10 days to Barcelona & Back…Realistic?

Must be special family - not sure I’d drive even 85 miles for any of mine!! 🤣🤣

Serious answer - how about Plymouth/Portsmouth to Northern Spain. Less time driving, more time relaxing?

Sounds ok. French motorways are fast and quiet so you can do a couple of bigger drives to rack up some miles. I think we got to the Pyrenees in 4 days, camping at a few places along Atlantic coast and it felt very relaxing. We got the boat to Caen which did cut out some of the dull north and Paris.

Yeah it'll be fine. We go to a campsite slightly north of Barcelona some times. Mostly drive there from my sister's house only about 3 hours away in France but have driven it direct from Leeds. We regularly drive to my sister's or the Alps, my sister's place is about 12 hours from Calais. We usually drive from Leeds after work, cross into France in the evening and then drive just past Paris then stop for the night and finish it off the next day. 8 hours or so from South side of Paris.

You'll probably be looking at 15hrs drive from Calais so could split that up and stop somewhere nice for a day.

I've driven to the Spanish border from Calais in a owner with a mate. Took us about a day and a half of auto route Joy. Right now the heat would put me off so I'd drive at night I reckon

Serious answer – how about Plymouth/Portsmouth to Northern Spain. Less time driving, more time relaxing?

Looked at that…..much more expensive and ferries are already full.

Chances are that it'll be hot, not sure about a camper van
I think that I'd use the car and B&Bs in places en route inc Paris and Barcelona for a couple of days each
Alternative flights, e.g. Alicante and Valencia plus hire car/train?

Depends on where in the UK you are. I reckon if you have next to no UK driving them three biggish driving days gets you there evening if the third. Use via Michelin to estimate fuel and toll costs. That Santander ferry might be a better shout.

Me and two pals did Edinburgh to Sierra Nevada in 36hrs but it was continuous driving and towards the end 1hour on 2off. And it was brutal.

PS already looked at flying to say Perpignan but hire car costs offset flight cost saving.

Girona isn't too far from Barcelona either, so could look at flying there. Or get the train down. My mum got the train from Leicester to Toulouse and said it was great!

I'd still drive though personally.

We did Leicester to Sitges in foggy/stormy January weather without using any autoroutes in an 850 Mini in about 36 hours. That was via Millau before they built the viaduct or even the autoroute for that matter. Surprising what you'll do to get to work on time when you really need the cash.

Have you tried flights to Reus, it's 40 mins from Sitges and usually cheaper to get to. You could do worse than book a package to somewhere like Salou or if you can find anything in Cambrils that's a much nicer resort. Both have on a frequent train connection to Sitges, about 30 minutes, and if there's kids involved, Port Aventura is right there. I live just south of there and flying from Reus is a much happier experience.
I've also driven back and forth many times, the record being 24 hours door to door but with the chaos in Dover and fuel prices in France, I wouldn't do it these days.

Ooo flight to girona, stay girona, miss the wedding to eat food and drink wine/beer/coffee in girona.

Ryanair Barcelona flights go to girona. I reckon we were on the bar opposite the Airbnb while the Barcelona bods were waiting for the coach.

TBF fuel is cheaper in France than here!

Don't forget Sitges is south west of Barcelona on the other side of a hilly area called the Garraf, Girona is about 80km North East so you can double travel time if you base yourself there. There are some really nice places just south of Sitges such as Tamarit and even Tarragona itself.

TBF fuel is cheaper in France than here!

Bloody isn't at the moment! I had to pay 2E50/l at one point last month, even with exchange rate it's still well over! at most places accounting for exchange rate it's about parity with UK at best.

Having lived on Sitges for the year we worked in Barcelona I suggest Sitges itself is as good a place as any to stay.

There are a couple of campsites, el Garrofer isn't great but the better of the two. There's better in Villanova. Some really nice flats to rent in Sitges if you have more to spend.

Petrol is 1e90 at my local service station at present.

Bloody isn’t at the moment!

Ah bummer, thought it was a bit cheaper if you got it at supermarkets rather than on motorways.

I usually try to find a supermarket just off the motorway and nip there and get food at the same time.

France has been very expensive for fuel for a long time,in Spain we're being subsidised to the tune of €0.20 per litre, we paid €1.48 or £1.25 last Wednesday when we went to Barcelona's branch of hell on earth IKEA. As from 1st of September, train journeys of up to 300km are free as well.

The most you'll pay on say the A7 today is 2e049 - it's dropped a lot in the last month.

Thanks a lot all....the Singletrack Massive has given me lots to look into and reassurance that driving wouldn't be that bad.

We have friends nr Pau and have driven there in a (long) day via the Chunnel. Auto routes are very good outside their national holiday weekends when they can gridlock. Hire a auto tag thing which means you can just stay in the outside lane and drive through the tolls at 40 kph without stopping. We normally split the journey with one stop midway, but it's doable in a single push.

