Best route travelling from N. London to Vendee?

[KTeePee]

We live north of London (off M25) and are planning to go to the Vendee this year. The kids like the idea of going via Eurotunnel but obviously there is a long drive then in France. Would it be easier to drive to somewhere like Portsmouth and get the ferry so we would have a shorter drive on the other side?

TIA for your opinions!

I'd say getting the ferry a better idea. More relaxing for the drivers, and still quite exciting for the kids, especialy if you go overnight and get a cabin.

Ds1 says he has been on a ferry "millions" of times already - have to say I don't like ferries myself (though we use them regularly).

Any idea of costs? I'm thinking a longer sea crossing is bound to be more expensive than Eurotunnel or the Dover-Calais ferry.

Deffo more expensive. It adds £200 to the cost of our holiday but as we live in Poole and 10 mins from the port it isn't worth us driving all the way to Dover to get a free one.

We went to the Vendee last year. We got the 7.30 fastcat to Cherbourg and were in our caravan by about 4pm.

Hmm I'm thinking that unless we leave really early it's not feasible to do it in a day either way - might look at staying overnight in Normandy...

Fair enough about the ferries, I used to get them twice a year with my family to go and visit relatives in France and it did lose its appeal after a while!

I dont know for sure about costs - but every time we've looked into ferries in the last few years, it's seemed shockingly expensive at peak times of year.

\link{ www.viamichelin.com/viamichelin/gbr/dyn/controller/Driving_directions#\michelin} is a good website for routes because it gives you the cost of tolls too. If you want a overnight hotel, there are lots of cheap options like Campanile, Formule 1 etc and their websites allow you to identify hotels along your route.
My DH prefers the long ferry option because it is less driving for him and more sleeping. France is huge, it is easy to underestimate distances, and time, when you factor in all the stops.

michelin

Thanks for that!

It is a very long drive to the vendee. You might want to plan a stopover while in France. I am from the Vendee, were are you spending your holidays, I might be able to recommend you some fun things to do!!!!

HI
i am off to St julien des landes in summer

What route are you taking Cod? - though you don't live anywhere near me so don't know why I am asking....

poole cherbourg
then drive like the wind bullseye

That Michelin site says the quickest route is to go through the tunnel (and stay on motorways) but shortest is via Portsmouth

sunandmoon - do have any places you would recommend to stay en route?

poole only a short crive rom portsmouth

• ? 30 40 mins

Are you going on the vomit-comet cod? A short intensive burst of seasick vs long drawn out mild seasickness on the ferry?

we fish dont suffer fom it

we live 'up north' and it took us 3 days to get to the Vendee.
drove to portsmouth then stayed overnight, ferry the next day then drove a couple of hours, overnight stay, then the rest of the way but we were there shortly after lunch.
our 2 both suffer with travel sickness so we don't rush it at all.
this yaer we are driving to Austria.

Personally we do dover calaisand then a stop off en route. The roads are nicer in france IMHO. The best for us was an early morning ferry (8am or something) posh breakfast on teh ferry. Drive 3 hrs, stop for lunch, drive 3 hrs stop for the night, one last 3 hr drive in the am. Or one other time we went in an evening, crossed about 8pm, drive until 11. Stoped for the nigt, then an all day drive the next day. This is no good if yo then have to put the tent up.

Personally I prefer to make the journey part of te hliday, last year we stayed in a nice little hotel, witha swimming pool for aound £100 B&B for 4 of us. It made the holiday and we went and explaored the town (but it wasn't enroute for the vendee)

Dover Calais, then to rouen (about 2 - 2.5 hrs from calais) cross country to le Mans (some smallish places to stop fr lunch) then turn right to the vendee. Angers would be a good stop of place angers Nice town, can go and explore in teh evening and nice hotels. here's one outside Angers with a pool etc (great after a long days drive in the high summer)

Thanks for that Crunchie - we are thinking we will go Eurotunnel and stop overnight (if we can find a hotel that will alow 2 adults + 3 kids in a room....)

how old are your kids? could you not do adjoining rooms? We found this worked well. Our kids were 5 and 7.

Adjoining rooms would be fine but I am a bit wary of managing to book - I know a few people who have booked adjoining rooms (in the UK tbh) and have been allocated rooms which were on different floors

Eurotunnel is an absolute peach compared to the 3 hr ferry journey, although I agree about the longer drive. It is maddening with kids though, because there is just nothing to do on the ferry except a dreadful soft play "pit" in the hold of the ship. Apparently you can get cheap crossings from Newhaven to Dieppe, although we have never tried this. It cuts a bit of distance off compared to Dover/Calais.

From S London we stopped over in Normandy en route to the North side of Brittany from Dover, which is about the same distance. The Calvados and Cheese route was well worth sampling, and Honfleur is a great place to have a meal en route - we got a five course Michelin quality meal for about 15euros per head!

If you want to get more driving underway then I can second Angers as a stop over. It was a lovely city, very genteel but lively as well. As I remember there were quite a few internet cafes there - not that I can't spend any time away from the thing.

agree with auntyquated very - of you all being so near the south coast, we have at least a 5 hour drive to get the ferry.

I'd do the Dover crossing too, but purely on price - we priced up the Portsmouth - Caen/Cherbourg crossing for next summer and it was about £600

hence Cornwall & devon this year

You see I like the ferry journey, it is 90mins (not 3 hrs) and we always have a posh breakfast in the 'Langams brasserie' Well worth it as a relaxing start to the day. Get the newspapers, stuff your face, just time for a wander round the ferry (shop or outside) a wee and time to go

Eurotunnel means nowhere to strech your legs and another 45 mins of sitting in the car (no fresh air)