Ferry or Chunnel?
Aug 26th, 2006 | 02:34 AM
#1
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 64
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Ferry or Chunnel?
The vagaries of air travel being what they are these days, particularly flying out of Stanstead, I am considering going by car from London to the Beynac/Sarlat area. Has anyone done this recently? Any suggestions? Chunnel/surface ferries? Grateful for input.
Aug 26th, 2006 | 10:20 PM
#3
Joined: Apr 2003
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Your use of words and spelling imply you don't live here. If so, you'll find hiring a car for this journey a serious pain: you'll either pay a stonking surcharge for taking a UK-hired car out of the country, or have to use the Hertz le swap system, picking up an LHD car at the Calais exit from the Channel Tunnel, as it's known in English.
For a visitor, the train might well be a less messy alternative, connections sometimes being available at Lille, though most require you to change stations in Paris. Check at the SNCF site
If you have your own car, you might find the ferry from Portsmouth to Caen (or Cherbourg, though this requires an hour or so driving through Normandy before you hit the motorway system) a pleasanter alternative to a Calais ferry.
Ferry vs tunnel is mostly a cost argument: the normal Calais ferry is too short a journey to have much going for it, but normally adds about 90 mins, net, to the tunnel journey time. Plug your dates and times into the websites and see the cost differences - though the Tunnel gets pretty cheap very early in the morning.
Incidentally, plane fares from Southampton or Birmingham to the Dordogne are normally a very great deal cheaper than from airports with a "London" prefix. For many people in Greater London, Southampton airport is actually easier (direct trains from Waterloo and subsequent stations) to get to than Stansted
For a visitor, the train might well be a less messy alternative, connections sometimes being available at Lille, though most require you to change stations in Paris. Check at the SNCF site
If you have your own car, you might find the ferry from Portsmouth to Caen (or Cherbourg, though this requires an hour or so driving through Normandy before you hit the motorway system) a pleasanter alternative to a Calais ferry.
Ferry vs tunnel is mostly a cost argument: the normal Calais ferry is too short a journey to have much going for it, but normally adds about 90 mins, net, to the tunnel journey time. Plug your dates and times into the websites and see the cost differences - though the Tunnel gets pretty cheap very early in the morning.
Incidentally, plane fares from Southampton or Birmingham to the Dordogne are normally a very great deal cheaper than from airports with a "London" prefix. For many people in Greater London, Southampton airport is actually easier (direct trains from Waterloo and subsequent stations) to get to than Stansted
Aug 27th, 2006 | 02:34 AM
#4
Original Poster
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 64
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Thanks ira and flanneruk. Both your replies are very helpful to me; lots of food for thought. Flanneruk is right- I don't live in the UK altho I do spend a lot of time there. I am a Canadian living in Hong Kong with a "residence secondaire" in Vezac. My usual route is Stanstead/Begerac (or BA to Toulouse or Bordeaux if Ryanair schedule doesn't suit) and then a Hertz to Vezac. Thanks both of you for the quick replies.
