Driving to barcelona

[Tiredtweenmum]

Am I insane??
We are going to Barcelona in summer. Both DH and I are teachers so have the school holidays. We are considering driving to Barcelona and stopping halfway to stay a night and then the same on the way back.
DC are 10 and 9.
Has anyone done this? Where did you stop? Was it fun or just a pain?!

We drove to south of France every year when I was about 11-16. One year we did northern Spain.

This was days before tech etc and we just had stories on the car cassette player and music tapes 😂

We also use to stop halfway although often we’d break it down into 2 overnights and arriving midday on first day. but that was because we’d have 3 weeks once there and extended the holiday to nearly 4 weeks which we could do as both parents were teachers.

My Dad did it with us about that age. We might have stopped two nights I think. I don't know what it was like as the driver but as a kid it was a bit gruelling but ok.

Yes we did it loads when the kids were younger, usually stopped clermont ferrand area. We also did the brittany ferry to Santander quite a few times.

Getting the train to Barcelona this year, we have done this before a lot more fun than that drive, it got more and more boring each time lol.

I've done it lots of times, and then caught the ferry from Barcelona to Mallorca. Sometimes I've got the ferry or tunnel to France and driven through France and Spain, and other times caught the ferry to Bilbao in Spain and just driven through Spain. I've taken the motorway and got there quickly on occasion, but other times I've driven on normal roads and taken my time, having two or three nights of stops and meanderings, for instance to Andorra. I enjoy driving though and a lot might depend on how happy your children are in the car. I only had one other adult.

We've done it before, but we stop twice on the way and twice on the way back for a night at a time. It's around 20 hours from us so I'm theory could do 10 hours at a time but by the time you've factored in stopping for meals, toilet breaks, a leg stretch it was a long ol' slog for two days.

We did ferry Portsmouth to Cherbourg or Le Harve but that was easy for us living in Portsmouth! So we didn’t have a journey this side of the ferry port - we live 10 minutes away 😂

Yes, stopped in Clermont Ferrand area overnight then power drive down to northern Spain (Costa Brava) area the next day. French and Spanish motorways are so much better than British!

I think two nights each way if you can manage it and have a day exploring somewhere en route.

I've driven to Avignon before on my own. It is not that bad. French roads are easy if you are on the peage but expensive. At 80 mph (limit) or 90 if you are feeling brave you can eat up the miles pretty quickly.

It is (was?) relatively cheap to stop off at hotels on the way but probably better to do some tourist stops.

It's an adventure, but probably is not that cheap compared to flights from a budget airline as you will burn a lot of fuel plus have peage and hotel bills getting down there. I think France is probably the 2nd best country to do a road trip in (US is the best).

Edit oh and to add to the peage bills you will want :

Car in good shape so probably serviced/checked out beforehand.
European breakdown cover
European insurance
Buy the bits for french driving that you need (I think yellow jacket, spare bulbs, maybe other stuff).
Channel ticket.
Masses of petrol.

So by the time that adds up you barely save money over flights.

Go for it!
However, planning is key and include all stops. I would not stay on the road longer than 10-12 hours with 2 people sharing the driving. Enjoy your stops and let the kids have a good run around!
While the motorways are better, it's still tiring- especially when driving on the other side of the road.

PS: we've done many road trips to France, Switzerland, Germany and Austria!

I would suggest 2 overnight stops each way.
More restful and less stress.

Our family did this many times and we used to stop near Millau, and have a day or so exploring the Gorges de Tarn and renting kayaks to go down the river. Happy memories.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millau