Less than £400 for the Chunnel and Corsica Forums

Anonymous

Used Stewart's tip below (cheap Eurotunnel tickets) for the £125 deal - and also feel pretty pleased about a £275 price for Genoa (Italy) to Bastia (Corsica) via Moby lines - much cheaper than the French SNCM. There are probably people paying about that just to get across the Channel. Last went to Corsica 20 years ago before the kids came along - but even for 2 people then I'm sure it was massively more expensive. And leaving from Genoa gives a good excuse to visit Portofino (allegedly the prettiest spot on the Italian Riviera).

Next year I fancy doing Venice to Igoumenitsa (Greece) - anyone got any cheap tips for that?

peejay · Campsite DB Admin

Hi A-boy,

£275 is a good price for Corsica and we've been toying with the idea of visiting here and Sardinia for a while if we can get time off work (maybe next year or maybe Spain, decisions, decisions), they both look beautiful islands.

We've been twice on Minoan lines to Greece, once Venice-Patras and next Venice-Igoumenitsa, both were 'camping on board' and cost about £200 rtn, however i read in a recent issue of MMM that there have been reports that the Greek authorities no longer allow this facility which would be a great shame, it seems the price will rise due to having to purchase a cabin in future, however it's still worth considering.

I have a list of good sites and wildcamping spots in Greece (mainly Peloponese), if your'e interested, PM me.

pete.

Anonymous

£200 - I like the sound of that. But yes I saw the same MMM - what a shame if it's true. Anyway that's all for next year, and if we do go I may well tap you for those wild camping suggestions.

Anonymous

Peejay - you'll see on another thread that it's only two ferry companies who've stopped on board camping. Minoan still do it. But how did you get £200 return - is that a while ago? I was idly putting in some dates and getting quotes of about 800 euro or so for a m'home and family of four, even with camping on board. Presumably you still have to pay for four deck passengers AND the m'home cost - not just the vehicle.

Anyway won't be going till next year, just interested.

Noomo

Tell us more about the "camping on board". Do you say inside your vehicle?

peejay · Campsite DB Admin

A_b,

Certainly good news that minoan are still offering camping on board.

I,ve just tried an online booking with them and got 423 euros (£280) rtn. That was for sept, 2 adults and up to 5.5 mtrs. Our previous bookings were in 2001, 2002 with these parameters and in low season so with more passengers and a larger van the price must go up considerably.

Nuoomo,

Camping on board means what it says, you live in the van on the crossing and pay only deck passage instead of renting a cabin, much cheaper. You can also plug into the ships electrics (10 amp) but obviously no naked flames or cooking allowed.

pete.

Don Madge

Peejay,

Visited Sardinia on the way home after spending the winter in Turkey. If you fancy a trip to the island you might find the following useful.

TRAVEL TIPS SARDINIA APRIL 2004

We have just completed a 21 day 1150 mile tour of Sardinia and found it to be a motorcaravanners paradise (in July/August possibly hell).

It's a beautiful island with wild flowers particularly good at this time of the
year. The island has something to offer most tastes. Besides the beaches and mountains we visited an abandoned silver mine, a bronze age settlement and a marble quarry. It was also very nice to find so many churches open.

Many stretches of road and cape areas are very scenic. In particular we found the drive from Bosa to Alghero and Cape D'orso well worth the effort.

There are some specific areas signed for parking of motorhomes (unlike back home). We found some areas where motorhomes were allowed to stay for up to 24 hours. In other areas we found signs banning motorhomes entirely It appears the law is often only enforced in the high season.

Sardinia is not a cheap option. Expect to pay up to 500 Euro for a return
ferry crossing. Cost of living is higher than back home. Camp sites are very expensive but these can be reduced by using camper services and free camping in the low season. There are many places to free/wild camp too many to list.

ROADS
In the main the roads are very good. Even the fairly minor roads are well
surfaced and wide enough for passing. In some villages, small towns and some areas of large towns the condition of the roads leave a lot to be desired.
Usually the ring or through roads are OK. Other streets can be very narrow with very tight turns.

DIESEL.
Filling stations are plentiful but beware in the more remote regions their
opening hours could be 0700 - 1300 & 1700 - 2000 Hrs. In the large towns and on the main roads filling stations are usually open 0700 Hrs to 2200 Hrs. In April 2004 diesel cost between 92 & 98 Euro cents a litre.

LPG.
LPG is available in a very few places. We came across four sites selling it.
LPG is usually advertised as "Auto Gas" or GPL. By law the stations must be in non-residential ares and are usually in rural areas or on the town
outskirts. There is a guide listing all outlets that sell LPG in Italy.

CAMP SITES.
On the whole the camp sites seem geared to tenters and static caravans. The sites we checked out had very little room for large motorhomes. Most of them had a tank emptying and water filling points. Most of the tank draining areas were badly positioned for large motorhomes. Expect to pay between 15 - 25 Euro per night in the low season and between 30 - 40 Euro in the high
season.

