Planning to do this in my bmw 5 series next year with 1 or 2 friends. Another cost saving is the fact you can pack food and beers which are mega expensive in the resorts. So many pros to driving the more I think about it the easier it is. I think even if it’s the same price I’d rather drive.
I agree, despite the time involved, I enjoy the drive. Love the build of anticipation as you get closer to your destination! The added bonus of being able to take more luggage inc. beers is always a bonus ! Cheers JT
great video,great info. We always drive to austria for hiking in spring, we stop midway across france for a day or 2 and then into austria. Its much more of a "road trip" and being able to pack up the van with plenty of goodies is a bonus. Keep the videos coming.
Thanks so much Carol. We have been to Austria a couple of times in the Spring and it is beautiful, never by Campervan though...perhaps that is one for the future ?! I do love the adventurre of the trip as much as the time at the destination. Thanks for watching and getting in touch. JT
Great comparison. We love driving down kind of puts you in charge rather than flying. Just watched your video in the new van in France looks a great van for the muddy pitch issue I keep the snow chains in the van all year fantastic for getting out of mud.
Thanks Sean ! I love the drive down as well, something special about seeing the snowy mountains loom into view as you get closer… I hadn’t thought about snow chains for muddy fields…
I did a comparison on Driving through France to Spain and taking the Ferry to Bilbao. To my amazement the driving via the Eurotunnel saved me over £700!! This July however I have decided to get the Ferry from Portsmouth to Santander, drive through NW Spain and then on the return journey drive all the way home. Roll on summer🎉
Another big saving ! I know some ferry companies costs have crept up recently. I hoped /knew there would be a saving compared to our friends flying, but I didn’t expect it to be as great as it was. Interestingly on the return trip we left within half an hour of each other, we both had stops on the way back (us in an aire, them in a hotel) but we arrived home first ! Agreed, roll on summer! Cheers JT
Interesting video and something we have long been aware of. We were down at the same time as you in BSM but in a motorhome. All my costs came through and including everything (tolls, diesel, ferry costs, food, accomodation, ski hire, eating out, passes etc) came to £2200 for the three of us. We left on the Friday and were glad we didn't take le shuttle as we were told by others there was a 5 hour delay where as the ferries were running on time. The only bit of advice I would pass on is that autoroute aire's are not the safest places so I would recommend you find aire's which are off the motorway. Obviously you have to find one's with a loo but there are some out there like that.
Thanks Andy. Hope you enjoyed your stay at BSM as well, we bumped into a few people whilst we were there who have watched some of my videos. I will do a total cost video which will be more than yours as we stayed in a Cabin for the week, but £2200 sounds like really good value all-in for a week long family ski holiday. It's a good point about the Aire's, the one we have stayed at we have used a few times and you can park close to the main building, it's modern, well lit and there are other Camper vans/Motorhomes around as well. We tend to only stop for 3 or 4 hours. If we change our van for something slightly bigger we would definitely look to stay in aires off the Autoroute. Thanks for watching and taking the time to share your tips. Cheers JT
Totally agree with those figures. We do the same trip from Bournemouth in my son’s California. There are 6 of us in the van. We do the drive straight as we have 2 drivers. We also coated flying and it works out lots more to fly. We take our own boots and skis which is another cost saving on the flight. We much prefer loading the van in the Uk then unloading in resort. With flying you are constantly picking up and moving around everyone’s bags. We were there the same week as you. We stayed in an apartment in 1800. Next year we will drive to Austria. Did it in 2023- long journey but just doable.
We have been to Austria in the Spring/Summer, but not ski'd there yet. Some friends of ours have just come back from a week there and said how clean and organised the ski resorts were. I'd love to take the California there, I think I'd want to go for 10 days - 2 weeks if possible to make it worth the longer trip. Thanks for watching and sharing your experience. Cheers JT
The days of cheap flights are over unfortunately, as the cost of flying I think is going to increase from now on imho. We tend to use the ferry from Ireland to France as when we costed a ferry to UK, then drive down to use the euro tunnel & it is more expensive and exhausting so, the ferry for us is a much nicer experience and is preferable to bring our camper rather than flying. I totally agree with your assessment. Another great video, thanks.
