channel port and ferry to Brittany.

I would use Rosythe / Zebrugge to get to brittany from here as I would rather drive thru france than England

If a ferry does rosythe / Zebrugge in 16 hrs then how long Hull to brittany anyway – not 3 days

think boy – learn to think

Not read through all the reposnse but the chunnel are doing some cheap prices at the moment. I'm off to France in a few months and started doing some research. Chunnel is 50 each way and ferry was about 300 all in [but that was a few weeks ago].

If you do go from Portsmouth there'sa travelodge right next to the ferry Port. Would say you could crash at mine but think the mrs would kill me if I started opening the hosue to strangers!

you could take a ferry from newhaven and end up in Dieppe. That is how I did all my crossing.

I did newhaven dieppe last time I went, wasn't too bad

My French mate from Brittany drove to Poole for St Malo (I think) ferry to get home from Sheffield. Portsmouth to Caen also fine I expect, but why would you drive out of your way to the wrong side of England just to get a ferry at Dover when that will only take you to the wrong part of France? Just leave the M1 when it turns left and goes south-east and keep due south on the A34…

(Today's geography fact – Portsmouth is east of Leeds – and Bristol is east of Edinburgh TJ 😉 )

Another one agreeing with the Captain, we have a place in Lower Normandy and travel at least once a month from Porstmouth to Caen with Brittany Ferries, (LD Cheaper but goes to Le Harve further North and the timings dont allways suit) 6 hrs trip, def get a cabin if you overnight but on the day trips the kids watch a movie and now they have wireless on board so you can log onto STW. The exchange rate on board last month when buying food etc was 120 Euros to the pound so it is not bad for when the kids get hungry, and they will. The Fascat is 2.5 hours but only runs in the Summer months and you have to book early as it fills up fast, Drive from Caen to Rennes no more than 2 hrs straight down the A84. The A 84 is a dual carrigeway (non toll) and you can move along there at 80 MPH legally so you are soon in Bretagne. 3 Hours if you dock at Le Harve. If you are holidaying in the South of Brittany consider the St Malo ferry, bit longer, more dosh but less stress and less driving. I avoid the Poole ferry route as getting to Poole from S Wales is a pain so always use the M4 Jnc and head for Pompy. I must admit i like driving in France, the toll roads are brilliant and i now regulary drive up to Paris and enjoy the trip.

Lots to see in Normandy not just WW 2 stuff, Mont St Michel is a must, keep of the Calvados when driving 😉 If you take a bike get into Swiss Normandie … probably not ! Bonne Channce

anokdale, Basse Normande, eh? Whereabouts?

Good point re the Calvados!