Cheapest route for driving into England

Hi does anybody know the best/cheapest route to take if I want to drive to England? Should I take a ferry, high speed crossing or the channel tunnel. My final destination would be Bournemouth.
Thanks for any help.

AFAIK the ferry is the cheapest esp. if you book a long time in advance. Here's the website for the ferry company P&O.
iirc the crossing from Dover-Calais takes around 4 hrs.

Ferry Prices's a link to a thread about ferry prices.

Here's a link to a thread about ferry crossings.

What do you mean by high speed crossings? Hovercraft, katamarang (sp?) etc?

Aye, the catamaran. Do the hovercrafts still run?

If you are planning to drive there AND back, check out the day return prices compared to a normal return fare.
I usaed to drive to the UK and back once a year and did the calais - dover crossing with catermeran (sp) or hovercraft (hoverspeed.com) and always just booked 2 one day returns and just didnt use the actual returns. It worked out much cheaper that way. Something like 50gbp for a day return (so cost me total 100gbp is crossings) compared to 350gbp or something for a normal return.
(also was good as I get seasickness and the cat or hovercraft only takes 45/60 mins so was doable without being ill or taking tablets...just)

EDIT - the hovercrafts do still run but only in the summer months because of the weather and crossing conditions.

Interesting tip with the day returns. I'll definitely check that out next time!
Otherwise - whenever I've checked - the good old ferry has been cheapest. And even by boat the crossing from Calais takes only about 80 mins, so it's not like you save loads of time by taking any alternative. Unless of course you suffer from motion sickness...
I don't bother with the train any more, did it a couple of times just for the experience, won't do it again in the near future.

the ferry is tonnes cheaper if you travel from Dunkirk to Dover with the brand new-ish Norfolk Line ferries. we payed 65€ return for two of us in a big car over the weekend. at the moment they have some specials on. the ferries run every 2 hours.

I travelled with Norfolk line last month and the crossing (€68 return for car and 4 people) was good value for money. We turned up early for the return journey and got an earlier crossing without extra charge. The crossing is a bit longer on this route which makes a difference if you get seasick.

We used to do the day return thing but when you are leaving Dover or Folkestone in a car with German plates which is fully loaded they guess what you are doing.

I'd be interested to know why you don't take the train, obviously it depends on your destination but if you're heading north it has to be at least an hour quicker, the train takes 30 mins and bring you out much further into England, thus saving having to drive through Dover.

Yes it saves about an hour, including the 10 miles further west it brings you out up the M26 or whichever motorway it is.
Which in a total travelling time of 15 hours makes not enough difference for me. It's also good to be able to get out and get some fresh air and stroll around on deck: the time is not completely dead as it is on the train.

We have driven severel times now the Chunnel is the best but most expensive, speedferries are the cheapest (bologne to dover), but we like seafrance because they have the best restaurant

" We used to do the day return thing but when you are leaving Dover or Folkestone in a car with German plates which is fully loaded they guess what you are doing."

Did you get any hassle for doing this.? Seems a legitimate loophole. What have they got to gripe about.?

Raffles.

I tried booking it myself last time and in their T&C they claim that if you do not use the return ticket they will persue you for the extra to make up what you paid to a standard return. I have no idea if this actually happens or not, if anyone tries it I would be interested to know what happens.

You have to promise to keep this to yourself, but I have been doing this for over 20 years and I have never been charged the extra!

How's the Tunnel more expensive ? It's 30 Euros each way. How much is the ferry ?

Dan

Hovercraft hasn't run for a few years now . Its a shame, as it was a great crossing. ( Too expensive to keep running costs covered. )
I always enjoyed it.

SeaCat ist the best way IMHO...

Try booking a crossing for that price in the next three months. I very much doubt you will get anything at even five times that price.

Cheers for the info Allerhausen... I shall have to see what I can do next time I go across!

Have driven from London to Munich on many occasions and tried ferries from Calais, the Eurotunnel and Norfolk Line from Dunkirque which is the cheapest and in my opinion the best. No boozy daytrippers and really good service as mostly truckers and therefore not such a rip off.

Really? Not when I tried booking it:

Please check your travel details summary.
Going out
(local time) Day/Overnight Fare | Calais to Folkestone | Saturday 22 July 2006
Check-in time 00:27Departure time 00:57Arrival time 00:32 30 € Help: Going Out Time

Coming back
(local time) Day/Overnight Fare | Folkestone to Calais | Sunday 23 July 2006
Check-in time 19:36Departure time 20:06Arrival time 21:41 30 € Help: Coming Back Time

Vehicle details
Car up to 1.85m high

Total cost of travel 60 €

I think these prices only apply when you return on the same weekend though. However, that doesn't stop you from booking two weekend returns I guess. Just wanted to let you know that the tunnel doesn't have to be the most expensive option, depending on how long you're staying in the UK and whether you are flexible concerning time.

