Ferris Holidays are a coach holiday company who specialise, mainly, travelling down to the southern coast of Spain. The Costa Brava. If you are looking for a cheap 5 starhotel holiday deal, you've come to the wrong place. But Ferris Holidays do offer the cheapest enjoyable holidays you can find. Believe me.
Ferris Holidays have a fleet of today-modern coaches which the option of Platinum or normal-Executive. With the Platinum travel you have to pay £15 extra per person but it's well worth the money as the extra leg room and extra reclining seats cater well for sleeping. No, the seats don't recline 90 degrees as a posed to a normal bed but they do recline enough.
There are toilet facilities on board the coach but due to lack of service stops allowing drivers to empty the toilet, drivers ask passengers to take full advantage of the service stop toilets and only use toilets on board the coach in emergency. But it's no worry as I've travelled with Ferris 7 times and I see people using the toilets all the time.
I have travelled with Ferris Holidays 7 times and each holiday has had it's strengths. Travelling times doesn't really bother me. If someone has told you "you're on the coach for 24 hours" they're lying to you. Averagely, the journey takes just over 1100 miles/1700 kilometres. Now the coaches are said to be limited to 62MPH/100KMH. So you can work it out for yourself. If you're doing 100KMH and the journey takes 1700KMH, coach travelling times (without stopping) is 16/17 hours. But obviously,
when you pass London and other mainland parts of France, travelling times could be extended unfortunately. But you get what you pay for.
All Ferris coaches have been made non-smoking due to the law of banning smoking in public spaces. Just to remind smokers.
Disabled passengers are catered for which I think does mention in the brochure. If it doesn't, listen to me. I remember when my sister was temporarily in a wheel-chair due to a car crash and Ferris kindly allocated all of our family (12 people) down-stairs and stored the wheel-chair in the ski-box attached to the back of the coach. If you do have (a) disabled passenger(s) with you, it's advisable you ring Ferris's head office in Wales as they will kindly cater for you. If they don't, I will be very surprised. The staff are really nice and understanding.
Anyway. As you'll see on the back of the Ferris Holidays brochure there are a lot of pick-up points and their departure times. Pick-up points are all over Wales/England. If you are from northern England, the journey is longer than 1100 miles/1700 kilometres so again journey times will be extended. But as the brochure will tell you the journey is apart of your holiday. I'd advise the ones with kids to bring along pillows, fleece blankets and food although the host/hostess will offer cold/hot drinks (including soups). Depending on the host/hostess you have, food can vary from chocolate bars to pot noodles. Ranging from 50p-£1. So although they ask you to stock up on food - bearing in mind large cooler bags are prohibited due to safety and health reasons but you are allowed to take a over-back bag to fill with the food you want - the host/hostess is very handy.
INWARD JOURNEY From your pick-up point, you will gradually make your way down to south-east England in either Folkestone (for the Le Shuttle/Eurotunnel) or Calais (for the Ferry crossing) with a scheduled service station stop before to have a cigerette, use the toilet facilities and to grab a drink/some food. That scheduled stop is normally around 30-45 minutes—dependant on whether the driver is behind schedule.
Once you arrive in Calais, it's one hour forward so don't forget to change your watch or mobile times.
30-45 minutes into France, the driver will normally pull off into a service station to water and fuel up and primarily for a break - as the hop from that service station to the next one is around 3-4 hours - for a quick 10-15 minutes. Passengers are allowed to get off board the coach to have a cigarette, use the toilet facilities or grab some food to keep themselves freshened for the next couple of hours.
From there, you continue south for around 3-4 hours through Reims down the A26 and will then stop in a service station just past Troyes—that's 250 miles from Calais done. This is around the half-way marker to the journey. 500 miles to go. That stop is usually at around 8PM-9PM and is normally a 45 minute break. Use this stop to your advantage. There won't be a proper break until the morning.
From there, further stops will be pursued throughout the night but will not be told over the microphone as most passengers will be sleeping. But passengers who are awake are allowed to get off board and have a cigarette, use the toilet facilities and grab some food. 2-3 of those stops will be made and each will last for around 10-15 minutes.
Once the drivers have made progress onwards through Lyon they will turn onto the A9 which will lead onto the southern coast of France and will then lead to the French/Spanish border. A stop will be made in a place called Nimes—at the beginning of the A9 stretch into Spain—where the 2 drivers will get off board and a British driver who accommodates in southern France will get on to drive you into southern Spain. The host/hostess remains on board for the remainder of the journey. A few hours after leaving Nimes, in southern France, passing through Montpellier, Perpignan and then passing the border into Spain, you will have a morning breakfast stop. The stop is normally 40-45 minutes long. This is your last stop before you enter resort so freshen up as you'll probably won't feel to good.
From there it's only a couple of hours before resort appears in your sight. It's actually quite exciting. You look out for all the signs on the motorway. Everyone does. You see signs with a beach, bucket and spade. Then a "CostaBrava" sign. Then a couple miles onwards a "Lloret De Mar" sign. Then you turn off and then the slip road off the motorway is a huge loop. 30 minutes later? You're in resort. Your holiday then begins.
INWARD JOURNEY I'm unsure of the new arrangement times for drivers picking up passengers to return home but what I do know is that they've been told to take a good few hours rest before making their way home.
Once the bus has picked you up to return home, you'll probably encounter going onto dual-carriageways and then returning to other resorts picking up other passengers. It gets a little frustrating as you just want to go but it doesn't take all that long.
After all that, you make your way north-eastwards to the Spanish/French border where you'll stop at toll booths and all sorts but everything calms down after the border. Once through into France, a scheduled stop in Perpignan will be made. The stop is usually around 45 minutes long. Use it to your advantage as depending on what time you make it there, it may be the last big break until the morning. From that stop, you make your way up past Montpellier onto stopping in Nimes (again) so the driver who accomodates in France can get off and the 2 drivers will get on to get you back into the UK.
From Nimes, you will make your way northwards into the evening. Depending on the time, you may stop before Lyon for your evening meal but that may of been case in Perpignan. (As I said, take advantage of the Perpignan break.) If you stop before Lyon, from there you will continue through the night northwards through Lyon, Dijon and past the stop in Troyes. As you approach Reims, morning will break and you will probably stop near Reims for your breakfast depending on the time. From there, you will head straight for Calais for either the Ferry or Eurotunnel crossing into the UK. You will almost definitely go through passport control. Once you've arrived in the UK, you will get an estimate time of arrival home from the drivers. If you've got mobiles, it's the time to inform family who may be picking you up. But a stop 2-3 hours after arriving the UK will be made for people who need to phone via a phone booth and of course a mid-day food break. From there, you probably—depending on where you live, won't stop again. Next stop will be home, sweet, home :)
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
Splendia, a unique selection of luxury and design hotels with character in the most beautiful locations: Marrakesh, Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Dubai.... Book directly online or contact our customer service available any day of the week.
Record Rent a Car is present in the main spanish airports and has a very wide fleet. We offer: exceptional discounts, free additional drivers,
unlimited mileage... subscribe to our Club Record and take advantage of special offers.
very helpful by (50%):
helpful by (50%):
