Anyone Driven from Manchester to DLP?

[susieb]

Has anyone done this? Is it doable in a day? Ie without having to cost in a hotel stay?

It looks like 4.5 hours to Folkestone, 30 min on tunnel, then 3 hours to DLP. Possible in one day?

I would have two 5 yr olds with me and my sis and it would be Oct half term.

Any experiences from people doing this from the North only please!!!

[kitkatangela]

yes hi i have done this but wow i was realy nackered..when we got there...
it is possible but i went at 11 pm at night to get there for morning but i would stay in a hotel for the cost of them . i drove from manchester to disney land paris...

[pepsicube]

If you plan ahead you'd probably get a travelodge for £26

[susieb]

really? £26? my sis and I would share driving.....

[notgrumpy]

We've done it a few times at the start of camping holidays in France. The kids are older now but we did it when they were little. Left Yorks about 2am, about 5 hours to the shuttle while the kids slept (it helps if you have more than one driver) and then an early morning shuttle. Spent an hour or so stocking up at Carrefour then drove to campsite near DLP for mid afternoon so we could do DLP the next day.

[Bobbins]

Maybe you have other reasons, but would it be much more expensive to fly than travel by car/Eurotunnel?

Don't forget you have to ensure your car insurance is OK and you really ought to get euro breakdown cover.

[Topper5]

I've driven from Cornwall so it should be about the same. No problem at all. Have a great time!

[welshwiz]

We've driven from South Wales and can highly recommend it. We drove at night and arrived at Dover hours before we'd planned....they just let us on the earlier ferry......similar thing on way home too ! No messing about with bags etc ......it was great. Roads in France were great too (just bought a map onboard the ferry).

Norfolk line ferry was soo new and clean with playstations for kids etc.

Paid just £45 and DH won more than that on the bandit on the ferry!

Only paid £50 a night for Explorer Crew 4 room too.

Less than £100 each for AP's (with friend's discount)

Great cheap trip. :wavey:

[BevS97]

If you want a hotel, there are some really cheap ones in France. They aren't posh but I think you can get a hotel for around 25 Euro. Formule 1 or Etap. We stayed in an Etap in Paris and I couldn't fault it.

[susieb]

Yeah plus if youve got the car you can stay offsite really cheap. I also want to go to parc asterix, and Paris for the day too.

The flights are about 80 quid each but these cheap flights arrive after all public transport has finsihed, so its either taxi or car hire. So even tho it might look cheaper to fly, in reality it isnt.

The baot is £60, petrol £200, hotels £100. Much cheaper plus a saving on a hotel.

Many thanbks guys!!

[sdf]

Hi Susie

We have travelled from east Scotland several times to Paris. We cheat though and stay with relatives in Dover before sailng to France. The UK journey is by far the longest and worse for traffic. Once on the continent everything is great!

[Gaz]

we have done it from somerset. we booked an early morning ferry crossing so went to dover the night before and stayed at a travel lodge. once in france the drive is real easy i love driving over there nearly as much as the states, it is so much less stressful

[Bobbins]

Yeah plus if youve got the car you can stay offsite really cheap. I also want to go to parc asterix, and Paris for the day too.

The flights are about 80 quid each but these cheap flights arrive after all public transport has finsihed, so its either taxi or car hire. So even tho it might look cheaper to fly, in reality it isnt.


I didn't think it would be cheaper to fly, just that it wouldn't be very much dearer, but if you have other reasons for wanting to have your car with you, then fair enough.

Not sure about the public transport bit though - my DW & DD have been a few times on easyjet from Liverpool and they get a shuttle bus that goes directly from the airport to DLP. From memory it gets into Paris at about 10AM and the later flight leaves at something like 9PM.
They always go into Paris for a day too, using the RER train the runs from DLP into Paris (the ticket includes a day pass for the Metro).

I appreciate that all this wouldn't really work if you were staying off-site etc, but it's a lot easier!

[uklad23]

So driving will cost £360? Or flights with Easyjet dept Liverpool to Paris Sun 21 Oct 19:00 arr. Sun 21 Oct 21:25 and coming back Thu 25 Oct 11:00
arr. Thu 25 Oct 11:30 Total £324.12

I Know which one I would go for.

[Staarbux]

We've done it twice from Edinburgh and its doable definately but we were exhausted by the time we got there. If you can get a travelodge for about thirty quid I'd definately recommend it. :)

[TandCmum]

we drive from Scotland every time we go, it is cheaper for us as DH gets personal fuel with his job so it costs us nowt to drive. We generally drive to Leeds to stay with my parents the day befor then do Leeds to Paris in one day. The last few times we have got an early ferry and have left leeds at 2am, ferry at 7am, and then 3 hours drive once on the continent.

This time though we are getting the tunnel at midday so won't be such a rush to get up as early.