Santander Ferry
 

Has anyone used either the Portsmouth or Plymouth to Santander Ferry?

I'm thinking fo going down to Portimao on the south coast of Portugal for the final round of the World Superbike championship in October. But wondered whether to ride down through france, spain and portugal or get the ferry to spain and ride down through spain and portugal?

cheers
Iand

I've used both of them - P&O and Brittany quite a few times over the years. The experience is roughly akin to spending two days in the motorway services. You can do it but it becomes a bit of an expedition in its own right. You can also do it both ways as a sort of four day mini cruise but I think you'd have to into training for that one.

For where you're going it's probably just about cost effective though. You've got to get across the channel somehow and by the time you've factored in the cost of the other ferry / tunnel, fuel, hotels, motorway tolls (particularly if you do Dover / anywhere), tyre wear etc the price of the Spain ferry starts to look a bit better.

I've done both ways and it would be the ferry everytime if your just looking to blast through France to get to Spain. The Portsmouth- Santander is 18 hours. Everytime i've been it's been on a sportsbike to hack around Spanish mountains for 3k mls so tyre life would be an issue adding 1.5k to the journey.

The Brittany Ferries is only one night on the boat so it's viable to book a reclining seat rather than a cabin and kip on the floor of the recliner lounge.

Rates from around £85 one way bike and rider which is an absolute steal compared to cross channel ferry, motorway tolls, petrol, hotel.............

Tim

thanks tim, the prices dont look too bad, i just got a quote of £118 return for the dates i wanted in October.

Hi Tim,
is it possible to get any sleep in this lounge, havn't used a reclining chair before usually share a cabin but this time i'm travelling alone so a cabin is too expensive. always had the idea it would be full of people snoring,farting and kids messing about.

cheers Dave

With regard to sleeping in the louge, i've found it always very quiet and normally half empty (this was May 08 and July 08) meaning most people looking for real sleep slept on floor in sleeping bag

Sleeping in the actual chair i never managed - they do not seem to stay reclined on their own, so if you lean forward a bit they come forward and wont go back unless you push button.

I just checked the price on their website for a trip Portsmouth/Santander for Aug/Sept £277 and Oct £190 both with reclining seat. Did you use another site to get the £118 deal? That's quite a difference.

The Aug/Sept trip with a cabin is £449!

There are TWO companies running ferries on TWO different routes:-

Brittany Ferries - Plymouth~Santander - 18 hours (ie. 1 night on boat)

P & O - Portsmouth~Bilbao - 36 hours (ie. 2 nights on boat)

i dont know off the top of my head, but i saved the page and printed it out at work, i'll have a look and see if i can find it. i was looking for the around the 22nd of october, not sure if that makes it cheaper?

it was definitely portsmouth to santander too.

Brittany ferries now run a new service from portsmouth as well as their plymouth service. Portsmouth is easier for me.

the dates I tried were early Oct maybe it changes later in the month.

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I once saw a couple in the recliner lounge, Pireas to Iraklion, Crete, set up a small 'igloo' type pop up tent in the corner. !
They only weigh in about 3 kg, and i imagine do give you a little more of your isolation for a few hours sleep.