France Ferry & Campsite info (use Search function) mod warning post 1

Oh, I dont know. It was our first time taking the ferry last year. Arriving in Cork was very quick. Took no time at all to get through Passport control, but Roscoff was another story altogether. I assumed that was just the norm

All I know is that we were one of the last cars on the ferry, so it took a while to get off the boat, but even then there seemed to be about 3 or 4 queues open for checking passports. It all moved very slow.

This was Roscoff by the way

I don't know. We landed at 7am, so would be surprised if that was the case.

Just seemed that the Passport check in Roscoff was very slow. Could have just been very unlucky

I travelled last September myself and the missus in the Commadore and it was fabulous..it was off peak so got it very reasonably and was well worth it. Sitting on your own balcony having a glass of wine sailing out of Cork harbour and getting your breakfast delivered to your room in the morning was amazing.

We decided not to get the Commadore on the way back for some reason (because you leave late in Roscoff, we though we wouldn't get the benefit) and we booked the nice outside 4 birth and once we got to the cabin it felt like we were in steerage 😪…after getting the taste of the high life the normal cabin was so depressing!!! 😁

As you say another benefit was we were fist off the ship in Roscoff and fly through passport control. There is loads of room for the kids to run around as well but I dont know if thats an advantage or not for you..

Have fun you will enjoy it, the ferry is part of the holiday (one of the best parts!) so dont worry about the added expense …checking in with the concierge makes you feel like a rock star also, asking do you want reservations for dinner and do you want breakfast in your room or not.

We are going to Bilbao early June and coming back via Roscoff and I have the Commadores booked and cant wait.

When are you heading to Dordogne, I'm heading myself at the end of August but going via Bilbao and will visit San Sebastian for a few days on the way back.

the Dordogne is fabulous. go see the the underground caves in Rouffignac. there is an electric train down into the cave. you get so close to real prehistoric art on the cave ceilings. amazing.

Brilliant castle at Castelnaud-la-Chapelle with working trebuchets that the kids will love and daily shows (in french).

some lovely riverside beaches/terraces that are beautiful to swim in - Le pont de Vicq is a favourite with the lovely bridge and bring a picnic

What's the rosslare-bilbao sailing like? We've went a couple of times to cherbourg but thinking about possibly going to bilbao and crossing into France. I presume the ferry is well equipped to keep everyone entertained for the longer journey?! We'll have 3 kids with us, 13,11,9.

Also any recommendations for a site bear the beach. It's a nightmare trying to find a suitable site, you think you've found one and then read reviews! 🙄

Apologies if it's all been covered on here, I'm using my mobile and the epileptic fits the sites has is making it difficult to go back through it all.

With regards to the ferry crossing itself, I've done it twice before and will be doing it again this year. It's always been just myself and the wife and in the past it was the freight ship so things to do were pretty Spartan and scarce.

It's 31 hours approx, leaving midnight on Friday/Saturday and getting into Bilbao around 8.00 am Sunday morning. I bring a few books or download some magazines and the wife brings her knitting or embroidery. The Saturday all day in my opinion will be the killer for the kids, however saying that, they've their 'cruise ferry ' on the run so I'm sure the entertainment, clowns, face painters will be on board. Plus on the Saturday, the further south you go the better the opportunity for viewing whales, dolphins etc.

We've never actually stayed in northern Spain, but there is apparently a lovely site not too far from Santander run by Eurocamp on the Emerald Coast.

If bringing kids however make sure you bring plenty of sweets, drinks etc for them as I'm sure it would be costly if you were running to the bar or cafe all day.

Enjoy.

We were in Biarritz a number of years back, lovely location right on the Atlantic coast and the surrounding cities are brilliant. St. Jean de Luz, Bayonne, into the Basque area of Hendaye and take the little cable car up to the top of a mountain which splits Spain and France in two.

We actually never stayed in that site outside Biarritz but by all accounts it really is very good. We stayed in an apartment in the city but I'd definitely recommend it as a base for touring. The Pyrenees are fab.

We have done this twice.

Bring: adaptor and power strip for your cabin for charging multiple devices, kettle and tea/coffee supplies, including frozen milk and water which will be used as it defrosts. Note internet is ruinously expensive so just learn to live offline. Have heard of people bringing sandwich toasters as well.

Two nighter - Go to cabin on arrival, only annoying thing was a multilingual safety announcement at 12 am but obviously it is required, just woke kids as we had just settled in! Next full day was fine, we had brought loads of books, downloads, water (some frozen) snacks, cereals, kettle, tea and coffee etc as well as microwave meals. Passed a lot of time walking around on deck, especially visiting the dogs deck. This was the basic ship back in 2022, so no entertainment and very few families so it was very calm and actually lovely and peaceful to be offline. We purchased very little food and drink on board as it was only ok so just worked from our own supplies. Second morning by the time we got all packed up it was time to leave.

One nighter - V early start for us so we were quite tired. Same deal as above in terms of supplies. Didn't find this journey any shorter though! I think it was that we spent less of the journey sleeping and the second day felt really long. The two nighter with the normal night sleep the night before was easier unless you live beside Rosslare and we are not even that far. Arrived afternoon next day and we were only an hour and a half to our destination so not too bad but it would be a long day of travel if we were going further afield. I think I would go with the two nighter again.

Have taken IF family cruise and luckily had club class but I found the heaving crowds and the entertainment annoying when we ventured out. Same with BF as well, the entertainment is just too cheesy for the kids and they have already watched the movies in the cinema on board and are too old for crafts and too cool to attempt to make new pals! The one lovely thing on BF was the whale watching talks and we even saw dolphins on one of our crossings.

Would 100% recommend in terms of getting v far south and letting the ship do the driving. Not a whole pile of campsites in northern Spain so head to France and then explore Spain via non campsite accommodation.