Abroad holiday without flying

So yes OP most ports in France are in the North. The ferries tend to take the shortest routes over the sea as actually travel by ferry is slow and expensive so better to have a short crossing and then train or drive the other way. To get a ferry to the South of France even should one exist would be like doing a short cruise but a lot more boring.

Dover to Calais or the Tunnel area popular for a reason. Quick, relatively inexpensive.

We often do France. Drive down from North East England, ferry from Dover early afternoon then spend the night in Calais because we can't be arsed to drive further so we potter along the beach and have a nice meal in a Brasserie. Next morning up early and drive down. Usually to somewhere like Bordeaux or the Dordogne for family reasons. The coast near Bordeaux is fantastic. We're fans of Maubuisson, on a big lake with a beach with shade, shops and restaurants and a great network of cycle paths so you can hire a bike and cycle to the ocean through the forest.

I know it can seem complicated if you are not used to it but lots of good advice here. You don't need to hire a car if you have your own as you can take your own car on the ferry and the tunnel. You can access both of those as a foot passenger too so there is the option of doing the whole trip by train or going over and hiring a car if you want a left hand drive. Once you are over on to the continent it reality is a case of deciding how far you are willing to train or drive and drawing a big circle on the map then looking at where you could get to.

We did our first cruise this year and went from Southampton, it was amazing and so much easier than going through an airport! Highly recommend!

Getting up at stupid o'clock for a cheap flight and being stung if you want to bring anything more than a small purse in the way of luggage does not sound like fun to me. Much more fun to fall asleep in Paris and wake up in Nice.

As for "grow up", surely travelling responsibly is a more grown up way of doing things than taking the easy option.

Thanks for the recommendation. We're looking at basing ourselves in Brasov, planning to cycle over the Transfăgărășan Pass. Făgăraș, Bran and Sighișoara are also on the list.

Was Bușteni the town? Looks like it from your description. We were thinking about a visit to Peleș Castle. I reckon that it should be possible to hike from there up to the Sphinx.

Chunnel in your car to France. Loads of places to go and it’s really easy with kids.

No flying holidays we've taken (single mum with kids):
Ferry Portsmouth- Cherbourg, 5 days camping in Normandy, 5 days camping in Brittany, ferry Roscoff- Plymouth

(on my own) Interrailing Cornwall- Paris via Eurostar, night in Paris, full day sightseeing, sleeper train to Cannes and train to Grasse for a few days walking in the mountains

Ferry Portsmouth- Caen, 2 nights in Chartres with a day trip to Paris, week's camping in the Auvergne, 5 days camping in the Loire Valley, one night in Nantes to see Les Machines de l'Ile, 5 days camping in Brittany, ferry Roscoff- Plymouth

Interrailing Cornwall- Brussels- Innsbruck- Venice- Rome- Genoa- Paris- Cornwall (staying in budget hotels and AirBnBs)

And this summer I'm planning to get the ferry from Plymouth- Roscoff, drive down through France to Santander via the Pyrenees and the Picos d'Europa and get the ferry back to Plymouth.

So your options are:
Train
Take your own car on the ferry
Take the ferry as foot passengers and hire a car at the other end
Take the ferry as foot passengers and rely on public transport.

Train: if you want to do this I massively recommend Interrail passes, especially as under 12s get free passes. You still have to pay for reservations on some trains though- notably Eurostar, which is 30 euros pp. A couple of years ago I went from Cornwall to Grasse and back on a 4 day pass, and it worked out cheaper than comparable flights. I got to spend a day in Paris on the way as well. I think the Cote d'Azur would work well if you went for this option- there are TGVs and sleeper trains from Paris, and it's easy to travel up and down the coast on local trains.Lots of campsites too, although maybe not the cheapest.

Own car on the ferry: well you can literally go anywhere then. Ideal if you want to camp with all your own stuff, although obviously the crossing is much more expensive with a car. From Portsmouth or Poole you can (off the top of my head) go to Caen, Cherbourg, St Malo and either Santander or Bilbao. If you want to go to Northern Spain be sure to book early, it's really popular. I've already booked our crossing from Santander to Plymouth in September (on the way out we're going to Roscoff and driving down).

Foot passengers and public transport: be aware that the ferry port at Caen is nowhere near the town itself!! In St Malo it is though. Northern Spain could work well for this, because both ports are major towns, attractive in themselves.

All of these ridiculous and complex options sound so much more complicated than just getting on a plane. If you want to have a nice hot beach holiday as simple as possible then SIMPLY go to the airport, get on a plane and get a pre-booked taxi to your chosen hotel. There is absolutely nothing complicated about it and in my opinion couldn’t be any simpler. Stop making a rod for your own back- grow up!

