Cost of travelling by car from Cork to Erfurt, Germany

ich_verschwinde

I plan to emigrate to Germany in the next few months and I will be bringing my car. Naturally I am looking for the cheapest way of doing this since i know road and ferry travelling is not cheap. There are two possible routes that I was comtemplating on taking:

(1) Cork ... Roscoff --- Erfurt

(2) Cork ... Swansea --- Dover ... Calais --- Erfurt


The ferry from Cork to Roscoff i prices as 175 €to take my car on board. I have no idea what the channel crossing would cost, nor the crossing from Cork to Swansea. Obviously if i go the UK route, i will have less driving on the continent..

Anyone have any ideas what it could cost? and which route would work out cheaper.

Also, i see that there are many companies crossing the channel to France and I dont know which one to take.. has anyone experience in this?
Also, how much more expensive is gasoline in the UK and France?

Thanks in Advance

murphaph

Petrol was much more expensive in the UK until recently but assuming you are paid in Euro then it's not much more expensive than here nowadays!

Still cheaper to fill up before you set sail.

If it were me I'd use Britain as a landbridge as it's much more direct. Channel tunnel would be my prefered option at that end as the ferry crossing isn't long enough to make into a sleep break so you'll want to keep moving.

Edit: Michelin says €130 in petrol and tolls gong Dublin-Holyhead-Dover-Calais. Obviously that doesn't include ferry crossings but remember-going across Britain is mostly motorway but crucially it's toll free-France's motorways aren't.

Victor

You obviously need to consider breaking such a journey between two days, so there is the potential for hotel costs on top of food, etc. This of course can be set off by the cost of long ferry crossing. Note that all ferries will be busy during the summer.

Rather than going via Dublin or Cork, you should also consider Rosslare which has ferries to Fishguard and Pembroke. There is a roll-on Roll-off service from Cork to Antwerp, but I suspect it is only for unaccompanied cargo.

Make sure your car is safe for such a journey and you have the necessary equipment, documents and insurance.

loyatemu

isn't the Cork-Swansea ferry not running this year?

I'd definitely go Cork-Roscoff - you'd get a decent nights sleep on the boat and do most of your driving on superior French and German roads.

Google sez:

1666km via Rosslare, Fishguard, Dover, Calais
1372km via Roscoff, Paris, Frankfurt

so its shorter via Roscoff too.

lostinsuperfunk

Cork-Swansea isn't running again this year, unfortunately.

The Cork-Roscoff crossing is supposed to be the fastest between Ireland and France but maybe Roscoff is so far west that it adds too much on to your driving time.

I would definitely check out the options from Rosslare direct to France: Irish Ferries and Celtic Link are two of the operators. These are likely to be cheaper than Cork-Roscoff.

Going via the UK is likely to be a bit cheaper again, but it's a lot of driving and I'd agree with the post above: driving in France is likely to be easier than driving in Ireland or the UK, especially if you use the tolled autoroutes.

Petrol in France is probably only slightly cheaper than in the UK. I remember it being about 20 c/ litre more expensive than it was here one year ago. The cheapest places are the hypermarkets.

Also http://www.viamichelin.fr/ is great for calculating journey times and costs (it estimates the fuel costs and adds tolls).

[edit: just saw the price of €175 in your original post. That seems very good value. I doubt you could do much better by choosing a different route]

ich_verschwinde

Hey guys

Thanks for all the replies.. I now have some idea of what it'll cost..
The fact that the Cork - Swansea ferry isnt running is kinda off - putting for me since i'd have to go to Rosslare.. and that N25 ain't a pleasant road to drive at the moment.. i had no idea the S-C ferry want running..
However, I was also investigating another possible option.. Stena Line do a ferry crossing from Harwich in Essex to the Hook of Holland.. And that brings me much closer to my destination once i hit the continent.. however its going to be hassly to get on two ferries.. i've no dount its even worse than going by plane.. hasslewise? what can i expect?.. is there alot of proceedings to go through when boarding a ferry?

If i went the brittany route, it takes 14 hours according to google maps.. are they calculating it on going the max speed all the time or what? The roscoff ferry arrives at 6 in the morning.. so i could technically make it to Erfurt on the same day.. but imagine driving for 14 hours.. would you recommend it?

ich_verschwinde

lostinsuperfunk wrote: »

Cork-Swansea isn't running again this year, unfortunately.

The Cork-Roscoff crossing is supposed to be the fastest between Ireland and France but maybe Roscoff is so far west that it adds too much on to your driving time.

I would definitely check out the options from Rosslare direct to France: Irish Ferries and Celtic Link are two of the operators. These are likely to be cheaper than Cork-Roscoff.

