Driving or flying to France with a baby

[JuneM]

I would love some advice ...

Planning a trip to France and looking at driving (ie eurotunnel at Dover where we are about 2.5 hours away) then it's an extra 10 hours partially on toll roads so we would probably stay one night in a location along the route. We will be in France for a couple of weeks

We will have a baby who will be 9 months when we travel and a dog ... is this a ridiculous idea?
Has anyone done it before?
I'm a FTM so would love some advice.

I know babies cannot be in car seats for more than 2 hours so of course there would be a lot of stopping / feeding / nappy changing etc...

If we fly the dog would stay at home!

Thank you!

@InTheRainOnATrain

I use the overnight ferry whichever side, I live west of Portsmouth though

I've travelled similar distances to the dordogne regularly since mine were babies. I've always found driving far more pleasant as long as you factor in the extended journey time from all the stops - their 'aires' are excellent, even the minor ones will have a place to sit and picnic/exercise the dog away from the road. The best have playgrounds and nice clean facilities. Flying, though quicker has always proved far more taxing, it's so hard to get everything you need for a family in cases and then you've still got to hire a car at the other end when you're frazzled from the flight.

It's quicker to Cannes for example from Ouistreham than from Calais. Only about half an hour, but quicker.

I'd drive.

I like the control it gives me.

What would happen to the dog if you flew?

Yes but the journey is about 8 hours on that ferry versus 35 minutes on the Eurotunnel meaning there’s no scenario where getting to Cannes via the Eurotunnel isn’t significantly quicker, especially given that Folkestone is only about 2 hours from Portsmouth. I could see that getting a good night’s sleep and starting the day fresh in France could be good though, but that’s if you can sleep. I did it a couple of times as a kid to visit family in Bordeaux and all I remember is how uncomfortable it was, and once how they weren’t sure if someone jumped off so alarms going off at 3am, ship doing a sharp turn that sent everyone flying then having to go to the restaurant to be counted. Awful!

Yeah, it's horses for courses really. The crossing is longer but it's spent sleeping so doesn't really feel like wasted time. We've had the odd slightly rough crossing, but Ive always slept well. Not come across a ferry doing a sharp turn, they're so ponderous normally, hopefully that's really rare!

The real bonus we find is not going anywhere near Paris. We live between the UK and France so are used to driving in France, but Paris is another level

Just going back to the OP, do get a toll tag for the car, it saves so much faffing, you can just drive through the toll gates marked 't'. So much better than queuing and that worry we all have of not being able to reach the machine to pay!

I've driven and would never do it again 😭 Certainly not with my DD. IMO driving is if you have loads of time to enjoy scenery and chilled out occupants (and comfy seats, AC, etc).

Drive. We did it for years years when my parents had a place in the SW coast with DTs, ddog and sometimes mil as well. We could take everything we needed, the car used to be rammed, bikes on the back, roof box as well. we would go for 3 or 4 weeks at a time.

16 hours door to door aways did it in one go, kids are as a result excellent on long journeys.

Did cheshire to near Reims with dd at 11 months old. Had a Dover Calais crossing. No problems at all. Took the travel cot and a floaties rubber ring that we used as a bath in the shower tray. We bought french baby food as well as eating ordinary food. We found thé french ones were 1 stage behind UK ones in terms of lumpiness so much more puréed.

We drove every year often twice a year from 7 months old onwards. So much easier than flying with 4 kids.

I think it’s completely based on the babies temperament. I could with my Daughter and drove to Europe frequently. I couldn’t and wouldn’t with my son as he’d struggle. Happy travels whichever you decide xx

I missed that you might take the dog. Do consider the cost (outrageous) of a dog passport post Brexit. And if you’re going in the summer it may well be too hot for dog. May also restrict where you can stay.