DCC

I have family in Portugal and I've been thinking that with the 'bonus' days in April meaning that an 11 day holiday only costs you 3 days off work, I should take this chance for my first Euro adventure in the S.

But, in reality, 11 days isn’t very long, and the purpose is really to visit family and not a full blown driving holiday. My current thinking is that I could take a ferry from Portsmouth to Santander and then drive down through Spain and/or Portugal and drop into the Algarve (where the family is). This seems to be the fastest route (24hrs on ferry plus day of driving).

I am conscious of cost as well, in that I can probably get a flight with Cheesyjet for around 150 quid, but fuel alone will cost that each way plus ferry costs. But then I’m not getting the fun of driving! Arrg!

Has anyone done anything similar? Just want to figure out if I’m being overly ambitious with this just because I want an excuse to drive the S! Am I not really taking on the time and cost scales properly?! Should I hold off this and plan a proper 2-3 week summer trip to Monaco like everyone else?!

Discuss.

phil121081

We are doing 3 week Euro trip this summer, landing in Bilbao then doing northern Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland and back up.

Ferry was £500 one way, so not cheap and fuel will cost you more than £150 i suspect! Life is too short to spend time on Easyjet so if you can stretch I would say do it! Our family moved to Cyprus and sadly it is near impossible to drive there, otherwise would be planning now.

Think of all the fun you will have on your road trip as opposed to the easyjet airport experience.

GaryB

You can do Calais to the South coast of France in a day (12hrs with decent breaks) and it still be enjoyable if you have a passenger and some tunes so I reckon you could make it well into Spain for your first night. You could be in Porto by lunchtime the next day.

Ferry to Santander is 25hrs and £500.

I'd drive the whole thing if it were me..

Petron

I've driven Calais to the Costa del Sol a few times and it can be done with one overnight stop (but it's hard driving and you will need to use the toll roads). I find it much more sensible to do it with 2 overnights, you can enjoy the drive but there still won't be any time for sightseeing on the way.

My ideal is to take 3 days (first stop south of Paris, next northern Spain, arriving the evening of the 3rd day). You can then use the N roads through France which are quiet and straight in the most part and you get to see some pretty villages, not to mention the saving on toll charges.

The toughest run I ever did was non-stop from the midlands to Spain in 19 hours (not to be recommended).

Don't forget to factor in the tolls as well as the petrol when comparing the alternatives. By my reconning it's still cheaper to drive down from Calais than Bilbao with the difference in ferry costs, but I guess the decision depends on how much driving you want to do.

Santenay

Having toured the Continent for a number of years and using this knowledge I see that you have two options.
If time is important and you need to get there as quick as you can by using autoroutes and driving for hour on end then take the plane. If you are driving on the autoroute you may as well be on a motorway but with signs in a different language and the S is not a great motorway cruiser.
But the second and my prefered option is to plan your route to see the sights on the way, keep off the autoroutes and explore the country as you go, only driving 200 or so miles in a day starting at 08-30/09-00 and finishing at 16-30/17-00. stopping for a leisurley lunch between 12-00 to 14-00, then take the car. It will not be cheaper than the plane but you will have a fantastic adventure which is worth the extra money it costs and you will enjoy driving the S so much more.

dennohue

If you do decide to take the ferry to Northern Spain, note that particular sailings book up very early. The last time we went, our ferry was full some four months before the sailing date!

tjhmortimer

Hi

I drove to the Algarve last summer doing the same route via the plymouth to Santander crossing and it was superb!! Great roads and no rozzers! I can truly reccomend