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Does anyone have any good or bad exeriences or tips for using motorail to Nice?
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No tips, and no personal bad experience. But a friend's car was no longer on the train by the time he arrived in Nice.
Martyn [Back Room moderator]
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mailto:webmaster@honestjohn.co.uk
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Not a Nice experience, obviously.
But, seriously, what has always put me off is the sheer cost.
Last time I looked it was about £600 return to get down to Bordeaux. That was some time ago and it so put me off that I haven't looked since.
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I presume that you are considering Motorail to save on driving too far. But having lived a few years in Bordeaux and going back and forth to the UK, the shortest and easiest drive is from St. Malo. Dual carriagway practicaly the whole way (most of which is not autoroute) and I did it in about 4 hours.
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I'll second that, CM.
The St Malo ferry is a real pleasure trip and St Malo itself is worth a couple of days in itself.
Although obviously more expensive than the Calais short-hop or the Tunnel, as an alternative to Motorail it is a good option.
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Yes, St Malo is a lovely, if expensive, crossing, as is Caen. Except that, in my opinion, Br*****y Ferries should be avoided at all costs.
Our caravan and others were broken into last year on the Caen-Portsmouth crossing and BF refused to accept that anything of the sort could happen. They claim constant video surveillance of vehicle decks, but don't bother to record that video. We were lucky, just a forced lock on the caravan; others had stuff stolen. Some wouldn't have checked if we hadn't found something amiss and raised a stink. If you must use them check your vehicle(s) when you leave them and when you re-join them. If anything's amiss, refuse to move off the car deck until an officer has completed the appropriate report (it took half an hour to find the correct report forms).
Prolonged correspondence failed to obtain an admission that such a thing could really happen but did elicit a £100 voucher from them which I shall not be using unless and until they tighten their security. So I won't be using it then...and I've told them so.
I caution everyone to avoid companies with the arrogance to refuse to accept their security could be better. Stick with the more proactive companies such as Eurotunnel, P&O, POSL and Seafrance. Could try Condor to St Malo though - they go via the Channel Isles so presumably still have Duty Free!
*gets off high horse*
Terry
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Yes I have used French in the past and it certainly saves the long slog of a drive from Calais to the South of France. Cost wise I understand that Belgium Motor Rail is probably cheaper.
On getting costings this year my new vehicle a RAV 4 is excluded. Obviously too high for low tunneels!!
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Yes, I've experience of Motorail, several times both to Avignon and Frejus.
We stopped using it for the following reasons :
Our youngest (of three) was deemed old enough and therefore had to pay for a separate bunk/couchette;
This, added on to other costs, made the whole affair extortionate;
The total journey time is about 10hrs in a car which SNCF stretch into something like 12-14 hrs ;
The adverts which promise you will arrive relaxed after a good night's sleep were a joke : we never slept - there's too much stopping and engine changing in the middle of the night etc etc, and that's assuming there's no noise from others - on one trip the bloke next door hit the duty-free and snored incessantly;
I wasn't too happy about giving the keys to my new XR3i so that a French teenager could off-load it at the other end.
Also, the wife's sister + husband (no kids, loadsomoney) took their GTi on it, and woke up in Avignon with a smashed screen and the paintwork (roof + bonnet) pock-marked with gravel-chipping. Never mind, they got compensated about eight months later.
My advice : if you must go Motorail, book and pay from either France, or even Belgium or even Germany. It's easy to do via Internet and miles cheaper (rip-off GB) AND be prepared for all the above OR
Take an extra day each way,drive it yourself, stay in a nice Logis somewhere in the Beaune region , have a nice bottle of wine, sleep well and enjoy the scenery. !!! You'll still be well in pocket even with petrol & motorway tolls. Bon chance !!!
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I have paid for it already via Eurocamp - thanks for the above -we have 3 young children - another nightmare start to a holiday!
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A friend of mine took his family (wife and 2 kids aged 7 and 4) to the South of France last year via Motorail. He said it was fantastic and had no problems at all, his wife did say that the accommodation was not quite as expected and they did not sleep well.
I've considerded it in the past but due to the crazy cost I've always extended my holiday by a couple of days and stayed in hotels to break up the drive. Something else that put me off is not being able to leave a roof box on the vehicle. OK they let you put it in the car, but surely the reason I have the box in the first place is because the car is full up. Having to unpack it, stow everything and then repack is a pain in the ass, it's meant to be a holiday after all!