Yes, from Ireland I think the Ferry would be preferable rather than going Ferry - Drive and then EuroTunnel to get to France. Where do you usually sail from / to ? We often take the Ferry in the summer when it is likely to be calmer. Some of our party don't enjoy a choppy sea...! We usually go from Newhaven to Dieppe. I don't think I could convince them to take a Ferry in February, even if it was half the price ! Thanks for watching and getting in touch, cheers JT
Thanks Ben, we arrived home at around 7:30 just as our friends were landing at Bournemouth, they arrived home around 2 hours later. It did feel a bit like a race on a Top Gear Challenge ! Cheers JT
Great information JT. We visit the south of Italy every summer (1500 miles door to door) and have driven it for the last 7-8 years. Flying is much quicker and possibly cheaper but when you take into account the cost of hiring a car and being able to load as much stuff as you need with you in your own car plus bring back a boot full of goodies we always end up driving. Also factoring we have a dog then it’s a clear decision to drive. We make the journey part of the holiday/experience and thoroughly enjoy it. Currently looking to book for the summer and assessing the ferry vs the euro tunnel. Over £115 cheaper to go by ferry but the convenience of being across the channel in 35 minutes makes the tunnel hard to overlook.
FYI I never go directly through France the toll charges are crazy if you ask me. I head down to Luxembourg through to Strasbourg and down to Basel and into Switzerland there is a 13euro charge doing this route and you don’t lose out much time. Not sure if it’s close to where you head to but 172 euros in tolls is a substantial amount
That sounds like a great trip to Italy. Would love to try that. How long would you be away for ? I have thought about cutting across to Luxembourg. It would take us a bit more time but reduced tolls and fuel is also cheaper I believe. Just need to book a bit more time off work to make it happen! Thanks for getting in touch and sharing your tips. Cheers JT
Yes if you head across to Luxembourg you have the added benefit of buying the cheapest fuel on the continent. You do need to purchase the Swiss vignette at a cost of 38 euro once in Switzerland but you would have to pay to go through the Mont Blanc tunnel if you approached the alps from the direct French route. We book 3 weeks away head out on a Friday evening and reach the south of Italy Sunday early afternoon. It’s a 34 hour drive roughly.
Yes it was, 4 of us in the van vs 3 flying, but on le shuttle / Eurotunnel you pay for the vehicle as opposed to the number of passengers…thanks for watching, JT
Hi JT, Just ondering if you ever found the right van to upgrade to from the Cali? Just saw a video by Will & Sarah @campervan time about the new Swift Trekker.great van at a great price, think it would suit you very well,,,,,cheers!
Funnily enough Carol, the Trekker is now on our list as a potential candidate. We are hoping to see one in person in the next few weeks...watch this space!
We also drive in our California and we drive from the north of Wales so our fuel costs are a bit higher, £370 on our last trip. We always fill up at the Carrefour in Reims and again in BSM at the Super U, we fill up in BSM on the day we arrive to make sure we have winter diesel in the tank so we are good to go for our weeks stay in the mountains. The tolls are a bit of a sting in the tail especially as you get the statement from Sanef when your holiday is a fading memory 😂
Agreed ! I'd almost forgotten about the tolls when the email came in with the invoice. If we'd had a bit more time we could have gone the non toll route, but just wanted to get there ASAP. We didn't need to worry about winter diesel on the trip as Temperature in BSM did not get below freezing whilst we were there, it was much milder than last year. On a side note, we love the Super U in BSM, its very nice since it had its refurb ! Thanks for sharing your tips, cheers JT
Hi Ian, you’re right. We only had two full tanks one on the way out leaving Salisbury and one on the way back when leaving BSM. The others were partial fills of various amounts to coincide with stops, access to supermarket fuel and distance to next stop. We averaged around 38 mpg on the trip. Cheers JT
Planning to do this in my bmw 5 series next year with 1 or 2 friends.
Another cost saving is the fact you can pack food and beers which are mega expensive in the resorts.
So many pros to driving the more I think about it the easier it is. I think even if it’s the same price I’d rather drive.
