£1,700 for the ferry to Bilbao!

[PossiblyDreaming]

Then another £1,600 for a week self catering in a caravan at Eurocamp 😱. I thought I’d be good and not fly this year but it’s insanely expensive. I was expecting it to be a bit more than a flight but not that much!

Is there a way to do it much more cheaply? All the ferries from Plymouth are already fully booked so I’ll have to drive an extra 3 hours to Portsmouth already. It’s obviously still popular despite the cost but I’m actually in shock at just how much it is.

Are you in the AA? They do discounts on some ferries.

Is it a Brittany ferries route? M which case you can pay something like £75 and get 30% off all bookings (plus cabins) for a year. Works out worth it even for just one peak time ferry a year we find.

I mean by becoming a Brittany ferries member!

@Notdoingthis no need for it to be Spain, really. I’d just seen a Eurocamp near Biarritz with a water park than my dc would love. It’s only about 90 minutes from Santander so I thought ferry from Plymouth (only half hour drive rather than 3 hours for me to get to Bristol airport or 6 to Heathrow). But then adding in the extra drive needed to Portsmouth plus the cost and time spent actually travelling it’s all a bit pointless.

The train would be an option, we normally pack quite light. I thought the idea of going on a ferry would be more of a novelty and trying to keep dc still and quiet wouldn’t be so much of an issue.

@ajandjjmum

The Bay of Biscay would put me off more than the cost!

Me too 😂

Newhaven to Dieppe is 80 quid one way, then drive down to Biarritz. It's a nice easy drive and the roads are clear, unlike the UK.

The bay of biscay is alright in summer! We drive between the uk and Spain 2-3 times a year and the ferry is too pricey. We drive through France and stop off in park asterix or something similar.

Probably already been suggested but The Sun Holidays offer cheap accommodation and travel. Martin Lewis normally has the discount codes on his site.

We considered doing this, but also found the price was far too high. So we have booked BA flights to Barcelona instead 🤷

Regarding trains they look great though, many of them are double deckers. Great looking buffet carts. Views.

We always used to do ferry and Eurocamp as a holiday as kids as it was the cheapest way of going abroad. Obviously not the case anymore!

@Lineofconcepcion it would be a 5 hour drive on a good day for us to get up to Newhaven though

Brittany ferries did do an economy ferry to Bilbao which was much cheaper. Not sure it is still running. It was a no-frills crossing with no entertainment etc.

@raspberryjamchicken it looked like there were only 2 crossings a week, both fairly similarly priced. I wouldn’t be fussed about entertainment/ whatever other extras are needed. I’d like a cabin just because it’s nice to have you’re own place to retreat to which you can’t really do with those recliner chairs. When we used to do it as kids my dad wouldn’t even stump up for the chairs and we used to sleep on coats on the floor of the bar. Probably not allowed these days!

They might not be offering it any more. They have a brand new ship for the Spanish crossings so probably want to use that. You could try calling them up - they are quite helpful on the phone IME.