 Poster: A snowHead
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Looking for a bit of guidance from any regular self-drive ferry users.
We are tied to a February half term trip in 2016. Driving to Italy for 2 weeks. Main question is what type of tickets do people prefer. We will be driving down from the northwest to Dover. Considering the various possible forms of disruption;- strikes, snowmageddon, traffic, melee at Calais  . Full flex tickets look the safest bet but are obviously the most expensive option.
Any thoughts or recommendations........... cheers, G & C
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Last year when we took the ferry our standard ticket terms said we could take a different ferry 4hrs either side of the one we booked. Might be worth checking the terms. We certainly felt an 8hr window was big enough for any unforeseen delays.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@GeorgeVII, The worst part of the drive is from here (I live in Littleborough) to Dover.
We've done the Ferry route before and now use the overnight from Hull to Zeebrugge or Rotterdam. In total assuming four people the trip works out around the same in temrs of cost factoring in an overnight stay somewhere in France however you don't need to get up at 4am and have about 600 miles less on your return trip.
If you are bound to the channel then the tunnel is better than the ferry. Quicker, less queueing, less hasle all around. You can even cover the cost of your trip by picking up a hitchhiker on the way back 
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I also usually use the Hull crossing (Rotterdam as it sails a little bit later than the Zeebrugge crossing). I then don't usually have an overnight en route (I go to the Arlberg).
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I have used DFDS in the past and I think you can get on 2 ferry's before or 2 ferry's after your booked time. You can definitely get on 1 before or after at no additional cost - assuming there is space.
At half term you do not have that option with the tunnel and last year on the way back French Border Patrol turned up for work 2 hours late which meant that it was complete chaos.
Both the Ferry and Tunnel have pros/cons.
I like the break from driving on the Ferry, you get to have a walk round the boat and sit down and have a meal. Assuming the tunnel runs to schedule it is slightly quicker but then if you are going to stop for a meal on the way afterwards then there probably isn't much in it.
Traffice was bonkers last half term particularly around Lyon. At 6.30am there were huge queues at the tolls 15 mins at each one until we turned off to the Maurienne valley. I have never driven to Italy so dont know what the traffic will be like.
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Agree with homers double, I live very close to his location and the drive down is the worst part. I normally use the tunnel rather than the ferry.
The reason I use the tunnel is I have turned up 6hrs early ( normally though 2-3 hrs early ) and been on the train once in under 10 min of arriving but normally no more than about 30 min. Way better than waiting for the next ferry crossing which could be 2 hrs. Also the tunnel is not affected by weather like the ferry.
Driving from the NW and having to get past Birmingham and then the M25 the more flexibility the better, I generally head down the M42 past Oxford rather than use the M1 as I find it quieter.
Never had an issue on the tunnel or ferry with normal tickets ( ferry I use direct ferries for booking ) but always plan to get there at least 2-3 hours early. Both have let me on earlier crossings every time just the tunnel is less hanging around.
We did have a disaster once on the crossing Newhaven to Dieppe. said it was too windy mid channel and transferred everyone to the Seacat crossing at Calais. Seacat was almost empty even with those from the normal ferry at Newhaven so I will let you work out why they did not run it on a lovely sunny day with hardly a cloud in the sky as far south as you could see and NO wind.
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@homers double Agreed worst part of drive is our 200 miles to and from Dover.
We've used Tunnel, P&O and DFDS over our many years of travel to both the Alps in Winter and South of France in Summer.
In real life practical terms when comparing the difference in costs compared to total cost of the holiday and the difference in time compared to the total travel time then there is very little to choose between them.
Each of the methods have their own advantages and disadvantages.
Whichever method we choose the biggest pain/obstacle is the M25 so we always aim to arrive at the tunnel/docks in time for an approx 6:00 am crossing. The M25 in the early hours of the morning is quite a pleasant road to drive.
Tunnel: Usually very slick, although can have disruptions due to immigrant issues but although these are highly publicised do not have a great impact in general. Quicker but more expensive than the ferries.
P&O Ferries : Nice ferries, 105 minutes crossing Dover to Calais which give a nice break after an early morning drive of 3-4 hours, time to get something to eat and a power nap. Can be vulnerable to strike action in Calais from Dock workers, fishermen etc but again highly publicised when it happens but it doesn't happen that often. Can have a lot of coaches at peak times. Can be disrupted and have unpleasant crossing due to weather.
