The time to go and get my puppy is coming closer now.
I know few people from here drove to the World dog show in Stockholm and thought I would ask for some tips and experiences now that you all have been (I have read the tips given before people went)...

We are leaving from Cambridgeshire and are planning to get the ferry over to Hook of Holland and go from there as I think this is the quickest route but somebody might know different...

We will be driving to Stockholm and take a ferry over from there to Finland, our destination.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated as this will be our first time driving in Europe!

What was your route and how long did it take?
Where did you stay overnight? Were dogs allowed in?
What countries were cheap to fill up the car?
Approx how much did it all cost????

I really want to get the travelling done as quickly as possible as then I'll have more time in Finland and hopefully few days to settle her here in UK before I return to work.

Well we did it -in total we travelled 2700 miles in the car. :) We went from Hook of Holland as well, drove through Holland into Germany and Denmark and ten Öresundsbron bridge) into Sweden, there are two ways -you can get the ferry in Germany from Puttgarden to Rödby in Denmark (sorry don't have a Danish Ö on my keyboard, only Swedish letters) or you can drive around it. We chose to NOT take the ferry as when we checked them they wanted booking in advance, despite the fact that the ferries go every half hour. We did not want to commit ourselves to a particular time in case we ran late! We got all our directions from the RAC's website and their timing was way out. We fund it took around 15 hrs to drive from Hook of Holland into Sweden (that included a total of one hour in breaks), not 10-12 like they said. (On our way back, we only made the ferry with 5 minutes to spare!!) This is where we got all directions:  http://www.rac.co.uk/web/routeplanner/?advanced=true&fromcity=UK+town+%2F+postcode&tocity=UK+town+%2F+postcode

The worst part was Holland as the motorways were VERY confusing and we got lost both coming and going. We were meant to leave one motorway at junction 11, did so, got lost, went back, tried again, over and over, until eventually we managed to find some English speaking people to ask. Turned out there were TWO junctions named 11 ! In comparison, Germany and Denmark and of course Sweden were very easy.

You need to bear in mind that thee will be toll bridges. Öresundsbron http://osb.oeresundsbron.dk/frontpage/?lang=1 is 36 euros one way and if you do not take the ferry in Germany you will encounter another very long bridge in Denmark which costs 206 Danish Kroner one way. Website for the ferry:
http://www.scandlines.de/timetable2/en/timetable.aspx Bridge: http://www.storebaelt.dk/english

Petrol -much more expensive in Holland and  Denmark, so we made sure to fill up in Germany! Oh and make sure you have some euro coins as we found when we stopped along the road in Germany and Holland you could not use toilets at motorways services unless you had euros to put into the slots!

Staying -well as I am Swedish that's why we did Holland to southern Sweden in one go, as we stayed with a friend of mine in southern Sweden (minutes off the bridge). Then the drive to Stockholm from there was around 7 hours. So can't help with places to stay I'm afraid.

In all we paid just over £500 in petrol and around £100 in bridge tolls. Not counting the ferry ticket of course. (Remember you have to book the dog place on the ferry even if the dog stays in the car, and you must pay extra for it. I saw the onboard kennels and would not recommend them to my worst enemy! They were horrible, and the door is kept locked so you cannot go in and check on the dog anyway.)

Marianne, I just want to say what an informative and thorough post that was :)

Wouldn't it be easier to go via Norway  from Newcastle & then return via either the Hook of Holland or Rotterdam if the Newcastle ferry doesn't do Pet Passport scheme ?(PO do Pet Passport via the Bruges & Rotterdam ferries BTW)

Thanks Killickchick. :)

MM you cannot get straight  to or from Norway with a dog other than by air as none of the ferries allow ANY animals either to/from Norway or Denmark. I checked and double checked a million times. :) You can only bring animals on the ferries to/from France or Holland. But yes, guess you could book single trips -worth checking into as the dog is only going one way. :)

The advantage with Hook of Holland from Harwich is the journey length (for the dog's sake) -8 hours as opposed to 15 when going from Hull.

Wow Marianne, thanks for that! So much information with links and everything!

I have a dog with me both ways, taking somebody else's dog to Finland and coming back with my own :)

15 to Hull ??? Board the Ferry @ 8 & get off in Hull @ 8 makes 12 hours to me LOLOL It's been even shorter when I have returned from Rotterdam as the new ferries board @ 8 & get into Hull around 7 & with a bit of chatting up of the staff you can get the dog off earlier. All the New ferries have Air Cond dog kennels & you can go down & see the dogs during the voyage(or just to check on them) did it for a lady taking her bitch to the Netherlands to be mated(lol it pays to know a share holder who knows the people to chat up ;-) )

I was thinking one way to Norway without dog & then back via the Netherlands

> I have a dog with me both ways, taking somebody else's dog to Finland and coming back with my own :-)

Ah that explains it all LOL I would still go via Hull but then I only live a few miles away from the ferry

> (Remember you have to book the dog place on the ferry even if the dog stays in the car, and you must pay extra for it. I saw the onboard kennels and would not recommend them to my worst enemy! They were horrible, and the door is kept locked so you cannot go in and check on the dog anyway.)

Did you know that since the death of a dog on a ferry last year that the companies all insist that the dogs travel in their kennels-the Pride of ferries from Hull all have air conditioning & you can visit the dog through the voyage

Did you know that since the death of a dog on a ferry last year that the companies all insist that the dogs travel in their kennels-the Pride of ferries from Hull all have air conditioning & you can visit the dog through the voyage

Ah but they certainly DON'T all insist on that -there were over 20 dogs going from Harwich to Hook of Holland on 30th of June and believe me, they were all in cars and on coaches. :) On 7th of July there were less dogs, but we saw at least 3 in cars and one in the kennels. And as the OP was talking about taking THAT ferry, I am talking about the kennels on THAT ferry and they were awful.

> And as the OP was talking about taking THAT ferry, I am talking about the kennels on THAT ferry and they were awful.

Perhaps that's why they didn't insist !!! :-(

15 to Hull ??? Board the Ferry @ 8 & get off in Hull @ 8 makes 12 hours to me LOLOL

My mistake. :) but still 4 hours  more for the dog to NOT go to toilet (no way would any of mine go either in kennel OR car) and that ferry cost almost £200 more when I checked so the choice for us was easy all told. :)

LOLOL but you cannot visit your dog on the Hook Ferry or can you ?

How big are the kennels?
As my dog is a large girl ( +75cm to the shoulders) and I would hate to leave her in the back of my not that big Estate car (V40 Volvo) for that long but are the kennels any bigger??

Don't know about the Hook Ferry but I know several Schutzhund handlers take their GSDs on the Pride Ferries in the kennels(& they will be 65 plus at the withers)

The "kennels" on the ferry to Hook of Holland were just large crates stuck in a room. My Malinois would not have been able to stand up in them as none were tall. She was quite happy in the back of our car (ours is a V70) as it is so familiar to her, she had vetbeds, chews, water.

i would fly and bring the dog back by plane.easyer /quicker .there very good agents out there to help.

I did look into that some time ago but as she will be +50kg with a crate I believe the prices were just silly...

i did weight up the cost bye flying  and by road it would have been cheap by plane for me beacuse of having the time of work with no pay,hotel.petrol wear on the car.break down service,insurance extar on the car for taking it aboard,insurance for the dog incase he p/p wasnt right to enter the uk.food.at lease going though an agent for flyi ng they double check all the dogs details and they will be insured againt any problems that may raise.
and know with the cost of petrol.uk ?

what about going though agent that collect the dogs and travel back bye car.adverts in the dog papers or mags