Taking a car to Spain.
Discussion
I would like to take the car next time I visit a friend who lives in Torrevieja. Is it best to drive there through France or get the ferry to Spain then drive across.
I will be be taking my Abarth 500 which should average 35mpg rather than the M5 which is 20mpg if I am lucky so what is the most cost effective route ?
I will be be taking my Abarth 500 which should average 35mpg rather than the M5 which is 20mpg if I am lucky so what is the most cost effective route ?
I drive 90% of the time, only leaving the car at home if my wife is already out there in her car. Have always taken Dover - Calais then driven down. As JCW said the other routes aren't necessarily cost or time effective.
Tend to do mainly autoroute through France to cover ground, then more minor roads over the Pyrennes for fun, and then a mix of roads in Spain. Kent to somewhere like Pau is easily doable on the first day, then a sunrise start the following day to enjoy the quiet mountain roads before slogging through Spain.
Tend to do mainly autoroute through France to cover ground, then more minor roads over the Pyrennes for fun, and then a mix of roads in Spain. Kent to somewhere like Pau is easily doable on the first day, then a sunrise start the following day to enjoy the quiet mountain roads before slogging through Spain.
JCW said:
That and some great roads to tackle combined with plenty of nose bag opportunities on the way down, make it a no-brainer for me.
That sounded wrong, had to check the urban dictionary for that one (nose bag opportunities). You sounded like an international coke smuggler for a moment, snorting drugs at any given opportunity on your journey.Urban dictionary definitions:
1. Nose bag
Definition used for a meal or something to eat
"Come on Nat, I'm hungry, lets go and get some Nose bag'
2. Nose bag
a nice little bag of cocaine.
hey can you pass the nose bag mate?
Badabing said:
That sounded wrong, had to check the urban dictionary for that one (nose bag opportunities). You sounded like an international coke smuggler for a moment, snorting drugs at any given opportunity on your journey.
Urban dictionary definitions:
1. Nose bag
Definition used for a meal or something to eat
"Come on Nat, I'm hungry, lets go and get some Nose bag'
2. Nose bag
a nice little bag of cocaine.
hey can you pass the nose bag mate?
Sorry, spent some time with Sarf Landaners the last few days, so must have picked up the lingo. Definitely referring to cuisine as my substance abuse days are long behind me.Urban dictionary definitions:
1. Nose bag
Definition used for a meal or something to eat
"Come on Nat, I'm hungry, lets go and get some Nose bag'
2. Nose bag
a nice little bag of cocaine.
hey can you pass the nose bag mate?
Its also worth remembering to get a SANEF toll tag for the car, especially if you're travelling solo to avoid the hassle of French toll booths and traffic jams. Having said that, if someone can tell me how to get it to work with BMWs I'd be grateful as mine can't 'see' through the windscreen for some reason.
JimexPL said:
I drive 90% of the time, only leaving the car at home if my wife is already out there in her car. Have always taken Dover - Calais then driven down. As JCW said the other routes aren't necessarily cost or time effective.
Tend to do mainly autoroute through France to cover ground, then more minor roads over the Pyrennes for fun, and then a mix of roads in Spain. Kent to somewhere like Pau is easily doable on the first day, then a sunrise start the following day to enjoy the quiet mountain roads before slogging through Spain.
Hi chap, just realised it was you. How's the Landy - still going strong? As you suggest, there's some great roads over the border from Pau (to keep it on topic) cutting across to Zaragoza - Madrid - Andalucia if you want a different and more varied route from the perennial slog down from Irun, Madrid and then south.Tend to do mainly autoroute through France to cover ground, then more minor roads over the Pyrennes for fun, and then a mix of roads in Spain. Kent to somewhere like Pau is easily doable on the first day, then a sunrise start the following day to enjoy the quiet mountain roads before slogging through Spain.
JCW said:
Sorry, spent some time with Sarf Landaners the last few days, so must have picked up the lingo. Definitely referring to cuisine as my substance abuse days are long behind me.
Its also worth remembering to get a SANEF toll tag for the car, especially if you're travelling solo to avoid the hassle of French toll booths and traffic jams. Having said that, if someone can tell me how to get it to work with BMWs I'd be grateful as mine can't 'see' through the windscreen for some reason.
You probably have a heat-reflective windscreen, in which case there should be a section of the windscreen just behind the rear-view mirror which is free of the reflective coating. That's where you need to stick the transponder. It's all in the instructions.Its also worth remembering to get a SANEF toll tag for the car, especially if you're travelling solo to avoid the hassle of French toll booths and traffic jams. Having said that, if someone can tell me how to get it to work with BMWs I'd be grateful as mine can't 'see' through the windscreen for some reason.
