Thinking of driving to Spain next August.

[Schizo]

For something different to do we are thinking of driving to Majorca in August next year.

Has anyone done this and give any tips on cost for the toll roads ect and the 2 ferry crossings ?

I’ve got a pretty good economic car and can get there and back on £200 of petrol.

Cost of fights for us 3 will be around the £1000 mark and the holiday (already booked) is also £1000.

There will be 2 of us driving with a total of 3 in the car.

Any tips would be grateful guys.

 

[Drumroll]

When I last checked, ferry was a very long (time wise) journey and not really cheap. May have changed, but I would consider crossing the Eurotunnel. Just be aware of the tolls in France, as they're heavy on your wallet. With the Eurotunnel, you can book 2 short journeys, and don't use the second wing of the trip. Usually works out cheaper than booking a 2 way for a, Les say 2 weeks trip. When driving in South Spain, this year (rental) to Madrid and around, toll was inexpensive, and nearly non-existent. If Eurotunnel works cheaper, just try to cross France the shortest way possible, avoid tolls, and be aware of the speed limit. Record fines this year.

 

[Schizo]

Yeah I’ll be using the Euro tunnel for the uk to France leg and of course a ferry to Majorca.

Any ideas on the price for the tolls ?

 

[Bug One]

I've just got back from a 9 day trip to Toulon in France. Toulon is a big port city, and a ferry goes from there to Majorca - so might be a good place to head for.

It's a long trek down even with a few of you driving. We broke up the journey each way with an overnight stop at a cheap motel in Riems (Kyriad). Don't forget you'll be paying tolls all the way through France. Budget factor £200 in for those. We use a tag, which means you can sail straight through the designated 30 mph Tag barriers. Hugely worthwhile when everyone who hasn't got them is in a half mile long queue at the barriers. https://www.emovis-tag.co.uk/

Are you intending to catch the ferry on foot, or with the car? I've just had a look, and with a car it's much cheaper than I expected. About £250. However it's a 12 hour ferry. If you can do one overnight, might be doable.

Also, personally I prefer going by ferry over the channel. It takes longer, but there's a decent restaurant on board and factoring in the time as a chance to have a rest and a meal is worth it. When booking ferry times plan for a worst case scenario with traffic, and delays - in the knowledge that if you get there earlier you can probably travel earlier.

 

[Thekwango]

Yeah I’ll be using the Euro tunnel for the uk to France leg and of course a ferry to Majorca.

Any ideas on the price for the tolls ?

In my experience most of the French tolls can be bypassed and usually done so on very decent, almost motorway standard roads. Perhaps use a satnav website for an idea of toll costs and also how to bypass them. From memory co-pilot website lets you plot a course (or at least used to) I’ll have a butchers in my ‘favourites’ when I’m in work tomorrow as I’m sure I saved a site that let me do this.

 

[Bug One]

In my experience most of the French tolls can be bypassed and usually done so on very decent, almost motorway standard roads. Perhaps use a satnav website for an idea of toll costs and also how to bypass them. From memory co-pilot website lets you plot a course (or at least used to) I’ll have a butchers in my ‘favourites’ when I’m in work tomorrow as I’m sure I saved a site that let me do this.

I figured a correlation in France. If you're doing 130 - you're going to pay for it. Other roads are 110.

If you're driving the length of the entire country - being able to do 130 is worth it.

 

[[FnG]magnolia]

- My wife went on holiday to the West Indies.
- Jamaica?
- No, she went of her own accord.

It is a joke about travelling you see.

 

[cheesyboy]

Surely flights would be more like £500?

I just flew to malaga (tends to be similar cost) for £500 return for four of us.

Edit:
A quick go on Skyscanner for a Saturday to Saturday return next August comes up with £522 at reasonable times.

I guess if you've booked accommodation first (schoolboy error) you're a bit inflexible on flight dates, but £1k still seems steep

 

[hughtrimble]

There will be 2 of us driving with a total of 3 in the car.

Any tips would be grateful guys.

Split between two of you, that's going to be extremely unpleasant, and you will not be well-rested if you're sleeping whilst the other is driving.

When comparing with flight costs, also take into account the extra days of holiday being used, the food and drink costs for that epic journey, and the sleeping accommodation you'll need to take to be vaguely willing to get back into the car to drive.

I can't see the ruinous effect that'll have on your holiday being worth the savings! If cost is really of concern, then why not coach?

