Calais To La Rochell Advice (1 Viewer)

Dubiousp

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Good morning all,, we are looking at our second trip to France maybe 2nd week in September.

My thoughts were DFDS to Calais and then drive to some where like La Rochelle which seems to be a popular

Drive seems ok or is it a night mare ?
Is La Rochelle the place to go ?
Any thoughts of a good place to stay ?
Is a week to short for that sort of drive ?
 

Brisey

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Calais to La Rochelle is a 430 mile drive which I would find a bit too much at the start and end of a week. My personal preference for a week would be to make my way along the coast bit by bit from Calais towards Honfleur. There are lots of places with aires along the way, Le Touquet, Le Crotoy, Dieppe and Voulettes sur Mer to name but a few. Whatever you decide on, have a great trip.
Safe journey.

Brisey.
 

Spottycatz

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Still making mistakes! But they're not as costly.
We took a couple of weeks to do the same trip three years ago. If you want to drive there, stay for a few days and then drive back, a week may be long enough. But we wanted to stop along the way and go and see stuff, so I don't think a week is long enough really.

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Bluemooner

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We are heading that way on Sunday was hoping to make it to Coulon near Niort if we don't it doesn't really matter then near Rochelle and after that not a clue
Andy
 

wivvy's dad

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If you're in Hampshire, why not cross Portsmouth-Cherbourg/Caen/Le Havre, and then just drop straight down the west coast - much more efficient than trekking all the way to Dover, then all the way down from Calais, just to save a few quid on the ferry.
 
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Calais to La Rochelle is a 430 mile drive which I would find a bit too much at the start and end of a week.
Brisey.

I agree, 1 week not much of a holiday, but each to his own.
Likewise we are going the first 2 weeks of sept from the Isle of Wight and going via DFDS to Dunkirk then thru Normandy to brittany and back on a sort of circular trip, as hate to come back the same way we went. Still think my 2 wks is a bit short but I personnally prefer driving thru france ( not using Peage) so as to see interesting villages etc , thought of going via Portsmouth but the increase in cost didn't seem worth it ( also wifey doesn't like going on ships for longer than a couple of hours)
Terry:sin:

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smiffy502000

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hi.we are doing the same trip end of next week. from Dunkirk, 400 miles pluss sounds a lot but we aim to do it over a couple of days...from rochell we intend to cross onto ill-de rai.someone recommended it to us so thought we would give it a try. sounds nice reading up on it and no doubt many of you out there have been, just hope its worth the drive and the bloody weather bucks up a little!! anyway,whatever you decide to do,have a good trip::bigsmile:::bigsmile:
 

magicsurfbus

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At Easter we decided we wanted to hit the Charentes coast as quickly as possible so we drove from Calais (early ferry) to Futuroscope's Aire on Good Friday (380 miles), then got up early and drove to La Palmyre (125 miles) the next morning, arriving at the seafront Aire by around 10am.

Personally, given the choice between slowly bimbling down to La Rochelle in short bursts, and getting there quickly with enough time to properly do justice to the lovely Charentes coast (La Rochelle, Ile d'Oleron, Ile de Re, Ile d'Aix, Ile Madame, La Palmyre, Saint-Palais-sur-mer, etc) I know what I'd prefer, but each to their own.

Honfleur is certainly a good place to stop on a return journey from that area, but it's only about 3 hours drive from Calais.

Regarding La Rochelle itself - great place for shopping, a couple of interesting bits (for non shoppers) like the Maritime museum, the towers overlooking the harbour, and the Aquarium, bloody nightmare driving round the town centre in a MH, but very convenient Aire at the Ave Jean Moulin Park n Ride on the edge of the town with return bus ticket included in the 10.50 Euro fee. No shortage of eateries with harbour views for the evening. Boat trips available if that sort of thing floats your boat.
 
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