chunnel by car. 5 -7 days by car in france. Where?
Discussion
By limiting yourself to around 2 hours from Calais, you are more likely to be effectively surrounded by Brits (predominantly Southerners) who can hop across the Channel when they fancy it.
We used to stop in Honfleur, Normandy (many many times) on our way down to the Dordogne - a great place & possibly just what you want but it gets very busy especially at weekends - that is around 2.5-3 hours from Eurotunnel. Best to avoid restaurants around the harbour as they are tourist traps and pretty average food.
Not far from Honfleur, you also have Deauville and Trouville which offer a different choice to touristy Honfleur.
For the same reasons Le Touquet and Montreuil-sur-Mer tend to attract “Le Ros Beuf” as they are only around an hour from the Tunnel.
Worth checking out toll tags for use on the Autoroutes if you’re heading on motorways - well worth it if you’ve never done it before.
We used to stop in Honfleur, Normandy (many many times) on our way down to the Dordogne - a great place & possibly just what you want but it gets very busy especially at weekends - that is around 2.5-3 hours from Eurotunnel. Best to avoid restaurants around the harbour as they are tourist traps and pretty average food.
Not far from Honfleur, you also have Deauville and Trouville which offer a different choice to touristy Honfleur.
For the same reasons Le Touquet and Montreuil-sur-Mer tend to attract “Le Ros Beuf” as they are only around an hour from the Tunnel.
Worth checking out toll tags for use on the Autoroutes if you’re heading on motorways - well worth it if you’ve never done it before.
davek_964 said:
Hijacking the thread a bit, but :
We're going over on Eurontunnel for August BH - leave Thurs morning, back Monday evening. Happy to drive a bit from Calais - 4-5 hours is probably max.
For some reason, the g/f wants to be close to beaches - which probably limits us to going East or West from Calais - but I may be able to persuade her that isn't necessary (6 weeks after that we'll be going somewhere which is pretty much just beach - so not sure we really need to restrict the August trip quite so much).
Any additional suggestions?
(I've seen the suggestion for Belgium which might be a good bet - we did Bruges a couple of years ago, but could stay closer to the coast).
ETA : Thinking Amsterdam could be an option. Never been, only about an hour from the coast and ~4 hour drive from Calais which is a distance I'm happy with.
Northern Europe beaches are cold and windy. You’ll get a better beach experience in Bournemouth. We're going over on Eurontunnel for August BH - leave Thurs morning, back Monday evening. Happy to drive a bit from Calais - 4-5 hours is probably max.
For some reason, the g/f wants to be close to beaches - which probably limits us to going East or West from Calais - but I may be able to persuade her that isn't necessary (6 weeks after that we'll be going somewhere which is pretty much just beach - so not sure we really need to restrict the August trip quite so much).
Any additional suggestions?
(I've seen the suggestion for Belgium which might be a good bet - we did Bruges a couple of years ago, but could stay closer to the coast).
ETA : Thinking Amsterdam could be an option. Never been, only about an hour from the coast and ~4 hour drive from Calais which is a distance I'm happy with.
Edited by davek_964 on Tuesday 21st May 14:47
Rob 131 Sport said:
Loire Valley is probably your best bet. Depending on which part of the Loire Valley your looking at its a 4 to 6 hour drive from Calais.
We did this last year and going again in July. Ferry from Portsmouth to Caen takes 6 hours but takes out the driving you'd need to do from Calais, which to us would have been wasted miles/time. We're doing the overnight ferry option this time so we'll wake up at 7am in Caen and that opens up the whole day.
andyA700 said:
philv said:
Thanks for all the repies.
A couple of hours max driving any one day, preferably an hour.
We like a little bit of sight seeing, looking in various shops, nice food, the usual casual tourist thing.
My girlfriend is driving for first time abroad.
Colmar in the Alsace is absolutely lovely, easily reachable in one day and the surrounding villages and countryside are magical.A couple of hours max driving any one day, preferably an hour.
