Santander to Pedro's

[tinhat]

Hi Everyone,
Can anyone recommend a route from Santander ferry port to Pedro's avoiding toll roads. We haven't been to Spain or Portugal before so any other advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Ruth

 

[makems]

The A66 motorway takes you straight down through Spain from North to South and you can get to it very easily from Santander. It's a good motorway without any tolls.
First night we usually stop at Palencia. A well organised and laid out aire (free) with nice large bays. (in all the aires book). Nice town
Next Salamanca where we park very close to the city centre in a car park close to Lidl. Car park is free and there will usually be about 10 vans overnighting. A short walk across the river to the city centre which is worth spending a day in.
Salamanca 40deg 57'27" -5deg 40'38" Calle Buenaventura at Lidl
Then another one from "All the Aires" at Zafra. A tight entrance, a bit of a slope and next to the main road so can be a little noisy until about 10:00pm when the traffic dies down.
From Zafra you can easily make the Eastern end of the Algarve in a day. I am not sure where Pedros place is.
If you want to break the journey there is an aire in Seville which is by the river and walking distance from the city centre. Seville is another city worth spending a day or two exploring. This is a designated area in a fenced and guarded compound where new cars are stored. Water, grey water and cassette emptying. Free wifi. I can't remember the cost but I think it was 12euros.
Sevilla 41011
Area de Autocaravanas de Sevilla
Avenida Garcia de Morato
N 37.36306 W -5.99462 C

Hope that helps

 

[peter marshall]

This year we went from Bilboa down to Salamanca free motorway came off at I think J225 little stop over site facing the slip road called Olympus bar/food, then next day down to Albufera only one night stop over on the trip. Pete

 

[tinhat]

Hi makems,
Thankyou for all the info. I am a little bit confused though as my map shows the A67 going from Santander and the A66 as going from Gijon. Would the A67 be the best route to take ?
We are sooooo looking forward to our trip to Portugal. Pedro's is above Albufeira, near Paderne
Ruth

 

[tinhat]

Wow, all that way in a day Pete !
We are planning on taking a couple of days to get to Pedro's. We get off the boat on a Sunday and plan to do some shopping to get the essential supplies and then travel a shortish distance so we can park up and watch the Grand Prix live on the tv (no doubt that will have to be on RTL). We are looking to get to Pedro's by the Tuesday afternoon.
Ruth

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[makems]

I haven't got my Spanish maps or All The Aires book with me so I can't check all the details and I'm going from memory.
But now you mention it I think it is the A67 to start with. Then I think there are a couple of others as well but I am sure it is the A66 when you get to Zafra.
If you have a Spanish map you will be able to see the route quite easily. If you haven't got a map yet the Michelin one is pretty good and covers both Spain and Portugal and you can order it from Amazon.
Your satnav will find the way as long as you have one that will accept coordinates (and has Spanish/Portugal mapping)
All of the stops I mentioned are reasonably close to the motorway so no trekking across country.
If you are in no hurry to get to Pedros place there are many other ways. But the A67/ A66 is almost certainly the quickest way South from Santander

 

[makems]

We try not to drive too many miles in one day hence the route I described. The longest stretch we do is Salamanca to Zafra which is just over 200 miles.
Depending on what time you get off the boat and how many miles you feel comfortable with you can miss out some of the stops.
We did get as far as Zafra one year when we were in a hurry to meet some people but it's very tiring doing that many miles in one day.
As far as getting supplies every one of those mentioned has Aldi, Lidl and Mercadona.
Palencia is about 120 miles from Santander from memory so you should be able to get there easily. Aldi, Lidl and Mercadona are all virtually next door to each other and close to a petrol station which we have found is usually the cheapest in town. Here are the coordinates for the petrol station
N42 degrees 00.828
W04 degrees 31.277
(they are not from memory! but saved as favourites on my satnav)
You can almost see Aldi and Mercadona from here, but just the attendant to be sure.
It's only about 5 minutes drive to the aire from the petrol station.

 

[Rayb182]

Campsite/Repsol sleepyspot
41° 3'29.20"N
5°32'43.35"W
Off E-80 near Pedrosillo el Ralo off A-62, if campsite shut use the road along side road where the lorries park, Sundowners, Pam and Nigel and us have used this place and we was checked out by police duing the night and all OK with them.

Repsol and gas Off A-66/N-630
39°23'2.19"N
6°20'54.07"W
We stayed round the back here with some lorries,

Sleeyspot off N-630/A-66
37°59'36.99"N
6°13'48.16"W
Stayed there before, very quiet

 

[tinhat]

Hi makems and Rayb182
Thankyou so much for your recommendations. I can see that I will be putting quite a few of those coordinates in my sat nav. especially the fuel stops. It is so handy to know what other people have experienced and the places that have already been 'checked out', if you know what I mean.
We are really looking forward to seeing these places for ourselves
Cheers, Ruth