Question for our trip in July. During out trip, we'll be traveling by ferry from Portsmouth to Caen via the afternoon sailing that leaves at 14:45. Evidently the port for Caen is a short distance away in a town called Ouistreham. We will not have had rental car during out days in England, but will be renting a car once in France. The ferry is scheduled to arrive at 21:30 local time, and we need to get to our hotel that night in Bayeux. Sounds like the car rental places at the Caen train station will be closed at that hour plus we'll be anxious to get to the hotel without much delay once we disembark, in part because normal check-in for the hotel is only available until 23:00. I'm thinking of taking a taxi from Ouistreham to our hotel in Bayeux, and renting a car the next day in Bayeux. Is that a reasonable plan? Would I need to arrange for a taxi in advance, or could I expect for there to be a line of taxi's at the ferry terminal waiting to take passengers to various destinations? Any help would be appreciated!
Posted by
Texas
518 posts
Hi Bruce, My wife and I are making the same crossing in June, but on the morning crossing. I looked at the Brittany Ferries website under the Caen Port page. It says that taxis are usually waiting. If not, the information desk can arrange one for you. There is a phone number on that page for information, but I failed to write it down. The site is www.brittany-ferries.co.uk, but you probably know that already. It also says that the bus into Caen does not operate for the evening arrival. You might also try calling your hotel for advise. It looks to me that a taxi is your only option. EDIT: I looked again for phone numbers. The Brittany Ferries reservation and inquiry number in England is (calling from US) 011-44-871-244-0744. The information number for Brittany Ferries for the Caen (Ouistreham) port is 011-33-231-363-636. Maybe this helps.
I'd call Autoeurope to make car reservations. I understand there are not that many car rental places in Bayeux. I have rented through Autoeurope numerous times for several countries (including France) with excellent results.
Posted by
Texas
518 posts
Well, I looked around on Tripadvisor. I found a post from a person who had arrived on the early morning overnight ferry. There were no taxis, but the information center inside the terminal was staffed. They called a taxi for them. It arrived in 5 minutes. The cost for 2 from Oustriham to Bayeux was 66.80€ and took 40 minutes.
Posted by
OP
Seattle, WA, USA
30 posts
Thank you, Thomas, for the info. I won't worry about trying to make arrangement for the taxi in advance, given that the information center is right in the terminal to help if there aren't taxis already lined up. And I'll take a look at Autoeurope for the car rental. I had been looking at Hertz, and they do have a rental location that's located at a gas station in Bayeux, but I was wondering what kind of selection they'd have at what looked to be a small location. I'll compare with what Autoeurope has in Bayeux.
Posted by
Texas
518 posts
Good morning Bruce,
You can look at autoeurope.com to see what is available. If you call (the number is on website), you can often get a better deal on the phone. They are a consolidator based in Maine that makes contracts with various car companies.