Hello
Ok we traveling to Bilboa on Monday morning for the first time, I was thinking might be easier to go Valencia - Zaragossa and then to Bilboa.
But Neighbour said he travel'd this way and it be fine is he right
He told us to go on the A31 to jun.34 then onto AP36-R4
round Madrid pick up A1 to Burgos Ap1 onto E804 to Bilboa.
is that route ok .
best wishes .....not looking forward to go, but needs must.

Hi HeikeundAlan
Let me recommend you the route that you have thought first,
- there's less traffic on that route whilst surrounding Madrid is a tough mission cause the heavy traffic.
- both routes have almost the same distance
- from Valencia to Zaragoza is a new Autovia (no more than 5 years old)


Until the construction of the strech Valencia-Zaragoza was finally ended, all the traffic from Alicante to the North of Spain had to go through Madrid, so your neighbour has to refresh his travel routes.

My recommendation is : Elche-Valencia-Zaragoza-Logroño-Bilbao

Have a good and safe travel

The Burgos-Vitoria stretch is a hefty €12 toll. I'd agree with Luciano, but if you want to avoid tolls from Logroño, the N232 is pretty straight & goes past towns worth stopping in la Rioja, if you have time, such as Elciego & Laguardia.
They don't speak so much Basque in Bilbao, so you'll not find it so strange!!
Hope you enjoy it.

Hello
and thank you
we know the route to Zaragossa very well,.
its our route to Pau and on up to Calais.
But this year he thought we save all that traveling and go Bilbao
best wishes

Really worth visiting La Rioja, nice towns and stupendous red wine.

You should consider St Malo one day, It cuts out the length of the ferry but it makes miles up while you sleep, I love that route.

I like it also, but ONLY when travelling FROM the UK and sleeping overnight on the ferry.
I need that nights kip after driving down from the far N.E. often through heavy traffic, the worst part of the whole route.

Unfortunately as far as I know the ferry still doesn't run overnight in the opposite direction back to the UK, so I usually opt for a different return route.

There are about 4 overnight crossings per month from St Malo to Portsmouth. I used to love watching the sunrise over Portsmouth as the ferry made its way up the Solent.

st malo - elche is a long driveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Rather drive than be stuck on the ferry, we are all different !

Yes that is a hell of a long drive

For the last 5 years we been driving all the way to Dunkerque,
but with all the hassle of hotels on route and mostly bad weather, we had enough so this year we thought we try Bilbao.

You can equipped with Red bull do here to St Malo with a 2 hour break, if there is 2 of you its easy to knock it out in one go.

Well that was an easy ride
and not a cent paid out as we had plenty of time the navi took us avoiding tolls.
Can highly recommend the http://www.hotelartetxe.com/quienesomos.php?lang=en above Bilbao,
what a view across the city.
just dont bother comming over its freezing

This is exactly the best less hassle route, Ive done it a number of times and iirc I pay around €30 tolls total, but you can reduce that slightly if you dont use the motorway from Alicante to Valencia