Booze cruise to Calais??

[nofuse22]

I am organising a family event in a few weeks time and was wondering whether it made sense to do a little run over to Calais to pick up some wine?

I had a look on the majestic Calais website and the savings appear to be only £2 per bottle. Not sure that this makes it worthwhile factoring in the ticket cost.

Any suggestions? Does anyone have any tips on the best places to shop? (Am looking for some wine around £12-15 per bottle, and possibly also champagne)

Many thanks!

[Adenauer]

Blimey, I thought that's something that people used to do in the 70's and 80's, surely it can't be worth it these days?

[Muzzer79]

IINM, there is not enough savings to be made to go over especially for a 'booze cruise' like in the good old days. You might's aswell buy in a supermarket offer.

However, if you want particularly good wine, cheese, pastries, etc then you can't beat a quick run over there for the day.

[woody2846]

If there is an offer on which P&O sometimes do then it can be worth it.

If you pre order £250 worth of wine then Calaiswinesuperstore will pay for your .

I enjoy doing at as a bit of a day out.

[Type R Tom]

I might be wrong but I've heard it's cheaper to head inland for a while or up to Belgium to save a few quid.

[madbadger]

I just bought some reasonable wine in the Ardeche for E1.25 a litre. Depend how much you are saving as to weather it is worthwhile.

[AmitG]

I think it's still worth it for wine. Lower prices and more importantly, greater choice (as long as you stick with French wines). And it's a nice day out if you combine it with sightseeing etc.

I go to Carrefour in Cite Europe, which is right next to the Eurotunnel. You can get a bottle for as little as 2 euro although you might regret it You can get really nice sparkling wines (not Champagnes) for 6 - 8 euro. Champagnes seem to start at about 10 euro and go up. You can also get cremant, vouvray etc. which are nice variations and which are often better value than the big-name champagnes (IMHO).

For beer, I agree that a supermarket loss-leader offer is likely to be the same or better value.

[Wadeski]

Depending on what you buy, it can still be good value. Its also a nice day out.

If you want a broad selection of unsual French wines at good prices, plus a drive and a nice lunch (Calais has some good seafood places) and maybe some stinky cheeses, its a great way to spend a day.

Also, gives you a nice story for the party rather than "we went to Tescos and bought what was on sale at half price".

[Highway Star]

Bought £300 quids worth of wine and beer for a party from Calais Wine Warehouse earlier this year when heading back from Belgium, IMO it was worth it for the savings, especially as I now have a free ferry crossing voucher to use in the next 12 months.

[James_N]

Imo not worth it(for me now anyway) when you factor in fuel and ferry and depending how much your planning to bring back, you might have to stick to the "Bag in a box" wines, of which there is less choice, as you might have a weight problem bringing lots of glass bottles of wine back.

Will never forget going over with a mate about 4 years ago with my old volvo 740 estate! We went a bit overboard with the wine, but obviously couldn't take it back once we had purchased it. Custom's didn't seem bothered about the towbar scraping the speed humps going through the customs check at Dover

We came from the Midlands though, and its a bloody long day out. 3 and a bit hours to Dover, hour and a half on the ferry, 2/3 hours shopping, hour and a half ferry crossing back, and 3 and a bit hours drive home.

If your nipping over to Carrefour at city europe, you can "click and collect" now, which saves time, and if you smoke, nip to Adinkerke for your tobacco

Edited by James_N on Saturday 17th August 04:04

[anonymous-user]

I would actually say its worth it, depending on where you live, how big your car is, ferry costs and what you like drinking.

Wine in the UK is so expensive nowadays with even a stty bottles of wine like Echo Falls(!!!) costing £7 when I was last in a UK supermarket. I find that in the UK you need to spend £9-12/bottle before it's acceptable. There are exceptions of course.

Fabulous everyday drinking bottles are between €3-8 in France and beer is cheaper than water.

Spirits are not so much cheaper but there is a discount over UK prices.

I would say it is just about doing the maths but if you have a people carrier and can take the seats out I reckon it would be a nice day out and also probably the saving would more than pay for the fuel and ferry costs.

[NormalWisdom]

I go to Leclerc in Boulogne, probably 5/6 times a year.

It is definitely worth it for wine, veal, cheeses, fresh mussels and prawns, things like merguez sausages, faggots and paupillets.

Girlfriend is half French and a chef and much prefers the basics on offer in Leclerc.