Cheapest Ferry to Spain
 

Having fun booking a ferry! Cheapest I can get at the moment is £350 with Britany Ferries down to Santander :-( Sailing Sun 02/09 returning Mon 24/09 - I'm quite flexable about those dates moving later in September but how on earth can I drive that cost down? I seem to be able to get the return journey for £128 and the outward journey seems to be costing a bomb... any suggestions anyone? Going to Morocco and want to spend as much time there as possible. Cheers. m

Matt,

£51 return is the best price I have managed with Norfolkline, Dover - Dunkerque, and then ride where ever you like! That way you are not a captive passenger on the ferry, paying whatever they want for food & beer.

Dave

Thanks Dave,

At the moment I think I'm going to have to ride down through France rather than fork out £350 for a ferry return to Spain - which would be a shame because I would lose 4 days in Morocco :-(

m

Your welcome.

Forgot to mention that Eurotunnel advertise cars one way for £49 and they go on to say, in the small print, that bikes go for half the cost of a car.
Therefore a bike = £49 return in theory (that is going solely by their advertising blurb),

Cheers,

Eurotunnel is quite good actually - you can go for £17 each way if you book well in advance and go out of peek hours - but like I say that means I lose 2 days on the way down and 2 on the way back - or rather I suppose I only lose 1 each way because the ferry takes 1 day...

m

Hogal has the answer Matt:-

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ng-via-27839-2

So, 24 hours+ on the briny ocean or the backroads of France and the Pyranees crossing?
No contest.

Eurotunnel = 35 minutes, the ferry = 1 3/4 hours as well.

Or alternatively take teh newhaven/dieppe ferry and take the back roads to Spain. Of course I am biased because we are halfway between the channel ports and Spain, so benefit from people staying overnight at our BnB. Currently bikes are £44 and cars £67 return via Dieppe. From Dieppe we 5-6 hours on teh side roads, as is Spain.

Yes very good point there! It's basically loosing 2 days in Morocco, but as you say 24 hours on a bath tub or 48 hours blasting across spain and france? oldbmw - please tell me more about your B&B sounds great! Perhaps I can work this in to the trip....

That's another route I have looked at + the Newhaven-Le Havre crossing (LD Lines) but the last price that I got online was £94 return, for the latter, and it seems to increase as the time gets closer (but I think most companies are doing this nowadays).

I second that; lets hear about your Chambre D'hote.

Matt,
Are you riding/owning a cbf600?

Just done the ferry booking for that route and I can get a return for £64 - guessing that will increase as time goes by - I'm planning to make the call this weekend and get it booked - that way what-ever I do I'll get the best price for!

m

Who with and when?
 

Who is that with Matt (& at what time of year)?; I had not realised that there is more than one company operating ferries out of Newhaven in the summer.
Eurotunnel are quoting me about £84 online, depending on exactly which train is used on a particular day (they have loads of timings of course to choose from).
I would much prefer to travel from "peaceful little Newhaven" than busy, busy Dover!

Looks like a very nice crossing actually - I used this site Newhaven to Dieppe Ferry Crossing - Ferries from Newhaven to Dieppe and chose mid-week crossings - which is where I think the saving came from. m

I used Newhaven - Dieppe when I trucked my XR400 to Morocco in April. I booked the late night boat out, took my thermarest on board with me, and slept on the floor. My Navara Outlaw is 5.5m long, but I classed it as a commercial vehicle and got a £10 discount (go figure?).

The return journey took forever, though this might have been because they were waiting for high tide.

Tim

I agree with most people who have replied. Take a short crossing and make the trip to southern Spain part of the holiday. £54 on Eurotunnel - make sure you book low rates however. Try the Parador hotels in Spain, an experience in their own right.:mchappy:

Commercial plug
 

Our BnB details can be had here Le Frene


or visit http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...t-france-10472
for more info. and couple reports from HR members

regards

If you use Via michelin, input le frene and post code 79200, it will show our farmhouse.

Hi Matt,
Using your link, I have just got a quote of £92 for early Aug so you must be looking at later in the year, outside the school hols!
So, it is about £80-90 depending on who does the transport apart from Norfolkline at £51, but that means using Dover - this is for early August and not off-peak.

OldBMW,
Thanks for the info - it looks both very good and reasonably priced (no excuse to put up your prices though!!).
Your links work in general, except for the one for Parthenay (that does not work).

You are right, it did work, maybe the site is down. will check again sunday.
It is a municipal site so unlikely to move.

oldbmw - that looks beautiful - maybe a little steep money wise for me, but perfect for the wife and I when we come across in the car for a short break :-)

walkabout - yes I was getting a price in September, I guess that makes a difference!

I think I've pretty much made up my mind, going into Stamfords today to grab the France maps, then onto the Ace to plan the route down.

m