JCW said:
Hi chap, just realised it was you. How's the Landy - still going strong? As you suggest, there's some great roads over the border from Pau (to keep it on topic) cutting across to Zaragoza - Madrid - Andalucia if you want a different and more varied route from the perennial slog down from Irun, Madrid and then south.
Red Landy needs a bit of TLC - nothing major, just a bit of bodywork that I 'modified' off roading last year, and a new radiator. I've also got a 4 barrel weber sitting on the shelf for it.I've got a SIII 88" station wagon down in London at the moment (sold my wife's BMW as she only uses it once a year to drive to Spain). We should meet up and give it a Surrey Hills outing!
I was going to contact you about your Spanish house as we might need somewhere to stay in the vicinity this year. We're meant to be staying at a friends house, which I believe must be within about 20 minutes of yours (still waiting for exact info), but seeing as they've hardly visited it in the last 10 years it's debatable as to whether it would feel like a holiday or a building project...
Back on topic, I've driven to Spain at least once a year since 2001, except for last year (honeymoon took priority). Not doing a long Euro drive made my holidays feel incomplete!
Depends what you drive- in a quickish saloon where you can do 80-90 if you want, and get 35ish mpg then driving is probably worthwhile,
however i go out at least once a year either to the pyrenees, mallorca or Marocco (generally for offroading), in a trufk that does 60 and gives 25mpg if i'm lukcy. This necessitates at least 2 nights stay en route, and a LOT of money in diesel. The price difference betwen driivng and boating was £30 last time i worked it out- and that's ignoring wear and tear on the vehicle (which is probably 10p/mile).
Another lovely benefit is that the crossing is normally pretty smooth in the summer so you get 24 hours on a nice ferry to have a few drinks and generally relax. For our group, when you have the whole length of spain to cross and then 3 days travel in North africa then getting a rest can be lovely.
however i go out at least once a year either to the pyrenees, mallorca or Marocco (generally for offroading), in a trufk that does 60 and gives 25mpg if i'm lukcy. This necessitates at least 2 nights stay en route, and a LOT of money in diesel. The price difference betwen driivng and boating was £30 last time i worked it out- and that's ignoring wear and tear on the vehicle (which is probably 10p/mile).
Another lovely benefit is that the crossing is normally pretty smooth in the summer so you get 24 hours on a nice ferry to have a few drinks and generally relax. For our group, when you have the whole length of spain to cross and then 3 days travel in North africa then getting a rest can be lovely.
Depends on whether money is an issue. Its probably more expensive but out of preference I'd take the boat to Bilbao - unless you get really excited by hours & hours of motorway driving. It will take you 2 days to get into Northern Spain if you drive, so at least one if not 2 over night stops to get that far. So I can't see that driving it is that much faster either unless you are going to try & do it non stop - which would be very hard work indeed. The Ferry is a flat 24 hours and you come off at the other end very relaxed!
By the time you factor in the Dover-calais crossing, petrol, hotel, tolls, true costs of running a car etc there might not be as much in it as first appears.
...and most important is its a very nice way to travel! Food on Brittany Ferries is good and not expensive, cabins are very comfortable.
By the time you factor in the Dover-calais crossing, petrol, hotel, tolls, true costs of running a car etc there might not be as much in it as first appears.
...and most important is its a very nice way to travel! Food on Brittany Ferries is good and not expensive, cabins are very comfortable.
JimexPL said:
Red Landy needs a bit of TLC - nothing major, just a bit of bodywork that I 'modified' off roading last year, and a new radiator. I've also got a 4 barrel weber sitting on the shelf for it.
I've got a SIII 88" station wagon down in London at the moment (sold my wife's BMW as she only uses it once a year to drive to Spain). We should meet up and give it a Surrey Hills outing!
I was going to contact you about your Spanish house as we might need somewhere to stay in the vicinity this year. We're meant to be staying at a friends house, which I believe must be within about 20 minutes of yours (still waiting for exact info), but seeing as they've hardly visited it in the last 10 years it's debatable as to whether it would feel like a holiday or a building project...
Back on topic, I've driven to Spain at least once a year since 2001, except for last year (honeymoon took priority). Not doing a long Euro drive made my holidays feel incomplete!
Based in Oxfordshire these days, hence why I'm looking to sell the Landy as there's little in the way of green laning. Let me know on the house and congrats on the wedding.I've got a SIII 88" station wagon down in London at the moment (sold my wife's BMW as she only uses it once a year to drive to Spain). We should meet up and give it a Surrey Hills outing!
