[Closed] Does this sound feasible. Logistics for driving to Morzine from Yorks.

Is the France side of the trip doable in a steady day?

8-9 hours from Calais is fairly do-able.

The Friday Evening ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge or Rotterdam will be less stress. You'll wake up on the continent and can just drive straight down there.

Yes in a steady day, for the return a hotel France side means you have no time pressure on the way back up if something goes wrong, not much difference between starting one side or the other on a weekend. Just check for Bastille Day!!

Pretty easy drive on the other side. Less traffic, better motorway discipline, generally nicer than UK motorways. The services arents as good as UK ones but the Aires are nice for a picnic stop.

Personally I'd get over the channel before bedding down. Cheap motels are better and easier to find there.

Yeah that sounds fairly easy to me, we usually do the whole thing in one hit.

TBH the hardest part of driving to Morzine is the boredom, there’s about 7 hours of ‘nothing’ between Calis and The Big Silver Cock Services, then it gets a bit more interesting, for a bit at least and then just as you’re at your wits end and exhausted, really quite tricky indeed especially if it’s dark.

The hardest part of that journey is driving from York’s to Dover. Other side is easy in comparison.

I regularly do Leeds to Samoens or Pyrenees. In fact we did Pyrenees to Leeds Friday/Saturday just gone.

My side of Leeds to Tunnel is approx 4 hours down the A1, A14, M11, M25, M20. We've set off at 5ish before and got a crossing then stopped in a hotel on the other side. Then finish the drive down the next day. This is with 2 kids who are 10 and 8 now but have been doing these trips since they were born!

I don't like driving through the night but will drive until midnight 1am if needed to get somewhere and cut down the drive the next day.

On the way home we tend to get the over night ferry to Hull, then it's just an hours drive home. It's more expensive but the drive up from Folkstone/Dover is ****ing awful!!

I've taken the 11PM ferry from Harwich to the Hook of Holland arriving in Holland at 8AM. Adding another adult was £20 so cheaper than a B&B. Arriving fresh and relaxed and starting the day in Holland rather than having to get to the Tunnel was great. Also avoids the M25. Only drawback is getting away from the urban area as the Tunnel does drop you off miles from town, so pretty much straight on to motorways. Also consider cost of tolls on French motorways - Holland, Belgim = no tolls.
Either way, you will be on the French motorways at some point so you might want to think about toll ticket box from Sanef Tolling - no need to stop and fanny about looking for change at tollbooths. There were also fewer queues for the electronic pass gates at the tollbooths

The Friday Evening ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge or Rotterdam will be less stress.

I agree though it is more expensive, especially if you go for the cabin option.

toll ticket box from Sanef Tolling – no need to stop and fanny about looking for change at tollbooths

S'all pin-free credit cards (in-out) these days grandad 😉 Just make sure like any self-respecting traveler you have one good for Euro spends.

Agree is toll-widget in the windscreen is quicker though.

Hull zeebrugge is expensive, but you gain a day's holiday and lose a few hundred miles of driving. Also I think you will be able to route away from as many tolls.

I'd plan to get further than Folkestone on the Saturday. Seems daft to do 5 hours on Saturday then 9-12 on Sunday.

"
S’all pin-free credit cards (in-out) these days grandad

Ahh did not know that because I went with the express no-stop option, not queueing with the plebes

The ferry idea might be better on reflection, I’d not thought of that.
We are only 1.5 hours from hull and to miss a vast chunk of uk road, especially on the return, is tempting.

There isn’t a great deal in it, time wise, between zeebrugge and Calais, to Morzine.

We did it this year (not the whole drive), but the 'getting the kids out of school and going straight to Hull' thing. I think the evening sailing is something like 6.30pm, so you'd have to be organised, possibly taking them out of school a couple of hours early.

EDIT: The only other downside is that you have a single fixed point in the day to aim for on the way back, so you'd be getting up pretty early to make sure you got the ferry on the return.

Living in N England Hull ferry wins for us every time,especially with family.

Easy hour or two drive to Hull (no lost day of annual leave). Evening sailing (so no overnight accommodation needed on route), fresh for a full day drive the next day. Factor in all the fuel and overnight stops and it isn't that expensive. To save extra money just take food for a snack evening meal and cereal for breakfast. Various discounts are available (eg Camping & caravan club gives 10%).

not queueing with the plebes

Fair point - doesn't matter how organised I am if everyone else is in some wrong lane, cash-based, lean out of the window simple-task schema failure. You do miss out on the one small reward which is the toll-gate drag race though.

toll ticket box from Sanef Tolling – no need to stop and fanny about looking for change at tollbooths

I’ve nearly got one a few times, it’s their sales process that annoys me, you go through the whole process and only then they say “btw it’s €40” and I cancel.

