Hi Bungle . We've travelled to Malgrat by car for the last two years and we went to Estartit to the beach one day from there. We liked the freedom of travelling on our own and having the car to travel around while we were there, but the journey is long, so you really have to hate flying (like me) to put up with it . (Like with coach travel really )

We go for two weeks during the school holidays (July/August), so there is a lot of traffic around the South of France area on the Saturday morning. Year before last we left home early Friday morning, went on the shuttle (35 mins.), stayed overnight in a Campanile hotel in France, then woke up to gridlocked roads on the Saturday. We didn't arrive at our hotel in Malgrat until 6.30 pm which was a waste of a day

Therefore, last year (07), we decided to leave home Thursday afternoon to get down to Dover and stayed overnight in a Premier Travel Inn, had a nice evening meal there and an early night. We then got up early Friday morning and got the 5.50 am shuttle, arriving in Calais at 7.25 am (French time). Travelled through France all day and stopped at 5.30 pm in Valence (had McDonald's and a good night's sleep - unlike on the coach!). Woke up refreshed and ready for the last leg of the journey, left the hotel at 5.30 am on Saturday and avoided the queues of traffic we'd encountered the previous year, arriving at The Maripins in Malgrat at 11.30 am

We travelled by coach for years, and we usually arrive at the hotel feeling tired and bedraggled, with swollen ankles and hubby needing a shave! Going by car you get a proper night's sleep in a bed with bathroom facilities, a relaxed evening meal, a cooked breakfast if you want one, plus you don't have to put up with people snoring and chatting through the night, or loud videos when you want to try and sleep. As I'm getting older I'm afraid I'm less tolerant of people . It was great to be independent

It's not cheap though - petrol for the whole journey (there and back) was £335.90 and tolls (there and back) were £135.80. The Premier Travel Inn (Dover) was £59.00, Comfort Inn (Valence) was £58.00 and hotel stop coming home was £59.00.

We have two sons (12 and 16) and they know that it's going to be a long journey and are good as gold. They have DVD players in the headrests and take a box full of DVDs which help the journey along. Our holiday starts from when we leave the house, and they know not to ask "are we nearly there yet?" !!

If you don't like flying, I would thoroughly recommend driving yourselves. HAPPY HOLIDAYS

thanks julie c.
more than i was expecting for a1 reply.(great)
whn you have time would you be kind enough
to give me routes ,do i needcash for tolls &petrol
we live in thurrock so will be in france to start-off
in hours also is there a quicker way than coaches go.
and can we make it in 1 overnight journey.

Hi Bungle, living in Thurrock you have a head start on us, we live in Lowestoft so you can knock three hours off our journey!

I made a note of the times (it gave me something to do!) - here goes ...

Thursday, 26th July, 2007

2.00 pm Left home
5.15 pm Arrived hotel in Dover

Friday, 27th July, 2007

4.40 am Left hotel
4.55 am Arrived shuttle
5.50 am Shuttle departed
7.25 am (European time) Arrived Calais
3.00 pm Lyon
5.30 pm Valence (stayed overnight)

Saturday, 28th July, 2007

5.30 am Left Valence
7.15 am Nimes
8.00 am Montpellier
9.00 am Narbonne
9.45 am Perpignan
10.20 am Border
11.30 am Arrived at Maripins, Malgrat

Coming home was much quicker and we could actually have travelled all the way without an overnight stop, especially if you share the driving, but by the time we got to Thurrock we were ready for a sleep, although as you live there you could do it without a stop.

Saturday, 11th August, 2007

8.45 am Left Maripins, Malgrat
10.00 am Border
10.20 am Perpignan
10.50 am Narbonne
12.10 pm Montpellier
12.35 pm Nimes
2.40 pm Valence
3.40 pm Lyon
7.40 pm Reims
10.00 pm Arrive Shuttle (we hadn't expected to arrive here so early and were pre-booked onto a shuttle for the following morning, expecting to stay in a hotel in France for the night, so we paid extra and went on the next available shuttle which wasn't until 11.45 pm unfortunately, but at least we had a rest and some pizza!)
11.45 pm Leave Calais
11.30 pm (English time) Leave Dover (now frantically phoning every Premier Travel Inn/Travelodge etc. for a room for the night! (now I know how Joseph & Mary felt )

Sunday, 12th August, 2007

1.00 am Got booked into a Premier Travel Inn in Thurrock, so pleased to be in bed and had a lovely full English in the morning
11.00 am Left Thurrock
1.30 pm Arrived home

We paid for the petrol and tolls with euros, but I'm sure they all take cards.

