Calais to Valencia

[CAPP0]

Vixpy1 said:

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

Yes, that's the one. Some of the rooms are a little basic, although I find that with a lot of chateaux, but I remember the restaurant being very good. Haven't been there for 11 years but on their website it looks like some of the rooms at least have been refurbished now.

[Pvapour]

Probably another 40 mins in reality but the benefits of the Route / scenery, places you’ll pass or be able to stop at far out way the time loss imo, you’re less likely to hit jams on this route as all the paris traffic use the A7 for cote d’azur, so if you add in the likelihood of delays if you go more direct, then it could well be the same, time wise.

Do you have a tag? loadsa time saved and lots of smug factor Bip & go are faultless so far for us, all in english to set up

[omniflow]

I set off on a UK -> Valencia road trip in March. Took the overnight ferry from Portsmouth -> St. Malo, then drove down to San Sebastian. Was in San Sebastian by 4:00pm. Got as far as Jaca in the foothills of the Pyrenees before finding out that the Fallas festival was cancelled, so moved our hotel reservation to 2021 and headed for home.

I would definitely recommend this route. San Sebastian is a fabulous place for an overnight stop, and the roads south from there into Spain are great. There was an article in the Sunday Times about 7 or 8 weeks ago about Teruel and the surrounding area, so it might be worth planning your route to go through there.

Regarding the Millau Viaduct, it's definitely worth seeing and driving over, but as others have said, you really get the scale of the thing when you drive under it. If you're going that way, then set aside an hour or two to really see it properly.

[wilksy61]

I've done that trip loads of times (to Javea but near enough) I always go route 1 these days, with minimal tolls going and using all tolls coming back, I have both French and Spanish peage transponders which make a massive difference on the return journey time wise.

I have travelled on both the other routes you have mentioned and been over the Millau bridge, which was spectacular but the 56KM queue to get over it wasn't - I've never been that way since.

Been stopped by the Guarda Civil at 4am in Pamplona for speeding (80mph in a 40kph) - make sure you have all the travel documents and requirements with you in the car they do check - got let off.

Record time door to door (I live near Stansted) 18 hrs coming back, record time going 36hrs stuck in 56 KM of traffic trying to get over the Millau bridge.

Going again in 7 weeks, this time by boat to Santander but only because the French were being difficult with the 14 day quarantine rules at the time so I just booked the ferry instead, but would really prefer the drive.

[littleredrooster]

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.

If I was coming down from Yarkshire (as I probably will be after we move next year), I would go pretty much due South to Portsmouth (pref.) or Poole and get a ferry to Caen or Cherbourg. Avoid the M25 like the plague, and save a significant amount of mileage on both sides of the channel.

Our preference these days is to get the afternoon ferry from Portsmouth arriving in Caen at 21:30 and drive ~35 mins to Falaise or Bayeux to an Ibis for the night - depending upon our final destination - setting out after a very early breakfast the next day. Works well for us oldies!

I will agree, however, that Millau is a must-see, particularly from underneath - it's a reet-proper gob-smacker!

[rjg48]

wilksy61 said:

Going again in 7 weeks, this time by boat to Santander but only because the French were being difficult with the 14 day quarantine rules at the time so I just booked the ferry instead, but would really prefer the drive.

My Parents went via Santander once, they were shocked how long it took to get off the boat once it had arrived. I forget the details.

[peralta]

Thank you all so much for some great suggestions. On reflection it looks as though the ferry to Caen/St Malo will save time and mileage so we’ll probably go for that option particularly as we’re not planning on doing sightseeing on the way there, although we may do that on the return journey.
Valencia is the destination so that we can take a ferry to the Balearics - normally we fly but just don’t fancy planes and airports at the moment.

[braddo]

wilksy61 said:

... 56 KM of traffic trying to get over the Millau bridge...

Any idea what the reason for the queue was? Sounds very unusual!

I have only been once down the A75 to Millau (and into the Cevennes), in was in August on a Saturday and there were no queues whatsoever. The A75 is the most epic motorway I've ever driven for being so long, hilly and twisty, so if you have the right car (and obliging passengers!) it's a great way to get down south.

If it was for purely the driving fun, I would go via Rouen/Chartres to avoid Paris and head down the A75. It might be 30 minutes slower than the route via Bordeaux but traffic delays on the roads Parisiens use easily add that time.

[CAPP0]

littleredrooster said:

I will agree, however, that Millau is a must-see, particularly from underneath - it's a reet-proper gob-smacker!

A couple from our trip 11 years ago:




There's a fabled remapped 335d AWOL from that picture! Actually made me miss my Monaro, seeing that.

These next two give you some idea of the scale of the bridge. It's worth seeing.

