Calais to Benidorm (La Nucia) Route
 

Hi,
I am driving to La Nucia from UK next weekend and the amount of different routes available are many and vary greatly in price. Can anyone offer me a quick and economical route that makes best use of motorways but a one that would avoid paying too much in tolls?

Regards, Kenny

Re: Calais to Benidorm (La Nucia) Route
 

Re: Calais to Benidorm (La Nucia) Route
 

Hi thanks for the very speedy reply ... I have used this website and the AA euro-route but just wondered if anyone had found a cheaper variation that would at least skip some of the toll roads ... the wife has had her head filled of horror stories such as cars that flash their lights behind you to make you pull over and you find its not the police but someone out to rob you, so she wants to stick to "safer" more major roads.

Re: Calais to Benidorm (La Nucia) Route
 

Take the western route down through France via Le Mans, avoiding Paris. this will enter Spain on the northern end of the border instead of the more usual south end. The worst part of the central route we have ever done is the Paris Periferique in each direction. It is sheer lunacy and total anarchy when it comes to driving, the French don't care if you don't know the road or not, you will be carved and chopped up.

Also only use the larger Aires (motorway services) those that show hotels and fuel stations, not just the rest stop areas. Plan an overnight stop, best to pull off the motorway and use a hotel on the outskirts of a largish town if you are worried about robbery, it is only a very small worry though, the stories far outweigh the risk. Having said that, in December at Alicante airport as we returned the rental car, a lady was frantically screaming for the police, her rental car with luggage loaded had been taken. Don't ask me how, we didn't stick around to find out!

Re: Calais to Benidorm (La Nucia) Route
 

Hi Bri & Katee,
Thanks for that tip ... could you give me a few more places/stages en-route so I can sort out the full route, where would we cross the border?

Cheers

Re: Calais to Benidorm (La Nucia) Route
 

We have done the western route several times. MK to Ayamonte 1485 miles motorway all the way but French tolls are high end to end a total of about 200.

MK - Folkstone Chunnel to Calais. Rouen-LeMans late lunch around here then on to Poiters for overnight lots of hotels round here usual stay at Ibis are cheap and clean. Then on to Bordeux and Spain at Irun second overnight at Burgos. Last day to Ayamonte.

We have done it in 2 days with a stop in Irun but not anymore life is short enough.

Re: Calais to Benidorm (La Nucia) Route
 

The rote is as posted by John and Kath. Although we never bothered with the second stop, just plugged all the way through. bear in mind we were going as far as Pinoso which is about 50k inland from Alicante. To both border crossing points from Pinoso, that is Irun at the north end or Le Perthus at the southern took us about 6-7 hours, so is doable in one stint, especially if you are sharing the driving.

We have driven East Yorkshire to Pinoso in Spain in around 32 hours, only stopping for fuel. we had a 3 hour kip in the car on a french motorway when stuck in a traffic jam due to a crash, it took that long for them to clear the cars involved! Its not something we have repeated, we prefer to stop overnight in a hotel now.

In fact this summer we are for the 1st time going to use the ferry, Portsmouth to Santander. A nice rest on the ship and then a good 6 hour drive down, ship docks at 2 ish so should be home for 9pm at the latest. We costed it out against the full road trip and it came to about £150 more for the ferry, but considering we are not driving the best part of 850 miles across France, the stress factor is greatly reduced.

Its interesting to note it worked out cheaper than going by air (with hold lugggage) and renting a car for 21 days, that was nearly £200 more than the ferry. So considering how much stuff we can cram into the car compared to what you can take on the plane it was no contest really.

Re: Calais to Benidorm (La Nucia) Route
 

The Viamichelin route finder already mentioned should be your best friend.
You can select the type of route you want, fast, scenic, recommended, no tolls etc etc.

Tell it what type of car and fuel you have and your cruising speed it will even work out the time and total cost for each route including all tolls. You can try out lots of different routes and trade of extra time against cost savings.

If you do choose a toll route it tells you how much the toll will be at each section so you can have the money ready.

I have done Calais to Moraira many times now, generally I use the motorway all the way down to Montpelier over the Millau Bridge.

I have found this is an easy drive its fast and the French tolls are not too bad, its actually the Spanish end that is expensive, though I just heard that the A7 motorway is now open Barcelona to Alcoi with only a short toll section
so that will save a lot of money.

Watch out for the weather this time of year The Pyrenees (sp) are no place to be in winter without proper equipment.

I generally do the trip with one stop, I find Clermont Ferrand is a good place with loads of hotels and its then an easy drive from there into Spain and down the coast.

I'm sure you have one, but if not a SatNav takes all the pressure off driving around Paris, means you can watch the road and not have to worry about watching the road signs.