When I moved here to years ago, some friends did the run in a van to move my stuff. What would you like to know?

Hi cubsur, well i was just wondering what the traffic situation was like. We want to do this trip over 2 days so is this possible? Where would the overnight stay be?

Also what are the roads like i think i would use the toll roads to be on the safe side but if the other roads are more scenic (but good) wouldn't want to miss out.

Anyone with more info or who can recommend other message forums re this subject please feel free.

Hi Marc did this trip Oct/Nov last year; Dover - Boulogne drove down to Bordeaux stayed overnight.didn,t use a single toll road. Next day drove to Burgos in N. Spain stayed over. Next day drove to Lusso in N. Portugal stayed over then next morning down to Lagos. If you were determined you could do it in just over 48 hours but why not enjoy the route.

Well we are a little restricted by the time unfortunately however if we do get more time then will definitely do it.

Did you use motels as stop overs? if so how much were they? and do you get stopped by the police often?

Cheers for the feedback so far, Mark.

P.S I almost forgot how much is the ferry from Dover?

Of the 3 overnight stops we made the Bordeaux one was with my sister the Burgos was in a hotel right opposite a cathedral we didn,t know it was there but it was an amazing sight all lit up in the evening that cost about 75 euros for a double with full en-suite etc no breakfast though. The stop in Lusso which is where the bottled water comes from was a hotel but only 40 euros and that included a breakfast and that was for both of us an absolute bargain!
I had no problems with police anywhere and their lane discipline and road manners I found to be better than ours.l

Nice one jerry, i'm really looking forward to it even though it's for next year plus it beats boring flights, well especially if you hate flying .

Keep the feedback coming people.

Mark.

It can be done in 2 overnights, but you will have to drive for about 10 to 12 hours per day. I drive from Zeebrugge to Costa del sol with 2 overnights. I have my own house in CDS and arrival time is not important. I usually arrive at around 10 pm but once there was a holdup and I didn't get here till 2 am. No problem with my own house but would be with a hotel or apartment. I also know what I am doing as I have done it regularly. I would reccommend 3 overnights, especially if you are not starting driving on the continent early. I usually book my hotels before I leave as trying to get one late at night is difficult. In France I tend to use the roadside hotels. Formule1 is the cheapest about 30 euros a night but they don't have en suite so I use others usually. In Spain I usually spoil myself and have a nice hotel. I use comparison sites and I usually get a 4 star for around 50 euros. I am moving to Algarve this autumn so I will certainly be driving there in September.

Another alternative would be to compromise and give France a miss by taking the ferry to Santander and then drive down through Spain into Portugal from there. Less driving and a mini cruise with the very strong likelihood of some whale watching while you're at it to get you into the holiday spirit.

SM

The only problem there SMa is the cost of the ferry. Some of the prices we have been quoted, you could do a weeks cruise around the med for!

The only problem there SMa is the cost of the ferry.

I guess it depends on whether you see it as part of the holiday or simply want to get there as quickly and cheaply as possible. It's a couple of years since I priced it up but for 4 people willing to share a family cabin on the ferry there wasn't that much in it once you compared the total costs. Taking into account the extra fuel costs and the fact that we would probably have made at least 3 overnight hotel stops across France and Spain compared to only one between Santander and our eventual destination there wasn't that much in it - though we wouldn't have been travelling in the school summer holidays. One of the reasons why we thought of doing it that way was so that we could incorporate a trip to the Guggenheim in Bilboa for my Dad but then cheap direct flights to Bilboa became available and we decided to do a separate 'city break' weekend instead and just flew as usual to Portugal.

I think that it also depends on where you start your journey in the UK from - for us we have to drive over 500 miles south before we get to any of the south coast ferries so there's always an additional stop either in the Uk before boarding the ferry or immediately we get off it making probably 4 overnight stops in total from home to final destination. So one of the big attractions of the Santander ferry was that we could do the mad dash south in a single leg, board the ferry immediately, then have a relaxing time on the ferry to re-cuperate before the drive south through Spain with hopefully only one overnight before arriving in Portugal.

But then for me the journey is all part of the holiday - you're talking to a woman whose favourite way of travelling to the Alps is still the overnight sleeper train and who took 3 weeks to get to Hong Kong because we took up an opportunity to travel down by train through China! I think the biggest drawback for Mark is that he did start off by saying that one of his reasons for travelling overland to Portugal was so they could see France which of course they'd by-pass completely on the Santander Ferry :-)

SM

Brodev according to mitchilin.com from Sheffield to the Algarve it takes 25 hours so based on that i thought i could do it in two days (1 overnight), maybe it is wrong and maybe i'm a little optimistic.

Be very interested to hear what your journey is like in Sept when you go.

Do them road side hotels have some sort of site?

