Holidays by ferry from Newcastle?

[museumum]

I'm being driven crazy by all the pics of self-drive holidays in France that my English friends are on. Has anyone here taken a Ferry from Newcastle to the Netherlands or Belgium or Scandinavia? Or are there other Ferries from Scotland to the Continent? We have a Campervan so very keen to self drive somewhere next year (this year were going to Arisaig/Skye/Harris)

We've taken the ferry from Newcastle to Ijmuiden. From there it is a 20/30 minute drive to Amsterdam.

We have had crossings that are rough but in summer it shouldn't be too bad. It is an overnight crossing so worth booking a cabin. The 'deluxe' cabins are worth the extra as you can get 4 in one cabin and you get a voucher for your breakfast.

One thing to avoid is the eat all you can buffet! We made that mistake on our first crossing (and first real experience of sea sickness). From memory the service desk will give you sea sickness tablets.

There is entertainment on board, a small soft play and a cinema as well as duty free shopping.

As to travelling onto France you can't really avoid the tolls and you'll be hitting the same routes that all the Dutch, Belgians and some Germans will use. That can be grim but if you time your holiday well these can be avoided.

There are some nice Centreparcs in Holland; you could easily spend a fortnight's holiday within 200 miles of the port.

What about Hull? Or is it too far to drive to from where you are?

4.5-5hrs to hull. It's ok but add the ferry then a drive the other end and it could be a bit much.

We've gone Aberdeen to Norway via Orkney and Shetland and Newcastle to Malmö.
But 15 years ago- both great but the food was rubbish on the Scottish one!

We did a cruise to the. Norwegian Fjords from the Post of Tyne, it was brilliant. Adult only so perhaps not that much help

Malmö I'd love to go to!
:)

From Malmö you can access some really beautiful parts of Sweden in a very short time.

Unfortunately I can't see any current ferries to Malmo.

It has to be Amsterdam. So where would you go from there? Belgium? Germany? Denmark? Any suggestions? Happy to "road trip" around but would prefer to stick to 1-2hrs max driving per day.

We live in Germany and have done the Amsterdam/Newcastle ferry a few times. We really enjoy it. I have to get doped up for seasickness but we use those wristbands and they help the kids from feeling dodgy. We don't mind the buffet, careful choices and going early works for us.

We've driven to Paris. You can avoid toll roads if you programme it into your GPS. Stuttgart to Paris is about 5/6 hours on the toll roads with tolls around €40/50.

Stuttgart to Amsterdam is about 6 hours. Parking in Amsterdam is a nightmare!

DFDS used to do a ferry from Newcastle to Norway (Kristiansand I think) & then Sweden (not Malmo - think it was Gothenburg) which we travelled on 13 years ago, but they don't any more.

My DB took his camper this year (he lives in the NE), presumably to Amsterdam, then up through Denmark & to Sweden & Norway. There are local ferries, eg from Frederikshavn (Denmark) to Oslo or Gothenburg.

According to google it's about 10 hrs drive from Ijmuiden to Frederikshavn but you could break the journey in Billund & go to Danish Legoland which is lovely (esp in August after their schools have gone back)

From Gothenburg you could drive S along the Swedish coast to Malmo & then hop across the bits of Denmark - there are bridges between them. The very very long bridge between Malmo & Denmark (the one in The Bridge ) is expensive though, I think DB got a ferry instead.

Theone

I must be thinking of the time we arrived at Newcastle a day late and had to go from Harwich the following week.

Id love to go to Denmatk and Sweden but I'm pretty sure the only ferry is to Amsterdam. So we might make it to Danish legoland but maybe no further.
When do the Danish kids get off school? (We're thinking of going in May)

I believe you can get a ferry from Immingham to Brevik. It's a freight ferry thugh, so I wouldn't expect a cinema...
freight.dfdsseaways.com/dfds_ferries/north_sea_ferries/brevik_immingham_ferries/

These were this year's holiday dates in Denmark, museumum - apparently the long summer holiday always starts on the last Sat in June. They do have a short break in May.

I just looked at the Legoland website though, & they offer school trips on weekdays in term time, so it could still be busy; but we went in mid-August iirc & it was really quiet.

Yes, I think the only ferry these days (other than the Immingham one ItsAll mentions) is Newcastle-IJmuiden, which is a real shame. Even the Harwich-Esbjerg one isn't running any more, not that you'd want to drive all the way there anyway.

As you're camper vanning I'd be tempted to go over to IJmuiden and from there up to Denmark at a leisurely pace.