Flights are insane and unreliable, and we'd pile on the cost of a hire car on the other side. And I do love a road trip!
Thank you!
I would truly appreciate any tips (other than "don't do it") from anyone who has done this trip recently?
Well I drove Valais to Manchester. Not sure what tips to give, it's pretty straight forward, French motorways are a dream (British not so much). I split it over 2 days, but was going a tiny bit further than you.
I do Uxbridge to Zurich fairly often (though not as often as I used to).
Tip: Leave around 4pm, stop for a late dinner in France, and grab the Eurotunnel in the morning. You can avoid rush hour this way.
The Eurotunnel is not cheap, but if you do it often you can get a 10-ticket bundle much cheaper.
I just returned from this trip.
I would recommend getting a toll booth device for the french toll roads. With it you can just drive straight through without queuing behind people while they search for their Euros. You’ll end up on quite a few toll roads so the time saved can add up. Find more info here: https://www.emovis-tag.co.uk/liber-t/
We always use an Airbnb and split the journey over two days. It’s 9 hours driving to Calais and then can be another 3 or so getting past the M25.
Can also get a tag from www.aprr.fr We’ve been using ours for a few years now.
Thanks, everyone, for taking the time to reply.
I appreciate the advice.
We did this trip, the week before the first Covid lockdown
We drove Neuchatel - Calais (7h) and overnighted there, then took an early Eurostar. Next morning Folkstone to London in a little over 2h (plus the 1h+ on the Eurostar).
Top tip: we found a fantastic hotel in Calais which I can highly recommend:
It doesn’t look much from the outside but inside it is wonderfully decorated. Slightly dated but very clean and very friendly staff. Very good breakfast with fresh cooked eggs (if you like) and parking outside the hotel (it also has a full size snooker table and whisky bar!!). Very good value for money. We were able to walk to the old part of town where we also found a great restaurant. I will definately stay there again when I make the same trip.
Have fun!
Thank you so much! Looking forward to fresh-cooked eggs with my whiskey .
A long distance truck driver once told me, invariably the quickest route between 2 points was to draw a straight line between the departure and arrival points and them draw lines 2-3 cm either side, depending on map scale (that bit i've forgotten) and this will almost certainly be the quickest route.
...this was about 30 years ago though, may have changed now
CH > UK > CH is a route I have driven many times over the last 40 years.
Unless you want to have a French holiday, stick to the Péage autoroutes. Likewise the Channel. The tunnel is so much less faff and quicker too. But both cost more.
I have made it to Bournemouth in one day non-stop, starting here at 4am and arriving at 5pm. I was younger.
You can stay overnight in loads of places, but the nearer to Calais the less stress. The worst part of the whole journey is round Zurich, thus if you have to do that, I suggest before 6am or after 9am.
The M25 is a pig whatever the day or time...
Luckily we know have apps and sat nav to tell us that!
I don’t think it’s such a problem anymore. But if you leave you car unattended in Calais. Give it a check over for stowaways before entering the Eurotunnel premises.