I agree, despite the time involved, I enjoy the drive. Love the build of anticipation as you get closer to your destination! The added bonus of being able to take more luggage inc. beers is always a bonus ! Cheers JT
great video,great info. We always drive to austria for hiking in spring, we stop midway across france for a day or 2 and then into austria. Its much more of a "road trip" and being able to pack up the van with plenty of goodies is a bonus. Keep the videos coming.
Thanks so much Carol. We have been to Austria a couple of times in the Spring and it is beautiful, never by Campervan though...perhaps that is one for the future ?! I do love the adventurre of the trip as much as the time at the destination. Thanks for watching and getting in touch. JT
Great comparison. We love driving down kind of puts you in charge rather than flying.
Just watched your video in the new van in France looks a great van for the muddy pitch issue I keep the snow chains in the van all year fantastic for getting out of mud.
Thanks Sean ! I love the drive down as well, something special about seeing the snowy mountains loom into view as you get closer…
I hadn’t thought about snow chains for muddy fields…
I did a comparison on Driving through France to Spain and taking the Ferry to Bilbao.
To my amazement the driving via the Eurotunnel saved me over £700!!
This July however I have decided to get the Ferry from Portsmouth to Santander, drive through NW Spain and then on the return journey drive all the way home.
Roll on summer🎉
Another big saving ! I know some ferry companies costs have crept up recently. I hoped /knew there would be a saving compared to our friends flying, but I didn’t expect it to be as great as it was. Interestingly on the return trip we left within half an hour of each other, we both had stops on the way back (us in an aire, them in a hotel) but we arrived home first ! Agreed, roll on summer! Cheers JT
Interesting video and something we have long been aware of. We were down at the same time as you in BSM but in a motorhome. All my costs came through and including everything (tolls, diesel, ferry costs, food, accomodation, ski hire, eating out, passes etc) came to £2200 for the three of us. We left on the Friday and were glad we didn't take le shuttle as we were told by others there was a 5 hour delay where as the ferries were running on time. The only bit of advice I would pass on is that autoroute aire's are not the safest places so I would recommend you find aire's which are off the motorway. Obviously you have to find one's with a loo but there are some out there like that.
Thanks Andy. Hope you enjoyed your stay at BSM as well, we bumped into a few people whilst we were there who have watched some of my videos. I will do a total cost video which will be more than yours as we stayed in a Cabin for the week, but £2200 sounds like really good value all-in for a week long family ski holiday.
It's a good point about the Aire's, the one we have stayed at we have used a few times and you can park close to the main building, it's modern, well lit and there are other Camper vans/Motorhomes around as well. We tend to only stop for 3 or 4 hours. If we change our van for something slightly bigger we would definitely look to stay in aires off the Autoroute. Thanks for watching and taking the time to share your tips. Cheers JT
Totally agree with those figures. We do the same trip from Bournemouth in my son’s California. There are 6 of us in the van. We do the drive straight as we have 2 drivers. We also coated flying and it works out lots more to fly. We take our own boots and skis which is another cost saving on the flight. We much prefer loading the van in the Uk then unloading in resort. With flying you are constantly picking up and moving around everyone’s bags. We were there the same week as you. We stayed in an apartment in 1800. Next year we will drive to Austria. Did it in 2023- long journey but just doable.
We have been to Austria in the Spring/Summer, but not ski'd there yet. Some friends of ours have just come back from a week there and said how clean and organised the ski resorts were. I'd love to take the California there, I think I'd want to go for 10 days - 2 weeks if possible to make it worth the longer trip. Thanks for watching and sharing your experience. Cheers JT
The days of cheap flights are over unfortunately, as the cost of flying I think is going to increase from now on imho. We tend to use the ferry from Ireland to France as when we costed a ferry to UK, then drive down to use the euro tunnel & it is more expensive and exhausting so, the ferry for us is a much nicer experience and is preferable to bring our camper rather than flying. I totally agree with your assessment. Another great video, thanks.
Yes, from Ireland I think the Ferry would be preferable rather than going Ferry - Drive and then EuroTunnel to get to France. Where do you usually sail from / to ? We often take the Ferry in the summer when it is likely to be calmer. Some of our party don't enjoy a choppy sea...! We usually go from Newhaven to Dieppe. I don't think I could convince them to take a Ferry in February, even if it was half the price !