DFDS Ferries: Older ferries than P&O, similar crossing times to Calais and also have a Dunkirk route which they can switch to when there are problems in Calais. Dunkirk is a 2 hour crossing with probably an extra 30 minutes driving to get to Calais. Again can be disrupted and have unpleasant crossing due to weather.
As @cham08 said I also like the break on the ferry and if you use the tunnel and then stop to eat then total time is very similar.
As we are lucky enough to be able to cross the channel several times each year for the last 2 years we have prepaid for the DFDS multitrip offer. I have just bought next years "10 trip multitrip for £320.00 total. This gives us 5 return crossings which are fully flexible, and can be used/transferred to family and friends. There are certain dates that atttract a premium of £30 per crossing but strangely not Feb half term.
Also mentioned in several posts, the autoroute tag is great thing. If the tolls are busy then it can save you time and if not it is just so much easier than the scrabble trying to find where the ticket has gone and have we got enough cash?, where's the credit card gone? waking up the sleeping passenger with the cry of "Peaaaa....ge". We swap drivers regularly but it always seemed to be me who was woken up.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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The good thing about the ferry, as opposed to the tunnel, is a bit of a break for something to eat etc, if you've driven a fair way to Dover.
We've done Dover Calais many times at half term and they've always let us. On an earlier/later boat without charge.
ferrysavers.co.uk is your best place to book.
To be honest, we found Ryanair to Turin or Treviso and car hire is cheaper then a ferry, fuel and tolls to Italy - even with a family of four.
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As others have said there is leeway and personally we never buy flexi (use both tunnel and ferry). It's never been an issue.
The two times there have been major disruption (due to snowstorms) we've got on once fairly soon after (around 18 hours and 12 hours after original crossing respectively). If it was down to me (car breakdown) I guess I would have to pay extra/for a new crossing but I can live with that - probably covered by insurance anyhow.
Flexi may get you a jump in the queues and cut out a bit of a wait if that is what you want/need.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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As it's half term you may well find that if you arrive early at the tunnel then they'll make you wait until the time you are booked on.
And if you are late you'll possibly be there overnight and put on the first train the following day - this looking like happening to us in Feb 2014 but fortunately there were so many people late that they put on and extra shuttle to clear the backlog.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Yeah, just to say I've never been at Feb half term so @RobW's comments probably take precedence.
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I've just been looking at tunnel/ferry for on the 18th of December, on the prices that I found the tunnel is actually cheaper than the ferry.
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You know it makes sense.
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The ferries aren't really that busy at half term. Nothing like August. There are lots of coaches carrying school children, other than that, you won't really notice much difference other than a few cars with ski boxes.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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If, on your return to Calais, it is still UK half term then there is likely to be a massive queue of school busses waiting to check in to the port and the ferries are packed with smelly kids who have been on a coach for many hours after a weeks skiing without washing and a lack of clean clothes (carrying pillows). Instead, follow directions from autoroute to ferry come off at J3 of N216, pass the Carrefour (on the left, fuel here too), and turn right at Rue Descartes (several hundred metres past Carrefour). Check it out on the map and it will lead you to the ferry terminal via a back road and avoid the queue, but not the smelly kids.
Due to six nations rugby there is also the chance of a load of rugby supporters travelling, but they are much better natured and less smelly.
Last edited by Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name: on Tue 13-10-15 14:24; edited 2 times in total
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Poster: A snowHead
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We have had an issue once with P&O, turning up early at Calais where they wanted to charge us the difference in price (£95.00) between what we had paid and that day's price for the earlier crossing (they were the same price when we booked). We politely declined and took the ferry we were booked on.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I don't know how often the hull ferries run but it won't be as often as the channel ferries, we did Newhaven - Dieppe the first year we went to Andorra, nearly missed the ferry outbound due to an accident blocking the M25 and mis judged the return journey and ended up waiting around in Dieppe for 5 hours. Even though we almost drive past Hull on the way to the tunnel, It's never been a viable option on price or frequency
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Having twice bought Eurotunnel tickets with Tesco vouchers, it's my first choice over the ferries. Though I do miss the break from driving and the fresh air.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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There is only one sailing a day from Hull, overnight. Rotterdam check in closes about 7pm, latest I've been off the ferry and on the road the following morning has been 9am.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Newcastle and Hull ferry really makes more sense for those traveling from Scotland, IME. Where it's several hours drive on the UK side plus the 12 hours+ to Austria/Italy. If you're going to have to stop overnight, may as well kill 2 birds with one stone.
