Driving from Calais to Malaga

[Nicks]

How long does it really take on average to do this drive? Th michilin journey planner online says 24 hours, is it really this long? How many stopovers would you advise along route?

Thanks,

Nicks

[ajtg1952]

How long is a piece of string!!..

It depends on what speed you are comfortable driving at and how many hours per day. I think it can be driven easily in two days, but someone else may take five days.

[ashtondav]

It's 24 hours. So, two twelve hour days or 3 8 hour days plus travel UK side of channel'

We do the following

Day one: Calais to the Loire. Stay overnight (Tours?).

Day two: Loire to Burgos (stay in hotel Ciudad by the motorway - see it from miles away)

Day three Burgos to malaga.

Viamichelin will tell you the toll road costs which are advisable if you don't want to die of boredom behind a lorry in France and extend the times above dramatically.

We worked out that to BURGOS tolls were £80, petrol £100, hotels, meals, drinks, coffees, sarnies etc £160, ferry £40 so total cost about £380. Skimp on tolls £300. SKimp on hotels and meals, maybe £250. For us we would feel hammered if we did it for less than £350. To Burgos.

We have now changed and get the ferry to santander which works out not very different (cheaper in fact) and is much more relaxing and enjoyable, and leaves you with a 12 hour drive to Malaga. I guess i'm talking about April ferry price. Peak season my be completely different economics.

Now when the Volcano dust storm was on 2 pals did it in one long drive, with just a few loo stops. It still took 24 hours - they just spent 2 more days recovering back home.

It all depends what floats your boat (no pun intended).

[Enrique]

Hi Nicks,
The driving times given by ................

http://www.viamichelin.co.uk

are a good indication...................

I find 7 hrs at the wheel with stops enough, so going on their times 3 days with two overnight stops.

Just come down from Santander...........let the ferry take the strain off France.

Then you can do 7hrs one day and 6 hrs to Malaga the next.

[Julie]

I agree the Santander route is much better and works out about he same if you travel before May time We are on the sunday crossing this week £250.00 plus the diesel for the 10 hour drive to Adra, even if we stop over a night on route, it only adds another 40 euro in a motel, and you don't won't need 2 days to recover from the long boring drive through France

[Bowler]

I can tell you from personal experience that 24 hours is really hammering it and also paying plenty on the toll roads, Question, why do you need to do it quicker than that, last time I drove from Calais to Malaga I made two overnight stops and it took me closer to 40 hours, my experience anyway !

[chrissiehope]

Just to add my two penn'orth -

Last year we did it - having driven down from the north west of England, we got the late afternoon ferry and then stayed the night in Boulogne. Next day down to Bordeaux, another night. Next day, we got to past Madrid and decided our own bed was calling, so carried on and arrived near Antequera just after midnight

We stayed in F1 hotel the first night, and one of a small chain (can't remember the name offhand, but it began with an 'A') - around 40 euros for a room & basic continental breakfast. To keep the costs down, we sneaked more bread, butter & jam to make butties for lunch and got them to fill a flask with hot water for coffee en route

On the way back, it was Vittoria (near the France / Spain border ) first night, then Tours, then caught ferry & did long drive back up UK to get home on 3rd night

Tiring drive for hubby (I'm not allowed to drive anymore ), but we were two of the very few who didn't give a hoot about the volcanic ash....

[Nicks]

Thanks everyone - that really helps and puts it into perspective... the ferry sounds a good option, but used to be put off by the price because sometimes the difference between the cost of flying and the ferry did not work out that huge for a family of 5. I guess the cheapest is to book the "lie back" chairs on the ferry rather than cabins (especially as there are 5 of us!) Any comments on how comfortable these are? (We are used to camping so not fussy!!)

nicks

[Enrique]

Hi Nicks,
"Reclining seat
Comfortable seating in a reserved lounge."

They're ok, did that option one year when we had 5 travelling, I ended up the only one in the cabin.
(Had a cabin and reclining seat option)

[markwilding]

Another option is the Portsmouth Le Havre route...Overnight from Portsmouth Then down the west side of France..Takes about 8 hours to the Spanish border and although it's all motorway, there are fewer motorway tolls .
Checking the price of the Travelodge Hotels in Madrid is always worth it. If you're lucky you can pay as little as 10 euros

[Julie]

On the santander or Bilbao crossing you can't book a chair you have to have a cabin, and if you are the driver you will be glad you did Lol !

[Enrique]

Hi Julie,
Just been on the Brittany Ferries site and can book a car and 5 seats.

As you say better the driver at least has a bed, as the seating is very public.

[Julie]

Hi Enrique

It doesn't actually let you book it though,I have tried in the past .

This is from there website.

Why do I have to take a cabin or a seat if I do not want to?It is mandatory that each passenger reserves a berth or seat on all overnight sailings, and seats are also mandatory on all high speed crossings. For overnight crossings, bookings without accommodation will only be accepted after all such accommodation has been reserved. Bookings cannot be accepted on our Spanish or Irish services without onboard accommodation

[wendyakemp]

We did it with the tunnel and ferry and it was about 30 hours from Home to Home with a couple of cat naps.....I wouldn't recommend it like that but once we start we want to be there.
Both times were in large vehicles so you might cut a bit off in a car.

[lulubel]

We did it once, a year and a half ago, over 3 days. (Actually, we spent 2 weeks in France on the way - we'd already cleared our house and put all our stuff in storage, then done Cornwall - Folkestone before we crossed the channel, so we felt we were due a well-deserved rest!)

Anyway, it took us less than 24 hours in total.

Around 7.5 hours Calais - Saintes in Charente Maritime (including a detour when the satnav crashed)
Around 7 hours Saintes - halfway between Burgos and Madrid
Around 6.5 hours Burgos/Madrid - Nerja

So 21 hours in total doing the speed limit all the way, including toilet stops, but no stops for food. I did all the driving and OH passed me food on the move. I'd been a bus driver until we left the UK, so I was used to 10 hour days driving 40ft buses around Cornish roads, driving the car on motorways wasn't very tiring by comparison. If you're not used to long spells driving, you'll probably need some proper rest breaks, which would take you closer to the 24 hours.

[peteroldracer]

including a detour when the satnav crashed.

It's a funny thing, but I have never had a map "crash"....

[lulubel]

including a detour when the satnav crashed.

It's a funny thing, but I have never had a map "crash"....

That's a good point, but I think I'd be in danger of crashing the car if I tried to read a map while driving, and if I'd left mapreading to my partner we would probably have ended up the other side of Germany.