As above, they’re all contactless now and I’ve never encountered a queue in more than 10 years of doing it. I think it’s 3 payments between Calais and Morzine?

It is 6:30 from hull and check in closed at 5.

That’d be a non starter straight from school.

That’d be a non starter straight from school.

Lunchtime dental appointment 😉

Stay overnight on the French side, not the English side. I recommend the hotels by the motorway in Thillois/Reims (ibis budget/novotel etc).

Also, consider Brittany Ferries overnight Portsmouth-Le Havre. Shorter drive this side, basically same length drive the other side (more traffic risk around Paris though), quicker door to door, but usually more expensive than tunnel (but cheaper than Hull ferry) though.

We are in Ilkley and have done this trip 4 times now.

We eat dinner and drive down to the Premier Inn at Dartford arriving about midnight. Then up and on the Eurotunnel for 9:00ish. Drive down to Alps is easy for late afternoon early evening.

We always return in one go. Its a LONG day, but gets it over and done with, about 15 hours door to door

@rockhopper - i think the Rotterdam ferry is later than that. It's a much nicer boat too. Not a huge difference in Zeebrugge or Rotterdam driving South to Morzine

There is a Harwich to Hook of Holland boat but it is still 4+hrs driving from Yorkshire

This is one of the few reasons living in the south is good!

It's far from all the hillier parts of the UK but it's closer to the mainland (via dover)

Did it last summer from Hudds - get the ferry get a nice cabin, all you can eat buffet. It’s a great start to the holiday. No amount of money would persuade me to take the hellish drive to Dover these days... Besides it will be chock full of parked lorries by then!!

Also it may well have changed and it may be a risk you don’t want to take but I’m pretty sure we’ve checked in well after 5 (due to traffic) and had no problems..

We do/are doing, Leeds to Dover, 12ish pm ferry. Calais\Dunkirk to Reims, overnight stay. Reims to Morzine next day, 6 -7 hrs. Return, Morzine to Cambrai ish area,stop overnight. Ferry next day,Dover to Leeds. The hardest bit, Uk driving. We have done this trip dozens of times and its an easy run that you could hammer it down and save hours, but that would be too much like hard work.

Diff between Calais and Zeebrugge is bugger all, to/from Zeebrugge is slightly cheaper. Rotterdam adds an hour or so on but is cheaper still. We've also done Amsterdam to Newcastle on DFDS and the drive to Amsterdam doesn't add that much time on either. We've tended to drive up to near either Brugge, Rotterdam, then have a day there before getting onto the ferry in the evening.

B&B hotels  https://www.hotel-bb.com/en/home.htm are nice, cost a bit more than formula 1's or premier classe but are much nicer and have nice breakfasts. Even have scrambled eggs and bacon!!

The hull Rotterdam ferry is coming at over twice the price of hull zeebrugge

We live in Bristol. On the way down we always stop overnight but on the way back we’ll do it in one hit. 15 hours from Bourg to Bristol but you’re in your own bed at the other end so it’s fine.

It's not twice twice as nice, say 1.5x
😜

I've done it a few times, no kids in tow though.

I'd be tempted to leave on the Friday after rush hour and stop somewhere and get a sensible mid morning train on Saturday morning.
Would mean getting to Morzine late on the Saturday but at least you'd be there.

The drive is really easy and I don't really agree with this

really quite tricky indeed especially if it’s dark.

On the last day of term the later leaving Rotterdam ferry is always going to be pricey, and busy. It is good though.

Wherever you sail to, the drive the other side is a bloody long way!

Some good advice above. We've done a similar trip a few times over the last 2 years.
If we cannot leave at 5pm on a Friday, we leave at 7am on the Saturday. We are in Leicester, 1.5 hours south, so adjust as necessary.
If we leave on a Friday, we stay in Calais. Generally on the tunnel train around 8.30-9pm, get to a restaurant not far from the tunnel mouth near Calais then onto a local B+B (Kyriad usually). Leave Calais around 8am the next morning, travel 3 hours, have a least an hours break, then carry on. Last year we stayed close to Mulhouse, as we felt the journey was far too long in one go. It was a good move. Finished driving around 5.30pm, showered, off to bars and restaurant for french food.
If we leave home on the Saturday, then its a bit more relaxed,off at 7am, on the ferry/tunnel around 11-11.30, dinner on arrival in France, then 3-5 hours journey for an overnight break.
We usually do this out of the main July-August rush. We did do one in mid July last year, and found the traffic was awful in Dover. Allow an extra hour to get through, as the queues stretch back to the dual carriageway before the port. I'd presume the tunnel will be similar at peak time Saturdays. That's why we prefer a Friday crossing if possible.
I would be looking at a ferry from Hull, if only for the outward leg.
And when you get back, wonder at the terrible driving standards in this Country.

