UK to France with the Ferry

[Vienaindy]

Is anyone aware of a good map (interactive, maybe?) with all the ferries that go from the UK to the Netherlands and France?

I want to travel around Europe with my kids, and I would like to start the trip with a nice ferry ride. I can't seem to find a good map with a good, complete overview.

Anyone have experience with planning a trip like this?

This is a good map on the Green Traveller website. What is your definition of a nice ferry ride? Dover to Calais/Dunkirk is short and quite business like but cheap. You do get the classic view of the White Cliffs though. The western Channel crossings are longer and more time on board (or time saving if you go overnight) but are more expensive. (I’ve used Brittany Ferries from Portsmouth a lot so can answer questions about these routes.)

Not aware of a whole overview map but the ferry companies are

DFDS - www.dfds.com/en-gb/passenger-ferries/ferry-crossings
Routes: Dover-Calais, Dover-Dunkirk, Newhaven-Dieppe and Newcastle-Amsterdam

Stena - www.stenaline.co.uk/routes/harwich-hook-of-holland
Route: Harwich-Hook of Holland

Britanny Ferries - www.brittany-ferries.co.uk/ferry-routes/ferries-france
Routes: Portsmouth-Caen, Portsmouth-St Malo, Plymouth-Roscoff, Poole-Cherbourg, Portsmouth-Le Havre, Portsmouth-Cherbourg

P&O - www.poferries.com/en#route
Routes: Dover-Calais, Hull-Rotterdam

Irish Ferries - www.irishferries.com/uk-en/routes-and-times/dover-calais/
Route: Dover-Calais

In terms of which is best - it depends where you are starting from and where you want to go.

If you are starting in the South of England routes like Dover-Calais/Dunkirk are only a short 1.5-2 hours crossing and then you can be in the Netherlands within about 3 hours driving. If you are near Essex then the Harwich route is good because its gets you straight to Holland.

Alternatively the Britanny Ferries routes are much longer (6hours plus). They have childrens entertainers etc on the daytime crossings but are best for the west of France or if driving to the South/centre.

If coming from the North the Newcastle/ Hull routes are good as you dont have to travel South first .

Overnight routes can be fun but in my experience arent very good for getting a good nights sleep for children and adults as you tend to leave late and arrive very early which may not be the best conditions for a long onward drive. Also the cabins can be on the compact side!

In terms of cost the shorter routes are cheaper although bizarrely when I was looking recently cheapest seems to be Newhaven-Dieppe. The Britanny Ferries routes are more expensive but you get a better experience.

We use the ferries quite a lot and live within a 15 minute drive of Portsmouth port so its really convenient for us to go on the Britanny and the roads are generally better in France/ Belgium/Netherland so you can cover longer distances easily.

I think @Carolineer has got all of them. We’re Netherlands fans and there is just the three routes there that are mentioned. None to Belgium anymore don’t think. Harwich-Hoek is a good boat but getting to Harwich is a mission depending on where you are.

Brittany ferries boats best of all but expensive and best for for western or southern France really

depends what you want to do.
I used to do the overnight crossings between Rotterdam and Hull because it was the least driving for me on each side. Nice big boat, activities for the kids and the excitement of sleeping in a cabin.
but I'm boycotting P&O after they fired everyone by zoom and rehired cheaper crews.

Harwich - Hook of Holland is about 7 hours. Overnight irritating because it's not really enough time to sleep in your cabin, and over the day it's too long and you do all the exciting things early on then the DCs get bored.

ETA: also agree with pp that getting to Harwich is a toil that isn't worth the effort.

I currently do Dover-Dunquerke (shorter drive for me on the European side) which is 2 hours, so not enough time to get really bored, there are things to do for the kids (including a treasure hunt thing - not done it but seen the signs) and if anyone gets seasick, you don't generally have to put up with it for long. Also has the advantage that if you book, say, 2pm you can get on the 10am, noon, 16 sailings with no extra charge if there is room. Same for Calais.

"Also has the advantage that if you book, say, 2pm you can get on the 10am, noon, 16 sailings with no extra charge if there is room. Same for Calais."

Yes this is a good point - Dover is the only port which has the regular sailings allowing you flexibility to vary your journey according to arrival time (nothing worse than having to wait hours for the boat at the port because anticipated delays didnt occur)

i drive from Germany to UK several times a year, and this is one of the reasons (apart from boycotting P&O) that i take this route. It takes me around 3.5 hours to drive to Dunquerke so i book the 2pm and try to arrive around 11:30 to get the 12 ferry. It has only not worked once, and that was when i didn't realise we were travelling to the UK on the last weekend of the school holidays, so had to wait for the 2pm that we had actually booked. (I have a 5 hour drive on the other side, so it's not too much of a pain)

Going home i book the 4pm and aim to arrive at 1:30 for the 2pm. That usually works. don't let your google maps frighten you into thinking there is a huge amount of traffic, it sees all the lorries waiting, but cars go in a different lane and can whizz by them.

I seek the longer routes that cross the Channel. Portsmouth is interesting though. I wish there were a good total map, though to play around with and to see what's out there.