Hi we are driving from Santander-murcia for our summer holiday.... with two children (2yo and 5months) we know it will take around 8 hours looking at Google maps. our ferry gets in about 6pm.

a few things:
-has anyone got this ferry before roughly how long will it take us to disembark from he ferry? are we looking at about an hour before we get anywhere?

-because of the age of the children we will need an over night stay somewhere any suggestions we think we can do maybe 3-4 hr drive

- any suggestions of places to stop that will entertain children for a few hrs before we do more driving? swimming spa pools or a zoo etc?

We are planning on driving back through France again any advice other than dont do it would be appreciated 😂
thanks Hannah

Hannah
There are some lovely seaside towns close to Santander. We stayed in Castro- Urdialis, it is a lovely town and has great walks along the beach. Lots of hotels. Another town Santillana del Mar is also a nice spot though perhaps not lots to do, and a little inland. There are some nice hotels and well priced there too. Have a great time.

It should take no more than around half an hour to get going once the boat has docked. Getting out of Santander is relatively easy, just follow the roadsigns Torrelavega, Burgos. I don't see the point of driving along the Cantabrian coast as you want to get going south really. People here say of Santillana del Mar (which is a very pretty village by the way, but not in stilletoes as it's cobbled!):
there are no saints (no hay santos)
it's not flat (no es llano)
it's not by the sea (no es al mar).
I guess you realise that Murcia is very hot in summer. Air-con will be essential.
If you wish to get to Murcia pretty smartly, then I guess it's Santander-Valladolid (250km), Madrid-Albacete-Murcia. You could for Vallodolid for the 1st night though it could be 21.30-22.00 when you arrive and the children will be tired, hungry and asleep! Otherwise choose somewhere nearer Santander and stay in a hotel with a pool.
Valladolid province has some lovely castles (best seen from the outside), such as Medina del Campo & Coca, but the children might not be old enough to appreciate them them. Segovia is worth seeing. To avoid Madrid ring roads which I personally find awfully confusing, aim for Toledo and then south-east towards Albacete & then Murcia.
For the return through France, I'd head for Murcia to Zaragoza, then Tudela, Pamplona (the bull running in Pamplona starts on 7th July by the way), Donosti (San Sebastian) and then on to France and the long 2 hour drive to Bordeaux on the A63, now a toll road but straight! You have any number of long beach resorts such as Cap Breton, Hossegor, Vieux Boucau, Mimizan, the giant dune of Pyla, near Arcachon, all long sandy stretches, with big waves for surfers but still safe for toddlers. Then perhaps from Bordeaux, Saintes, Niort, Nantes, Rennes, Caen or else Saintes, Niort, Angers, Le Mans northwards. We always preferred ferries from ports such as Caen or St Malo rather than the long drive up to Calais, but that depends where you live in England.
Hope that helps somewhat.
PS: from memory, I remember vaguely somewhere called Pitillas which I think was near Olite (a pleasant town) in Navarra we stopped with our kids at an outdoor pool, where they had great fun.