Thanks for watching and getting in touch, cheers JT
Another great video JT, many thanks for putting it together. What was the time difference between you and Stuart arriving home?
Cheers
Thanks Ben, we arrived home at around 7:30 just as our friends were landing at Bournemouth, they arrived home around 2 hours later. It did feel a bit like a race on a Top Gear Challenge ! Cheers JT
@@CampervanJourney wow!!! Driving down is the way forward. Look forward to the next video. Cheers
Great information JT. We visit the south of Italy every summer (1500 miles door to door) and have driven it for the last 7-8 years. Flying is much quicker and possibly cheaper but when you take into account the cost of hiring a car and being able to load as much stuff as you need with you in your own car plus bring back a boot full of goodies we always end up driving. Also factoring we have a dog then it’s a clear decision to drive. We make the journey part of the holiday/experience and thoroughly enjoy it.
Currently looking to book for the summer and assessing the ferry vs the euro tunnel. Over £115 cheaper to go by ferry but the convenience of being across the channel in 35 minutes makes the tunnel hard to overlook.
FYI I never go directly through France the toll charges are crazy if you ask me. I head down to Luxembourg through to Strasbourg and down to Basel and into Switzerland there is a 13euro charge doing this route and you don’t lose out much time. Not sure if it’s close to where you head to but 172 euros in tolls is a substantial amount
That sounds like a great trip to Italy. Would love to try that. How long would you be away for ? I have thought about cutting across to Luxembourg. It would take us a bit more time but reduced tolls and fuel is also cheaper I believe. Just need to book a bit more time off work to make it happen! Thanks for getting in touch and sharing your tips. Cheers JT
Yes if you head across to Luxembourg you have the added benefit of buying the cheapest fuel on the continent. You do need to purchase the Swiss vignette at a cost of 38 euro once in Switzerland but you would have to pay to go through the Mont Blanc tunnel if you approached the alps from the direct French route.
We book 3 weeks away head out on a Friday evening and reach the south of Italy Sunday early afternoon. It’s a 34 hour drive roughly.
That's good to know, I'd love to explore a bit further into Europe with the van, and Italy is high up the list of places to see more of...
Great video and very informative JT. One question was it four people in a van compared to three flying?
Yes it was, 4 of us in the van vs 3 flying, but on le shuttle / Eurotunnel you pay for the vehicle as opposed to the number of passengers…thanks for watching, JT
Nice video
When you do your costing video, can you mention if you're class 1 or 2 on the tolls?
Of course, we go through as a standard car.
@CampervanJourney ah, we're class 2 which is roughly 50% more. Luckily we're not class 3 😬
Hi JT, Just ondering if you ever found the right van to upgrade to from the Cali? Just saw a video by Will & Sarah @campervan time about the new Swift Trekker.great van at a great price, think it would suit you very well,,,,,cheers!
Funnily enough Carol, the Trekker is now on our list as a potential candidate. We are hoping to see one in person in the next few weeks...watch this space!
We also drive in our California and we drive from the north of Wales so our fuel costs are a bit higher, £370 on our last trip. We always fill up at the Carrefour in Reims and again in BSM at the Super U, we fill up in BSM on the day we arrive to make sure we have winter diesel in the tank so we are good to go for our weeks stay in the mountains. The tolls are a bit of a sting in the tail especially as you get the statement from Sanef when your holiday is a fading memory 😂
Agreed ! I'd almost forgotten about the tolls when the email came in with the invoice. If we'd had a bit more time we could have gone the non toll route, but just wanted to get there ASAP. We didn't need to worry about winter diesel on the trip as Temperature in BSM did not get below freezing whilst we were there, it was much milder than last year. On a side note, we love the Super U in BSM, its very nice since it had its refurb ! Thanks for sharing your tips, cheers JT
6 fuel stops v £303. I assume then it wasn’t filling up as that’s only about £51 a time?
Hi Ian, you’re right. We only had two full tanks one on the way out leaving Salisbury and one on the way back when leaving BSM. The others were partial fills of various amounts to coincide with stops, access to supermarket fuel and distance to next stop. We averaged around 38 mpg on the trip. Cheers JT