Going via the UK is likely to be a bit cheaper again, but it's a lot of driving and I'd agree with the post above: driving in France is likely to be easier than driving in Ireland or the UK, especially if you use the tolled autoroutes.

Petrol in France is probably only slightly cheaper than in the UK. I remember it being about 20 c/ litre more expensive than it was here one year ago. The cheapest places are the hypermarkets.

Also http://www.viamichelin.fr/ is great for calculating journey times and costs (it estimates the fuel costs and adds tolls).

[edit: just saw the price of €175 in your original post. That seems very good value. I doubt you could do much better by choosing a different route]

actualy.. i just checked the Cork Roscoff ferry.. its 235 € it sounds expensive but that also includes a private cabin and all.. so another 120 for petrol.. taking the bones of 400€ for the entire trip..


As for the Rosslare option, its 3 hours from Cork to Rosslare, taking in all the slowing down through waterford and all the villages.. are ferrys from Rosslare much cheaper??

lostinsuperfunk

€235 doesn't sound too bad for Ireland to France. I doubt you'll save much, if anything by going from Rosslare.

I find travelling by ferry fairly easy, but allow a little extra time if you're unfamiliar with the port and the boarding procedure. Usually you drive up, hand over your ticket at a checkpoint, drive into the queue, then wait for someone to wave you on board. The fast ferries are more prone to delays and cancellations due to bad weather than the regular ferries (but all the ferries between Ireland and France are regular ones as far as I know).

There's no way I'd roll off the ferry and drive for 14 hours in a single day. I did about 8 hours once and wouldn't do it again. Give yourself a break and split it into two stages by stopping overnight somewhere. There are lots of cheap places to stay in France. Are you used to driving on the right?

Carawaystick

I've got te ferry from Cork to Roscoff a few times. With brttay ferries, the ship is fairly new <5 years, it gets you into Roscoff at about 7am on a sunday morning. Trucks aren't allowed travel much France on sundays, so travelling is reasonably hassle free on the french motorways on sunday mornings.

It's about 15km from the ferry port to the motorway, about 4 roundabouts and then pretty much plain sailing till Rennes.

getting the ferry is fairly stress free, turn up about an hour before you go, hand in ticket printout to cabin,they check a few bits ad pieces and then give you a card to hang around your mirror and the into a waiting car park and then on to the ferry. you may have to open your boot to let police check it, you might not. one year we got n ad off the ferry without even showing passports. there's usualy very little stopping you once you get off in france.

if you have a right hand drive car you will find it awkward to get toll tickets and pay tolls, if you've no passenger.

I've driven to San Sebastian, Perpignan in a day from Roscoff, about 11 hours. this is pretty much as far as you could reasonably travel. ( probably too far) if you are sure of where you'll be arriving to i.e. not a hotel, you could probably go a bit further but you'ld want to betaking longer breaks so your average seed will drop. you wouldn't average more than 10kmh really n a full day driving - speed limit is 110/130kmh on french motorways.

te french motorways have rest stops about every 20km, with parking picnic tables, toilets etc, and full rest stops with the above and a petrol station/shop/coffee machines ad a seperate resteraunt/shop every 60km or so.

fuel is dear in france, was about 28cents a litre more than here last year on te motorway stops. you can pull off and get some in supermarket stations for about 10 cents per litre less, but you'll lose time.

www.mapy.fr has maping and toll charges for your route.
if you're really on a shoestring you could avoid the autoroutes once you get out of Britanny, but you would definitely take much more time maybe another overnight.

you can picnic on the ferry and in the rest stops so you could bring or buy food on the way.

if youre permanently exporting your car, I'm not sure what the insurance situation is. I normally just ring my insurance co. and get a green card, and cover letter stating when and what countries I'll be insured in. this is free.

ich_verschwinde

lostinsuperfunk wrote: »

€235 doesn't sound too bad for Ireland to France. I doubt you'll save much, if anything by going from Rosslare.

I find travelling by ferry fairly easy, but allow a little extra time if you're unfamiliar with the port and the boarding procedure. Usually you drive up, hand over your ticket at a checkpoint, drive into the queue, then wait for someone to wave you on board. The fast ferries are more prone to delays and cancellations due to bad weather than the regular ferries (but all the ferries between Ireland and France are regular ones as far as I know).

There's no way I'd roll off the ferry and drive for 14 hours in a single day. I did about 8 hours once and wouldn't do it again. Give yourself a break and split it into two stages by stopping overnight somewhere. There are lots of cheap places to stay in France. Are you used to driving on the right?

Yes i think my best bet is to go the Roscoff route and at least i'll get a good nights sleep on-board.. and 4 in the afternoon is not a bad departure time..!!

