Ferry timetables, fares and travel rules change often, and a wrong fact can cost you a missed sailing or a wasted journey. This is how we research, write and keep every page on Book a Ferry to France accurate.
The sources we use
- Ferry companies first. Crossing times, timetables, sailing days, ships, on-board facilities, check-in times, pet rules and fares come from the ferry companies’ own websites, timetables and announcements: Brittany Ferries (including Condor Ferries), P&O Ferries, DFDS, Irish Ferries and LeShuttle.
- When sources disagree, we go with Brittany Ferries for its own routes, and with each ferry company for its own sailings, rather than third-party websites.
- Official sources for rules. Passports, border checks, pets and customs allowances come from GOV.UK. French driving rules, fines and low emission zones come from the French government and the official city sites.
- Ports come from the ports’ and ferry companies’ own information.
- Our own knowledge and experience. We’ve been holidaying in France for over 20 years and have travelled on nearly every ferry route to France and the Eurotunnel, and Tim was a founding owner of GoCampFrance.co.uk, which specialised in camping holidays in France. That experience shapes our practical advice, such as which crossings suit families, dogs or a good night’s sleep, and we say when advice comes from our own trips.
- Driving times and distances are calculated by us from OpenStreetMap routing data, from each port to each destination, without traffic or stops, so every comparison is like for like.
How we check
- Every fact is checked against a source before it goes on the site. If we can’t confirm something, we leave it out, or tell you to check when booking, rather than guess.
- Prices are the lowest “from” fares we found on the ferry companies’ websites on the date shown, and we say what each fare covers (for example, a car and up to 9 people), because they’re not like for like.
- First-hand experience from our own crossings is labelled as ours.
- We write everything in our own words. We don’t copy text from ferry companies or other websites.
Keeping pages up to date
- Every page shows the date it was last checked.
- We update pages when ferry companies publish new timetables, change or close routes, or when the rules change, such as the EU’s EES border checks and the upcoming ETIAS.
- When a route closes, we keep its page and say so clearly, with the best alternatives.
- Times, fares and rules can change between our checks, so we always point you to live times and prices before you book.
Corrections
If you spot something that’s out of date or wrong, please tell us. We’ll check it against the source and correct the page.
Find out who we are and how the site is funded.