Ferry travel to Spain - Page 2

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!

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

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).

Fiesta Lady wrote on Thu Apr 29, 2021 11:15am:

We live in The Channel Islands and drive to Murcia from St Malo in France two or three times a year. We use the toll roads as it cuts our travel time down to about 14 hours. We drive about 5 hours to Bordeaux and stay overnight in the B & B Hotel in Mios as it’s cheap and right on the motor...

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...way. Then we drive through the Pyrenees the next day which is a wonderful scenic drive and takes about 9 hours. We take 2 labradors with us. Next time we go we will get the animal health certificates we need but our vets have recommended that we obtain a European passport for each dog, given that we have a Spanish address. Then apparently we won’t need the health certificate each time just the rabies vaccination kept up to date (booster must be given 21 days before you travel and in Murcia this is every year) and worming before travel. We also use the Scalibor collars for both dogs to prevent Leishmaniasis (can be purchased on Amazon). 

Ianv62 wrote on Wed Apr 28, 2021 6:39pm:

Hi Rich, many thanks for your reply.

We live in Lowestoft so the journey to the tunnel isn’t a bad one.

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If we drove we would probably take 3 overnight stops and do the bulk of the French driving at the weekend. Which route would you recommend, there seems to be several options. I’d prefer to drive on main roads avoiding towns and cities as far as possible.

kind regards.

Ian

Sox wrote on Thu Apr 29, 2021 2:02am:

Hi I rescued my dog from Cairo 8 years ago he had all this done before he came to me, so you are saying I will have to go through all these procedures again. I had no idea thanks for telling us this, can you tell me how this will work with me having an Irish passport and my dog having an Egyptian...

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... one with us living on the UK mainland. Sorry for all the questions I just have no idea who to contact to tell me the proper way to move to Spain at this time.

Ianv62 wrote on Sun Apr 25, 2021 11:25am:

Morning everyone, hope you are all well.

We have a holiday home in San Pedro del Pinatar and have always travelled by air when we visit from the UK. When I retire however we will be free to visit without the constraints of work so will look to travel for longer periods. We also want to bring our dog with us so we are thinking of driving...

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... over. We feel the ferry to Spain would be better than the tunnel / driving through France but would value any comments or advice anyone has. I’ve not driven a journey of that length before so anything that makes it easier or less stress free will be really welcome.

Is Bilbao better than Santander as the destination, it looks like Bilbao is the shortest sailing time and shortest drive to San Pedro but there maybe other factors we need to consider. Also, is there a good choice of “dog friendly” hotels on either route in case sailing times mean we want to break the journey when driving through Spain.

All comments will be greatly welcomed.

Thanks.

Ian

rgz3435 wrote on Thu Apr 29, 2021 6:00pm:

We often use the ferry to Spain from Portsmouth as it is more relaxing and they have "pet friendly cabins" whereby you can keep your dog with you throughout the voyage, but not in the public rooms. The Plymouth route does not have this facility. 

As far as I'm concerned I don't want to keep stopping and starting at hotels with unpacking/packing and adding hours/days to the travelling time....

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...

Brittany ferries have just introduced a brand new 46,000 ton ferry on the Ports/Santander route ( Galicia ) and will do the same on their Ports/Bilbao route from Spring 2022 ( Salamanca ). With this size of ship there is less movement if that worries you.

Personally I pick a ferry that arrives early in the morning at Bilbao (shorter drive) and you can be on your way by 10am. It is then about an 8hr drive with fuel stops etc so you can get to your holiday home the same day. Very easy drive.