bigdog12345

Hi,
Myself and 3 friends are considering a small road trip for New Year from the UK into northern Europe. Departing on December 29th and returning January 3rd.

We are on a budget. Driving and using ferries seems much cheaper than getting the Eurostar. Ideally we would like one or 2 nights somewhere quite rural and interesting with a bit of a party night for New Year's eve. Although we would like to avoid very touristy places.

Does anyone have any suggestions or advice? Would be much appreciated!

Thanks

Rupert

bilboburgler

There are ferries to Zeeland. Middleborg is small enough to be almost country and there will be parties. Try it.

If you want bigger then maybe take a train further into Holland

ribeirasacra

Do you have your own car? If not then you may find it almost impossible to take a UK hire car out of the country.

bigdog12345

Hi bilboburgler, Middleborg looks great, will investigate that thanks!

Hi ribeirasacra, Yes we have our own car.

Thansk for the input, does anyone else have any other suggestions?

bilboburgler

The north of Belgium is a bit cold and closed up at this time, some of the towns are really beach resorts.

You could try Caen in Normandy or St Malo in Britany but I don't think they will be that great IMO.

Dutch train system could take you further or you could drive into Germany. So you could make a nice Mosel town such at Traub and Trabach but its an 8 hour drive.

Epernay might be worth an 8 hour drive. Not sure what party time is like there but there will be fizz

Lifeman

The first thing to recognise is that four days will not take you very far into the European mainland and actually see anything.

The second thing to realise is that unless you book hotels now for the Christmas period, you won't get in anywhere, especially for New Year's Eve.

Try Reims as a base--it's Northern France, not far from Calais. It has a good choice of hotels and is obviously close to the Champagne route. What better way to celebrate New Year's Eve than with good champagne--if you can get in.

hetismij

There are only freight ferries to Zeeland (Vlissingen).

Middelburg, not Middelborg, is nice but whether there is enough to do there is another question. You could always go in to Rotterdam for NYE I suppose.

Or stay in one of the small towns near Amsterdam and go there for NYE maybe.

You could get a ferry to Zeebrugge and head for the Ardennes. You may even be lucky and get some snow. Not sure what the party would be like though.

Many hotels along the Mosel are closed all winter, partly due to the fact the river still floods in winter, and partly because they make enough all summer not to have to open in the winter.

bigdog12345

Wow this is a very useful website! Thanks again for the advice.
I do realise that 4 days isnt long enough to get very far so the suggestions of good places to go within 1000 miles of London are most useful.

Any other thoughts or tips please keep them coming!

john61

new years eve in Amsterdam could be quite interesting!

stfc

1000 miles? You can get to Austria for 1000 miles. Helluva way in 2 days though. I would just stick to Northern Europe. The combination of 'a bit rural' and 'with a bit of a party' stretches the imagination though.

Liège and the Ardennes are reachable, for my input. Don't know what happens at New Year.

bratsandbeer

Go on www.viamichelin.com and check out the mileage and time to various cities or towns.

Stockholm is 1823 km from London. Driving time is 19 hours and 28 minutes. Copenhagen is on the route.

hsv

I like your spirit of not being shy of some driving.
I think you already have received an interesting proposal of staying somewhere outside Amsterdam and then commute for the party into the city. I am not familiar enough with this, so cannot advise further.

If, on the other hand, you really are up for more driving, you could consider staying in one of the German Baltic Sea side resorts (probably not in the East as this gets very far).
Timmendorfer Strand near Luebeck is a slightly fancy weekend destination for people from Hamburg. It's not too lively during the winter, but not dead either, should have various sorts of accomodation available, has a few cafes that should be open and a beach for hang-over-curing walks.

Luebeck is in close vicinity, which offers a pretty neat medieval hanseatic old town and a few good restaurants.
And if you are in for a serious night out, Hamburg is only 45 minutes by car and has some of Germany's best nightlife, apart from other attractions.

Driving distance is about 700 miles and driving time from London to Hamburg is approx. 11 hours including the ferry between either Dover and Calais or Dover and Dunkirk. This implies hardly any stops (basically only refuels) and exceeding the speed limit in Belgium, France and the Netherlands slightly at 140 km/h and maxing it out in Germany.
It is a bit of a drive, but feasible.

KayF

Bearing in mind the short timeframe and short days as well, because it's mid-winter, I'd stick to the northern area of France or possibly Belgium. What about somewhere on the coast first then Lille for NYE? We were there briefly one Christmas and they had a huge ferris wheel set up, lights, market etc. Lots of places to eat as well.

