Crossing the Channel? Set sail with the old favourites

You probably won’t be thinking about taking your car across the Channel for a few weeks yet. Not only is the weather grim, but the latest restrictions are likely to be in place well into February and the impact of the new bureaucracy spawned by Brexit has yet to become clear – in terms of congestion either around ports caused by delays to commercial traffic, or at immigration for holidaymakers.

But, hopefully, crossings for car drivers should be relatively straightforward again by Easter, and the last-minute Brexit agreement means you can continue to use your UK driving licence in France (as long as it is a plastic, creditcard sized one, not the old paper version). However, you will now need to obtain a green card from your insurance company (which proves you have a minimum level of third-party cover when driving your own car in Europe). You’ll also need to display a GB sticker.

Looking at the services available by the ferry and tunnel operators for this summer, surprisingly little has changed compared with the situation before the pandemic when it comes to the number of routes on offer – though the number of services offered may change if demand rises or falls significantly. Here is a brief overview of the situation.

The crossings to Calais, Dunkirk and Dieppe remain the cheapest ways to get to the Continent for most British motorists living in the South East of England. Since Calais links directly into the motorway network, you can get to all the other French north coast ports, except Roscoff, more quickly by using this route than using direct services across the western Channel. The driving time from Calais to St Malo, for example, is about five hours, but the Portsmouth to St Malo ferry takes nine. Allow 90 minutes for the short crossing and you will get there at least an hour quicker via Calais. The Dover routes also offer more frequent departures from three different operators.

Comparing fares, however, is not straightforward. Like airfares, they change according to demand, and it’s impossible to know how many spaces are sold at what price. My best estimate, from my research summarised below, is that the shorter routes have become significantly more expensive, and the longer ones are about the same as last

year. Broadly speaking, if you can avoid the peak times of Fridays and weekends in high season, you can still take your car across the Channel for less than you would have paid, say, a decade ago.

The fares listed below are the lowest return for a car plus two passengers travelling out on daytime crossings between 9am and 5pm on Saturday, May 8 and returning May 15 – unless stated otherwise. They were correct when I did a spot check on all the routes earlier this week, but all are subject to change. Shorter crossings generally allow up to nine passengers for the same fare. If you want an overview of fares on any one route, price comparison websites such as directferries.co.uk and aferry.co.uk are worth checking.

DOVER/FOLKESTONE-CALAIS

Eurotunnel (0844 879 7371; eurotunnel.com): £177, crossing time: 35min

P&O Ferries (0800 130 0030; poferries.com): £153, crossing time: 90min

DFDS Seaways (0871 574 7235; dfds. com): £153, crossing time: 90min. Also Dover-Dunkirk, same fare, 2hr crossing

and Newhaven-Dieppe, £149, crossing time: 4hr.

LONGER CROSSINGS

Brittany Ferries (0330 159 7000; brittany-ferries.co.uk) now has an effective monopoly on the longer western Channel routes. Although not listed for sale yet, the company says it hopes to run the Portsmouth to Le Havre route and the high-speed Portsmouth-Cherbourg service later in the year. Some routes require an overnight crossing – I’ve included the cost of the cheapest cabin.

Portsmouth-Caen: £202.30, crossing time: 6hr

Portsmouth-Cherbourg: £352.30 (May 9-17 overnight each way, with cabins), crossing time 8-9hr

Poole-Cherbourg: £176.80, crossing time: 4hr30

Portsmouth-St Malo: £302.55 including cabin in outbound (overnight) service, crossing time: 8hr 45min

Plymouth-Roscoff: £281.30 including cabin on outbound (overnight) service, crossing time: 6hr30

Ferries and Eurotunnel will still be the best ways of getting your car on to the Continent