Best holiday in France/spain with a dog

[Francwithdog]

Hello

We are hoping to go abroad next year with our dog. We would either take the ferry to Spain or the tunnel to France. Any recommendations of really Nice places to stay within a couple of hours of santander/calais?

Ideally we would like somewhere with long dog friendly beaches, and 'traditional/medival' style towns to explore. Our dog is friendly and well behaved and loves to travel, but we have never taken him abroad.

Any ideas?

Brittany ticks all of the above, but is not super close to Calais (though still in the North).
If you find a dog-friendly ferry crossing though I'd recommended it. Beaches, medieval towns, lovely countryside, standing stones... North, south and middle are all lovely.

Get his passport sorted now if you haven't already!

We take the hound to France every year but we go a lot further down than a couple of hours from Calais.

Honfleur is very pretty and a good place to tour from if you want to be nearer to Calais.

Could you get the ferry to Caen or Le Havre instead? That would give you better options.

U.K. pet passports aren’t accepted by Europe now (another Brexit gift). You’ll have to get an Animal Health Certificate.
We have travelled down to the Costa del Sol with our dog. Also drove through to Germany with our dog.
France and Germany very dog friendly. Spain not so dog friendly.
If you’re getting the ferry to Santander get a pet friendly cabin. The kennels on the ferry aren’t very nice tbh.
Euro tunnel beats a ferry to France hands down when travelling to France with a dog.

Be aware of which beaches are dog friendly- most of Brittany don't allow dogs on beaches. We tend to go inland with our dogs. Both the Alps and the Pyrenees have been great

Following with interest !

Thank you all! Happy to take the ferry somewhere else as well. We've been to lake Geneva without the dog before, so potentially the alps would be good- but I imagine it's a very long drive!