Or you could check out what goes on in Brugge or Ghent for NYE. Both are beautiful places with great food and friendly people.

We caught the ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo and thought St Malo was a wonderful place, but that was in summer. I think it would be very different in the cold and rain, maybe even a little forbidding with all that grey stone.

Kay

julia_t

I've driven from England - Dover-Calais - and then on to Belgium (Brussels and Brugge) for a few days, and also from various English ports to various French ports for usually a stay of around a week in parts of Brittany and Normandy.

So where are you planning to depart England from? It's about an hour if you go Dover-Calais on the ferry, about the same on Eurostar from Ashford.

If you are thinking about going from somewhere like Portsmouth then you get a longer ferry crossing, but you get to Caen or Cherbourg (maybe this is from Poole?), Le Havre or St Malo.

You can also go from Harwich over to Zeebrugge or Ostende, Plymouth to Roscoff, so can you post back to let us know where you are thinking of travelling from? At the moment you have a lot of options, and until you narrow them down it is hard for us to advise you!

hsv

"It's about an hour if you go Dover-Calais on the ferry."

It's rather 90 min. - 2 hours. You gain an hour, though on your return from the continent due to time difference, but you lose that hour going over. Also you have to factor in approx. 30 min. waiting time (minimum) prior to departure.

"You can also go from Harwich over to Zeebrugge or Ostende."

Sailings from Harwich depart for Hook in Holland (Stena Line) and Esbjerg at the tip of the Jutland peninsula in mainland Denmark (DFDS on a Ro/Pax combi ferry). There is a ferry from Harwich to Oostende, but that's freight-only as far as I am aware.

If you want to land in Zeebrugge, sailings would be from either Hull (P&O) or Rosyth (Norfolkline).

Oostende can be reached from Ramsgate (TransEuropa Ferries).

Dutch Ports can be reached from Newcastle (to Amsterdam on DFDS) or from Hull (to Rotterdam on P&O).

Ferries Dover - Calais:
http://www.poferries.com/tourist/
http://www.seafrance.com/cs/Satellit...te%3DSF_Pax_Co

Ferries Dover - Dunkirk and Rosyth - Zeebrugge
http://www.norfolkline.com/ferry/

Ferries Harwich - Hook:
http://www.stenaline.co.uk/ferry/

Ferries Harwich - Esbjerg and Newcastle - Amsterdam:
http://www.dfdsseaways.co.uk/

Ferries Ramsgate - Oostende:
http://www.transeuropaferries.com/

Ferries Hull - Zeebrugge and Hull - Rotterdam:
http://www.poferries.com/tourist/

bigdog12345

Thanks again for all the advice.

I realise it is ambitious to do so much driving in such a short space of time but there will be a few of us sharing it. It's also quite satisfying driving outside the UK and actually getting somewhere for once! The roads in Britain are so poor in comparison.

I do like the idea of getting over to somewhere near Hamburg. I have done that drive before and it wasnt too bad at all.

Thanks for the ferry info and links - much appreciated. I think Dover to Calais still seems the quickest although we could also go from Harwich.

This online community really is the most helpful I've come across. I'm going to see if there are any topics I can add to.

hsv

From London, Dover-Calais or Dover Dunkirk are indeed the most sensible options if going towards Northern mainland Europe in my opinion. Driving times to almost anywhere else in the UK make the trip unnecessarily long.
It sometimes is possible to save substantially on the ferry prices if you opt for Dunkirk instead of Calais. It costs you only about 15 min. time-wise (30 min. longer passage, but approx. 15 min. less driving on the mainland) and thus potential savings may justify that route (sailings only every 2 hours, though).

hsv

BTW, I don't know if this still qualifies as Northern Europe, but you could also consider to stay in the Tegernsee area outside Munich. The scenery in winter is quite nice, there is a lake and there are mountains for skiing and it's just a quick drive into Munich for an evening out.

bilboburgler

try www.ferrysavers.co.uk

Jay_G

How about Scandinavia? A ferry Harwich to Esbjerg, then a roughly three-hour drive on to Copenhagen.

I think the crossing is overnight, so you shouldn't end up with too much dead time and could arrive ready for the short drive, suitably rested.

It doesn't really cover the 'rural' part of your plan I know, but I suppose you could stop off wherever you fancy en route and Copenhagen would be good for New Year's Eve. The womenfolk of Denmark are also very easy on the eye if that's part of your considerations...