Saw this post about Romania and thought I'd offer some tips as I've been a lot.
Would recommend brasov area out of anywhere. And the carpathians. The train line cuts through the mountains in one place and there's a station. I'd get off there and do some sight seeing. I think there's a cable car and something called the spinx rock. The carpathians are so beautiful!

You can get ferry to France or Spain or Netherlands or Belgium.
Or eurostar with car.

Usually my way of travelling is looking for places I can do outdoor sports.

I went to Brittany when I was a kid, it has beaches it's quite close to where ferries go, there's Mont st. Michael.

Fav place would be the alps. You cant really go wrong. I'd go there and camp.

Some gorges in France. I know Verdon for climbing but can't remember if there's a different one. My sister went there on a family holiday and they went canoeing. Looks very flat for canoeing.

Portsmouth to Santander is doable by ferry and northern Spain is gorgeous.

We’ve driven to France many times. We do Dover to Calais or the tunnel from Folkestone. I recommend the Euro type campsites where everything is set up for you, so you don’t need to haul a load of stuff. Many of the French sites are brilliant with so much to do, including pools, bike hire, games rooms etc. Alternatively, you can get a ferry to Bilbao or Santander in Spain, from Poole or Portsmouth, although they are much more expensive than Dover to Calais.

If it was for environmental reasons the op wouldn't be considering a cruise holiday

https://www.trvst.world/environment/environmental-impact-of-cruise-ships/#:~:text=Cruise%20ships%20burn%20heavy%20fuel,pollution%20and%20threatening%20marine%20life.

Was going to suggest this, too.
You may be able to take a ferry connection on to Portugal from Spain but not certain on that.

Channel Islands. Loads to do on Jersey and accessible by ferry.

or a Disney cruise out of Southampton.

Cruises from Southampton seem limited? Limited which way? Lots of different companies, different itineraries and lengths are available. Some companies leave from Dover too (Disney, Carnival). Cruises are great for families, I started cruising at 2yrs of age and now in my 40s and managed to convert hubby too. Think you should speak to great cruise specialist travel agent to see if what you want exists.. :) I would recommend my contact but not sure we can ‘advertise’. Cruises are full board, have excellent entertainment options, kids clubs, some are AI including drink (though packages can be added to those that are FB). But you could also take the Eurostar to Paris and another service to Barcelona if you wanted to go on a megaship like Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas. If your avoidance of flights is due to fear of flying, my SIL did two hypnotherapy sessions and has now flown short haul loads and is planning her first transatlantic:) Something worth considering, if fear is an issue.

Ferry from either Portsmouth or Plymouth to Santander or Bilbao. Easy drive to southern Spain where there are plenty of eurocamp or similar camp sites. Alternatively to Caen and find campsites in France.

Last year we did Eurocamp. We drove from the northeast to Bristol & stayed a night with my sister. Next day drove to Poole and got the ferry. We stayed a night in St Malo then drove to the Dordogne.
The holiday site was lovely, we were glad for the access to our car for trips out and shopping.
our kids are 12 & 14 and with phones they managed the drive no problem. Oddly they really loved the ferries.
you can look at the RAC website to see what you need in your car to drive in France, and if you are going to certain cities you need an emissions card, so apply well in advance.

This. My brother and I will go Interrailing to Romania this year. The journey takes two nights each way, but that will include time spent sightseeing in a number of cities en route

Last summer we used Brittany ferries Portsmouth to Caen and stayed at a Yelloh holiday village. We travelled in a motorhome but you could also travel by car and stay at a Yelloh park or similar in a chalet. We had about an hour's drive after arriving in France. Ferry was really straightforward and the park was great for kids. Not south of France but I think the parks are all over.

We went to Ireland this summer - took our own car Holyhead to Dublin ferry.
Had a lovely time, loads to do & see over there
Also easier with the driving because they drive on the same side of the road as us, and no language barrier!

This summer I'd avoid France during the Olympics, it'll be end of July and start of August, it'll probably be busy and expensive particularly where there are venues. We loved the European center parcs, not expensive, easy to navigate and lots to do. Or eurocamp have some lovely sites with facilities to suit those ages....

Lots of interesting ideas here - Byway: Flight-free Holidays by Train, Bus and Ferry. - mostly by train

If you’re close to Southampton, I can highly recommend going with Brittany ferries from Portsmouth across to Brittany. If you use a car there are so many delightful places accessible from that point, pretty towns such as St Malo, Josselin or Honfleur to country areas such as Lac de Guerledan and Vallée des Saints to Quimper and the amazing Aquarium at Brest.

Environmental catastrophe leading to societal collapse? Our children are going to be living in a horror movie?

Just off the top of my head.