Just back with the family from Morzine last night. As wallop said we did an overnight going down (a great Airbnb self contained place SE of Troyes for £54). Then back in one hit. Was glad of mrs p doing a 2 hr stint through northern France. I only slept for 50min but that part of the world is so dreary you get tired.

I bought a tag from ATMB website in France shipped to England. Lots cheaper than the UK franchise.

The ferry prices seem to have jumped up today, now getting the wrong side of £1200 for either route.

Might have to stick with plan A and use the Tesco vouchers for the Chunnel.

That's weird, just checked for the last Friday of term and I'm getting a much lower figure including the return two weeks later.

Maybe a myth, but delete cookies and try again?

As a bit of an aside if you do get the Hull ferry you can marvel at the cap’ns driving skills as he manoeuvres it through the dock gates with 6 inches to spare either side!!

Think you can use tesco vouchers on dfds ferrys as well, dover-calais/dunkirk. Maybe not newcastle-amsterdam.

I did New-Ams last summer to Les Gets. I needed to take a houseful of stuff down and we were there for 3 weeks. Wife and kids flew down later on.
Was superb, short drive down the New, nice dinner and a few drinks on the boat, great kip then 9 hrs to LG inc stops and a shop in Taninges. We vary between flying and driving. I’m in Edinburgh so avoiding the long UK drive helps.

Just checked the New-Ams prices for the start of July, best is £605 for 3 of us with a Mondeo!

Umm no.

DFDS accept Tesco vouchers on New-Ams route. Max £70 in vouchers gets £210 to spend. Have done this a few times with the motorbike.

Used a different computer, still showing around £1200 return.

Can you save money by going a different week?

We have used the Dover - Dunkirk sailing a few times. Slightly more miles but the roads seem to be quieter & the driving easier, plus there’s a good stretch before the tolls start. Dunkirk is a grim, grim place though.
I’m with the poster above though in having a stop over. Trying to drive through the night, on either side of the channel, is a grim affair. UK side your at the mercy of incessant overnight lane closeures, to change a freaking light bulb. French side, Northern France is bloody awful. We tried it once but ended up parking up at an Air till morning.

Take food. Despite the rest of France being impossible to get bad food if you try, autoroute services are in their own world, 10 Euros for shite that wouldn't be discounted at closing time in the grimmest of Greggs

Take food. Despite the rest of France being impossible to get bad food if you try, autoroute services are in their own world, 10 Euros for shite that wouldn’t be discounted at closing time in the grimmest of Greggs

I’ll admit that I look forward to those special rolls they sell in Franch service stations - bread with the consistency of glue and sweet enough to be considered cake? Check, strange butter/mustard/mayo stuff? Check. strangely tasteless ham? Check, plastic cheese? Check - all served in a plastic tube? Check!

I love ‘em 😉

I keep hearing people say French services are shit, are you stopping at the proper ones with restaurants food made whilst wait , or just the petrol station ones?

All sorted now, grateful to Elshalimo for flagging the ferry option as that is what we have gone for. 8:30 sailing from hull on the Friday evening so plenty of time to get there and we don’t forfeit a night in the accommodation in Morzine.

Lots of us (frogs) are having trouble with credit cards not being accepted at toll booths. A wallet full of 5, 10 and 20e notes to feed into the machines (which give change) is an essential backup.

The best route from York to LesGets IMHO and having done several times via Rotterdam, Zeebrugge and Calais is probably Zeebrugge out, Calais back.

Calais is the easiest continental drive but the south of England is worth avoiding if possible. Zeebrugge is a good balance and only slightly longer on the other side than Calais.

If cost / time is an issue, then an evening drive to the tunnel and a hotel on the French side can be the best bet. Takes all the time pressure off on the coast down l’autoroute.

A Sanef tag isn’t necessary (or cheaper 😡), but can save 10-15 minutes on the journey, means you don’t need to get close to those monstrous concrete kerbs on the passenger side, and if your passenger likes to sleep on long journeys means you don’t have to wake them.

Hull to zeebrugge or rotterdam for me.

Misses all the shitty UK out.