Driving back to UK with small dog

Hi,
We're having to drive back to the UK, with our small dog in February next year.  Has anyone done this recently?  I read that we still have to do the journey within 5 days of the dog having his tapeworm treatment.  We were thinking this time of getting the ferry from Palermo to Genoa and then driving through to Calais to get the Eurotunnel.  We would try and book a pet friendly cabin on the ferry, has anyone used this?

Thanks
Beverley

Are you taking your back over to the UK? If so you stay in your car on the Eurotunnel, it will cost you €25 to take your dog. The journey is only 30 min approx.

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To bring your dog, cat or ferret into the UK under 'PETS' you must follow the revised procedures which came into effect from 29th December 2014. Read our Pet Travel Scheme checklist before travelling or visit the DEFRA website for further details.

Please Note: You must ensure with your vet that only approved tapeworm treatments containing praziquantal or other active substances licensed and marketed as effective against tapeworm are used to treat tapeworm.

SimCityAT
Expert Team

I'd be interested to hear whatever replies you get to this as I am also considering leaving Malta and taking my dogs via car rather than air (contrary to what SimCatAT just posted, the Eurostar website says that it's €17 for a dog on the train).

But, yes I'd be interested to hear anybody else's experiences in transporting their furry waggle monsters over this way :)

MintyMagic wrote:

I'd be interested to hear whatever replies you get to this as I am also considering leaving Malta and taking my dogs via car rather than air (contrary to what SimCatAT just posted, the Eurostar website says that it's €17 for a dog on the train).

But, yes I'd be interested to hear anybody else's experiences in transporting their furry waggle monsters over this way :)


The information I posted was from their website,

We do It twice a year. The gennoa Ferry is not to bad it's a free for all when getting off can take hours and you still have to find hotel nearby. We find driving in the five days is much better and it's a fantastic scenic trip. The Ferry from Sicily to Italy is so easy. I can give you list of dog friendly hotels we stayed at-not to expensive €50/60 night and route if your interested. John

Hi,
Thanks for your reply.

I've looked into bringing our dog back into the UK, so I'm not worried about that, as long as we manage to do the journey within the 5 days allowed after he's had his worming treatment.  Yes, I've seen that it's £18 on Eurotunnel for the dog. 

When we came here we drove the whole length of Italy and caught the ferry at Villa San Giovanni to Messina.  We didn't want to do that drive again, so were looking at getting the Palermo - Genoa ferry.  I just wondered if other people had experienced it, as I've heard Genoa can be a nightmare (and Palermo!) to drive around.  We're going in February, so I'm hoping it's not too bad a crossing!
We would book a pet friendly cabin on board.  We were thinking when we arrived in Italy to keep driving until we cross into France, then stay in a hotel overnight, then drive the rest of the way to Calais the following day. 

I was just wanting to see other people's experience of this.

When are you planning on going back?

Hello John

Thanks for your message.

We did the drive down the length of Italy when coming to Malta.  My husband isn't keen on doing that journey again, so I think we'll take the ferry option Palermo-Genoa. 
We're thinking of going in February, so I'm hoping it may not be as busy?!!  Although it may be a rough crossing at that time of year.

As there is only the one ferry a day going to Genoa from Palermo, it arrives at 8.00pm, so we were going to continue driving through Italy and once in France get somewhere to stay overnight.  Do you think this is feasible?  If you have details of any dog-friendly accommodation that would be helpful, thanks.  We were going to drive the E25 towards Alessandria, then the E70 towards Turin, going across the border to France and staying in a hotel near the motorway in Chambery.

Regards
Beverley

Have a look at the web site hotels.com I used them when I drove from uk to Malta booking all hotels b4 I left & paid for. Just put hotel address in Sat nav & it took me there.  Good luck.

We recently did this in the other direction from the UK to Malta.  When we got to Naples we found a vet locally who stamped the dog's passport to say he had had tapeworm treatment and was fit.   We did this 72 hours before we caught the ferry across to Malta so you don't need to rush.  We asked the Naples hotel to cal a vet for us and explain what we wanted as we don't have much Italian.  Should be easier to find an English speaking vet in the south of France