Fly or drive to the Dordogne....

[Stickaforkinimdone]

We've booked a 4 night break to the Dordogne in May and I'm now stressing a bit about travel arrangements

Wondered if anyone else has been to the region and if so how you got there?

Options as far as I can see are

1. Fly to Bordeaux/Bergerac/Toulouse and then hire a car, however this is the most expensive option
2. Drive to Portsmouth and get the ferry to St Malo and then drive approx 5 hours to where we're staying, this is a long option though and probably involves additional nights in a hotel plus the ferry takes forever. Also not cheap
3. Get the Shuttle to Calais and drive down-approx 8 hours so we'd do it over 2 days, again would mean additional nights in a hotel, cheapest option by far but labour intensive in terms of the driving

DCs will be 3 and under 1 so there's never going to be an obviously easy option 😆

So, WWYD? Any advice/experience much appreciated!

Fly and drive...we have done the ferry and 8 hour option...not worth it in my opinion...so much easier to fly in and start your holiday straight away.

Depends how much stuff you are taking!

We drove last summer with our 1.5 and 5 yr olds. But we went for a fortnight. And took a LOT of stuff, including duvets and towels.

We always drive, but we go for two weeks and take a lot of stuff. If it's a short break, I'd probably fly/drive.

We have been to the Dordogne numerous times and always driven. Last time we went we flew into Brive. We will not be driving again! Flying was much better and less stressful. If you're only going for four nights do you really want to spend days travelling? By the time you factor in fuel, tolls, wear on the car, ferries and overnight hotel stays flying and car hire wasn't anymore expensive.

We drove with friends via the Calais option so we could bring back lots of wine! But it's a hell of a journey and all agreed not worth it/ waste of time as we didn't stop to see any sights en route and would not do it again. I know friends who do if going for two weeks as you can take unlimited baggage but it feels a lot for four nights.