Top Guidance on Booking a bargain short Breaks avoiding peak rates.
Many people choose to have a short break in Paris, the romantic city of lights. Other popular destinations include Lille, le Touquet and Bruges. The attraction of these places is the architecture, fine food and high quality wine all add to the fine reputation. Eurostar has become the carrier of choice for those wanting a quick get away from the UK as it offers a fast non stop service right into the heart of Paris from London. With excellent travel links to other parts of France.Lots of travellers are always looking out for travel options that do not require flights. There reasons vary from concern about the environmental impact of flights to potential worries about delays that are common among flights from weather, industrial action to natural disasters.
Ferries provide an opportunity to take a car and are a good, and cost effective alternative to Eurostar travel but there is also the Eurotunnel holiday option so let's see what each has to offer to place the holiday maker in a better frame of mind as to the best options and how to get a good cheap break.
Some people resent the fact that when you fly you have to check in 2 hours or so before the flight is due to leave. On long haul flights this is not too much of an addition to the journey time but on a short haul flight of up to 4 hours it can be very irritating spending such a large proportion of your time in airports.
For this reason many people are taking their family car to France and looking to just get accross the channel. There are a surprising number of travel options across the channel and we shall look at the most popular ones.
Ferries, there are a number of popular ferry services from ports along the south coast of the UK. Carriers such as P&O, Seafrance, Condor and Norfolk line. There are 2 main types of ferry, a traditional ferry which has many onboard facilities and a capacity for 100's of cars and passengers and a relatively slow speed or the smaller catamaran ferry which has a smaller capacity for vehicles and passengers and doesn't have as wide a choice of on board facilities as the Ferry but will typically make the cross channel crossing in a fraction of the time a ferry would.
Travel by rail is another popular option ever since the channel tunnel opened. The two carriers from the UK include Eurotunnel and Eurostar and it is worth noting that the two offer very different services.
Eurotunnel is only for vehicles (cars and HGV's), people stay inside their vehicles for the journey (or can get out and wonder the compartment they are in). Travel departs from Folkestone to Calais only with no stops on the way or beyond these destinations. Travel is fast and convenient with trains running at least every 30 minutes running 24 hours a day.
Eurostar offer upmarket travel in luxury with plenty of facilities and a comfortable first class upgrade service. Many resent the fact that when you fly you have to check in 2 hours or so before the flight is due to leave. On long haul flights this is not too much of an addition to the journey time but on a short haul flight of up to 4 hours or so you can literally spend more time waiting than you do travelling this is not the case with Eurotunnel or Eurostar travel. Eurostar is similar to a flight, where only foot passengers are taken. Journeys can start from London and Ashford and go directly to Paris and other main city destinations in very short journey times. For those wanting to use the excellent continental passenger services around cities this is an ideal option and gives one the freedom and a hassle free way to explore northern France. Once in a main destination you can easily get trains to other French destinations. Even if your hotel is a distance away from the station there are excellent and helpful taxi services. Eurostar runs daytime/early evening only and times vary from hourly to 3 or 4 trains per day, depending on the destination selected and the season you travel in.
Making your own reservations with the hotel and carrier is not always the best way to do it, a good travel provider is able to offer a competitive package deal on hotel and travel and through their bulk booking are able to offer generous discounts. Plus if a single element of your travel plans were to fail the travel agent can re arrange this seamlessly giving you just one point of contact.
When it comes to getting the cheapest price we suggest that you get quotes for different times of the day and different days of the week. An off peak travel rate can be substantially cheaper than an on peak rate. A good travel advisor or tour operator is able to provide advice on the most cost effective times to travel in. With so many travel options it also proves to be much cheaper the further in advance you wish to travel. Book at least a couple of weeks in advance for the biggest savings.
We also strongly recommend that you take out travel insurance which covers you in the event that due to sickness or injury (your party or even close family members) you cannot complete or start your travel.
So weigh up your options carefully and decide in advance on your destination, and itinerary. Then choose a hotel that offers the level of service your require. Your next step is to weigh up the travel times in order to beat the high and inflated peak rates. By doing this and following the advice in this article you can enjoy a good cheap break in France and will probably have money left over to book a weekend break later on in the year.
About the Author
Andyh Holiday is a researcher and staff writer providing coverage and exposure to sites like Paris short Breaks & Bruges Hotels a tour operator provided by Delpech travel.