But based on my understanding of the Michelin route-finding info that's surely 25 hours of actual driving time allowing for no breaks etc? Unless you're going to be able to take the wheel in relays I don't see how you could do it with just 1 overnight stop. Even with two drivers doing turn and turn about that would still mean 12/13 hours driving without any lunch or pee stops on 2 consecutive days. By the time you add in re-fulling stops - for both you and the car :-) - it would mean anything up to two 15 hour days on the road on the trot. You'd not only be shattered by the time you got there but you'd have seen nothing of the countries you'd been driving through - just mile after mile of motorway. If the whole point is to see something of France on the way south I really don't see any point in doing it unless you allow for at least 2 stopovers on the way.

SM

I come from Scotland therefore that is why we start on the continent from Zeebrugge. I find driving through England to be very stressful due to traffic congestion I have also just checked Viamichelin and with 82 euros of tolls the journey time is 26 hours and 11 mins. Avoiding tolls it comes in at 30 hours driving and 8 euros for unavoidable tolls. as I said in my previous post that is 10-12 hours driving a day for 3 days. It may be good for you to go Hull-Zeebrugge as it is only about an hour from Sheffield and you get an overnight on the ferry and start fresh 1st thing in the morning.

another thing I have been doing this for 13 years and I have never been stopped by the police. Fingers crossed I leave on Monday for the return journey and I hope I'll still not be stopped. In my Viamichelin search I put in Lagos as the destination as I thought I had read that Lagos was where you were going.

Hi Mark UK,
We drove down to Tavira last December. Took overnight Brittany ferry to St Malo (only ferry to carry animals with kennel facilities) docked around 6.30 a.m disembarked about 7.45 a.m. Intending to stay overnight in Bordeaux we found that we were there around 3.30 p.m so decided to drive over the Spanish border and eventually found a hotel that accomodated dogs in Burgos. Left Burgos around 8.30 a.m arriving in Tavira at 6 p.m. We followed the Sat Nav right the way down through Madrid to Sevilla and then onto Tavira (what a great journey) scenery was breathtaking at times. This year however we hopefully will be taking Brittany ferries to Santander although they have not published sailing dates yet. I agree with the other travellers that if you want to see France why not take extra time. We did this coming back, staying at Burgos, then
Poitiers, staying on the A roads and eventually onto Calais. Got lost a couple of times, but that enabled us to see areas that we would never have seen if we had stayed on the main route. Bon Voyage

Very interesting read djw, and after reading a few posts on here i have decided that i will have two overnight stops and three days travelling from Calais.

First leg from Calais - Bordeaux this journey takes about 7-8 hours so it would be nice to stop there and have a look around this place.

Second leg and a dilemma because the route planner says you should follow the route through Salamanca and ideally this is the second overnight stay point. It would take about 7 hours from Bordeaux however i think that we would prefer to go to Madrid and stop off there (much more interesting imo). Agree?

The next day complete the journey to Albufeira this taking about 7-8 hours.

I estimate that i'd be comfortable doing between 7-8 hours driving per day and arriving at most of my destinations around 4 -5 pm.

I'm feeling comfortable about this now.

Looking forward to that journey from Madrid to the Algarve now you said it was a great drive by the way DJW.

Hi Mark. I think that you have made a wise decision. Have you taken into consideration the toll charges in France. If you avoid the tolls in France it adds 2 hours to your journey, but the tolls are expensive. The journey from Bordeaux to Madrid I have done many times. It is very interesting. Madrid is a big busy city. I don't think that you will see much of it by the time you find your hotel. It may be worth while to pass Madrid or go via Salamanca and go on to the city of Caceres. I have stayed there and it is a beautiful old walled city. Viamichelin brings you this way if you put in to avoid tolls. I am sure that you will enjoy the journey. In Spain there are many roadside cafes. Look for the ones with lots of lorries outside. Always a good sign for quality and price. good luck.

Thank you brodev, what i have been thinking is upon leaving i will go probably the route finders route (probably Salamanca or Caceras) and for the return journey via Madrid, that way i get the best of both worlds if you know what i mean.

Would you say avoiding the tolls in France would be a wise decision though? and although i'm not too sure on how much i would save avoiding them i seem to remember someone telling me they are a lot quieter because the locals use the other minor roads thus resulting in a more traffic free scenario. How much are they anyway?

Do you know of any websites for roadside overnight stays in France/Spain?

Mark.

For French hotels try http://www.day-tripper.net/hotels_in_france.html. for Spain I use http://www.hotelscomparison.com.
I have just driven today from Biarritz to Evreux, with 2 stops for teas and wees and 1 for lunch. No tolls 10 hours. Tolls in France can be as much as £40-50. I only use the ones at the Spanish border as they make things so much easier. Yesterday I drove for 12 hours with 4-5 stops From Gibralter to Biarritz. No tolls. As I said earlier I know where I am going and I don't get lost. I have in the past cos I misread signs. I now have a TomTom but it is just as well I know where I am going as it tried to get me lost twice. Hope this helps