Calais to Valencia

[peralta]

I am hoping to drive from Calais to Valencia later this summer and three routes came up on my route planner all showing pretty mcc the same time/distance.
1)Down the west of France and into Spain at San Sebastian, then through Spain
2) Through France - Paris,Orleans, Millau.Perpignan, Barcelona, Valencia
3)Through France via Dijon,Lyon Montpellier etc

I wonder if anyone has experience of any of those routes and recommendations etc

Many thanks

[Rushjob]

I'm taking route 2, albeit starting around Clermont Ferrand down to Murcia on Saturday morning, this is how we normally go to the inlaws then on the way back Murcia to San Sebastien, then a stop over in Biarritz before up to Bordeaux and back to CF.

Both routes 1 & 2 are much of a muchness drive wise, the autoroute from CF down to Beziers or thereabouts is toll free ( apart from the Millau Bridge, which is a reason to take route 2 on its own if you've never seen it in the flesh ).

Route 3 is just adding mileage unnecessarily IMHO and should be discounted.

[PositronicRay]

Personally I'd avoid Paris, I'd rather a slightly longer route.

If you do have to go through Paris, avoid the rush hour. Lunch time would be favorite.

[goingonholiday]

Done route 2 calais to barcelona a couple of times, easy with 1 overnight stop. Just pay attention to the route around paris, you don't actually go through paris. It can pay to take a lightly longer route to go around paris further out than your satnav shortest route.

Millau viaduct is spectacular!

[gareth h]

Santander is a fab place if you can schedule an overnight stop there (and about half the cost of Biarritz)

[CAPP0]

goingonholiday said:

Millau viaduct is spectacular!

And if that distance floats your boat for the overnight stop, there's a little chateau with an amazing restaurant in the village just under the bridge. I'm hoping to head back there soon.

[littleredrooster]

Is it necessary for you to start at Calais? Route down from St. Malo or Cherbourg would be far easier.

[rjg48]

Or Newhaven - Dieppe.

[rjg48]

goingonholiday said:

Done route 2 calais to barcelona a couple of times, easy with 1 overnight stop. Just pay attention to the route around paris, you don't actually go through paris. It can pay to take a lightly longer route to go around paris further out than your satnav shortest route.

Millau viaduct is spectacular!

Be nice to get back to Barcelona at some point, and to drive down.

[peralta]

Thanks for all the suggestions - we may end up choosing one route down and another route back as we'd like to see the Millau bridge but also would imagine that the drive through Spain would be interesting
We're coming from Yorkshire so the tunnel seemed to be the most flexible route rather than the other ports.

[Frank7]

It’s obviously not what you’re looking for, but I emailed a French relative in St. Omer, app 45 km from Calais, and asked his opinion.
In essence he said, “Screw driving all that way, you won’t get a non stop, but check out flights from Lille or Ostend to Valencia.”

[PositronicRay]

peralta said:

Thanks for all the suggestions - we may end up choosing one route down and another route back as we'd like to see the Millau bridge but also would imagine that the drive through Spain would be interesting
We're coming from Yorkshire so the tunnel seemed to be the most flexible route rather than the other ports.

The Millau bridge is a fantastic engineering feat. But you don't see much from the road, not enough for me to change my route anyway.

I believe if you have time, pull off the road and view from underneath. (like you would with spaghetti junction in the olden days)

[gareth h]

PositronicRay said:

The Millau bridge is a fantastic engineering feat. But you don't see much from the road, not enough for me to change my route anyway.

I believe if you have time, pull off the road and view from underneath. (like you would with spaghetti junction in the olden days)

Yep, but the Tarn gorge (underneath it, heading North) is a fabulous bit of road, with some lovely villages and hotels

[CAPP0]

PositronicRay said:

The Millau bridge is a fantastic engineering feat. But you don't see much from the road, not enough for me to change my route anyway.

Although the final few miles approaching it from the north side are quite interesting, it appears and disappears between the hills as you drive down, nice sight to see.

[ElectricSoup]

I'm doing Calais to Beziers soon, it's Route 2 for me.

[Vixpy1]

CAPP0 said:

goingonholiday said:

Millau viaduct is spectacular!

And if that distance floats your boat for the overnight stop, there's a little chateau with an amazing restaurant in the village just under the bridge. I'm hoping to head back there soon.

Château de Creissels ?

We stayed there on way back from honeymoon many years ago, found Valencia very disapointing, liked Girona.

Crossed the alps on way down and stayed in Pau which was great

[goingonholiday]

peralta said:

Thanks for all the suggestions - we may end up choosing one route down and another route back as we'd like to see the Millau bridge but also would imagine that the drive through Spain would be interesting
We're coming from Yorkshire so the tunnel seemed to be the most flexible route rather than the other ports.

We are in Yorkshire too, got up early, drove down to the tunnel, in france by mid-morning. Stopped overnight near Orleans and in Barcelona late afternoon the following day. Traffic was light and roads good!

[MrThomo]

Route 2 for me... Paris can be a total hell hole for traffic so timing is key. I have also gone via Rouen and Charters to Orleans when SatNav showed the entire peripherique in red...

[Pvapour]

Living in france and having done most of the towns/cities, Id go DIjon, claremont and then through the aubrac national park and then join the A9 via the A75, you could divert to carcassonne if you havent done that? Ive never seen a city like it, amazing but could be busy which would ruin it imo.

Definitely dont try and traverse the centre of spain!

Valencias good bits are very good but away from that its not much imo.

[ElectricSoup]

Pvapour said:

Living in france and having done most of the towns/cities, Id go DIjon, claremont and then through the aubrac national park and then join the A9 via the A75, you could divert to carcassonne if you havent done that? Ive never seen a city like it, amazing but could be busy which would ruin it imo.

Definitely dont try and traverse the centre of spain!

Valencias good bits are very good but away from that its not much imo.

Isn't Dijon to Clermont-Ferrand a bit cross-country and slow? What's your route for that leg of the journey please?

And here's an interesting conundrum which a French resident might be able to solve, if you put Paris-Clermont Ferrand in to Google maps, the A6/A77 route is 17km shorter than the A10/A71 route, but half an hour longer in time, despite both being autoroute, er, routes. What's going on there? Doesn't seem to make sense. Is there a significantly lower speed limit on the A6/A77?

Edited by ElectricSoup on Friday 3rd July 11:30