Ferry to Spain (northern)
- Thread starter Speleotron
- Start date
badger
Active member
going to bore people with details, ferries and travel to matienzo.
economy versus practical.
if driving the best way to my mind is Brittany ferries Portsmouth/Plymouth to bilbao/Santander . it is also the most expensive option.
the next economy wise is to fly/hire car.
now for economy versus mileage versus time. when you do the sums of distance saved from going Portsmouth caen/st malo, versus cost and time on the ferry, to me does not make any sense to go this route, mileage saved is minimal, time lost due to time on the water is far greater than driving Calais down.
econmy is Calais driving, ferries/train are very competetive far competetive than Portsmouth or even Dieppe route. going caen saves less than 200 km, and even on the quick boat is 4 hours. from north to south distance to Portsmouth or dover is very similar. you can get an early evening ferry and with 2 drivers be in matienzo mid morning. so for me I can not see any advantage of using any of the channel ports, you don't save enough mileage to make it worth the time lost on the sea and the extra expense of the crossing
from sussex I used 1 1/4 tanks of fuel to reach matienzo. going from dover. approx. 1000miles, and only the little bit before dover and the bit from coast to matienzo is not on motorways, you could also stop over some very cheap rooms can be had if you look around and book in advance
economy versus practical.
if driving the best way to my mind is Brittany ferries Portsmouth/Plymouth to bilbao/Santander . it is also the most expensive option.
the next economy wise is to fly/hire car.
now for economy versus mileage versus time. when you do the sums of distance saved from going Portsmouth caen/st malo, versus cost and time on the ferry, to me does not make any sense to go this route, mileage saved is minimal, time lost due to time on the water is far greater than driving Calais down.
econmy is Calais driving, ferries/train are very competetive far competetive than Portsmouth or even Dieppe route. going caen saves less than 200 km, and even on the quick boat is 4 hours. from north to south distance to Portsmouth or dover is very similar. you can get an early evening ferry and with 2 drivers be in matienzo mid morning. so for me I can not see any advantage of using any of the channel ports, you don't save enough mileage to make it worth the time lost on the sea and the extra expense of the crossing
from sussex I used 1 1/4 tanks of fuel to reach matienzo. going from dover. approx. 1000miles, and only the little bit before dover and the bit from coast to matienzo is not on motorways, you could also stop over some very cheap rooms can be had if you look around and book in advance
Alex
Well-known member
The tolls are blooming expensive though and seem to be missing from your calculations. It must be about 150 Euros each way.
If however the choice is between flying/driving:
As for flying/car hire. As the matienzo expo runs in school holidays a return flight is normally 200 per person, so that's 600 for 3 of you before doing car hire. For car hire for 2 weeks that's another 350, plus you are stuck with a crappy fiat or something. So for 3 people, going by Ferry for a total of 800 + fuel of 80 divided by 3 is actually the cheaper option (880 compared to 950) and is by far the less stressful option. However, on the flip side flying does get you approx two more days caving if you fly. On the other flip side though the amount of gear you can take with you if flying is far less.
So yes if there is only 2 of you fly, but if you can get a third I still recommend ferry despite it being slightly more expensive than driving all the way there.
Note the following figures are in Euros.
Drive all the way
700 Euros (150x2 tolls each way + 100x2 for fuel each way + 100x2 for ferry crossing).
350 per person if 2.
233 per person if 3.
Ferry
880 Euros (800 + 80 fuel)
440 per person if 2.
294 per person if 3.
Fly and hire
750 for 2 (400 for flights + 350 for car hire).
950 for 3.
375 per person if 2.
316 per person if 3.
If however the choice is between flying/driving:
As for flying/car hire. As the matienzo expo runs in school holidays a return flight is normally 200 per person, so that's 600 for 3 of you before doing car hire. For car hire for 2 weeks that's another 350, plus you are stuck with a crappy fiat or something. So for 3 people, going by Ferry for a total of 800 + fuel of 80 divided by 3 is actually the cheaper option (880 compared to 950) and is by far the less stressful option. However, on the flip side flying does get you approx two more days caving if you fly. On the other flip side though the amount of gear you can take with you if flying is far less.
So yes if there is only 2 of you fly, but if you can get a third I still recommend ferry despite it being slightly more expensive than driving all the way there.
Note the following figures are in Euros.
Drive all the way
700 Euros (150x2 tolls each way + 100x2 for fuel each way + 100x2 for ferry crossing).
350 per person if 2.
233 per person if 3.
Ferry
880 Euros (800 + 80 fuel)
440 per person if 2.
294 per person if 3.
Fly and hire
750 for 2 (400 for flights + 350 for car hire).
950 for 3.
375 per person if 2.
316 per person if 3.
badger
Active member
and to be honest my reply was more to do with using the French channel ports, the offset of less mileage in my mind is not enough to not drive from Calais when you take in cost of ferry, cost of fuel, cost of time and mileage you lose, if you take all those factors into account then the sensible is to drive from Calais, the costs when I worked them out was a much bigger saving than your workings, but then in the summer I don't think I have ever had a sailing on the Santander ferry less than a 1000. the last time it was 1400. but then there was no economy cabins left on the way back.
ideally if you was driving from Calais or span ferry I would think you would want to aim for 4 in the car.
ideally if you was driving from Calais or span ferry I would think you would want to aim for 4 in the car.
badger
Active member
not sure that is 100% right, unless you add time into it. last for me driving via Calais travel costs (not including wear and tear costs) ferry, fuel and tolls was only ?150.00 per person.
one of the benefits from a dover/Calais or tunnel is it is a very competitive route and you can pick up some really good deals. last time I went across for a long weekend 4 days cost only 75.00.
a quick check and you can get a return crossing in august for 114.00. and you could probably get that cheaper if you checked less popular crossing times
that would work out at about 170.00 for 4 people
one of the benefits from a dover/Calais or tunnel is it is a very competitive route and you can pick up some really good deals. last time I went across for a long weekend 4 days cost only 75.00.
a quick check and you can get a return crossing in august for 114.00. and you could probably get that cheaper if you checked less popular crossing times
that would work out at about 170.00 for 4 people
