Planning a holiday to France this summer? Then it’s time to make merry with the ferries. They’re relatively cheap, they’re flexible and, dare we say it, they’re fun too. After all, what other form of transport gives you the time and space to step out on deck and soak up a little sea air?

Or — once you’ve reached France — the freedom to break your journey when and where you please, stopping to explore historic hilltop towns and chateaus, or maybe just to spread a picnic blanket by the side of a river?

Driving through France during the peak holiday period can be a daunting prospect, but if you plan your journey carefully, and consider overnighting en route, you can make it part of the holiday, rather than a gruelling overture.

If you think the ferry might be the right launchpad for your adventures this summer, check out channel-hopping guide below.

Saving money on cross-Channel ferries

Kevin Oldroyd wants to know how to save money on the return crossing as it's always more expensive

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The complete guide to cross-Channel travel

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DEPARTURE POINTS
From Dover: to Boulogne (LD Lines); to Calais (SeaFrance, P&O); to Dieppe (LD Lines); to Dunkirk (Norfolkline).
From Newhaven: to Dieppe (LD Lines).
From Portsmouth: to Caen (Brittany Ferries); to Cherbourg (Brittany Ferries, Condor Ferries); to Le Havre (LD Lines); to St Malo (Brittany Ferries).
From Poole: to Cherbourg (Brittany Ferries).
From Plymouth: to Roscoff (Brittany Ferries).

SAILING TIMES AND PRICES

Dover-Calais is, as ever, the busiest route. At the height of summer, P&O makes 23 return sailings, and SeaFrance 15 return sailings, every day — evenly spaced so that no matter what time you want to get going, there’s a boat more or less ready to take you.

The crossing takes 70-90 minutes and prices can be a bargain. If you book several months in advance, or aim for midweek crossings at unsociable hours, you can bag a return crossing for as little as £58 for a car and four passengers, with SeaFrance.

Peak-season crossings are more expensive and the price goes up the later you book. At the time of going to press, a return crossing with SeaFrance, departing at 0800 on Saturday, July 18, and returning on Saturday, August 1, at 1930 cost £133.

If you can be flexible with crossing times, some of the less well-known routes can be cheaper. For example, at the same time as we searched the Dover-Calais prices above, we looked for a similar peak-season Dover-Boulogne crossing with LD Lines. Leaving at 1045 on July 18 and returning on August 1 at 2200 cost £88.

Crossings of the western Channel tend to be less frequent and take longer, although that’s not always the case: Brittany Ferries operates a massive seacat, the Normandie Express, which can whisk up to 235 cars and 850 passengers from Portsmouth to Cherbourg in two hours.

Brittany Ferries’ service from Portsmouth to St Malo runs just once a day and the crossing takes nearly nine hours. At the time of going to press, a return crossing for a car and four passengers, travelling out on Friday July 17, and back on Saturday August 1, cost £478. It sounds steep, but if you’re planning to holiday in Brittany, you’ll save yourself an awful lot of driving crossing the Channel here, rather than at the Straits of Dover.

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