Driving from Santander
 

Hi all, we are looking at driving from Santander to Alicante, has anyone done this journey recently ? I would love to have any info on the best route to take, avoiding Madrid, and the cost of tolls on the motorway.
Any info would be greatly appreciated,
Dave.

Re: Driving from Santander
 

If you must avoid Madrid but want good roads you should drive via Zaragoza and around Valencia. Not done that stretch for several years but do remember being surprised by how good the road was down to Teruel.
Motorway tolls calculate approx Euor 0,10 /km as a good guide.

Re: Driving from Santander
 

As has been said go via Zaragoza if you want to avoid Madrid & from the port to Zaragoza is around 50euro max.

Re: Driving from Santander
 

I'd recommend anybody to avoid the Madrid ring roads; there are just too many and the signage is very confusing, even with a navigator. We tried it again about 2 months ago and nothing's changed. Someone must have made money with concrete, not unusual in Spain.

I'd suggest the following:
Either, motorway to Bilbao (AP8) then south towards Logroño (AP68) & Zaragoza. Boring.
Or, if you're not pressed for time, try the National 623, which later becomes the N232 ((direction Logroño) and after about 70km turn off left for a coffee/beer in the very pretty village called Frias. Worth a view. Interesting.

Near Casalarreina you can enter the AP68 to take you to Zaragoza.
Again if you've time, worth stopping to see the village of Belchite about 30km south of Zaragoza. It's a total wreck, left just as it was, destroyed during the Spanish civil war. Quite emotional.

Then head south on A23 towards Teruel (famous for hams), so maybe another stop. after that, plain sailing all on Autovia, so toll free, towards Valencia and Alicante.

Hope that helps.
Buen viaje

Re: Driving from Santander
 

Thank you for the info, much appreciated,
Cheers, Dave

Re: Driving from Santander
 

Use a route planner eg Repsol

Re: Driving from Santander
 

I must say I have never found a great issue using the motorway ring road around Madrid. Done if quite a few times now maybe I have been lucky.

Re: Driving from Santander
 

Could not agree more , it's got so much better over the years even if all the Toll road constructors have gone broke .;)

Re: Driving from Santander
 

Hi, thanks to everyone for the positive replies, the main reason was to try to avoid Madrid, but if I can by pass it then great.
Cheers,
Dave.

Re: Driving from Santander
 

It's a fine run, and pretty much downhill all the way.

Re: Driving from Santander
 

We head for Burgos and then south from there. We head round the Madrid ring road and have no problem now, though we did get horribly lost the first time we tried it - principally because we were relying on satnav and part of the ring road goes through a tunnel. Obviously we lost the satnav instructions and had not taken any note of the road number or direction we were supposed to be taking from Madrid. We made paper notes the second time and had a great journey.

Re: Driving from Santander
 

Thanks again for the replies, much appreciated,
Cheers,
Dave

Re: Driving from Santander
 

We have done this drive regularlymany times over the past couple of years, last time was in early June this year - as far as Zaragoza anyway, then we turn off to Peniscola. I think the tolls from Zaragoza to Santander were 31 euros. Santander, Bilbao, Logrono, Zaragoza, it's very straightforward.


Only thing I would add is that although the motorway is indeed fairly boring, the cars have the road pretty much to themselves and you can actually move at a decent speed. The lorries tend to stick to the Nacional roads to avoid the tolls. There are stretches of motorway where you can see the Nacional running almost alongside, mostly lorries, 8 or more in a row sometimes. Horses for courses of course, but we just want to get home and just couldn't be bothered with all those lorries and the lower speed limits on the Nacional.


The section between Santander and Zaragoza is two thirds of our total journey, then we're on the N232 with the lorries. The final third takes as long as the first two thirds.