Road Trip from Calais to Costa Del Sol - Where to stay?

[CheltenhamLady]

My DH and I are taking a road trip from the ferry in Calais to Southern Spain.
We have done this before but our choices of where to stay were influenced by a close friend who travels in France a lot. Let's just say that they wouldn't have been our first choice of place/accom!!

We are early 60's, and we like good food, bars, beach bars, and culture. We like walking and sightseeing. Our ideal place is by a Marina with restaurants or in a walled city. We will be away 2/3 weeks in early June.

Any ideas?

To Lyons (which is a big city with a great food culture, but I don't know it well enough to recommend an hotel). Then south via the Rhone to Aigues-Mortes (Crusader walled city)/Avignon/Montpellier/Uzes for the Pont du Gard, then along the Mediterranean coast via Sete or one of the lovely holiday towns along that coast following the route of the canal du Rhone a Sete, and into Spain. Catalonia/Costa Brava is full of charming small towns (Cadaques, for the Dali museum) along the coast, but we loved Girona which is a bit inland. Barcelona next, for a Gaudi fix, after that Valencia. Beyond that I am at a bit of a loss as it's so long since I went. Not making recommendations because I have no idea of your budget.

The budget is flexible, but we know that France is more expensive than Spain.

Once you’re in Spain, I’d stop in San Sebastián, Avila and Cordoba.

I would look at traveling across northern France then cut down the middle on the n and d roads (they are very good) overnight in saumur maybe definitely stop in Bordeaux for a night if you are wine fans. We are definitely doing this once not working, plan is to go for 8-10 weeks

How far do you want to travel each day@CheltenhamLady ? And how many weeks have you got before you have to begin the return trip? Do you want to avoid the motorway toll roads? As Mitogoshi says, the RNs are very good. Are you travelling off peak season or in high summer? Lots of aspects to consider.

Have a look at the town of Millau. The motorway from Clermont-Ferrand to Montpelier is toll-free except for the Millau viaduct, which is expensive. If you descend into the town and stay overnight, then drive up the other side of the valley the next day, you skip this toll, and Millau is a nice place to stay. OK, you don't get to drive on the viaduct itself, but that's not as spectacular as it looks when you're actually on it.

Also, in both countries, watch out for the local equivalent of ULEZ zones if you are going into medium-to-large towns. Even if your car is recent and "clean", you need a sticker saying so if it's not locally registered. You can't get this sticker at all in Spain for a foreign car. However, I think that Spain accepts French stickers, and you can apparently order a French one online — see https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/R59473?lang=en

I think we will take approx 3 weeks to do the round trip.

That's a lot of driving for just 3 weeks. Unless you are desperate for the French experience, I'd do that as a separate trip and take the ferry from the Uk to Sao Sebastian (like a mini cruise) and drive down from there.

I agree with @Turmerictolly . You are talking about driving roughly 1800km each way. I'd go straight to northern Spain by ferry and yes, it's an expensive crossing, but an enjoyable one. It's equivalent in cost to the fuel, tolls and hotels that you'll need to drive through France, which becomes a flog.

In which case, my suggestion would be the ferry to northern Spain, Bilbao or Santander. Inland to Burgos, and stay just south of Madrid at Aranjuez (which is the old summer capital of Spain and gorgeous) then flog south for the main holiday.

I'm going to dissent from the two previous posters and say I think this is a cool idea and I wish I was going on it. As long as both partners are confident drivers in a reasonably comfortable car, 400km per driving day should be no problem, and there will be 10 or 11 non-driving days in the three weeks.

My tip for long trips across the emptier bits of France (not so sure about Spain) is that the French love McDonald's, and there seems to be one on the edge of every small-to-medium town. We usually stop there at 3:30pm for an expresso (that's how they spell it, I don't make the rules) and a nice clean loo.

And do take the fast motorway route to your costa after Aranjuez. There are not many highlights on the way. Lots of cattle and olive groves, and big majestic landscapes but quite desertified and poor. IMO better to drive harder to your destination and relax when you arrive. Pamplona is also gorgeous if you don't fancy Burgos twice. I like Northern Spain much more than the south, but that's a personal opinion.

We've done your trip a number of times but often to the Costa Almeria but similar drive times. We’re away for around 8 weeks, wouldn't consider doing it for less than a month as you'll see very little otherwise.
Agree with Papyrophile as long as you are happy with a long ferry crossing over the Bay of Biscay. Her recommended stops are spot on. We've stayed in Burgos, Pamplona and Aranjuez, they are all lovely. Segovia and Avila are good too.
Alternatively don't go south in Spain, explore the parts of western France you fancy then the northern coast of Spain.

We have decided to extend our trip to a month.
Any more ideas for the trip?

Go round in a circle. One way go through France, Millau etc, down Costa Brava and other way go across Spain from Barcelona side to San Sebastian and cross the Bay of Biscay on a ferry.

My dream is to go to the Can Franc hotel that's right in the middle of the Pyrenees and has really interesting history.

I am in love with Galicia, probably because we always use the Plymouth Santander crossing. The country is spectacular. But it's a destination in its own right and too far for a detour on a trip south.

I would cut out France. We have either taken the ferry to Santander in our own car or travelled by train to Avignon and picked up a car hire from there. Avignon would be a lovely stop over though.

Taking the ferry and our own car route we got as far as the Algarve. Stopping in Salamanca on the way back. We just booked simple travellers motels on the way there as getting to the coast was more of a priority. Madrid and Seville weren’t far off but we just carried on going. We stayed in Huelva with family for a couple of days before finally heading to Portugal.

Car hire route from Avignon we drove straight down the coast and got as far as Barcelona. Stopping at Begur and Tossa de Mar. We found ourselves in Andorra on the way back.

Enjoy your adventure.