Driving to France

[Tiptoptum]

I have been offered the use of a holiday home in Vendee in western France.
For family reasons I only have 7 days which will include travel and I will need to drive, and I must be back home on the 7th day .

Ive never driven to France, so I’m wondering if this is likely to be pointless due to the time it would take.

I would be the only driver and I would either do the Ferry or Eurotunnel, in my car, then drive to Vendee.

Is this a manageable journey for one driver, to do in one day? Or am I setting myself a ridiculous target? I figure that would give us 5 days there, with a day to travel there and back?

is there an option to get a Ferry that lands further in France that might cut down the driving? I think it’s about 6 hours once I get off at Calais?

Any words of wisdom on this??

You could try getting a Brittany ferry to Caen which would cut down the drive significantly. You could even do the overnight ferry if that works for you getting to Portsmouth.

I think my nearest ferry would be Dover tbh.
I would be happy to pay more to be on a ferry longer!!

However I could do a cheap travel lodge in Portsmouth I imagine overnight and go really early

We did this often when I was a child, got an early ferry and drove to our final destination in one day. It was never the plan, but my DB and i were very good travellers and very keen and motivated to get there and get on with the holiday. And my dad did all the driving. My mum could have taken over, but she almost never did.

Also, we got the ferry to Le Havre, not Calais, so I would definitely consider going to Caen nowadays.

The overnight ferry to St Malo would cut the France side of the drive down even further, and break the journey nicely.

However, if you're closer to Dover, I'd take the Shuttle, and do the 6-ish hours drive from there, with maybe a little stop for lunch.

How far do you need to drive on the English side? We do a similar drive most years, although that is about the furthest we would do in a day. We're only an hour or so from the Tunnel which does make a difference though. DH does the drive, but I could take over if needed.

Up drive to the Tunnel - have coffee and breakfast there whilst waiting to board. Then 3 hours of driving, lunch at an Air, then another 2 or 3 hours and we're there about 4 or 5.

From here to Dover is nearly 2 hours, Portsmouth is about another hour maybe.

Im just worried that I will have to get there in one day, but also back in one day and that it will end up being horrendous.

Its more getting back I’m worried about, but tbh as long as I’m home at some point on day 7 it would be fine

My husband regularly drives to/from north western Germany for a week or less with 2 under 5's. 13 hours door to door. He usually does it overnight. It's tiring but manageable.

I'd do a late sailing to St Malo on day 1, overnight and get there in the middle of Day 2.

Then a sailing mid morning from St Malo Day 7, get into Portsmouth half sixish and then drive home.

It depends on your dates.... if it is the same time as the main french holidays all journeys take significantly longer.
This may help
https://about-france.com/busiest-driving-days.htm

We did Portsmouth- St Malo on the way out and Caen - Portsmouth on the way back. It was too far too early for us to get the St Malo crossing home, Caen gave us a few more hours driving time.

Driving in France is significantly easier and more relaxing than driving in the UK - better roads, and much less traffic on them - so I would do more driving over there than here by choice. I regularly drive down past that area and it is entirely stress free, I love it.