For Dover-Calais, just get whatever ticket has suitable time. Almost every single time I arrive early and get put on the next available sailing. Certainly on the Calais-Dover direction. For Dover-Calais, I have to travel such a short distance to get to the ferry that I rarely arrive much in advance. Sometimes get bumped forward, but it's literally 5mins before they close that sailing, and drive straight to the queue, don't even turn off engine, then board.
Right now about that 4 hour wait at Folkestone (including the 20mins queue to get to the check in terminals...), zero spare parking space except in the overflow carpark that they refuse to open up, and that was NOT due to illegal immigrants trying to walk the 20 odd miles.
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I always use the tunnel. Free with tesco! Can't add to the channel advice but where in Italy are you headed? And when would you be getting to Dover? Could make a difference.
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@GeorgeVII, I would say it is quite a drive! We have done it a few times over the last year, as we are moving to Italy - Liguria, though, not Trentino. We once used the Harwich - Hook ferry and went through Holland, Germany, Switzerland & into Italy via the Gotthard pass (it was summer, so the pass was open & a beautiful alternative to the tunnel which I believe is free). No tolls in Holland & Germany, although you have to pay to use loos at the service stations. Switzerland you need a vignette to travel on the motorways - 40chfs. Tolls in France, but better loos! Reliably good coffee at Italian service stations, but more expensive petrol. Normally we use the Tunnel & drive down through France, crossing into Italy either through the Mont Blanc tunnel, or Frejus. Just arrived back in UK following 2hr+ delay on the tunnel - not ideal after a 12 hr drive, so are returning on Portsmouth - Le Havre ferry next week & will use either Mont Blanc route or Frejus. It is a quicker & better road to the Mont Blanc Tunnel than the Frejus one & probably an easier & nicer run to Milan from Mont Blanc tunnel. I think it's worth doing the maths though to see if the drive costs really do work out cheaper than flights. Have a good holiday.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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We live in Wiltshire and have used the Portsmouth-Le Havre route a few times but no more. Le Havre, Paris, the A6 to Beaune and on to Macon and A40 towards Mont Blanc Tunnel sounds good but our experiences of skirting Paris made us rethink as what seemed a more direct route was not any quicker due to crossing time and the Paris congestion, the overall cost which was more expensive and the distance from Le Havre which is similar.
It's been a few years now since we went that way but now drive to Dover for the ferry and make our way from Calais towards Dijon and use the A39 to get the A40 to Cluses. 7 1/2 hours or so to Samoens with just a couple of splash and dashes. The roads are excellent and as we usually travel on Friday the autoroutes are clear all of the way. Having a Doofer makes the tolls more convenient too.
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@GeorgeVII, hmm. That's a challenge. I have driven a couple of times from French Alps to the Dolomites once through Mont Blanc tunnel and once Frejus. It's quite a long day and starting at Calais those routes don't make sense to me. I often drive to and from my home near Portsmouth to the Alps in one go, driving alone, but would not contemplate your journey in one go, even with several drivers. It's two good long days with clear roads and at half term you won't have them. When you say you can't leave before 7 pm Friday do you mean leave home in the northwest? Madonna for dinner Sunday would be very good going if you have a couple of drivers and don't encounter bad weather.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@pam w, That's the worst case scenario but it won't be much earlier than that. The 3 routes that Via Michelin has come up with don't actually vary by much either mileage wise or time wise. The estimated costs do vary though due to different toll charges, vignette (ch) and possible tunnel tolls.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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GeorgeVII, I have done that route a couple of times but didn't use any of the routes suggested to me by Via Michelin for the first half.
The final part, over the Fernpass into Austria, Innsbruck then over the Brenner pass to Italy is the same as I did. To get into Germany I used the route suggested by Samerberg Sue in other threads.
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Yes. You also need expert local advice about Germany into Austria which can be very congested. you could PM SS; she does it a lot and is always up to date because she lives right near the border
when I had to drive from the Dolomites back to UK I spent a while studying routes without coming to any very clear conclusion for the northern part of the journey
In the end I did it via my apartment in the northern French Alps, to dump ski stuff and have two comfortable and free nights stopover. A much longer route but it suited me at the time.
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You know it makes sense.
