How to get to France by ferry

The French motorway (Autoroute) network allows rapid and stress-free travel across France and even though some sections charge a toll, this is often recouped by using less petrol sitting at a steady speed watching the countryside roll by. We take regular ferry crossings to the UK and it usually takes about eleven hours (Calais or St Malo) or ten hours (Caen or Le Havre), from the ferry to here at L'Enclos, excluding stops. Unlike the UK, where a journey from Cornwall to Scotland might take ten, twelve, fifteen or even twenty hours depending on the accidents and jams en route, these times are reliable except on very exceptional peak days like the middle saturday of August.

It is possible to get here from the ferry without an overnight stop, but this needs the journey to be very carefully planned and we would recommend an overnight stop around Limoges in most circumstances.

Crossing the channel
Crossing the channel. Photo courtesy Brittany ferries.

What's the best route from the channel?

For full details of our route, including maps, please download our 'Directions from Calais' on the Travel Directions page.

Ferries across the channel

Ferries can be the cheapest and easiest way for a larger group to travel, and there's no baggage allowance so you can bring (or take home!) as much as you can fit in.

This very good page on the Freewheeling France cycle touring website shows all ferries from all directions, including North Africa! This page is great for viewing the routes from all the different companies in one place.

For completely up-to-date information we then use the Direct Ferries website, this compares prices from the different companies on each route. Of course, you may find prices are cheaper by going direct to the ferry company, or by finding other offers on the internet.