I hope this is helpful to you

Hey Bungle

Just being nosy, but i'm assuming that you are booking accom independently now that you don't have a coaching option with Interbrava?

hi cider
as yourself we usedto stay at castle montgri but the last
4 years we have stayed at the miami apartments we have
asked and got abottom floor apartment same one every year
its changed a lot since redcrest days but just right 4 grandkids
stepout of apartment straight into swimmingpool,readingyour
threads it would perfect foryourselves it hasnt got the chav
element it used to have&apartments sobig&clean oh and the
shower is better than home with a washing machine too!!!
we used to book through inter brava but will book direct
with them.

Just remembered - other things to consider when driving yourselves are:-

Let your motor insurers know you'll be driving abroad
If you're with the AA or RAC, let them know (we had to pay a bit extra)
You'll need a breakdown kit - triangle, fluorescent jackets, spare set of light bulbs
GB sticker, stickers for the headlights, first aid kit

I think that's all

PS I wouldn't dream of going without a Sat Nav!

Hi Bungle ... we've always just went to Castell Montgri to enjoy the facilities it offers ... the town of Estartit just hasn't been the same to me for years now, it's well run down. In saying that, the Miami apartments are very nice, and in a good location.

The reason i asked, is that i was wondering your view on Interbrava dropping the coach option? There we have yourself, taking a different option to get there, and choosing to book direct instead of through a third party ... in our case, we are really too far north to consider driving to Spain (with only one driver!) so we will more than likely give our cash to another coach operator (reluctantly after Interbrava's fantastic service last year!)

So ... there are two customers gone already ... how many more?

hi cider/thanks very much juliec
very strange them dropping coach option so many people used it
they will problaby sell off the caravans ,they didnt actually own
the coach side of it did they? who pulled out on who??
oh well least didnt get left waiting at motorway services again!!
by the way heard whisper while out there last year that the
estartit trading community have been very concerned & big
money is being spent this year to upgrade town

Bungle .. i think you are thinking of Redcrest who didn't own the buses, but as far as i know, the whole operation, coaches and accommodation, was owned by Interbrava .... so that is why i found it all the more strange they pulled the coach option. Their new brochure dropped through my letterbox today (after me emailing to tell them i didn't want any more mail!!!) and it's been swiftly despatched to the blue recycle bin already ... they offer nothing to me anymore!!

Estartit town? From what i've always been told, it is the mayor of Estartit that has helped kill things off, as they would rather attract people in off the boats in the harbour, than the likes of us Brits!! Maybe that explains why the only lick of paint i've seen the town get in years is down at the harbour!

The town needs a good hard kick up the arse, as it could be a smashing wee resort again .. i thought it was struggling because the Costa Brava was losing appeal, but having been to CDP last September, i realise it's only struggling due to it's own lack of investment and foresight!

hi,
after reading reports on here,oh decided it would be good to drive to calella.(i cant drive)as we have gone with coach firms in the past.(time for a change he thought)
after some more research,sat down on sunday afternoon, booked hotel in calella which we have been to before,the tunnel as we thought get off to a quick start,also booked a hotel in folkestone.(we live in blackpool so its quite a long drive to start with)
we can stop when and if we want to, also booked a hotel in calais for return home.
we have a sat nav too,hopefully we are all set. just got to wait until june.
any more tip would be gratefully recived.
angelica

On French motorways stay on the road between midday and 2pm as all the French will stop to eat leaving the road empty. If you try to stop between those times the services will be absolutly rammed. As well as big services there are many really nice 'aires' every 15 miles of so where you can stop for a picnic and a loo stop.

To avoid Paris stay on the A26 to Reims and then follow down past Troyes before joining the A6 at Beaune.

Bungle have a look here and you can plan your route with an approximate cost.