Driving Out to Condado from the UK

Hi folks,

I'm planning on driving out to Condado from Scotland around the middle of April. Just not sure what route to take! I am however, looking at the option of a return ferry from Portsmouth to either Santander or Bilbao. Can anyone advise from personal experience or even what they've heard as to the best route to take from the UK considering I might only have a month. Additionally, any suggestions about a route in Spain once I arrive or even where it would be sensible to stop. I know I can fly out but I've always fancied driving out & I've got a lot of stuff that I can take out by a car.

Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks

Steven Tucker

Hi Steven,

Why on earth you want to drive all the way to southern Spain when you already live in the tropical seaside paradise of Largs is beyond me. ;)

The route you suggest is undoubtedly the easiest, Santander to Condado is about 900km and will take about 9-10 hours to drive, but will probably be quite expensive on the overnight ferry from Portsmouth. A cheaper route would probably be via the channel tunnel or the short ferry crossing to Calais or Boulogne. That of course would mean a lot more driving - Calais/Boulogne to Condado is about 2000km so will probably need an overnight stop in south west France. There are however many cheap motorway hotels accross France like Etap and Formula 1 where you can get a basic but clean room from about 50 Euros per night. There are also motoway tolls is France to consider, from Calais and back they will be 61.30 Euros each way.

Evan taking into account the extra petrol, tolls and overnight stops the short crossing would still probably be cheaper than the Portsmouth-Santander, but its also a lot more driving and 2 less nights is Condado.

I hope this helps.

George

We did Portsmouth to Bilbao with P&O. Smooth two night crossing there, one night force 10 gale crossing on way back - not for the faint hearted :)

The drive from Bilbao to Condado lasted from 8am til 5.30pm with a 30 minute break and a couple of stops to swap over the driving. We spent approx 30-40 euros on toll roads (one way). Reasonably straight forward drive - we did'nt get lost (did use satnav & map) and the toll roads are lovely and quiet (bit sticky around Madrid though).

The ferry was an experience - we both agreed that we would do it again but only if we have 4/5+ weeks as the whole trip took 6 days out of our holiday. There are plenty of facilities (as well as a strange mix of people -  some on mini cruises costing £35) onboard the Pride of Bilbao. On the way back we stayed at the Novotel in Bilbao the night before as the ferry left in the morning - we did'nt want to miss it!

Hope this helps, we are away at Condado now for a week but if you have any other questions drop me a line in the New Year.

Louise & Rob

I would definitely get the ferry/train to Calais and drive down from there with an overnight stay somewhere around the Perpignan area.

We are looking to do this while in the UK in March. We have done the 20hr drive from Germany to Condado and the drive through France is a killer.

We are thinking of doing Portsmouth to Santander with Brittany Ferries. Its a bit more expensive (about £50 more) than Bilbao with P&O but rather the 2 nights on board to Bilbao, the Santander with Brittanly is only 1 night -taking 24hrs, so much quicker!!

HTH