I was going to contact you about your Spanish house as we might need somewhere to stay in the vicinity this year. We're meant to be staying at a friends house, which I believe must be within about 20 minutes of yours (still waiting for exact info), but seeing as they've hardly visited it in the last 10 years it's debatable as to whether it would feel like a holiday or a building project...
Back on topic, I've driven to Spain at least once a year since 2001, except for last year (honeymoon took priority). Not doing a long Euro drive made my holidays feel incomplete!
Would also recommend a decent map of Spain, look for squiggly bits and head in that direction as one of the benefits of EC membership has been the plethora of decent roads funded by the rest of us. Occasionally, you'll find the tarmac runs out where the money did, but otherwise they often have better roads than the UK.
Done the trip to and from Torrevieja several times by car.
My preference is from Portsmouth to Bilbao on P &O , eg leaves Portsmouth teatime Saturday and docks At Bilbao early Monday morning. Having departed the ship by 8:30 am my best arrival time in Torre was at 4:30 pm the same day, with just a short fuel and pee stop.
My route is via Madrid and there are no tolls going that way .
An example of a return trip we did once was, having dropped off the kids at Alicante airport to fly home we headed north at around midday, it took 6 hours to reach Barcelona at we got over the border and stopped overnight near Narbonne. Full days drive the next day to Calais and then thru tunnel and home on the third day.
Yes if I was in the 911 I'd do the long drive but in the 4x4( packed to the gunnels) I reckoned the sea route was cheaper and more relaxing
My preference is from Portsmouth to Bilbao on P &O , eg leaves Portsmouth teatime Saturday and docks At Bilbao early Monday morning. Having departed the ship by 8:30 am my best arrival time in Torre was at 4:30 pm the same day, with just a short fuel and pee stop.
My route is via Madrid and there are no tolls going that way .
An example of a return trip we did once was, having dropped off the kids at Alicante airport to fly home we headed north at around midday, it took 6 hours to reach Barcelona at we got over the border and stopped overnight near Narbonne. Full days drive the next day to Calais and then thru tunnel and home on the third day.
Yes if I was in the 911 I'd do the long drive but in the 4x4( packed to the gunnels) I reckoned the sea route was cheaper and more relaxing
car_era said:
Done the trip to and from Torrevieja several times by car.
My preference is from Portsmouth to Bilbao on P &O , eg leaves Portsmouth teatime Saturday and docks At Bilbao early Monday morning. Having departed the ship by 8:30 am my best arrival time in Torre was at 4:30 pm the same day, with just a short fuel and pee stop.
My route is via Madrid and there are no tolls going that way .
An example of a return trip we did once was, having dropped off the kids at Alicante airport to fly home we headed north at around midday, it took 6 hours to reach Barcelona at we got over the border and stopped overnight near Narbonne. Full days drive the next day to Calais and then thru tunnel and home on the third day.
Yes if I was in the 911 I'd do the long drive but in the 4x4( packed to the gunnels) I reckoned the sea route was cheaper and more relaxing
P&O don't operate on that route any more its Brittany Ferries only now (who are much better anyway IMO).My preference is from Portsmouth to Bilbao on P &O , eg leaves Portsmouth teatime Saturday and docks At Bilbao early Monday morning. Having departed the ship by 8:30 am my best arrival time in Torre was at 4:30 pm the same day, with just a short fuel and pee stop.
My route is via Madrid and there are no tolls going that way .
An example of a return trip we did once was, having dropped off the kids at Alicante airport to fly home we headed north at around midday, it took 6 hours to reach Barcelona at we got over the border and stopped overnight near Narbonne. Full days drive the next day to Calais and then thru tunnel and home on the third day.
Yes if I was in the 911 I'd do the long drive but in the 4x4( packed to the gunnels) I reckoned the sea route was cheaper and more relaxing
When I did it last Summer it left Portsmouth at 5pm on Friday & docked at 6pm on Saturday in Bilbao - but there are 4 or 5 other sailings a week to either Bilbao or Santander (which or only about 50 miles apart)
Yes I did the Santander - Plymouth Brittany ferries route last time coming back, left Santander at 3 pm and were supposed to dock at 9 am following day. Sadly the weather was awful and were we're delayed getting in to Plymouth by 6 hours!
We were on the Pont Aven which was a nice ship except in bad weather it has an uncomfortable "corkscrew" roll, lots of passengers were unwell!
We were on the Pont Aven which was a nice ship except in bad weather it has an uncomfortable "corkscrew" roll, lots of passengers were unwell!
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