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I've done the Dolomite trip quite a few times by car and the dreaded school coach trips.
By coach, the quickest route is Strasbourg Basel and then across to the autoroute Brenner.
If you drive quickly on the Autobahns it's quicker to go the Munich route.
Mont Blanc tunnel is considerably longer.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I would be very cautious about going via Munich on a Saturday, routes South can be very slow indeed. As suggested above Samerberg Sue can provide the best advice.
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Poster: A snowHead
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There'll no doubt be a thread about where all the roadworks are and the best routes (for that Germany route), when it's a bit more clear. Not that roadworks necessarily cause the jams - they tend to happen totally spontaneously IME. But they do force you drive at 70-80 km/h for 30 km at a time in places which after 8 hours on the road is very demoralising.
I think the biggest problem is more the time you set off, the time you plan to arrive in Calais, and roughly where you're thinking of taking an overnight stop. 13 hours plus at a guess 6 more or so before Dover plus pitstops plus traffic is a jolly long old drive.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Last January we took the overnight ferry from North Shields to Ijmuiden (more commonly referred to as Newcastle/Amsterdam) and it was excellent. £310 for two of us, the car, beds in an ensuite cabin and a full breakfast on arrival in Holland. We then drove to Austria.
It saved us a 650 mile round trip to the Channel but added about 200 additional miles abroad, so a saving of 450 miles overall.
That's the real snag for us living in the northeast ** - when driving to the Alps, via The Channel, a third of the route (in terms of distance) is in the UK!
We looked at the Newcastle crossing again for a trip to France in the summer but it was priced at £550 in July:shock: We ended up travelling from Dover as that cost £77 return.
We've booked the Newcastle route again for next January - a winter bargain at £290 return.
** There are lots of plus points of course (not least, membership of Pennines ski clubs  )
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@Bergmeister, the Ijmuiden ferry never works for us to get to the Alps. As we're at work until 6pm each day, and can't just knock off early, we'd be hanging around at home all day waiting for the ferry, so I'd rather be driving south and enjoy a lovely dinner in France. That and the fact my brother-in-law lives in Ijmuiden would delay us even more.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@cameronphillips2000, The group that we're meeting up with are travelling by coach. No overnight stop, two fresh drivers from the ferry into Europe.
We hope to sail at or around midnight on Friday. 2 or possibly 3 to share the driving. We aren't planning on an overnight stop other than maybe grabbing some rest at a services. 4 people in a 6 seater Vito 115 gives us a bit of room to spread out a bit. Full Conti winter tyres and chains on board. We would hope to clear some of the traffic bottlenecks on Saturday morning. (so would half of Europe no doubt!)
The route over the Brenner does appear to offer the most direct access into the area that we're heading to.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Newcastle-IJmuiden is extortion in summer, and then even more extortion if you want food on board (I stop by Greggs when I use it).
£550 was a bargain for this year. I got flights to Manchester, 2 rental cars covering 2 weeks, petrol+diesel, 3 first class trains between Manchester, Lakes and Scotland, all for less than what DFDS were asking! (and saved myself about 2 tanks worth of fuel for Frankfurt-IJmuiden).
It can make sense, if you're going to need a stop and are driving in the right direction, with somewhere like Aviemore as an end point (and don't take dogs).
I only use it cos it's a 6+6 hours drive plus overnight, rather than a 6+12 hour drive with an overnight in a hotel somewhere (which could be free if I crash my 'rents place).
Don't really know the best or most direct way. Certainly over the Brenner is an easyish way to cross from North to South. And if going that way, I'd be tempted to drop down towards Liechtenstein from A8, and via Arlberg to Innsbruck, but it's going to cost more in tolls than via Munich. Certainly the bit from Calais via Luxembourg to Karlruhe(ish), is going to be devoid of traffic overnight on the bit that's not autobahn but a fast main road.
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The most direct route would be to use the Fernpass from Germany into Austria, it rarely closes but if it does then the diversion towards Munich is not too difficult and arduous. Then take the Brenner into Italy. It is a matter of personal preference how you get to the Fernpass, I prefer Brussels, Aachen, Cologne, Frankfurt, Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, Ulm then down Auto route 7. Others prefer going via Luxembourg to Karlsruhe.If you check Fernpass status before getting on the 7 you can easily go via Munich.
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FAQ
. Going to Pinzolo/ Madonna di Campiglio. Second week will be just the two of us chillin' a bit.
