Ideas for road trip France/Spain/Portugal

[princesssparkle9985]

Hi, my husband, 4.5 year old and I would like to go to family in August outside Lisbon. We want to bring the car and dog from Ireland and perhaps do 2/3 stops along the way to include Porto. Have you stayed anywhere along the western side of France that was really picturesque or had some fun things to do for a pre-schooler? Would Bordeaux or Nantes be good or are there less obvious gems? I also am very unfamiliar with northern Spain if anyone thinks there’s a great spot for 2 days. Any tips welcome.

I'm assuming you're getting the ferry to South West France?
I'd try and fit in a stop in San Sebastian in the Basque region. Beautiful beautiful place. If you want somewhere to stay on the french side of the pyranees for the first night I can recommend Pau or Salies de Berne. SdB is easier for parking. There are thermal spas in SdB which is more like a warm municipal pool which could be great fun with kids.

If it were me I would probably do Bordeaux-San Sebastian-Leon-Porto-Lisbon
That keeps your daily trips to under 5 hours and can be easily broken up with stops along the way.
I always use Via Michelin if you haven't used that before, it budgets fuel, time and tolls and is more accurate in times than Google maps.

Just to add I've not been to León but googling it looks like there are lots of Castles etc to visit in the local area if that's your thing!

Salamanca is lovely

Santillana del Mar was a very pretty place

La Rochelle is very lovely and would prefer to stay here for two days than Nantes

I drove back from Traveria, Iran on the boarder of Spain France - great views driving through

we stopped in the Ibis, find them cheap, very clean and good locations and great stopping for a road trip in France

we drove Seville, Caceres, Salamanca, Valladolid, Burgos, Vitoria

I will say its a boring driving on the motorway, easy driving and I drove from Travira to Biarritz in one day- -This was end of March though so not the hight of the summer

Thank you, that’s really helpful to get me started googling!

Salamanca/Segovia. St Emilion is really pretty (easier to park than Bordeaux) 2nd La Rochelle

I did Paris-Bourdeaux-Biarritz-San Sebastian-Leon-Salamanca-Lisbon once. A million years ago and much younger! Followed the sud Express train route which then went from Paris down to Morocco.