Hope you have a good holiday, whereabouts are you staying with Eurocamp? (Eurocamp are excellent by the way, if you have not used them before).
Cheers.
Jon.
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An ex-colleague in the office uses Eurocamp and also finds them excellent. She also does as you do Jon and stays in an hotel en route for a couple of nights to break up the drive.
She makes a point of splashing out on an up-market hotel and takes advantage of the hotel laundry service to get her family's washing and ironing done for her after the holiday!!
Now that's style :o)
Terry
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I have now cancelled the Motorail tickets and bitten the bullet on the cancellation fee.
A collegue at work used Motorail recently and confirmed my worst fears. You get there and have to wait 2 hours in a siding/car park while they load the train. Every car is inspected for damage individually and you have to sign a form noting any damage. There is then another 2 hour wait before the train goes.
On the train there is no food - the cabins are cramped. It is noisy and hard to sleep.
When you get there, there is a scrum in a big cafe for a free continental breakfast. You then wait another 2 hours while they unload the train. Finally you have to go and find your car which is left in a car park (with the keys in it) after having been unloaded by the train staff.
The thought of doing all of the above (especially the hanging around) with 3 young children is for me an absolute no-no! It would be far too stressful. We will drive down and stay in a hotel overnight on the way.
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DB -
I think you've probably made the right decision.
You might consider this ....... rich kidless sister-in-law & hubby are doing this in July. Booked through SNCF (French Railways) they drive independently to Paris. Then, they put car on a car-only train and are given tickets to travel on a separate TGV (high speed) passenger train.They have the choice of either having a night in Paris seeing the sights and going on to meet car next day OR going straight to Avignon (in their case), having a night in a hotel there & wait for car to catch up next day. Yes, it involves being separated from your car but the TGV only takes 3 hours and it was less than half the price of normal Motorail.I'm sure this service is available to Nice. Which site are you Eurocamping at ? Your family would certainly enjoy Paris if they've never been.
Otherwise there are loads of very sensibly priced hotels if you simply want to drive. Ask if you want any advice - we've been driving, camping & hotelling on the continent for the last 30 yrs. Tuscany this time for us along with 3 "children" 17, 15 & 11 !! Yum Yum !! Best wishes.
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We did the same, only slightly different: Arrived in Paris to load the car at 7:00a.m. which then leaves straight away: Morning and leisurely lunch in Paris, then catch TGV and pick up car in Avignon at 17:00 ish. mind you, that was pre children!
Losing the accomodation costs on the train saves a lot.
Tim{P}
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Don't be put off... I've used this service several times and ok well the couchettes are basic, but you can get some sleep, and save at least a day each way.If you've never driven it's worth doing for the experience, but personally I do enough driving the rest of the year and prefer to arrive relaxed. Ok there is some hanging around but we've found it ok. We're going again in july and looking forward to it.....
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Many years ago, when both SWMBO & I were a lot younger, we had several holidays in a static caravan on site just outside St. Tropez.
Being skint ( as usual) we used to drive from Calais to St. T. in one long blast. We shared the driving of course and once went with our then two year old daughter who slept on the back seat for most of the way ! (remember pre baby-seat days?).
The last time we did the trip we did stay one night both there and back, but we did have my Father-inLaw with us who was 80 years old!
Even in those days the Motorail thing was just too much money.
Now we live in the Costa del Sol and in August are driving to the Dunquerke Ferry port. We WILL stop on the way as the distance is around 2200 kilometres!
BTW The Norfolk Line seem to be much the cheapest cross Channel operators at present as we have secured a return trip for just 200 Euros!(Special early booking offer I think)
Roger.
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Did the run to Narbonne. Just awful. Sold on the idea that hey presto you wake up in the South of France, no you don't. You wake up hours short of your destination tired and irritable and a whole lot poorer.
If hanging around for hours in a grim marshalling yard is your idea of the best way to start/end a holiday, then you'll be thrilled. Kids really love that part!
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One thing about the journey down is that you can always stop at one of these cheap hotels on the way. I try to use Villages Hotel - its about 29Euros per family room for the night and the rooms have always been clean and spacious. Booking online is the cheapest option, but as you may not know how far you'll be going in one day's travel its hard to know where to stop!!
They're all the way down the motorways so easy to find :-)
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