Sanatander to Girona Toll or non-Toll? (1 Viewer)

Spawn_e_git

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Hi.

Ferry booked for July 2020 to Santander, we have three weeks between arrival and departure.

The plan is to stay along the north coast of Spain unless the weather is poor where we will head south.

Looking at a lot of the campsites along the north coast there are some that are very good but it seems that most of the big sites with the entertainment etc are basecd along the Costa Brava.

The reason for going to Spain via Ferry was to avoid spending a long time driving, we went to the south of France this year and the hours and hours driving was boring and unfair in some respects on our 3 year old son sitting for hours in a car seat but the weather in the north was not very good so that made the decision to head south.

We have a 5.3T Tag Axle MH so the road tolls in France were expensive, even though most tolls dropped us down to Class 2, those that refused and left us at class 4 cost us dearly.

My question is for info from anyone who has travelled from the Santander/Bilbao area across to the Catalunia area and what routes you took?

Google Maps is giving me the route via Vitoria Gasteiz and Zaragoza onto Lieda and up to Girona area or the non toll route via Pamplona onto Huesca and then Lieda.

The toll route is around an hour and a half less but we intend to take a couple of days to get down and back so the time is not really important, more the tyoe of roads the non-toll route would be.

I tried last year to try the non-toll routes a couple of times but found 3.5t limited roads and small passes that made it difficult in a big MH.

Will I find the same thing in Spain? I have dropped to Street view along a few sections of the non-toll route and they look like good roads with few roundabouts but that is only a small sample.

Any advice on road toll charges in Spain would also be appreciated, are they the same as France where we will be charged the same as a truck @class 4? Are the Spanish accomodating to drop to class 2 is asked at the toll booths?

Thanks in advance for any info you can give.
 
Aug 18, 2014
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The A23 from Zaragoza across is dual carriageway , basically a motorway . Be aware that in july across there it will be an oven.I hope the van has cab air con? Personally I wouldn't bother with toll roads but Mhomes are turismo ( same as cars) if I remember rightly & spanish tolls are cheaper than French
 

Badknee

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As Richard says, hot hot hot. Yes the Spanish tolls are cheaper than France and there is a move to make them free to use. How long the roll out for this is going to be I have no idea but it might be worth checking.

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Hi, May I suggest your looking at the wrong destination with respect to the amount of time you have and where you Ferry lands. Forget about transitioning across Spain to the Med cost just head west along the coast from Santander. There are some magnificent places to visit along the cost, many free and low cost aires and the time of the year is perfect and the further you go the better it will get. You can even follow the cost into Portugal if you have the time. There will be plenty of available spaces for motorhomes. If you do decide to keep to your original plan, just put non toll into your Sat Nav. The distance is about the same as Toll roads anyway.
 
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Spawn_e_git

Spawn_e_git

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The A23 from Zaragoza across is dual carriagewaybasically a motorway

I cannot find the A23 road on Google maps?

MH has cab A/C and also Hab unit if on EHU.

The non-toll route I am getting does not go via Zaragoza but Pamploma.

I'd still prefer to stay on the north coast but SWMBO is thinking more the big commercial sites for the sprig over the Costa Brava.
 
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Spawn_e_git

Spawn_e_git

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Hi, May I suggest your looking at the wrong destination with respect to the amount of time you have and where you Ferry lands. Forget about transitioning across Spain to the Med cost just head west along the coast from Santander. There are some magnificent places to visit along the cost, many free and low cost aires and the time of the year is perfect and the further you go the better it will get. You can even follow the cost into Portugal if you have the time. There will be plenty of available spaces for motorhomes. If you do decide to keep to your original plan, just put non toll into your Sat Nav. The distance is about the same as Toll roads anyway.

Aires are only an option for overnight stops if en-route to somewhere, there is not much for a four year old to do on Aires imo so we need campsites with pools, kids playgrounds etc.

Portugal is only an hour or so less than the med coast but I'll look at what's around there.
 
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Spawn_e_git

Spawn_e_git

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Loads of aire's and campsites along Northern Spains Coast ! A simple search will show what is on offer.



True there are loads and I have a big list of them but many are smaller sites with no entertainment program for kids where as the bigger sites with kids entertainment and big swimming complex's appear to be along the Med coast.

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Spawn_e_git

Spawn_e_git

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Resurrecting this thread as we've booked up sites near Tarragona so defo travelling down that way.

Ferry arrives 18:15 @Santander and the plan is to drive through the night down. Get some kip in the early hours and then check in to the campsite.

The routes provided by Google all have tolls but the Pampalona route is a lot less. I worked out the the tolls will cost around €120 each way going the Zaragoza route and under half for the Pampalona route.

The A10 (Pamp) looks to be dual carriageway on some sections I street viewed but others from Pampalona to Huesca look like they go through hills/mountains.

I tried to save a few € last year in south of France by avoiding tolls and quite frankly ended up on roads any Third World country would be embarrassed by....

The Spanish roads look a lot better, just not sure what the non-toll route will be like considering the toll would probably be in the best condition and is quoted as the faster route.

Anyone who has driven both routes go an opinion on which route would be best?

Route.JPG
 
Jun 8, 2019
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You might also find this helpful for future planning.
Hi Phil. Can’t print off your instructions for toll and non toll trip to Spain. When this is all over I want to make my first MH trip to Fuengirolla to see my sister. Would you be able to email it to me please.
 
Feb 9, 2008
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Hi Phil. Can’t print off your instructions for toll and non toll trip to Spain. When this is all over I want to make my first MH trip to Fuengirolla to see my sister. Would you be able to email it to me please.
I've started a conversation with you so you can send my your email address without others seeing it.

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Mar 23, 2012
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For what its worth we travelled across northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela last year and back without using tolls the roads were great.
 

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