Driving to Spain

[jon99]

I'm planning to drive from London to Marbella, I dont want to rush, would 3 days be ok? Can anyone suggest 2 overnight stops. Thanks.

[Enrique]

Hi jon99,
Welcome to the Forum.

Some more details needed............are you starting in France or Santander in Spain

[Julie]

If you do Plymouth to Santander by ferry then drive down you will be there in 2 days no rush, enjoy

[Enrique]

Hi,
Following on Julie's post ...............you can do Portsmouth to Santander, then one overnight stop would be ok too.
Depends on what you want to see on the way down.

[knowal]

If you are starting in London, pop down to Folkestone or Dover and get the ferry or tunnel over. It is much cheaper and faster than the Bay of Biscay route. Then take the E15 road. Depending on your starting time a stop in Lyon, and then perhaps after Barcelona will give you another 11-12 hours driving to Malaga. France is well know for plentiful cheap overnight hotels.

I have done several routes, my personal favourite from Calais is to Paris, around the peripherique (it is fun!) and then down the A75 toward Clermont-Ferrand. The central massif is beautiful, although it can be very snowy in winter. You also get to travel over the impressive Millau bridge. Millau is a good place to stop over, has lots of cheap hotels, Formula 1 etc.

From there I have come down both on the E15, and taken the coast road, avoiding the tolls, but it is much slower through lots of coastal towns.

Safe travels!

[Enrique]

Hi jon99,
This is a route posted by Benidorm the other year..........the ferries may have changed but the roads should still be there

"We usually cross the Channel with Speedferries, or use the Tunnel which sometimes works out cheaper if you can travel off peak..
The main route that we use is...
Down to Abbeville..N1
then A28 to Neufchatel en bray
Rouen N15
Val de Reuil
A154..Everoux
A154
Nonancourt
N12 to Dreux
N154 to Chartres
Join N10
Tours
N10 to Chatellerout
Poiters
N10 Angouleme
A10 free..North of Bordeaux
N230 circular
Junction 15 A63
N10
Bayonne then using N1 or A8 if you get stuck to
San Sebastian
N1 down to Burgos via Vitoria Gasteiz
N1 to Miranda de Ebro
N1
Burgos
A1 to Madrid
M50 around Madrid
A4
avoid R4 if poss.
Bailen
A44
to Granada
then down to your 'ouse...

I don't use the Barcelona route very often now, I find it better to use the above route..
It is easy to come off the route that we use in France, to stop over or for breaks, usually we go to the smaller supermarkets for our breaks, and buy some local French plonk....
And of course we fill up with fuel at the supermarkets, which are ok to use during shop hours, they are open 24/ 7, but don't accept Uk cards at the self serve machines.
Best to travel France on Saturday or Sunday..really quiet out of season.
I always book ahead hotels, you can cancel by 5pm, no charge..take phone number with you, they usually speak some english, if you aren't french savvy....
We use Etap hotels if pos. and we have a loyalty Accor Mouvango card, so get a free night now and again....You can't join this scheme at present, as they are changing it, but watch for future...The Accor group includes Novotel, Ibis and Formule 1..etc...
We have tried just about every route over the past 20 plus years, and this suits us....
We forgot to take a map with us last trip...but it didn't matter as our vehicle knows the way..
We are off again on this trip in a few weeks....Can't wait....I prefer to drive..rather than flying..
Enjoy your trip....if I can assist further ..please feel free to contact me... "

Search Forum "France route" for loads of other ways through.

[chrissiehope]

We used the same route as Enrique when we drove last May - found it very easy. We used Formule 1 hotels where poss without booking, tho in Bordeaux it was full -there were several other hotels nearby and the one we ended up at (possibly Accor?) was fine (big advantage was an en suite !) and the girl on the desk was vey helpful

Coming back we stayed at a hotel on the 'services' near Vitoria, which again was fine

From leaving home (nr Manchester) to arriving near Antequera took 2 1/2 days, tho we did 'clog it' a bit at the end as we seemed so near the casa it wasn't worth stopping again

Happy & safe motoring

[Julie]

The above route is the one we used to use before we started using the ferry into Spain, add up the cost difference, fuel, tolls and wear and tear to car and for relaxation, the ferry wins hands down ( for me that is) if the weather is a good, the France route is ok, but if its snowing or hammering it down, its a pain, enjoy it either way !

[masterob]

I'm with Julie on this, give me the ferry any day. A short drive down from London to Portsmouth and on to the ferry for Santander. A one night stopover between Santander and Marbella is all that is needed this end.

[jon99]

Thanks for all the help, I think i'll try the ferry to Spain, can anyone recommend a hotel or B&B perhaps near Madrid, that seems about half way to Marbella.

[Julie]

Jon

If you just drive until you want to stop, you will not have a problem finding a place to stop over, there are so many and so easy to get too constantly along the route you will see them, if the weather is with you, you may want to drive longer, but if its snowing or raining hard you may not want to go to far, after the first time, you won't be concerned at all, I always ask to look at the room before I book, that way if you don't like it, you can move on a mile or so.

[alexander1]

You could also look at this route:

Santander, Palencia, Vallodolid, Salamanca, Caceres, Seville, Jerez, Los Barrios, Estepona, Marbella.

Good hotel about half way down - in Caceres - the Barcelo V Centenario:

http://www.barcelovcentenario.com

[knowal]

I don't live near Marbella, but it took me 10 hours to get from Bilbao to Granada, and I don't drive fast, how much further is it to Marbella? 2 hours? maybe 12 hours in total?

With 2 drivers, you'd romp it in a full day, but with only one driver, maybe not so good...

[masterob]

The OP said "no rush" so why not take it easy and have at least one night's stop in a comfortable hotel rather than drive 10-12 hours all in one go?