Tips for finding a cheap ferry crossing to France please

[Crocodilio]

Ferry prices seem to have increased massively since I last went.

We were planning to go and visit my ex-stepmother in her home in north west France for a week or so in June, before the summer holidays started. I've just looked at ferry prices and they're far more than I was expecting! The cheapest I could find was over £350 for a car with two adults and three children aged four and below.

Can you give me any top tips for timing, route, good websites or discount offers to help me get it down to somewhere we can afford? I thought it would be £150-£200 ish. I feel like if I google hard enough I'll find something, but no success so far!

try here

Was about 130 for us (car, 2 adults 2 DC 4 and under) to travel callais > dover and back in july. Booked about a week ago.

The longer crossings (Portsmouth - Cherbourg) etc are pretty expensive. We usually go Dover - Calais (or Eurotunnel) and drive further.

Yeah, the longer crossings are ridiculous. Overnights prohibitive. We worked out that it was significantly cheaper to drive further.

We went Dover-Calais last time and thought it was a bit mad to drive that far, but it looks like that's better then - thank you.

Thanks for that link Hetty - £128 for Dover-Calais in June for 5 of us, well worth the extra drive!

Do you generally find that midweek is cheaper?

It does depend where you are going. We live in Brittany, and the crossing to Calais adds around £100.00 return crossing price - tolls and fuel (if you look at the Via Michelin site it gives you a breakdown) Friday, Saturdays and Sundays are always more expensive btoh ways with Brittany Ferries.

Have you looked at the crossing to Caen with L D Lines? We usually do that one on the overnight ferry, the drive's ok and the price is cheaper than the longer crossings. Not as cheap as a Dover crossing, but probably balanced out a fair bit by using far less petrol than you would travelling from Dover (assuming you are going to Brittany or Normandy?).

So midweek good.

Ideally we'd not go to Calais as it is a big old drive down to Brittany, but can't really justify the visit if it'll cost us £££.

I can't see a Caen route with LD Lines, Agatha, is that the one you meant?

Croco - sorry, having a fluffy moment!! Portsmouth to Le Havre is the LD Lines crossing, which we used to use. Last couple of years we have gone Portsmouth to Caen but on Brittany Ferries, mainly because we get 20% discount so it works out a similar price. Le Havre is about an hour further away from Brittany than Caen though, so still a reasonable travel time. Whereabouts in Brittany are you going to?

Thanks Agatha, just working out the different prices now.

Are you allowed to book two day returns, and only use one part for each way? I guess not, otherwise everyone would try to get away with it!

Agree about LD Lines - Brittany Ferries are good but I really can't see myself paying their normal fares. End of the day, it's a trip to get from point A to point B so for me simply not worth the money.

LD Lines has a few routes that go close to where Brittany go and they really can be half the price! Portstmouth - Le Havre is one and Portsmouth to Caen is another. Also if you book Dover-Calais you can now book with DFDS (it's a new route) and you might find it consideraby cheaper than P&O! Always worth a look anyway! Bonne yoyage!

Ld lines details here on AFerry

We are using LD Lines to do Portsmouth - Le Havre for our holiday in Brittany this summer.

Originally DH was all for taking the tunnel because its cheaper and he thinks it is less hassle. However, we are travelling from the North West of England so that would necessitate a hotel stay on the way down somewhere near Folkestore and the same on the way back (way, way too far to drive from up here to Brittany via the tunnel without a stopover). When you factor in that, plus extra fuel and tolls and suddenly the ferry didn't seem quite that bad.

The crossing that works for us is Dieppe / Newhaven with LD Lines. It is more expensive than Dover Calais, but we save a lot of petrol and tolls as well as the fact we can get to the destination (alps) in one day.