Driving through France and Spain

[eggchaser1987]

Wondering if anyone could give me any advice.

For the gf's birthday I was thinking about getting a ferry down to Santander and driving up into France taking in Toulouse, Millau for the Viaduct and a few other places that she wants to including Paris.

Any advice on how long I should give to do this in and any places that wold be nice to stop in.
Have plenty of time to plan this as her birthday in in July.

Thanks in advance!!

[jaybirduk]

Slightly OT but this will aid your trip no end through France, https://www.saneftolling.co.uk/

[sawman]

I took the ferry to bilbao a year or so ago, we were heading to friends in Montpellier (quite near the millau bridge) It was march so we didnt go through pyrenees, we overnighted in Tarbes (handy for the circuit at Pau)and then made montpellier the next evening - I wasnt hammering along as we were 4 up in a morgan!

From millau you have a couple of options - head up through the Ardeche and burgundy then towards paris possibly via champagne. Or you can head west again to toulouse and then north through dordogne, loire to paris.

There are lots of interesting places to visit in France and it is quite a big place. I would say you shouldnt miss Carcassone if you are nearby.

How long it takes depends on whether you want to spend all day every day driving or whther you want to actually stay in a particular place.

I would probably spend at least 2 weeks on a trip of that nature.

[eggchaser1987]

Thanks for the info. Will have a look

[Wombat3]

Did this in 2011.

First thing is to look at what time the Ferry gets in - ours arrived in Bilbao at 6pm so you can't get far the first night - we went to Pamplona which was do-able or you could take the motorway and follow the coast round into France - but that would be to miss out some of the driving in the North of Spain which is just epic!

From Pamplona we went to a place called Vielha - good hotel there (Parador). We went over the Route Des Cols which is a bit mental but you could stay on the more major roads further south & it would be easier.

Next day we drove the N260 which is a must-see & then crossed into France via Andorra. I would give Andorra a miss if I did it again - road works/traffic jam, not much to see. Stayed the 3rd night about 75 miles short of the Millau Bridge

For the Millau bridge its basically on the main motorway & runs North-South. You don't really get much of an idea just how high it is from on the bridge because the railings are so high. We came at it from the South west & went underneath it first & then through the town & out to join the Motorway & headed south over the bridge because we were going that way & down to the motorway to head east along the south of France.

After that it depends on how much time you've got & where you want to see, but we went through into Italy, did a loop round the lakes & the Stelvio, then up into Switzerland & back home via the black forest. Could easily have detoured via Paris but decided not to.

Spent 16 days in all. Best advice in a two week trip is to have at least 3 or 4 stops where you stay for 2 nights - otherwise it gets to be too much driving.

Google maps & piece of Software called TYRE for plotting TomTom/Garmin routes are your friends!

[eggchaser1987]

Thanks Wombat, Will have a look at the tom tom thing, will def need one.

Thanks again!

[Wombat3]

eggchaser1987 said:

Thanks Wombat, will have a look at the tom tom thing, will def need one.

Thanks again!

No probs

Tyre is here: http://www.tyre.tk/

I did all the hotel bookings via www.Booking.com - dead easy & you can book stuff without charge & cancel if you don't need it nearer the time.

You can also book on Brittany Ferries with just a 25 quid deposit too so I'd get that booked up sooner rather than later & then you can start to build your trip. Be aware of things like finding petrol off the main motorways on Sundays & public holidays can be difficult.

Also cater for public holidays etc (when Petrol stations may also be shut & traffic can be heavy)

e.g See http://www.officeholidays.com/countries/france/

Most of Northern Spain & France have been heavily mapped by Google streetview so you can have a good look at your routes - endless hours of entertainment! Google earth will give you a good idea of terrain as well.