Hi,

We are looking to relocate down to the Spanish/Portuguese border and need therefore to drive from the UK.

We are looking to do this in the week before Christmas.

I know a month is a long time in politics and things can change rapidly at the moment, but can anyone guide me on both the situation as it stands now for driving through Spain and any feelings how it might be in December?

Route likely to be the E80/E803 down to Seville, then towards Portugal.

We will need to stop a couple of times in hotels en route as I believe there might be a night curfew in Spain.

Of course this all depends upon the ability to drive through France!! Although I see on their paperwork they allow a disabled person and their assistance to drive - so that would cover us!

Any tips and guidance would be appreciated.

Hi from the France forum!
You'd do well to post on the France forum as well. Those more in the know than me can tell you which hotel chains are open, but be aware that bars/cafés/restaurants are closed in France and it's unlikely that hotel restaurants will remain open. For info, during the first lockdown, no food was available on autoroutes, and travellers had to cater for themselves....
HTH

Do you have a residency card for Spain? If not I wouldn't bother trying to drive down. Your best bet would be to try to get a flight before Thursday.

AFAIK, International travel from the UK has been banned from Thursday, 5th November.
You could set off sooner but you might run into problems trying to get through the autonomous regions in Spain that are currently in lock down. Holiday travel is prohibited apart from travel back to your place of residence. It's possible that you will be turned back at one of the many road blocks.

I don't think anyone knows what the situation will be just prior to Christmas. It depends on the general population taking sensible precautions.

Good luck, I hope everything works out.

A week go, following the recent the introduction of new restrictions in Spain, I drove from Ayamonte on the Spanish border with Portugal to Madrid via Merida on the A 5 and then, a few days later, on to Bilbao to catch the ferry home..
Apart from the gantry signs over the motorways warning of possible road block/controls and some spot checks by the Guardia Civil at Bilbao port, I saw no other evidence of special controls. I was expecting to come across possible police checks at the borders of the various autonomous regions that I passed through, but saw no evidence of any such checks.
iant

Exactly the same last week from Santander to Axarquia. Not one check as you say plenty of signs on the motorway. Also arriving at Santander no check of residency card.

I drove back from Alicante to the UK on Wednesday this week, not stopped at the border and no problem getting back into the UK. They didnt ask to see any passenger location form just asked if we had them at the tunnel. All service stations open for fuel and take away food

That's good to know, an improvement on the first confinement....
You weren't checked for a French Attestation between the border and the tunnel? That confirms my theory that the Gendarmes aren't interested in (presumably) UK-registered cars travelling towards a Channel port/tunnel....