Well i've driven in Germany, Spain and the US before.. but every time i did so, it was with a lefthand drive car.. I guess it will take a bit of getting used to, being at the wrong side of the car.. what do you guys think of this? I i also heard that the direction of your headlamps have to be alterated to drive on the right?.. is there any other alterations like that required before I head off?

ich_verschwinde

Carawaystick wrote: »

I've got te ferry from Cork to Roscoff a few times. With brttay ferries, the ship is fairly new <5 years, it gets you into Roscoff at about 7am on a sunday morning. Trucks aren't allowed travel much France on sundays, so travelling is reasonably hassle free on the french motorways on sunday mornings.

It's about 15km from the ferry port to the motorway, about 4 roundabouts and then pretty much plain sailing till Rennes.

getting the ferry is fairly stress free, turn up about an hour before you go, hand in ticket printout to cabin,they check a few bits ad pieces and then give you a card to hang around your mirror and the into a waiting car park and then on to the ferry. you may have to open your boot to let police check it, you might not. one year we got n ad off the ferry without even showing passports. there's usualy very little stopping you once you get off in france.

if you have a right hand drive car you will find it awkward to get toll tickets and pay tolls, if you've no passenger.

I've driven to San Sebastian, Perpignan in a day from Roscoff, about 11 hours. this is pretty much as far as you could reasonably travel. ( probably too far) if you are sure of where you'll be arriving to i.e. not a hotel, you could probably go a bit further but you'ld want to betaking longer breaks so your average seed will drop. you wouldn't average more than 10kmh really n a full day driving - speed limit is 110/130kmh on french motorways.

te french motorways have rest stops about every 20km, with parking picnic tables, toilets etc, and full rest stops with the above and a petrol station/shop/coffee machines ad a seperate resteraunt/shop every 60km or so.

fuel is dear in france, was about 28cents a litre more than here last year on te motorway stops. you can pull off and get some in supermarket stations for about 10 cents per litre less, but you'll lose time.

www.mapy.fr has maping and toll charges for your route.
if you're really on a shoestring you could avoid the autoroutes once you get out of Britanny, but you would definitely take much more time maybe another overnight.

you can picnic on the ferry and in the rest stops so you could bring or buy food on the way.

if youre permanently exporting your car, I'm not sure what the insurance situation is. I normally just ring my insurance co. and get a green card, and cover letter stating when and what countries I'll be insured in. this is free.

Thanks for the replies
The whole ferry experience sounds not too bad actually.. i thought it would be worse. I can't believe they are so relaxed about searching your car and all that.. but i guess the fact that you could be checked will be offputting for anyone trying something illegal

Oh, i totally forgot about the tolls.. and if i avois the tolls its going to take forever?.. but i guess when driving a RHD, you have no other option but to get out of the car..

i think i'll be bringing my own food i can bring as much as i want in the car.. i have a campingaz stove anyway,, so thats going to come in handy..

i dont think i'll be exporting my car for good.. but thanks for the advice about the insurance.. i would've thought that you were insured in the EU no matter what but i'll double check before i go just to make sure..!

Victor

ich_verschwinde wrote: »

I i also heard that the direction of your headlamps have to be alterated to drive on the right?.. is there any other alterations like that required before I head off?

I think there are stickers that can do this.

Have a look on the Motors board for the details.

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=208757
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055134798

http://www.aaireland.ie/infodesk/motoring_europe/compulsory_equi.asp

Headlamp adjustment for older vehicles can be done by using simple adhesive masks on the headlamp glass. For newer vehicles with HID, Zenon or many Halogen headlamps it is not so easy. Check out what you must do well before your departure by contacting a dealer for your make of vehicle. Without adjustment the dipped beam will dazzle oncoming drivers and this could result in a fine. In some countries it is compulsory to use dipped headlights at all times when driving during the day. Note: this adjustment is not required for two wheeled vehicles as the beam pattern is more symmetrical, but check that any extra loading has not affected the beam height.

http://www.aaireland.ie/petrolprices/

Carawaystick

ich_verschwinde wrote: »

i think i'll be bringing my own food i can bring as much as i want in the car.. i have a campingaz stove anyway,, so thats going to come in handy..

i dont think i'll be exporting my car for good.. but thanks for the advice about the insurance.. i would've thought that you were insured in the EU no matter what but i'll double check before i go just to make sure..!

french bread is so much better though...

coffee is nearly always made from an espresso type machine, and you would be hard pressed to pay more that 1.20 for a cup of black.

you are insured, but how does the french or german cop know what your insurance document says...!
that's why it's free for the cover letter and green card.