Taking your dog to Europe? Train or ferry?

We three and Lucky Duke, our thirty-one year old motorhome/campervan, recently left the UK for France and Spain on Le Shuttle (Eurotunnel) and we'd recommend it, for sure.

I mean, we were chillin' with our dog in our motorhome, on a train, under the sea. What's not to like?!

So, why Le Shuttle (as it’s now called) and not a ferry?

It was dead easy

We organised the paperwork well in advance (more on that here), turned up when they told us to, checked our doggo in, let her have a trot about, had a wander around the shops, grabbed a coffee, went back out to our campervan when we were ‘called’, drove it onto the train (super fun) and we were in France 35 mins later. Boom!

Gracie is a rescue doggo and has never been crated (kept in a small cage/pen)

This was key for us as Gracie is a nervous dog and most ferries ask that dogs are crated. You can, on some services, use a pet-friendly area or book a pet-friendly cabin but we found that most said that crating the dog was compulsory and this simply wasn’t an option for us. Particularly given that this can mean a rocky, noisy trip for her and we’d have a very, very anxious dog afterwards and we chose not to put her through that. Not a fun way for her to start a roadtrip!

High winds and rough seas? Doesn’t matter!

Get sea-sick? The ferry crossing can be great fun (and we’ve both had some fab crossings) but that is, obviously, weather dependent. Had we travelled by ferry on the day we took the Eurotunnel, it would have been super rough. Bleargh. As it happened, we arrived feeling fresh and were very glad for it.

Time saving (for us, anyway)

Of course, it depends where you want to get to but we liked the idea of an easy 35 minute crossing with little faff beforehand suits us down to the ground. 

It’s suuuuuuper dog-friendly!

Easy pet reception to check paperwork, an area for them to exercise off-lead and they’re allowed inside with you to do a bit of duty-free shopping or have a meal and a drink!

It wasn’t very expensive (and much cheaper than a long-distance ferry)

We booked early (recommended) but there are other ways of saving money too. 

You can join their mailing list or become a member and keep and eye out for specials. Or, at the time of writing, you could also collect your Tesco points and use those to pay for it!

Love a train - TOOT TOOT!

Traveling by train is fun, even when you don’t see much (you’re under the sea after all). It was genuinely great seeing how it all worked (impressive)! To be frank, I just thought it was dead cool that we were chillin' in the back of our motorhome, on a train, under the sea. I mean, that's pretty ace, right? It also meant, importantly, that we were right there with Gracie in case she felt any nerves (she ended up napping). Perfect!

Obviously, you’ll have to weigh up your petrol costs and consider time if you’re looking (like us) to travel to the south of France or into Spain but it was a brilliant trip and we’d do it again in a heart beat.

Keen to know more about what to expect and how to prepare for the journey? Check out this blog which explains what you need to know, particularly if you’re travelling with your doggo in a camper, RV or motorhome.

There's more roadtrippin' here and for more on moving to or living in Spain, click here!