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Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

European villa holiday 2018 - best options without flying?

8 replies

Suomynona · 14/08/2017 15:33

We're planning a family holiday next year - my partner and I, my niece and her daughter (6), and my parents (60's and 70's). My Mum (76) is very afraid of travelling and despite having flown a couple of times in the past, she now point blank refuses. We would ideally like a coastal destination in Europe that we can ferry/drive to and has good Summer weather and good selection of villas with pools etc. Spain doesn't hold much appeal for us so we're thinking about Portugal but it doesn't seem all that accessible. We're willing to do overnight /long ferry crossing, and a long-ish drive or split the journey over two days. Has anyone experience of this kind of trip please? It's taken a herculean effort to get Mum to agree to a holiday and she may not again so we want to get this right. Thanks.

OP posts:
SwedishEdith · 14/08/2017 20:56

What about France? You can get the ferry to northern Spain but then you've still got a pretty long drive to Portugal, especially the south. Depends where you are in the UK but you're looking at about 2-3 days travelling on either side of the holiday.

LoniceraJaponica · 14/08/2017 20:58

Can you get a ferry to Santander or Bilbao?

frenchfancy · 15/08/2017 07:36

Ferry to St Malo then a 3 hour drive to the Vendee.

VisitorFromAlphaStation · 16/08/2017 05:03

I read a piece about travelling through Europe by train recently. What about Italy? Southern France?

Dashper · 17/08/2017 07:35

Look in seat61.com. He has lots of ideas.

NotCitrus · 17/08/2017 08:27

You can get to southern France by Eurostar and one change, and it's incredibly civilised. Is the coast a requirement?

MarmaladeIsMyJam · 17/08/2017 08:30

We go to the south of France on the Eurostar, lots of lovely places to stay!

MarmaladeIsMyJam · 17/08/2017 08:31

Forgot to say, it takes about six hours to get there from London and it's a lovely journey

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