Talk Quesada forum

We make the journey with our dogs twice a year and over the last 5 years have devised the best route for us which avoids the vast majority of tolls in fact we spend around 12 euro in total on tolls but still use mainly motorway or dual carriageway. It is doable in one day but we have an overnight at a Premiere Classe dog friendly motel. If you pm me your email I will send you the route.

I found this site very helpful when driving through france.
Www.aboutfrance.com

We brought our dog over last October via over night ferry in a pet cabin from Portsmouth to Bilbao. Bear in mind the pet cabins are like gold dust! I initially booked a kennel where the dogs are kept in a separate area and left alone during the night although you have 24hr access to them I couldn’t leave mine as he would of gone mad. It was worth me calling Brittany ferries every other day for 4 weeks till I finally got a pet cabin!. Although theres an exercise area for the dogs you can’t take them in any of the bar/dining areas which is a shame but definitely worth it.

I would like to travel from POULTON LE FYLDE LANCASHIRE to Spain , any suggestions as to route ,places to stay ( not too expensive ) and toll fees to pay on route . I do not have SAT NAVIGATION as yet .

To Mareillana,
Nobody has replied to your request because there are so many options open to you when crossing the channel which then depends on your route and stays over night, You have not stated where in Spain you want to go. (you would have been better to start your own post). The quickest way for you from Lancashire to Callosa de Segura ( I am assuming) is to drive down to Folkstone using motorways M6, M1, M25 and M20. You then take the shuttle to northern France and head towards Paris. You take the motorways that go around Paris and head south towards Perpignan. You then go all the way down the east coast of Spain on the motorway E15 I think towards you destination. This will take you 24 hours including the travel through the tunnel. I suggest that you will need two stopovers.
The other option is to drive down to Portsmouth and catch the overnight ferry and start off fresh through northern France .
Some people like to travel from Portsmouth to northern Spain and travel down past Madrid etc.
Once you have decided your preferred route across the channel you can use VIAMICHELIN .com website to plan your route.
It will also give you hotels to stay at each destination point.

Wrong, johnES. Absolutely DO NOT use M1. It’s a nightmare. Use M6 toll if during day, then M40 and M42. Then M25 and finally M20. Easy peasy. Tip, try to get to M25 late at night/ early morning. take early shuttle to arrive Calais around 7am. That way, if your going via Paris you will miss rush hour. Bon voyage.

If you have a smart phone upkoad google maps.that will give you routes.you can also set it to avoid tolls etc.
Cheap hotels in france as stopovers include Ibis ,F1, etc.
My advice..decide your route then check for hotels and plan how long you want to drive each day.Off the auto routes through France can be very calming but slower! Bon voyage..

To Benjy,
You are correct in that I did not consider traffic congestion when advising on the route. I know someone from the East Midlands
who traveled down the M1, M25, M20 route last year without any problems but that was on a Sunday.
I also used the M40, M42, M1 route several times when going north to avoid the lower part of the M1.
I think the sequence that you suggest should be M6, M42, M40, M25, M20 when traveling from North to South.
I would also advise Mariellana to head for Rheims from the shuttle port to avoid Paris completely if she can get that far the first day.

Correct, must have had my map upside down M42—M40 is correct sequence.