Overnight stop on the way to Bordeaux

[emski1972]

Hi currently looking at options to travel by ferry to Bordeaux and all the overnight cabins are full...from Newhaven anyway
So now I'm thinking of doing the Eurotunnel and stopping off to start the drive early in the morning.
Any ideas? I could drive an hour from Calais maybe 2 on the Friday night.
I want to make the journey as painless as I can ( for moi) with three 5 year olds...going on holiday with a pal and our 3 kids..So this is a plan to avoid all day travelling on the Saturday and lose a day of hols.
Help!

We stayed at the ibis in Alencon when driving from Calais to the Vendee. V easy to get to - hotel was 5 mins from main road. I would avoid Tours as it's vv busy.

Rouen ? Or Blois?

We have done both of those towns on journeys further south.

If Rouen you will still be driving over 6 hours to Bordeaux on the Saturday (which is the busy day during holiday times)

Alencon would definitely be a good choice, possibly Le Mans? Tours is further West than Blois and could work well.

B&B Hotels have mezzanine rooms which have 3 beds up a flight of stairs for children while you have beds downstairs. We've found this helpful to get them to sleep while we drink wine chill out.

Oh, but we stayed in a b&b hotel a few years ago in a heatwave in France. There was only air con in the downstairs room. The upstairs room was as hot as hell.

Both dc came down to sleep in our room and dh and I had to go upstairs to theirs. Sweated pints. It was disgusting.

We've never been lucky enough to meet a heatwave . That could be grim though.

Rather than doing the longer drive from Calais, have a look at the Brittany ferries crossings, including the economy service to L'Harvre. The crossing does cost more, but you save on less fuel, time and motorway tolls. We travel regularly to France so do the costings fairly often.
The newhaven Dieppe crossing is a killer, not enough cabins on board and the timings are dreadful, docking at 5 in the morning iirc

We just did Newhaven - Dieppe - and yes, docked in the early hours.

We did get a cabin (booked well in advance) and didn't take any DC - so it wasn't too bad.

I think perhaps either the longer crossing with a proper sleep - or Chunnel with DC would be easier.

Agree with averyongtimeago - the savings are lost on tolls and petrol if you do Calais option. I would consider BF crossing to St Malo - which should leave a manageable 4 to 5 hour drive to Bordeaux