Driving To Spain & Ferry Information
How To Get Your Vehicle To The Costa Del Sol
There are three routes by which a vehicle can be transported from the UK to Spain:
1. Portsmouth to Bilbao, with P&O Ferries
2. Plymouth to Santander, with Brittany Ferries
3. Folkstone to Calais, with EuroTunnel (and then driven through France to Spain)
The following is intended as a guide to what you can expect when using each route; prices will vary according to the date of travel, but what follows will give an approximation of standard cost, accommodation and journey times.
Portsmouth To Bilbao
Length of journey: 35 hours
Frequency: departure every 3 days
book online
Look for special offers and pay attention to peak and off-peak fares. Prices are lower if you book in advance.
Off peak price for two adults / two children / car is approximately 217€ for the ferry crossing; 139€ for standard 4-berth cabin without sea view. At peak times this can increase to more than 700€.
accommodation
Each cabin is equipped with bunks, en suite facilities, towels and bed linen. It costs more to be on an upper deck or to have a sea view.
The website
www.eurodrive.co.uk offers competitive fares on the ferry crossings to Bilbao and Santander.
Plymouth To Santander
Length of journey: 18 hours
Departures: April 1 - November 1
(Plymouth) - 16:00 (sun) / 12:00 (wed)
(Santander) - 16:00 (mon) / 15:00 (thu)
Book online
There are online discounts.
UK: +44 (0) 870 366 5333
Spain 942 360 611
Off peak price for two adults / two children / car, is approximately 506€ for the ferry crossing, including a standard 4-berth en suite cabin without sea view. At peak times this can increase to more than 825€.
accommodation
All cabins are air conditioned, but the level of facilities varies.
Folkstone To Calais
Length of journey: 35 minutes (from Folkstone to Calais via EuroTunnel.)
Frequency: four times an hour, 24 hours a day.
book online
From a number of websites. On EuroTunnel off peak price for two adults / two children / car is around 69€. For best fares travel between 22:00 - 06:00 daily. www.eurotunnel.com
Tel: +44 (0) 870 535 3535
www.touringeurope.org is a very informative website comparing prices and offers many insightful tips.
Once you have disembarked in Spain, the journey to Málaga is fairly straightforward. From Bilbao, the journey lasts at least 9 hours, whereas from Santander it takes at least 10 hours.
Driving Directions
The directions below will give you a good sense of where you are headed.
From Bilbao:
Head towards Miranda de Ebro via AP68.
From Santander:
Take N-623 towards Burgos. Join AP1 near Burgos (note: there is a toll here of 14.80€) At Burgos, take A1 / E05 and follow signs for Madrid.
From Madrid:
Take A4 / E05 out of Madrid.
At EXIT 292, take A44 towards Bailén and Jaén.
At Jaén Norte and Torredonjimeno, take A318.
At Alcaudete, turn right onto N-432, left onto A333, left onto N-321, and right onto A333.
At Estación de Salinas, take A359 towards Málaga.
At Villanueva de Cauche, take A45 and exit towards EXIT MÁLAGA NORTE.
If you are travelling from Calais, the journey will take around 19.5 hours. There are frequent tolls on this journey.
From Calais:
Head towards Arras, via A16 and A26.
At Arras, take A1 towards Paris Close to Zone d'activité Paris Nord II, take A3 towards Bordeaux, and continue to follow signs for Bordeaux.
At Bordeaux:
Take the E05 towards Bayonne / Archaron. At Saint-Geours-de-Maremne, take A63 / E05 into Spain.
At Behobia: take A8 / E05 towards Donostia - San Sebastián, and follow signs for Burgos. From here, follow the directions from Bilbao as given above.
There are many good websites offering easy to follow directions: www.drive-alive.co.uk is clear and has a detailed route-finder.
www.viamichelin.com is great as it can calculate your mileage, petrol and toll costs for you. E.g., Calais to Málaga is 2099 km with 1997 km of the journey on motorways, it takes an approximate 18 hours 24 minutes hours for the drive and has an estimated 57,80€ in tolls and 190€ in petrol for the standard car.
BRITTANY FERRIES
(France) www.brittany-ferries.com
CONDOR FERRIES
(France) www.condorferries.co.uk
DFDS SEAWAYS
(Germany, Holland, Scandinavia) www.dfdsseaways.co.uk
FJORD LINE
(Norway) www.fjordline.com
HOVERSPEED
(Belgium, France) www.hoverspeed.com
IRISH FERRIES
(France) www.irishferries.com
NORFOLKLINE
(Belgium) www.norfolkline.com
P & O FERRIES
(Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Spain) www.poferries.com
P & O IRISH SEA
(France, Holland) www.poirishsea.com
SEAFRANCE
(France) www.seafrance.com
STENA LINE
(Holland, Scandinavia) www.stenaline.co.uk
SUPERFAST FERRIES
(Belgium) www.superfast.com