Talk Quesada forum

Hi we want to drive to quesada in September and could anyone advise of the best route to take please. We were thinking of going over to Santander/Bilbao by ferry and then driving from there instead of going to France and then driving. Any advise or experience would be great to receive

The ferry from Portsmouth or Plymouth to Santander or Bilbao is by far the easier option, but it depends a lot on price. We have done it a few times, and paid as little as £179 plus £80 for the cabin, which is cheaper than crossing the channel and driving down through France and, for us, much more enjoyable.
You can sit back and relax with a drink and a meal, have a good night's sleep, and in the morning you are well on your way. The drive from northern Spain to Quesada is a doddle - fast open roads with little traffic on them.
When the price prohibits us from using the ferry, we drive all the way down, but using non-toll roads instead of the motorways.
Geoff.

We did the trip last November to January, using Toll Roads . . . We used Eurotunnel (£79), Road Tolls £120 approx, Diesel £130 approx and overnight stay in Bordeaux area £50. Obviously return trip was similar. We took the Calais, Rouen, Bordeaux, Bayonne, Zaragoza, Valencia route and took 2 days of easy driving (overtook the odd truck/car every 15 minutes or so).
Whilst it goes against the grain to pay tolls, the driving is soooo easy . . .

Hi Babu - I was looking to take exactly the same route as you have described in September - with 2 overnight stays - having never driven through France before.

Do different sized cars pay different tolls - as when I have put my route - for a Ford Fiesta diesel - through the VIA Michelin website - it returns figures from Calais of £34.10 for tolls one way and £90 for fuel. So not sure why the tolls would be different unless maybe this website is "flawed" for accurate route planning?

Avoid sea crossing in winter ( when prices are cheapest) unless you have good sea legs - or you'll arrive in no fit state to drive! If you take the France route there are plenty of cheap motels just off the motorways (e.g. Quick Palace) Boat trip is about 24 hours? (Depending on weather) Driving on French motorways (tolls) is a pleasure unlike UK !

Ian
No tolls aren't vehicle size specific . . . I have just looked at viaMichelin and the route that I took does seem to come up with about €50 for Tolls . . . I think there may be a problem with it at the moment as looking at the route description, where it puts you on some toll roads it says to take a ticket and then doesn't put a charge against it later . . . it only seems to bill you for about 5 tolls where there are a lot more . . . it doesn't show the toll where you cross the border, and doesn't show any tolls on the Spanish side, even though you are on toll roads . . . It does avoid some tolls by going straight through the centre of Bordeaux (which I wouldn't do) as using the Tolls to go around it is much less hassle. As a guide my Tolls were around £80 in France & €30 in Spain . . .you may well get there for less as I just followed my Satnav for quickest route and it may not have followed Via Michelin route exactly . . . You may get away with circa £90 for Diesel, I just counted cost of fill-ups but did have half a tank or so remaining . . Definitely refuel well away from Main/Toll Roads as they Fleece you badly on them.

We drive down once a year for a month. We avoid Paris and the Peripherique ring road. It can be a nightmare during working hours. So we head towards Rouen and then our preferred route is on to Le Mans, Bordeaux and then either take the Somport tunnel through the Pyrenees to Huesca and then down to Quesada. Our alternative route is to head down from Bordeaux to Figueres (Spanish side of the border) and then take the Autoroute down the coast past Barcelona. We use the toll roads which cost over EUR 100, so it is not a cheap way to travel.
You could do the trip with one stop over, but we use it as part of our holiday and have two or three stop overs. For rooms our choice is to book through Booking.com.
We have not taken the long distance ferry but did drive once from near Bilbao to Quesada. Again with the toll roads it is about 8 hours drive, so more with a stop. My only cautionary note would be to make sure you allow plenty of time to get back to Bilbao so you don't miss the ferry home.

Babu wrote:Ian
No tolls aren't vehicle size specific . . . I have just looked at viaMichelin and the route that I took does seem to come up with about €50 for Tolls . . . I think there may be a problem with it at the moment as looking at the route description.

Babu - many thanks indeed - very helpful and informative. It is always better to know in advance what you are going to be charged - as too often you can easily feel as though you are personally and singularly being ripped off - when actually- you are not!

So you have probably saved me from having that feeling - thank you

A couple of further things . . . this URL gives alternative routes, their tolls and journey times through France to Spain http://about-france.com/tourism/routes-to-spain.htm (seems I used W1 route).
I bought the Sanef Tag which lets you through French Tolls without having to pay by card/cash (you get billed directly to your bank account later) which I got through Eurotunnel when booking and you go through the faster toll gates . . In Spain I used my Spanish debit card - you'll need your passenger to have card ready as booths are on the "wrong side" for a R/H drive car . . .