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Holidays

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

Flight free holiday ideas

14 replies

WheelySquirrel · 25/03/2024 11:27

Hello,
Im after suggestions for flight free holidays abroad in August. We want to avoid Eurostar to or through Paris because of the Olympics and we did the Netherlands last year but other than that any suggestions welcome! Probably looking for about a week, maybe up to 10 days.
Please share your train/ferry/driving success stories!
Thanks

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MaloneMeadow · 25/03/2024 12:26

You could do the ferry to Spain and on towards Portugal/France/Italy etc from there.. beware though that the Bay of Biscay crossing is notoriously rough and you may live to regret not just hopping on a flight or braving the Eurostar!!

User2123 · 25/03/2024 12:31

If you want to avoid Paris completely, your best bet would probably be Eurostar to Brussels and then onwards from there. Do you have a particular destination in mind? Do you want to be in one place for the whole week or move on every few days? The Man in Seat 61 website will give you all the information you need for planning a trip around Europe by train.

Or something completely different, you could take the train down to Penzance then the ferry across to the Scilly Isles. Or ferry from Poole/Portsmouth to the Channel Islands?

WheelySquirrel · 25/03/2024 12:50

@User2123 We love the Seat61 website! Just haven’t found anywhere that completely hits the spot yet.

Interesting suggestion to do Scilly isles or Channel Islands though - I think there’s a lot to see and do on Jersey in particular.

@MaloneMeadow Thank you - to add another fussy requirement, we don’t love super hot weather so I think Spain/Poetugal would be too hot for us in August. I’ll keep that suggestion in mind for an Easter break another year though!

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MinnieMountain · 25/03/2024 13:34

Saas-Fee. Stay in the Wellness4000 hostel.

neerg · 25/03/2024 16:15

Definitely itely Northern Spain! Not to hot and beautiful. And you can get there on a ferry.its where lots of people from Madrid go to get away from the heat!

rainbowstardrops · 25/03/2024 16:29

I'm interested in this too! Terrified of flying, well, travelling in general really but I'd really like to go somewhere!

LipstickLil · 25/03/2024 16:40

Ferry or Eurostar to Belgium
Ferry to Ireland
Ferry to Western Isles, Orkney or Shetland Is.
Ferry to the northern French coast (Dunkerque, Calais, Boulogne, Dieppe, Le Havre, Ouistreham, St Malo)
Ferry to Scilly Isles/Channel Is
Ferry to Santander or Bilbao
Eurostar to Lille and switch to TGV or go across to Germany

fungipie · 25/03/2024 16:42

Direct trains to Prague from St Pancras this year.

Lovepeaceunderstanding · 25/03/2024 16:43

Cruise from the U.K.

BathTangle · 25/03/2024 16:47

Eurostar to Brussels, train via Cologne to Basel, down through to SE Switzerland (Rhaetian Alps/ St Moritz), on to Italy.

crackofdoom · 25/03/2024 16:55

All our holidays are flight free. We have done:

Tour de France in the car (Portsmouth- Caen, a couple of days in Chartres with a day trip to Paris, the Auvergne, the Loire Valley, Nantes, Brittany, Roscoff- Plymouth)

Interrailing (Brussels- Innsbruck- Venice- Rome- Genova- Nice- Paris).

Various other trips to France in the car
This year we're doing Plymouth- Roscoff then driving down through France to the Spanish Pyrenees, then the Picos de Europa via Bilbao, then Santander- Plymouth.

I've also wanted to do a tour of the Alps for a while.

If you Interrail (or just buy single train tickets) you can go to Brussels, Amsterdam or Lille if you want to avoid Paris (when do the Olympics end, anyway? I thought they were mostly in July). Lots of TGVs go from Lille- I know there's a direct one to Marseille, for example.

If I was going to go Interrailing with the kids again I'd go in the summer holidays and do Northern and Eastern Europe, sticking to smaller, less touristy destinations (they specifically wanted to go to Italy last time).

Northern Spain is not supposed to be too hot- in fact, I'm hoping it's not going to be too rainy!! If you want to take the ferry there be sure to book good and early though, because the crossings are very popular.

WhatWouldYouDo25 · 25/03/2024 16:56

Centre Parcs Belgium if you have kids. Ferry from Dover to Calais

crackofdoom · 25/03/2024 17:00

fungipie
No direct trains to Prague from St Pancras- if only!! Are you thinking about the new sleeper train from Amsterdam/ Brussels to Berlin/ Prague??

WheelySquirrel · 25/03/2024 17:57

Thanks all. We had got pretty close to booking Belgium but I don’t think we’re quite excited enough by it yet, I think I need to do a bit more research though. Appreciate all the suggestions as they’ve all given me food for thought.

For those also looking for inspiration, I can highly recommend the Netherlands by train 🚆- loads to see and do and super easy to travel round.

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