We like a little bit of sight seeing, looking in various shops, nice food, the usual casual tourist thing.
My girlfriend is driving for first time abroad.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/andym42/albums/72157...
Honestly its just lovely.......
The Loire is a good shout as is the Champagne region at around half the time and distance
Having said that the Normandie coast is more accessible and beautiful - check out Honfleur (a personal favourite) and Deauville/Trouville
Plus Bayeux and the D-Day beaches
Have a great trip
Cheers
Boxster5 said:
By limiting yourself to around 2 hours from Calais, you are more likely to be effectively surrounded by Brits (predominantly Southerners) who can hop across the Channel when they fancy it.
We used to stop in Honfleur, Normandy (many many times) on our way down to the Dordogne - a great place & possibly just what you want but it gets very busy especially at weekends - that is around 2.5-3 hours from Eurotunnel. Best to avoid restaurants around the harbour as they are tourist traps and pretty average food.
Not far from Honfleur, you also have Deauville and Trouville which offer a different choice to touristy Honfleur.
For the same reasons Le Touquet and Montreuil-sur-Mer tend to attract “Le Ros Beuf” as they are only around an hour from the Tunnel.
Worth checking out toll tags for use on the Autoroutes if you’re heading on motorways - well worth it if you’ve never done it before.
De Panne is a good place if you have kids, really long promenade, lovely restaurants, usual seaside bits n bobs like arcades, play areas, bike hire, etc. We used to stop in Honfleur, Normandy (many many times) on our way down to the Dordogne - a great place & possibly just what you want but it gets very busy especially at weekends - that is around 2.5-3 hours from Eurotunnel. Best to avoid restaurants around the harbour as they are tourist traps and pretty average food.
Not far from Honfleur, you also have Deauville and Trouville which offer a different choice to touristy Honfleur.
For the same reasons Le Touquet and Montreuil-sur-Mer tend to attract “Le Ros Beuf” as they are only around an hour from the Tunnel.
Worth checking out toll tags for use on the Autoroutes if you’re heading on motorways - well worth it if you’ve never done it before.
Also a reasonable indoor water park and theme park Plopsaland.
Some nice dunes and WW2 bits.
We love it along there.
davek_964 said:
ETA : Thinking Amsterdam could be an option. Never been, only about an hour from the coast and ~4 hour drive from Calais which is a distance I'm happy with.
A lot of the Belgian and Dutch coast tends to be huge beaches but relatively flat so not the nice coves and cliffs you get in the UK and the western France, but big enough that it's never that crowded. If you're going that way then there are a lot of beach towns all the way up the coast, Scheveningen and Zandvoort are probably the best known as they're close-ish to cities (The Hague, Haarlem/Amsterdam) so there's lots of other stuff to do. Depending on where you're going from, the overnight ferries aren't bad as you save a fairly long drive and start your day in country. Harwich-Hoek is the shortest, Hull-Rotterdam gets you bit more of a lie in in the morning, and I've not tried the Newcastle-Ijmuiden one.From a PH perspective, going to NL also sends you past the Louwmann Museum
Rob 131 Sport said:
Just be careful where you park. There is no regard there for other cars and doors will be flung open with the obvious consequences to your pride and joy.
After probably 40 plus trips to France this aspect has really put me off.
Yeah - that already makes our hotel choice quite challenging, since we need to find one where I'm happy with the parking.After probably 40 plus trips to France this aspect has really put me off.
davek_964 said:
Rob 131 Sport said:
Just be careful where you park. There is no regard there for other cars and doors will be flung open with the obvious consequences to your pride and joy.
After probably 40 plus trips to France this aspect has really put me off.
Yeah - that already makes our hotel choice quite challenging, since we need to find one where I'm happy with the parking.After probably 40 plus trips to France this aspect has really put me off.
Not going to France this year for the first time in nearly 20 years.
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