Camper Service Areas.
Many of these provide in addition to the basic service (tank emptying &
water tank filling) Parking, Electricity & Showers/Toilets solely for
motorhomes/campers. These are fairly simple areas but this is reflected in
the price. The most we paid was 10 Euro this included electricity &
showers/toilets. It is possibly more expensive in the high season. The areas are well signed all over the island. On the west coast we came across a couple signed as "Camper Sosta".

SUPERMARKETS.
Supermarkets are plentiful. Even the small village ones were well stocked.
They are well advertised and often well signed. Principal chains "Pick up",
ISA, Pellicano & SISA we found particularly good. All the bigger ones took
the "Plastic". Minus point you have to pay for the plastic bags (5-6 Euro
cents each). Opening hours on average 0800 - 1300 and 1700 - 2000. Mon to Sat. Possibly open 0800 - 1200 Sundays. Auchan Supermarkets can be found at Olbia (on the SS 125 south of Olbia), Cagliari and Sassari. We shopped in the Sassari (well signed of the SS 131 north of the city) one and it's a huge place. Parking is very tight. A seven metre motorhome could have problems parking. I think it would be a good idea with a large van to parkin the goods area.

WATER.
One of the few drawbacks of the island is the shortage of water. A couple ofyears ago certain parts of the island were reduced to four hours running
water a day in the summer. We found a few springs in the mountain areas. There are most likely others but probably not many. There are very few public water supplies. So it's either filling stations or camper service areas.

BANKS.
Banks with ATM's are plentiful and well signed. Even the smaller villages
seem to have them.

INTERNET CONNECTIONS
We found there were a couple of Internet Points in most towns/cities we
visited, most were closed from 1300 hrs to 1700 hrs. The only ones we found open during these hours were the ones situated in bars/cafe. Expect to pay up to 6 Euro per hour. Most places had a minimum time use of ten minutes, all connections were very fast.

FERRIES.
As we were on our way home from wintering in Turkey we took the ferry from Igoumenitsi (Greece) to Ancona (Italy) then the Tirrenia Line ferry from Civitavecchia (north of Rome) to Olbia (Sardinia), We paid 250 Euro (that included a high season supplement as it was the day before Easter) for an overnight crossing with a two berth cabin. The ship was old and the cabin and other onboard facilities left a lot to be desired.

We crossed from Sardinia (St Teresa Gullura) to Corsica (Bonifacio) with the Saremar Line for 67 Euro. Crossing time one hour. Moby Line do the same crossing but are more expensive.

I spoke with a Dutchman (car & caravan) and a German (seven metre Hymer) who had both bought a package from Corsica Ferries for the return crossings from Livorno to Bastia and Bonifacio to St Teresa Gullura. Both paid under 500 Euro for two return crossings. Both drove the East Coast Corsican route from Bastia to Bonifacio with no problems at all.

We spent a couple of weeks on Corsica but it did not come up to expectations. IMHO the island is a bit over rated unless you are a very keen walker or such like.

Safe trvaelling

Don

Anonymous

Pete - I guess it's the season, extra passengers (even though they're kids) and length making the difference (my m/h is 5.85, which I thought was short but I see from your pix yours is fairly compact lengthwise too).

Don - I hope you're wrong about Corsica! Calvi, Bonifacio and Palombaggia all got the thumbs-up from us back in the 80s, but I guess it may have changed. Also that was September - now we've kids it's got to be high season. We plan to stay near St Florent (for north coast and Cap Corse) and near Porto Vecchio. My wife is insisting no wild camping, just campsites - anyone know how full they tend to be?

Looking at the net, I fancy U Pezzo at St Florent (beach and bay views, walking distance to the town), and Baie des Voiles (by sandy bay and with pool too) - but certainly the latter doesn't take reservations.

Don Madge

Hi AB

That's just our personal opinion. One mans meat hey ? We had just come straight from Sardinia which in our opinion is a motorhomers paradise. Others might not agree.

After talking to the locals it seems Corsica gets very crowded in the high season (July/August) on the coast.
It might be wise to book ahead if you can.

We did a complete tour of the island and enjoyed the interior more than the coast. The weather was not kind to us at all.

We found the cost of living was very high fuel was 98 Euro cents a litre.

We stayed at Camping d'Olzo on the outskirts of St Florent very nice site, family owned and well run with very good/clean facilities.

We checked the other sites (U Pezzo & La Pinede) closer to the town but they were very busy in mid May. We can recommend St Florent it was a very nice place especially if you like eating out.

We visited Porto Veccchio but it was lashing down with rain at the time, unable to give an opinion of the place as they never look their best in the rain.

I think? one of the ferry lines does Camping on Board from Livorno to Bastia. I'll check my notes and try and refresh my aging memory.

Basti is horrendous for getting to and from the port. We did it in May and it was very slow going.
I hate to think what it's like in the high season.

The Geant supermarket in Basti only has underground car parking. We found that out too late.

Safe travelling

Don