France > Travel to France > Ferries
Cross channel ferries to France
Cross-channel ferries
If you are driving to the south of France from the UK you are going to need to book a cross channel ferry or channel tunnel crossing. The recommended company here, Cheap4Ferries, offer a 'Best Price Promise' and work with all the major ferry companies to find the best deals available
Find
Cheap4ferries cover all routes and all major ferry operators for ferries to France. Check their prices, then if you find cheaper cross channel ferries or cheaper channel tunnel prices elsewhere please let us know.
EuroTunnel
An alternative to the cross-channel ferry is to cross the channel by EuroTunnel - both quick and easy to use, and with very frequent trains running - up to five trains per hour, and no risk of delays due to bad weather. The crossing from Folkestone to Calais takes just 35 minutes, costs from only £49 one-way, and has direct access to the motorway network so you are soon on your way.
Cross channel ferry routes
The more common ferry routes to France sometimes have more than one operator running ferries on the same route The most popular routes are:
- Dover - Boulogne
- Dover - Calais
- Plymouth - Bilbao (Spain)
- Plymouth - Roscoff
- Plymouth - Santander (Spain)
- Poole - Cherbourg
- Poole - St Malo
- Portsmouth - Caen
- Portsmouth - Cherbourg
- Portsmouth - Le Havre
- Portsmouth - St Malo
Note, some of these crossings (those departing from Dover) only take about an hour, while others take several hours or sail overnight. The longer crossings cost more, and cabin accommodation may also be needed.
You will need to carefully balance the extra time spent on the crossing with the cost, with the saving in driving time and expense, and the convenience of arriving after a night sleeping on a ferry.
The crossings from Plymouth to Santander and Bilbao are as much a mini-cruise as a ferry crossing, take more than 24 hours for the voyage, and are sometimes used by those visiting far south-west france eg Biarritz.
