london Brindisi Preveza

Why not catch the ferry in Venice? The time not spent on Italian motorways can be spent relaxing on board. Both Anek and Minoan have daily departures. London to Venice: two easy days or one very long one.
 
Very easy if you flying to Brindisi. Overnight ferry but problem is they wake you hours before arriving Ig! Taxis at port even at 0500hrs arrival, cost 80e to Preveza in sept 05.
Go for it!
Charles
 
I've done the trip many times, with and without trailer, HGV and car. You'll have to answer some Qs to yourself first . . .

Are you towing a trailer or just tripping by car?
What's your chosen maximum drive period without a stop? What's the maximum amount of driving you'll be doing per day?
Do you want to pause at nice places en route?
Or do you want to get the whole trip over as soon as possible?

Broadly. London to Calais, 6 to 8 hours. Calais to Brindisi is some 24 hours on the road, allowing for 15 minute stop every 2 hours (some 2,000 km). The ferry to Igoumenitsa will occupy another 10 or 12 hours, then there's about 4 hours to Preveza. Say, 48 hours travel.

Personally I prefer Ancona (1,500km, 16 hours) then 20hr ferry time to Igoumentsa, with a good night's sleep aboard! Same timing. Part of the reason for this is that petty crime was a problem in S Italy, and heavy loads were very inviting. I've had a propeller purloined, and a whole trailer with 28ft yacht detached (found, capsized off the road edge, 800 metres away!). Things may be better now, though.

Athens? 7 hours from your door to the airport exit, 2 hours average to reach Kiffissou bus station, then a 7 hour bus journey to Preveza. 15 hours being driven around . . . preferable for me if it's just a matter getting there. And cheaper too, with BA current fares so cheap when booked well in advance.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I've done the trip many times, with and without trailer, HGV and car. You'll have to answer some Qs to yourself first . . .

Are you towing a trailer or just tripping by car?
What's your chosen maximum drive period without a stop? What's the maximum amount of driving you'll be doing per day?
Do you want to pause at nice places en route?
Or do you want to get the whole trip over as soon as possible?

Broadly. London to Calais, 6 to 8 hours. Calais to Brindisi is some 24 hours on the road, allowing for 15 minute stop every 2 hours (some 2,000 km). The ferry to Igoumenitsa will occupy another 10 or 12 hours, then there's about 4 hours to Preveza. Say, 48 hours travel.

Personally I prefer Ancona (1,500km, 16 hours) then 20hr ferry time to Igoumentsa, with a good night's sleep aboard! Same timing. Part of the reason for this is that petty crime was a problem in S Italy, and heavy loads were very inviting. I've had a propeller purloined, and a whole trailer with 28ft yacht detached (found, capsized off the road edge, 800 metres away!). Things may be better now, though.

Athens? 7 hours from your door to the airport exit, 2 hours average to reach Kiffissou bus station, then a 7 hour bus journey to Preveza. 15 hours being driven around . . . preferable for me if it's just a matter getting there. And cheaper too, with BA current fares so cheap when booked well in advance.

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Jim I was really thinking of flying to Brindisi . road not practical as I am coming from deepest darkest Scotland. Ryanair fares to Brindisi muchcheaper than Easy. jet to Athens. however if i was coming for a week to do some work on the boat then 2 days travelling each way is a waste of time and money .

best I have done to date is BA from Glasgow to Athens ( I stop ) flying over night arriving in Levkas mid day or so
 
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...
Athens? 7 hours from your door to the airport exit, 2 hours average to reach Kiffissou bus station, then a 7 hour bus journey to Preveza. 15 hours being driven around . . . preferable for me if it's just a matter getting there. And cheaper too, with BA current fares so cheap when booked well in advance.

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Just a couple of points Jim,

First, since the ferry fare from Venice is almost the same as that of the "shorter" routes we always drive to Venice (12 hrs from the french Channel ports) 24hrs on the "Very Adequate" ferry and off at Igoumenitza (but in our case Corfu)

Since the installation of the new tram system, I think you'll find that it is MUCH shorter than 2 hours now to the bus station.

Do BA undercut Easyjet to Athens now? I have a very good deal to Corfu in May but "Out of Season" I cannot find a better combination of cost and convenience than Olympic. However, if you don't mind a longish stop-over in Athens Airport, a combination of Easyjet from Luton £39 and then an Olympic trip €50 five hours later gets you to Corfu.

Steve Cronin
 
Hi Steve,

You'll note I was quoting door to door times . . . and allowing for gaps between landing and the time the next bus leaves . . . and allowing a 15 minute pause each two hours driving . . . gives total journey times.

So, yes, bus airport to Kifissou takes one hour, but you have to pick up luggage, wait a period for the bus (they travel about every 40 minutes during the day, longer at night) and then you have to wait for the next Preveza bus . . .

On the ferry choices, yes, Venice is about one hour less road time than a journey to Ancona. But more frequent ferries from Ancona mean more comfortable departure times (for me).

Venice may be my route of choice this May, since I'm visiting mates in Bavaria en route. And, being retired, I do prefer to take the sybaritic routes through Europe, with plentiful overnight stops in beer cellars and vineyards.
 
Fly to Brindisi o/night to Igoumenitsa arr about 6.00am then hired a car which I could not pick up until 8.30am ( europcar) then a quick I hour drive to Preveza.
I still think it`s quicker to fly to Athens, pick up car and 4+ hours to Prev. Morning flight to Athens gets me to Prev by about 6.00pm same day. Have a good trip whatever way
 
That's very good news, it's great to have a budget flight to the Ionian.
The difficulties of reaching Preveza were one factor behind my decision to take the boat up to Trieste. Driving to north Italy is fairly easy for re-equiping the boat!
 
Easyjet flights from Gatwick to Corfu have just come on the website. £30 one way plus £4 baggage for flight in April!
 
This is great news - might even get me back to Greece now we wont have to use those nightmare charter airlines any more.
 
Yes, much more civilised. However a step backwards from last year when the route was operated by GB Airways for BA with full BA service. My flight in October was only £62 one way.

But even Easyjet beats those 11.30 on a Friday night from Gatwick!
 
David - the year after next we will have the boat in the med - but will need to get to it by overland routes as guess what? SWMBO has acquired a puppy last year, and we will not be able to fly to destinations.

So as we will not be able to leave it at home with friends for 1 to 2 months at a time, we will have to drive or train. I was thinking that the northern end of the Croatia would be best, but I would have preferred to be in Greece - Ionian initially.

We won't have a bottomless budget so - reading about Croatia and costs have made me re think of Greece.

What are your thoughts on location?
 
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... However a step backwards from last year when the route was operated by GB Airways for BA with full BA service. My flight in October was only £62 one way.
....

[/ QUOTE ]

Well GOOD NEWS returns!

We are booked with BA on May 12th for £240 for two return tickets. The flight appears to be full now though.

Steve Cronin
 
Re:steve_cronin

Steve

Assumed that GB Airways would stop as they were being taken over by Easyjet, but seems not as BA are showing the same flights as last year, but not starting until 3 May. Easyjet starts on 29 March.

I am driving out in early April with a lot of gear for my boat. Researching the various ferry options. My wife wants to fly out for Easter, hence considering Easyjet.

We used BA three times last year and hope never to have to go back to the charter carriers. Three in the morning on a Saturday in Corfu airport has to be the closest to purgatory anyone would want to be!
 
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