first trip to spain

bonniechris

bonniechris

Joined
Oct 5, 2014
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somerset
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firebrand campervan
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hi funsters, we are seeking a little advice please. we are planning our first trip to Valencia/Murcia region, through France in February and we wish to avoid tolls and use local Aires as much as possible but have noticed that some people say it is worth paying for certain sections of toll road to avoid city centres. any and all advice would be much appreciated.we are awaiting our new copy of all the aire france and have alreay the spanish aires book.
Cheers and thanks in advance
 
No expert by any means, but if I was doing that journey in Feb, i would want to get south asap and would pay the tolls in order to do that. You will save a little on fuel too avoiding lots of towns, villages, roundabouts and speed humps.
 
there are relatively fast alternatives to toll roads most of the way through France, certainly fast enough for a motorhome.. there is really is no need to pay except for a few sections with no real fast alternatives. Tolls in Spain reasonable, not worth avoiding.... a forum search will show previously discussed routes.

I can do it with one overnight south of Rouen and one in northern Spain..but I don't hang around, don't see the point mid winter :)
 
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I did this end of Oct went from Calais to Valencia no tolls just stopping here and there. No means a direct route but had a great time. Did take over a week though but wasn't rushing and stopped at some places for 2 nights
 
We do Zahora ( south Spain ) in 3.5 days.. Never use toll roads nowadays
The first two trips we did down there we did use tolls.
The mileages done were actually slightly higher and the time taken almost exactly the same !

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Most important - take the toll from just north of Tours to just south of Poitier.
Next tip - avoid both rush hours at Chartres.
Worth doing - use tolls around Rouen.
Spain - tolls are not punitive, might as well use them.

AND!!! take security very very seriously in Barcelona.
 
excellent info Tonka..that is the route we use...
 
Shortest route for me with no tolls.

Calais/Dunkirk, Abbeville,Rouen,Evereux,Dreux,Chartres,Tours,
Angouleme,on towards Bordeaux & off left on E72 then A65 to Pau, through SomPort tunnel on to Jaca, Huesca,Zaragoza, Teruel, Sagunt, round to Alicante.


You can use this for a bit of route planning;
http://about-france.com/tourism/no-tolls-routes.htm

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laurieash said:
What is dropbox?
Click to expand...


click on it and find out :) its a way of sharing word documents...a very good read with spot on info indeed in this case

additionally if you add this waypoint to your sat nav route it will avoid traffic problems through Rouen which has been a problem of late due to fire/road/bridge works

N49 25.363 E1 06.908 (its on the D6015)
 
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The bridge and Tunnel Grand Mare at Rouen should both be fully open now, surely?
 
sorry should have said we are crossing into france from poole to cherbourg. thanks for all info so far most informative , keep it coming
 
Judgemental said:
additionally if you add this waypoint to your sat nav route it will avoid traffic problems through Rouen which has been a problem of late due to fire/road/bridge works

N49 25.363 E1 06.908 (its on the D6015)
Click to expand...

sedge said:
The bridge and Tunnel Grand Mare at Rouen should both be fully open now, surely?
Click to expand...

Re-opened August 26th 2014.
I came back not realising & expecting bridge to still be shut & had already decided I was going down the Northern bank of river (way I'd come) so was surprised to see a nice new bridge in front of me as I turned left , too late to be able to go straight on! :)
I don't find Rouen a problem, even when the bridge was out . You just had to ignore the French diversion signs .;)

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The shortest route for me this year will be North East Lancs to Portsmouth then Brittany Ferries to Bilbao and on to the Benidorm area for starters. Eventually returning the same way. Twelve weeks of bliss.
 
Tonk, I can't open your file in my Dropbox. Any work-arounds?
 
bonniechris said:
sorry should have said we are crossing into france from poole to cherbourg. thanks for all info so far most informative , keep it coming
Click to expand...
Then I would stay on the western coast all the way down to the border or at bordeaux cut on to the route I posted before .Or stay on down to border @ Irun then head for Pamplona & then Zaragoza , Teruel etc.
 
I use the same route as Tonka and the last aire we use is in Segorbe approx. 127 miles from Benidorm.

John.
 
We have just travelled down to Tarifa,Spain without paying any tolls and using Aires we have not rushed although it was very cold at night until we arrived here it's around 5 degrees warmer just put avoid tolls use motorways into sat nav.
 
Hi all,
Thanks to bonniechris for asking my question - great responses!!
A second Q - how far south will we need to go to get some decent warmth, thinking of full Monty to Malaga ets
john
 
As far as you can
 
wardj2010 said:
Hi all,
Thanks to bonniechris for asking my question - great responses!!
A second Q - how far south will we need to go to get some decent warmth, thinking of full Monty to Malaga ets
john
Click to expand...

Valencia area and downwards.. Around Benidorm can be a micro climate and warmer than Malaga BUT the weather is always changing... Be aware central Spain can be really cold and even thick with snow in places and at certain times..
South of Madrid they have huge parking areas where the trucks can pull over and are often manned by snow ploughs !!

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TONKA.
Thanks mate. Worked fine from MHF resources.

Really 'ppreciate all of the work you put into that..

James
 

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