[rjg48]

Sure you can get the ferry to Ibiza from Barcelona.

[Pvapour]

On the Milau point..

The best perspective is to park at the tourist centre for it and take the walk down and view from underneath that way, about an hours walk there n back but worth it if ur fit

[RESSE]

peralta said:

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

The three of us (myself, wife and small dog) have driven to Moraira, which is a couple of hours south of Valencia, a few times over the past few years.

I prefer the Portsmouth to Bilbao ferry route, but we don't always manage to get a dog friendly cabin on the two ferries that have such cabins, so Eurotunnel is the best option.

Tolls
Calais to Paris A26/A10 21.40
Paris A10/Orleans to Viernon 19.10
Brive to Montauban 12.50
Montauban to Toulouse 4.00
Toulouse to Le Bou Lou 20.20
La Jon Quera to Granolers 14.00
Barcelona to Valencia 53.40
Valencia to Teulada 10.40
155 Euros

Calais Eurotunnel to Bethune A26 51 miles

Hotel in Bethune



As others have said, this is worth a detour:



The French route:
Bethune to Narbonne via Paris/Limoges/Toulouse A1 A10 A71 A62 A61 647 miles
Narbonne to Moraira via Barcelona/Valencia A9 A7 450 miles

We have a steady drive from 1000hrs to 1700hrs each day, and have broken the trip at Bethune (first night), then tackle Paris to stay either at Limoges or Montauban, then overnight at Narbonne/Perpignan/Girona, then the AP7 to Valencia.

The Spanish route:
Bilbao to Zaragoza (188 miles) Zaragoza to Valencia (192 miles) Valencia to Moraira (74 miles) Total: 465 miles
AP8 from Bilbao to AP68 to Zaragoza, AP23 from Zaragoza to Port de Sagunt/Valancia, AP7 from Port de Sagunt/Valencia to Moraira

There is a basic but good hotel (Hotel San Camilo) at Navarrete which has secure parking and is only a couple of hours from Bilbao port.

In 2017 we stayed in Vitoria-Gasteiz - great hotel but parking was an issue.

Next trip we will take a bit longer at try some new stop overs.

[littleredrooster]

Pvapour said:

On the Milau point..

The best perspective is to park at the tourist centre for it and take the walk down and view from underneath that way, about an hours walk there n back but worth it if ur fit

No need for an hour's hike - there's a perfectly good car park directly underneath which is an easy drive; first exit after the bridge & bear left at the junction IIRC. Beautiful fresh cherries on the trees of the car park too!

[hellorent]

Be route 1 for me

[rjg48]

Sitges worth a look too, if you don't know it. South of Barcelona.

[Pvapour]

littleredrooster said:

Pvapour said:

On the Milau point..

The best perspective is to park at the tourist centre for it and take the walk down and view from underneath that way, about an hours walk there n back but worth it if ur fit

No need for an hour's hike - there's a perfectly good car park directly underneath which is an easy drive; first exit after the bridge & bear left at the junction IIRC. Beautiful fresh cherries on the trees of the car park too!

Said the lard ass

[littleredrooster]

Pvapour said:

littleredrooster said:

Pvapour said:

On the Milau point..

The best perspective is to park at the tourist centre for it and take the walk down and view from underneath that way, about an hours walk there n back but worth it if ur fit

No need for an hour's hike - there's a perfectly good car park directly underneath which is an easy drive; first exit after the bridge & bear left at the junction IIRC. Beautiful fresh cherries on the trees of the car park too!

Said the lard ass

11stone 7 yesterday. I'm just too short for my weight :

[paulwirral]

littleredrooster said:

No need for an hour's hike - there's a perfectly good car park directly underneath which is an easy drive; first exit after the bridge & bear left at the junction IIRC. Beautiful fresh cherries on the trees of the car park too!

Exactly this , driving over the bridge is a none event , matey said to me " was that it"
Driving down I used to take the Rouen , Chartres , Orleans everytime , it's just easier , I did it half a dozen times a year for 15 years or so . I tried the Paris route a few times but unless you overnight it it does get busy and you don't save any time over the longer route .

[Pvapour]

We love walking, an hours walk is nothing for us, you tend to see more when you walk and more importantly you won't be with hordes of others which made the walk a no brainer for us always on the fringes for us, observing..

[paulwirral]

I remember years ago on a 3 month road trip to southern Spain stopping in millau by chance , it was late afternoon and seemed like time to find a hotel , we were sat outside a bar and I was puzzled why the French would build a line of piers that reached the clouds for seemingly no purpose ,when I asked the waitress what they were for I thought she joking when she said it they were going to be a bridge !
Life before smart phones was so innocent