 

[d_brennen]

When I'm going on holiday the last thing I want to think about is driving places. Get flights and scrounge a lift to the airport if needs be. 20+ hours driving, both ways (if you're lucky), no thanks!

 

[dowie]

Unless you're going to be stopping at places you'd like to visit along the way then it sounds like a bit of a **** idea tbh... especially with only two people driving.

It could perhaps be fun if you say took at least a week to do it and spent a day or two at different places along the way.

- My wife went on holiday to the West Indies.
- Jamaica?
- No, she went of her own accord.

It is a joke about travelling you see.

This one is darker:

 

[wez130]

I drove to Barcelona a few years ago, i think the tolls each way cost about £70. I did all the driving myself and stopped overnight in Rouen. I actually really enjoyed it, the freedom of choosing your route, where to stop, etc! You can put your route on the viamichelin website and it will work out your approximate tolls,

https://www.viamichelin.co.uk/

I believe you can get the ferry from Barcelona to Majorca too. You can put details in on the website but the dates don't go that far yet. It take about 6 hours from Barcelona to Mallorca.

https://www.balearia.com/en

Hope this helps.

 

[MartinPrince]

Unless you're going to be stopping at places you'd like to visit along the way then it sounds like a bit of a **** idea tbh... especially with only two people driving.

It could perhaps be fun if you say took at least a week to do it and spent a day or two at different places along the way.



This one is darker:

Very funny.

One bit of advice when travelling through EU countries is to get a free (well it was for me) Revolut card. I've saved hundred over the years in doing foreign exchange or withdrawing Euro's from cash machines. It is on the Play store or Apple store.

 

[moon man]

drove down to lacanau near Bordeaux ages ago from west yorkshire then went via all the nice resorts like biaritz over to northern spain (where im going for 6 weeks very soon)
at the time it was £90 for a crossing ,and im sure we used toll free roads ,cant say i really enjoyed the driving ,at the time it was just a way to have a cheap camping holiday

 

[Efour]

You wont be allowed to drive anywhere in your dangerous, uncertified UK car. on the glorious streets of EUland.

 

[adidan]

Just remember, hate to bring this up in another thread, but depending on what happens you may need more than one International Driving Permit.

Actually, depending on what happens you may only need one for France - I think whatever you're fine in Spain for upto 6 or 9 months (?), not sure exactly.

 

[Thekwango]

I figured a correlation in France. If you're doing 130 - you're going to pay for it. Other roads are 110.

If you're driving the length of the entire country - being able to do 130 is worth it.

oh i'm pretty sure you can still do 130 on the other roads too - but don't quote me on that to a gendarmerie

 

[Street]

I've driven down to the south of France regularly and it's a fairly decent drive down the motorway, just set the cruise control to 80 and forget about it. I've had less hassle on the motorways over there than in the UK. Coming home the other week, we did Chamonix to Calais (550miles) in about 7 hours.. From Folkestone to Liverpool (300 miles) took us nearly 6!

Getting a Emovis tag is definitely worth it for the tolls. It saves faffing around and waiting in queues when someone in front of you inevitably messes something up, instead you just sail past everyone in the 30 lane. The tolls down to the Alps are about £90 each way so I'd expect yours to be a little bit more. The tunnel is great, I've found if it's not busy and you get there early, they bump you onto an earlier train which saves a bit of time.

The drive down is quite nice and quite enjoyable, back is more of a drag but that's to be expected as you're going home!

It's a long trek down even with a few of you driving. We broke up the journey each way with an overnight stop at a cheap motel in Riems (Kyriad).

Reims is our usual stop over point too, we've stayed in the budget Ibis there a few times.

 

[blueboy2001]

I've always fancied driving to Spain, bit it's a hell of a long way. My friend had a place near Alicante and did it once using the Plymouth-Santander ferry, said going was OK but getting back was a drag when you just want to get home and he wouldn't do it again.

Toll roads in France are great but the tolls soon mount up so it often doesn't save much over flying and hiring a car really and you save 4 days travelling plus the cost of overnight stops etc.

 

[Liquidfox]

Isn't that nearly 24 hours of driving? I'm not sure what you value your free time at, but I rate mine at £10/hr. This means that if a journey is going to take me 48h return it would need to save me at least £480 over the quicker choice, which I highly doubt this would. After driving 11h each way to The Netherlands because my friend didn't like boats or planes, I swore never to do it again. You arrive knackered, ruins the first day of your trip and then you've got it all to do again on the way home. It worked out around £160 for fuel and tunnel when we drove to NL, I can fly for that much and be there in less than half the time!