Dan

Well I'm driving back to the UK tomorrow and will be trying out the Norfolk line. Price for the car and 2 of us was 63 quid including fuel surcharge which didn't seem bad.

My questions is...

Any suggestions on the route to take... At the moment I'm planning to head up to frankfurt/cologne/brussels/ghent/dunkerque ... Anyone have any recomendation /advise

I am leaving tomorrow afternoon, so traffic will be bad, but I hope to stop over somewhere between Cologne and Brussels. Are there any cheap chain style travel lodges or something like that ? Anyone have any good stoping points ??

Having driven from Munich to Dunkerque in order to cross with the Norfolk Line, we usually go via Aachen, through Belgium and then via Lille. (takes on average 12 hours door to door i.e. Munich - London)

We have previously stayed at the Etap Hotel chain, and I can recommended it if you just want somewhere basic to shower and sleep (spotlessly clean).

THanks.. Will Check that out .. Aachen was roughly where i was heading. .. Roughly , how long is the drive from Achen to Dunkerque ?? approx 2hrs ??

Probably closer to 3 due to the speed limit in Belgium and France (also depending on rush hour around Lille).

You're more than welcome - this is the route we take after having tried others that take longer.

after Aachen, we usually go via Gent then Brugge...usually takes us about 9 hours.
Map24 recommends this route too, and it suggests Aachen to Dunkirk is 3 hours.

The quickest route is definitely Aachen, Luik, Brussels, Brugge, Dunkerque UNLESS you hit the Brussels ring during the rush hour and then it is a mare. It also avoids having to pay motorway tolls in France (the A26 from Belgian border to Calais is free).

I have done Wiesbaden to Calais comfortably in 6 hours doing about 130kmh all the way and stopping for a pee and a burger somewhere. So I would say Aachen to Dunkerque is 3 hours and Calais about 3.5 hours. If you drive a bit quicker and do it non-stop you could probably knock half an hour off those times.

One last tip...petrol in Belgium is really cheap if you fill up away from the motorway services.

I'm heading back to the UK in November, so I was Checking out the prices. If anyone is planning to head back to the UK, this may be of interest

Thursday to Sunday rtn (2 Adults & Car):-

Norflokline via Dunkerque was by far the cheapest €43

Calais with Sea France €110

Eurostar €210

€43 Yoyo's ... "It's a deal, it's a steal, it's the Sale of the fucking Century!"

I use aferry.de and generally find Dunkerque-Dover the cheapest.

I just booked our one for Christmas a bargain at only 85€ return.

The only downside is not as many ferries leaving as from Calais so you cannot always get on an earlier one. Although last time I drove back in the summer this was not a problem we were booked on the midnight ferry but got there early and could go at 22:00. This might not be the case at Christmas though we'll see.

Best route for driving is to take the A65 after Karlsruhe and then go via Landau, Pirmasens, Luxembourg, Namur, Chareleroi, Mons, Lille to Dunkerque. Cheap petrol in Luxembourg, less traffic than the Aachen - Brussels route and at least as quick.

That obviously depends on where you are driving from though I think. Not so good from Frankfurt for example.

Would be from Munich though, which the OP has as their address.

Only thing that puts me off that route, is the first bit of getting from Munich to Karlsruhe. Normally I just take the A9/A3. Even though i set off mid-afternoon, I have never suffered from TRaffic Jams due to volume of Traffic.(Except when actually trying to get out of Munich) Never had a good trip on the A8.. Suppose thats just the way my luck has fallen

We travel back about once per year by car in December, and the last three years we have taken the cat, tunnel and this year it will be ferry.

We always booked the cheapest we could find at the time. So we paid (all returns including any fees).

2005 with the Cat: 150 Euros (doesn't run any more)
2006 with the Tunnel 110 euros
2007 with Norfolk line 82 Euros.

This year we booked later than normal, but got a cheaper price. And norfolk line has the advantage of going from Dunkerque which is about 30/40 kms closer than Calais and less crowded as they are the only operator. The bad thing is that it takes about 15-30mins longer than the Calais ferries and much longer than the tunnel. But after a 4-5 hour journey from Germany I am happy to sit on a comfy ferry reading an english paper for a bit longer before driving another 2 hours.

Here's a little tip for you - you can book the Chunnel online and cross up to 2 hours before or after the time you specify. So you can pick one of the cheap crossing times and cross more or less when you want at no extra cost.

We've done this, too; they're very flexible and pleasant. We can recommend a few nice B&Bs within 20 minutes on either side of the chunnel, if you like that sort of thing:

Castle Cottage Chilham
Le Chateau in Saint Pierrebrouck

The Chilham place was in a very cute little village, absolutely adorable, not far from Canterbury and you can eat at the pub off the square. Dinner at the Chateau in France is well worth the money- the couple that run the place are organic farmers- but bring your own wine.