A ferry prices your vehicle by a length and height band, not by how many people are in it, and it wants your gas bottles declared. Those two facts cause most of the trouble visitors have with crossings.
Read your own operator’s conditions of carriage as well as this page. Bands and gas rules differ between companies running the same route on the same day.
You are buying a band, not a ticket
DFDS publishes its vehicle categories, and they are the clearest illustration of how this works (dfds.com, checked July 20, 2026):
| Category | Maximum height | Maximum length |
|---|---|---|
| Standard car | 1.85m | 5m |
| High car | 2.2m | 6m |
| Large or heavy car (UK to France routes only) | 2.7m | 7m |
| Small motorhome | 4m | 7m |
| Standard motorhome | 4m | 10m |
| Extra large motorhome | 4m | 12m |
| Caravan or trailer | 4m | 5m or 8m |
Read that table carefully, because it contains the one thing most people get wrong: height decides as much as length does.
A 7m van conversion at 2.6m tall fits the large car band on UK to France routes. The same 7m van with a pop-top, a roof box or an air conditioning unit taking it past 2.7m does not, and books as a motorhome instead. Two vehicles of identical length, two different bands, two different prices.
The step between bands is where the money is. A ferry fare does not rise smoothly with every extra 10cm; it jumps when you cross a boundary. That is why a large vehicle costs substantially more than a car on the same sailing, and why the answer to “how much more” depends entirely on which boundaries you cross.
Get the fare from the operator for your actual dates and your actual band, and get it early. Ferry pricing moves by date and by sailing, so a figure you read in a guide is a price for somebody else’s crossing, and the useful comparison is two real quotes for the week you are going.
Measure the vehicle as it will arrive
DFDS states that vehicles declared incorrectly at the time of booking risk being refused boarding or may be subject to additional charges at the port, and that the dimensions you select must include additions such as bicycle racks and roof racks (same source, checked July 20, 2026).
So measure with everything on:
- Length including a towbar-mounted bike rack, a rear box, a spare wheel carrier or a scooter rack.
- Height to the top of whatever is actually up there, not the handbook figure. Solar on a raised frame, a satellite dome, an air conditioning unit and a roof box all count.
Write both numbers down somewhere the driver can see. You will need the same figures for toll classes and height barriers, so the measuring is not wasted effort.
Gas bottles: declare them, cap them, switch them off
This is the part that catches people out, because the bottles are a normal part of the vehicle and it does not occur to anyone that they are cargo.
They are cargo. Three operators publish rules on their own sites, and all three were checked July 20, 2026.
Brittany Ferries. A maximum of three butane or propane cylinders with a combined weight that does not exceed 47 kg. Cylinders must be shut off during the sailing, adequately secured against the movement of the ship, and stored away from sources of heat and ignition (brittany-ferries.co.uk). That page does not mention a declaration at booking. It sets the limits and the handling conditions.
Stena Line. A maximum of three cylinders with a combined weight of 47 kg, for use in campervans, caravans or ballooning, and the valve must be closed during the entire sailing. Stena lists gas cylinders among restricted items that must be declared by calling the regional contact centre before travel and again at check-in, with 24 hours notice as standard and 72 hours on the Harwich to Hook of Holland route (stenaline.co.uk).
DFDS. Gas bottles with a maximum weight of 47 kg are allowed per caravan trailer, of which at least one must be connected to a consumer device such as a refrigerator, and the transportation of gas cylinders must always be stated at check-in (dfds.com).
Three sources, one recurring number: 47 kg. That is a convergence worth knowing about, and it is not a European rule. It is what those three operators publish. Do not assume it is what yours publishes.
The practical routine:
- Check your operator’s own conditions of carriage when you book, not the morning you sail.
- Declare the bottles when asked, and expect to be asked again at check-in.
- Turn the gas off at the bottle before you join the boarding lane. The fridge goes off too. You will be sent out of the vehicle for the crossing and cannot go back to do it.
- Secure the bottles so they cannot move in a swell.
Two you have to check yourself
P&O Ferries. Read P&O’s own prohibited and restricted items page before you sail, and do not carry the 47 kg figure above across to them.
Eurotunnel LeShuttle, and LPG generally. If your vehicle runs on LPG as a fuel, or carries a fixed refillable gas tank, get written confirmation from the operator that they will take it before you book anything. LeShuttle is widely said to refuse LPG-fueled vehicles including dual fuel, while still carrying domestic gas bottles for cooking and heating under limits, and that claim circulates without the operator’s own page behind it. Ask them directly. Being turned away at the terminal with a booked crossing and a queue behind you is the most expensive way to find out.
Channel crossings
The short crossings from southeast England into France are the busiest motorhome route into Europe, and they are the clearest example of band pricing, because the crossing is short and the vehicle is most of the cost.
What is worth planning around:
- A long vehicle books as a motorhome even if it is a van. See the DFDS bands above.
- The tunnel and the ferry are different products. The tunnel is faster and usually dearer. Price both for your own dates rather than assuming which one wins.
- Peak sailings sell out. In August and around school holiday changeovers, turning up is not a fallback.
- Gas rules differ between operators on the same route. The 47 kg figure above is three operators, not the Channel.
For which month to cross at all, see when to go.
Baltic and Mediterranean crossings
Longer routes work differently in ways that change the trip rather than just the fare.
Longer crossings add a cabin decision. Overnight sailings on the Baltic and the Mediterranean are not a two-hour queue with a coffee. You are booking accommodation as well as a vehicle space, and on many long routes sleeping in your own vehicle on the car deck is not permitted, because passengers are not allowed on the vehicle decks under way. Some operators sell a “camping on board” product that specifically permits it. Check whether your specific sailing sells it before you plan a night in your own vehicle, and book a cabin if it does not.
Gas rules on Baltic and Mediterranean routes are their own. The three operators above are all northern European. Do not carry their 47 kg figure across to Grimaldi, Tallink, Viking Line or Minoan. Find the gas page for the operator you actually booked, and do it before you fill the bottles.
Vehicle band definitions vary by operator. The DFDS table above is DFDS. Another operator may cut the bands at different lengths, price height separately, or charge by the running meter. Read the booking form, not this page.
What does carry across: book early, measure honestly, declare the gas, and read the specific operator’s conditions of carriage rather than a generic guide, including this one.
Before you book
- Measure length and height with the bike rack and the roof box fitted.
- Find your operator’s own vehicle category table and pick the band you really are in.
- Find your operator’s own page on gas cylinders and read the number of bottles, the weight cap and the declaration requirement.
- If your vehicle is fueled by LPG or has a fixed gas tank, confirm the operator accepts it before you pay for anything.
- Book ahead. The drive-up fare is the worst price on offer.
Then plan what happens on the other side: motorhome travel in Europe covers the tolls, vignettes, gas supply and low emission zones you meet after you drive off the ramp, and free camping in Europe covers where you are allowed to sleep once you are there.
Sources
- Vehicle types, DFDS
- Can I transport gas cylinders on board?, Brittany Ferries
- Transporting of restricted items, Stena Line
Where the original is not in English, the summary above is ours and the linked text is the authority.