Travelling abroad with a caravan is not for everyone, but it is becoming more popular. Troubles with volcanic ash and airport security have certainly contributed to the appeal of taking the family plus caravan to explore hitherto unknown areas of Europe by sea and road.
Many people choose to avoid the busy channel ports when visiting Europe, and a very popular alternative for caravanners looking for something a little different are the ports along the south coast, served by Brittany Ferries.
Brittany Ferries operate out of nine ports that offer a service to and from England. The English ports of Plymouth, Portsmouth and Poole. The French ports of Cherbourg, St Malo, Caen and Roscoff. Cork in The Irish Republic and for tourers fancying a bit longer on board, the Spanish port of Santander is also an option.
Travelling out of England, caravanners have six options, they can travel to two destinations from Plymouth; Roscoff in France, a journey of about 6 hours, or Santander in Spain, which is a much longer journey of about 20 hours. Unfortunately to travel to Cork with Brittany ferries one must use the French port of Roscoff. There is an alternative ferry company that operates out of Swansea however.
Brittany Ferries out of Portsmouth serve four ports, three daily ferries run to Cherbourg in France, a journey of 6 hours. Caen in France is also served by three daily ferries and once again the journey is around 6 hours. A daily ferry to St Malo in France takes about 10 hours and the trip to Santander is a full day.
Poole in Dorset has a daily ferry to Cherbourg in France which is very quick, only just over 2 hours and is ideal if using a motor home.
Booking a holiday in a caravan needs to be well thought out. It can be done online and allows the trip to be built around the ferry timetables. Once you enter your party and vehicle details it is fairly easy to start looking for cheaper deals without having to keep going back to base.
It is vitally important to ensure your caravan insurance is up to date and covered for travelling abroad before setting off.
