Next stop Spain: how to start your European road trip on the sea

21.07.2023 - 11:31 / theguardian.com

“Being able to watch the journey out of the cabin window, seeing France fade away and Spain come into view, you experience the travel and the journey itself as part of the trip, rather than it being a means to an end. We both really love that,” says Katie Nicholson, who recently became a digital nomad, setting sail with Brittany Ferries from the UK to Spain on a new adventure with her partner, Ciaran.

“We rented out our flat and are now remote working from Spain and Italy for a few months, and doing this on and off for the rest of the year,” she says. “We got the ferry mid-April from Portsmouth to Santander. Even before we bought the car for the road trip – an old convertible Saab 93 – we planned on getting the ferry, aiming to fly less.”

As more people seek out greener ways to head abroad compared with flying, demand for ferry travel is on the up. And many travellers, like Nicholson, are reaping the benefits of avoiding busy airports and cramped airline seats in favour of fresh air, good food and plenty of space to take a stroll.

“It feels like you’ve started your holiday early. You don’t really relax when you’re in an airport or on a plane, whereas on the ship, it’s more like: ‘What shall we eat? What shall we watch? Shall we go and sit in the sun and read?’ – all very nice decisions to have to make,” says Nicholson, who last took a ferry on the same route with her family about 20 years ago. “We loved it. It was such a novelty for me and my sister.”

Good food, great views and a comfortable cabin make for a relaxing journey

Boarding the Brittany Ferries service to Santander at about 8.30pm for a departure time of 9.30pm, she describes the process as “genuinely seamless”, queueing for about 20 minutes before tickets are scanned and you are directed to your room. Once en route, the couple settled into their “newly decorated, spotless” four-berth cabin with outside view and en suite (there are dog-friendly and more spacious “deluxe” cabins also available). While the upper deck offered seating and stunning sea views, there was plenty to keep them occupied indoors too, with a complimentary selection of new films and TV shows in the cabin, as well as entertainment in the cafe-bar, including bingo, DJ sets, a pub quiz, and football games shown on the big screens.

“There was also morning yoga, talks on whales and dolphins – and whale-spotting at certain times of year – as well as lighthouse watching, which took place along a specific part of the route that came close to the French coast, with a guide explaining them all,” says Nicholson. “It kind of felt like we went to France in a way. Given that everyone was speaking French on board – plus, in the cafe, we had one of the best croque monsieurs I’ve ever