Talk Quesada forum

Hi

We looked at doing the sailing from Portsmouth - you can do Santander to Santander or Bilbao not much difference in travel time to Quesada - This was one we were planning on doing but Ferry was full so went for sailing below on 3rd June

There is a Sailing from Portsmouth on a Sunday that arrives on Tuesday Morning at 0715 hrs that should be a good time

Or if option look at Plymouth they also have sailing on a Sunday and arrive 1215 hrs following day

Hi,
Everybody, has great tips and ideas on the way to go,,, Here's mine,

Get the plane and hire a car when you get here, send and belongings by freight

Its a bloody long drive through some fanatic country side especially between the Bilbao and Logrono,
goes a bit flat as you head down to Zaragoza, and by then you should be toll free,,, As you travel down to Terual and then decide easy route via Valencia or beautiful route via Utiel, Ayora, Villena, Elda and then another half hour more and your at the Arches.

There you go, Bobs your uncle, Merry's your aunt,,,

Two Full days driving and hoping the bay of Biscay is calm, totally knackered the following day,,, then you may be doing the same, but in reverse, I don't mean driving backwards

Or,,,

Nip to the airport jump on a plane, have a sing song with the chaps from Newcastle who are travailing to Benidorm for the weekend, spend an hour at the hire center getting your car and paying a kings ransom for extra car insurance. At least when you go back, the chaps from Newcastle will be hung over and sleeping.

Both ways, both have there pro's and cons.

Good luck and safe travel.

Qwerty

great

Hi we drive down twice a year ,we use the ferry rom dover to calais 7am, we drive as far as clermont ferraud next day drive to Barcelona next day home we usually arrive 3pm ,have tried taking just 2days found it too much we book ibis hotels the night before around 50 to 60 Euro about 1300 miles long drive

Hi having done the journey hundreds of times over the past twenty years i would advice you get the Sunday night boat out of Portsmouth it goes at 22.30 hrs its a two night crossing and gets into Bilbao on the Tuesday morning 07.45 am that gives you a full day to travel down if you did not want to stop over plus i have a membership you could use it will give you ten percent of your crossing and i get ten pounds so we both gain, if you want to contact me direct i will let you have the details regards Kevin.

kevin07 wrote:Hi having done the journey hundreds of times over the past twenty years i would advice you get the Sunday night boat out of Portsmouth it goes at 22.30 hrs its a two night crossing and gets into Bilbao on the Tuesday morning 07.45 am that gives you a full day to travel down if you did not want to stop over plus i have a membership you could use it will give you ten percent of your crossing and i get ten pounds so we both gain, if you want to contact me direct i will let you have the details regards Kevin.

For me, nothing would be worse than spending 2 nights on a ferry. My optimal route would be Portsmouth to St Malo overnight. Drive to Bordeaux, stop overnight, drive to Zaragoza, stop overnight, drive to Quesada. It breaks the driving up into 5-6 hr daily segments and makes it much more enjoyable.
Just my personal preference mind, as you can see on here, there are many ways to do it.

i usually go through eurotunnel, over to reims, straight down to monpellier, then drive along the coast. last time i done it in 23hrs from surrey, stopping for around 30 45 mins when filling up 2/3 times. tolls cost around £70 or do the non toll route which puts around 5/6 hrs on the trip.
was looking at going by ferry in the past but everytime i take a look it costs the earth and take ages.

My driving route is early ferry to Calais, drive to Tours - stop in motel. Next day drive to Bilbao, stay one night then to Alicante via Madrid. Avoid city centres- Paris, Bordeaux, Madrid. You have to really enjoy driving to make this trip!

I think you can mix it up....eg We came out in January with Jet2 and hired a car. We came back out at the end of April, and sailed from Plymouth to Santander, with an overnight stop on the outskirts of Madrid to break-up the drive down. We go home at the end of June, stopping at a hotel in Benicarlo for night, 3 nighs at CluB Farrett near Beziers, and 2 nights at Le Bas, just south of Clermont Ferrand. The last 2 are Yelloh Village sites, before sailing home from St Malo to Portsmouth.
We come back out in September sailing from Portsmouth to St Malo, with 3 x 2 overnight stops, being 2 Yelloh Village sites in France, and a hotel stop just above Valencia. The home trip at the end of October is a Yelloh Village site just below Bacelona, with hotel stops in Carcasonne, and La Rochelle, with an overnight sailing from St Malo to Portsmouth.

Hi, We did the Portsmouth?Bilbao trip in November with a car load of household goods/possessions when we made the move to Quesada. Cant believe how easy/cheap it was.
we sailed at approx 9.30am docking approx 2pm the following day. Ferry is comfortable (not luxurious) and the food and drink prices on board are very reasonable. very easy check in/boarding and the same at this end (no checks whatsoever)
We did an overnight stay in Zaragossa, approx half way.
Our only drawback was we got stuck for quite a long time behind an exceptionally wide load which slowed us down and lost probably 1 1/2 hours.
I would defiantly do it again but maybe not if only for a couple weeks holiday.
Hope all goes well with whatever you decide to do.
Reider