We used to do Dartford to Millau in about 15 hours including tunnel. Calais to Paris 3hours, 1 hour to go round Paris and 6 hours to Millau. Barcelone is about 4 hours away.

How old are the kids? Keeping them amused on the long drag down may be a limiting factor.....
IBIS and Formule Une hotels very cheap for family rooms.

I've done evening depart Midlands to Calais, overnight in calais. Next day Calais to Toulouse (including 400+km on one road). Then a wiggly fun route to Berga so imagine you could make Barca in comfort that day if you went direct. It wasn't bad even in pretty uncomfortable sports cars, but there was a fair group and no children so we could car swap to keep it interesting. VW camper with cruise control should smash it out.

On the green side, emissions of driving down would be far less. One seat on the plane is roughly equivalent to one car driving down (so a quarter for 4 seats)

Bip and Go/drive

Motorway tag

You buy a tag and only pay a 2 euroish + the tolls for the months you use it.

(I’ve sneakily changed the link to the spanish one as they seem to cover Spain and France and explain it easier)

Was supposed to be doing almost exactly this + a bit more before Covid kicked in.

Itinery was Fife to Circuit de Catalunya via the Plymouth to Bilbao/Santander ferry, then down to Murcia region for a couple of days, then back up to Fife. There was an overnight stay planned in for both the Bilbao to Barcelona and Murcia to Bilbao stages. It was 10 days exact.

Pre Covid we used to do Rossendale to Perpignan in one hit ~21hours door to door.
Big long geared comfy seated Volvo V70 that eats miles, take in turns with MrsRNP or quick snooze.
Splash and dash fuel and food grabs.
Sanef tollroad tag.

If you aren't used to trans European driving do not underestimate how big France is or how boring the northern autoroutes are before the terror of Paris and back to boredom again.

You can get the train to Barcelona from Paris if you don’t fancy the drive.

or how boring the northern autoroutes

I'll take them over the chaos of UK motorways any day.

They are definitely dull but keep an eye out for birds of prey sat on the fenceposts

the Singletrack Massive has given me lots to look into and reassurance that driving wouldn’t be that bad.

I'm driving to Venice this weekend - with a stop-over in Geneva on the way down.
It is about 900 miles from Calais so a comparable journey - we'll be doing about 450 miles each day - 7-8 hours.
We've done a few long European road trips (Dordogne in 2018, lake Garda in 2019) so know what we're doing.
I think if you do a couple of longish days you'll be fine.

I quite often drive from home in St Malo to the central Pyrenees - takes between 7 - 9 hours depending on breaks. It's not that bad tbh - just a bit boring for the kids. Just avoid Saturdays in the summer and try to avoid Bordeaux and Nantes during rush hour (especially Bordeaux....).

The tags for the motorway tolls are great - means your passenger can be asleep and you just sail through.

Don't forget to allow for toll costs if using the motorways - can easily add up to a couple of hundred.

Driving in france is usually much more relaxing than the UK, the dover to midlands is usually the most stressful bit of the drive.

For the eurotunnel you can use your tesco club card points for 3x the value.

If you're looking for just a bed for the night - have a look at F1 hotels - cheap and 'cheerful'

I'm wondering if avoiding the Dover-Calais route and going to st Malo,Cherburg or Roscoff would be sensible since it does look grim that way.

My mate cycled to there from London. Took him 9 days, carrying all his gear. If you don't hack it down in one go, I am sure it will be fine to do over 3 or 4 days?

I prefer the Spanish Motorways to the French as the food is always insanely priced in the French service stations whereas Spain seems way more reasonable.

Don't forget you can't take your packed lunches with you anymore 🙂

I prefer the Spanish Motorways to the French as the food is always insanely priced in the French service stations whereas Spain seems way more reasonable.

Just pull off the autoroute and find a super/hypermarket or Cafe/ Restaurant - there is always one located nearby. I really don't understand why people stop at services for food / coffee.

as the food is always insanely priced in the French service stations

I've often found that French services have really good, excellent value, set price meals.

Just pull off the autoroute and find a super/hypermarket or Cafe/ Restaurant – there is always one located nearby. I really don’t understand why people stop at services for food / coffee.

This. We generally try to find a supermarket close to the motorway or Maccy D's. Fuel is always cheaper as well. My wife spends most of her time goolging for cheapest fuel near the motorways.

Quite a few services with Burger King now as well, so that makes it quicker and a bit cheaper.

PSA for anyone gloing to Morzine, Les Gets or Samoens. The Super U in Tanginges was pretty much the cheapest fuel in France in April. I filled up there before heading home then went through Luxembourg* so filled up there as well!

*overnight ferry from Rotterdam.

Just pull off the autoroute and find a super/hypermarket or Cafe/ Restaurant – there is always one located nearby. I really don’t understand why people stop at services for food / coffee.

Its convenience - you may not want to get of the main drag to go on a magical mystery tour, if your on a tight schedule or going a long way.

I get it if you know the area more.