Are we mad - driving Calais to El Delfin Verde in Spain

[redpickle]

With 3 and 6 year ?. It takes about 11 hrs according to AA so we would do it over two days. Has anyone done it? Children are generally ok in the car but never done this far.

If you have any experience of this, I'd love to hear your advice and top tips!

yes we've done it lots of times - to the south of France, Spain and Italy. We always do it over 2 days. We stay generally at one of the formula 1 places.

It's fine - my children always say it is one of the best bits of the holiday!

My tips:

big bag of snacks and lots of water
dvd player
iPad if necessary
music cds
We always travel over as early as possible, and then stop between Calais and Paris for quite a long break. then we stop probably every couple of hours unless the littlest one falls asleep and then we try to get as far as we can.

We have another long break in the afternoon - lots of the services have play areas. (My h probably could tell you where the best ones are!). There is one we stopped in a couple of years ago with water fountains - the children loved that.

So basically our approach is to make it like an extension to the holiday and make it fun for the children. We still endure it though.
we usually stay near Geneva - mulhouse, or dijon I think, that kind of area. so we probably get just past half way.

I've been to el delfin twice, if you break trip up it's well worth the journey.

I've not done the drive but mil and exdp did, am sure it will be fine. Lots of breaks when kids are awake and different toys/activities to break the journey up.

You'll love it once there

No idea but am well jealous of you going to El Delfin. We've been 3 times and we loved it!!

Never done that but regularly drive from West Scotland go France etc, this year we did Italy (Tuscany) with only 1 overnight stop in Northern France, usually we stop at Dover or Folkestone. In fact I'm in Calais just now. We drove from Tuscany to Frejus in South France for 2 nights and had planned to drive up today to Calais but thanks to noisy neighbours at the campsite we actually left last night at 11 and got here today at 12! My boys aged 6 and 12 have been fine - DVDs all the way!!!

No your not mad, we drive to Spain every year, since my youngest was 18 months. We have a couple of over night stops, take lots of food and the children have tv screen in the back.

Thank you! We've decided to do 2 nights stopping over to make it more relaxed and extend the holiday. 1 stopover on the way home! Thanks very much and glad to see El Delfin gets good feedback too!

redpickle there's a place down the road from El Delfin, towards a place called Pals that does chicken and chips.

You must try, the tastiest chicken I've ever had and great if you can't be arsed to cook.

It's five mins down the road(southbound) and literally just off the main road- you can't miss it

Not done that journey but we've regularly done 8-10 hour trips for holidays, generally over 1 long day.

Two years ago we drove from East to West right across Europe (from Moldova to the UK) in five days. We often look for swimming pools to break the journey as it cools everyone down and tires the DCs out ensuring a quiet next leg .

We took a few days to drive from Calais to Bandol we stayed on the B roads, ate a tiny relais's, stayed in Campaniles and it was a great holiday. This was pre DS though.

Would love to drive down to Nerja some year.

Wow!
I did this as a child with my parents YEARS ago!
I loved the journey. Just make sure you have plenty stops and I wo..uld reccommend the journey through the Dordogne (Millau) as it is utterly beautiful.
It took us 2 full days through France and Northern Spain. Have you been to El Delfin Verde? It is a huge campsite and the pool is one of the largest on the Costa Brava.
Enjoy!

We're not really sure about the best route - i guess avoid Paris? Our first stopover is in Orleans. We're thinking of going Via Rouen rather than Paris but apparently there is a diversion due to a bridge closure. Not sure if thats a big deal or not....?

We will be staying near Millau the next night so glad to hear it will be scenic

When are you going redpickle?

The bridge is rumoured to be reopened mid August. We went via Rouen last year to avoid Paris and the diversion was fine.

The route we use is Calais, Rouen for our first stop, then down through Evreux, on to Dreux, Chartres then onto Millau where we stop for the night again. Next day straight down to Spain.

about-france.com/tourism/routes-through-france.htm

This is a good website with different routes, etc.

We're going week after next so the diversion will probably still be in place!

Be very careful about sticking to the speed limits - there is no 2/3mph (kph) allowance made in France.

I drove back from Geneva way last week & saw several cars being stopped just outside Calais, a favourite spot for police with mobile speed guns.