Ferry travel to Spain

Tony1948 wrote on Sun Apr 25, 2021 1:46pm:

My wife & I + 3 dogs came over from Portsmouth to Santander, three years ago. The first leg of the journey was from Grantham, Lincs to Portsmouth.
The ferry sailed overnight & docked at Santander at 5:00 pm on the Saturday.
We stayed overnight in Santander and left at 8:00 am on the...

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... Sunday.
We arrived in Camposol at about 6:00 pm. We had stopped an number of times to refuel, have coffee & walk the dogs.

It was easy. We just cruised along.

Compared to the UK roads, there was virtually no traffic!

NickWyatt wrote on Sun Apr 25, 2021 2:26pm:

Beware. This is now the rule for pets after Brexit. The past pet passport is not recognised

Get them microchipped (if they aren't already) and vaccinated against rabies.Have a blood test at least 30 days after their final rabies vaccination and have this sent to an EU-approved lab.If the blood test results show the vaccination has been successful, you’ll need to wait a further three m...

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...onths before travelling.If the blood test results show the vaccination hasn't been successful, you’ll need to start the process again.

Once you’ve completed the above, on the day you travel you’ll need to have an animal health certificate (AHC). You'll need to get one of these from your vet within 10 days of travelling. In order to get one, you'll need to provide proof of:

Your pet’s vaccination history.Your pet’s microchip date.Your pet’s successful rabies blood test result.Tapeworm treatment (this is only for travel to certain countries).

ian48 wrote on Wed Apr 28, 2021 9:44am:

Hello IanV my wife and I have done the France/Spain rout since 2003 twice a year, I love it it is a nice drive, we've not done it with pets though. We drive to Murcia coast, Cartagena, takes us about 24 hrs on the road, I don't drive over 75/80 mph and I have a fair few toilet break's. But the la...

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...st 4 years we have done Portsmouth/Plymouth to Santander/Bilbao, Plymouth/Santander being our favourite. But you take your chances with the ferry crossing we have had a force 9 on one of the crossing's. Cost wise has always been roughly the same. Good luck. 

Ianv62 wrote on Wed Apr 28, 2021 6:30pm:

Hi Rich, many thanks for the reply. Which route do you take when driving through France, my preference would be to avoid driving in towns and cities so major roads would be my first choice. We are thinking of taking 2 or 3 overnight stops with the majority of the French miles being done at the we...

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...ekend.

Regards.

Ian

RichT wrote on Tue Apr 27, 2021 11:14am:

The drive through France can be reasonably achieved in 2 days from the tunnel, which is comparable with the 24 hour ferry, plus one day drive across Spain. Depending on where you lie in the UK, the distance to Folkestone, Portsmouth or Plymouth can make a significant difference too. Costs - tunne...

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...l, fuel, hotel & tolls are also comparable.

The drive through southern France, across the Pyrenees to your destination in Spain can be very pleasant, but I guess the choice is more around your confidence in driving long distances 'abroad' and how tiring that would be, versus a potentially more relaxing ferry journey (subject to the weather!). We have friends with dogs that travel by each route and both say they wouldn't do the other!

NickWyatt wrote on Sun Apr 25, 2021 2:26pm:

Beware. This is now the rule for pets after Brexit. The past pet passport is not recognised

Get them microchipped (if they aren't already) and vaccinated against rabies.Have a blood test at least 30 days after their final rabies vaccination and have this sent to an EU-approved lab.If the blood test results show the vaccination has been successful, you’ll need to wait a further three m...

Read more...

...onths before travelling.If the blood test results show the vaccination hasn't been successful, you’ll need to start the process again.

Once you’ve completed the above, on the day you travel you’ll need to have an animal health certificate (AHC). You'll need to get one of these from your vet within 10 days of travelling. In order to get one, you'll need to provide proof of:

Your pet’s vaccination history.Your pet’s microchip date.Your pet’s successful rabies blood test result.Tapeworm treatment (this is only for travel to certain countries).