Anyone here took their car on Motorail?

[Sp!ke]

Same train, different carriage (obviously).

 

[Spinal]

Even more tempting... I'll have to look at prices tomorrow/this weekend. Planning to goto eastern Italy this year, and maybe Croatia, so a quick drive into Germany and then down to Bolzano seems quite easy!

Will have to check on dogs as well (more a note to myself than anything else!)
M

EDIT:
They allow "small" dogs (but then show a picture with a few labs). I wonder if my bernese cross counts as a small dog....
https://www.dbautozug.de/autozug-en...ions/travelling_as_/tierhalterpet_owners.html

 

[Sp!ke]

You can do Holland to Koper in Slovenia which is a stone throw from Italy.

I booked through Welcome to Railsavers - Leading Motorail SpecialistsWelcome to Railsavers (Just gave them a call) and they were excellent. Answered all my questions, even changed the itinerary without fuss, a very good old fashioned (in a good way) personal service.

 

[welland99]

Family camping destinations in south of France?

We did Calais - Narbonne in 2001. It was an awful experience...the ro=lling stock was old and very hot...with the windows open it was very noisey.

The route is no longer running.

Back in 2001, did you travel on the same train as the car? Nowadays, the Paris motorail takes the car on seperate trains to the passengers. This means you have the flexibility to travel as foot passengers on the TGV or overnight sleeper.

I realise that it was a long time ago when you went to Narbonne, but can you recall what the countryside and beaches were like?

Anybody else got any recommendations for family camping destinations in the south of France, near to the coast. Will be going in August.

 

[Spinal]

You can do Holland to Koper in Slovenia which is a stone throw from Italy.

I booked through Welcome to Railsavers - Leading Motorail SpecialistsWelcome to Railsavers (Just gave them a call) and they were excellent. Answered all my questions, even changed the itinerary without fuss, a very good old fashioned (in a good way) personal service.

and Slovenia is on the PETS scheme and Koper is bilingual, so that's quite nice.

That's a useful site, thanks. I just need to figure out where the trains leave from

M.

EDIT: Trains all leave from Den Bosch in the Netherlands from what I can tell.

 

[Dieselman]

In 2011 my wife and I did a 18-night tour of Spain in her SLK350. The trip was a mixed "for the journey" and "for the destination" thing, so the drive and what we drove was important. We took the Plymouth/Santander ferry out and back which is expensive, but cheaper and more importantly quicker than driving through France.

Are you sure? I've always found churning through France to be rather quick and would expect to be in Spain within the day.
It's about the same distance as St Tropez and that's a fairly easy journey.

My route would be 250 miles in England, ferry to Calais, then one shot to the destination. (I've been known to do 400 miles holding a Pee )

 

[Sp!ke]

EDIT: Trains all leave from Den Bosch in the Netherlands from what I can tell.

Yep Den Bosch.. a little over a couple of hours from Calais.

 

[BTB 500]

I can understand the attraction of motorail, it's like taking the ferry instead of the chunnel, you get a break and some food, then plough on to your destination.

We find the chunnel makes a reasonable break ... enough time to get out & stretch your legs, use the toilets, have something to eat. It's longer than the other stop we make on the continent (when driving to/from the south of Germany).

Obviously on a longer drive where you might want to catch some sleep the ferry (or train!) would make sense though.

 

[st13phil]

Are you sure? I've always found churning through France to be rather quick and would expect to be in Spain within the day.
It's about the same distance as St Tropez and that's a fairly easy journey.

My route would be 250 miles in England, ferry to Calais, then one shot to the destination. (I've been known to do 400 miles holding a Pee )

Hehe...

Route was:

• Leave home (north Oxfordshire) circa 3pm on day 1, drive to Plymouth
• Catch overnight ferry to Santander & drive to Cangas de Onis, arriving around 4pm local time the next day

So, elapsed time was 24hrs and arrived fresh as a daisy.

To go over land it would have been:

• Leave home (north Oxfordshire) circa 3pm on day 1, drive to Folkestone
• Catch Le Scuttle to Calais, arriving approx. 7:30pm local time
• Drive a very boring 890 motorway miles to Cangas de Onis, notionally arriving around 10:00am the next day if done non-stop (not possible due to tank range)

So, in theory it's quicker over land, in practice it's not. And you'd arrive a little tired

 

[Spinal]

My normal journey is:
* Leave home (West London) around 7pm on a Friday, chunnel train around 10pm
*Sleep 30 min on train.
* Stop to refuel near Dijon, also stock up on caffeinated drinks and maybe have a late dinner.
* Arrive Saturday morning around 9pm in Bardonecchia, a little tired, but happy to be there. If winter, hit the slopes. If summer, go hiking.

I did contact the train people - worked out quite expensive (£1200 return, not including the chunnel), takes 22 hours (during which the dog doesn't have a place to pee), and they wont take dogs over 15kg, so sadly won't wok for me. (especially sad as this year I'm not stopping in Bardonecchia, but going to my grandmothers house near Venice...)

M.