Spain (again) Anyone driven from Bilbao to the south coast?

Obvious question to ask: why not fly from the UK to the nearest airport of your final destination?

Obvious question to ask: why not fly from the UK to the nearest airport of your final destination?

Because we're going for the whole of October, like 4 weeks. By the time you fly then rent a car for that time It's as cheap to drive.
Plus the luggage allowance is about 50 times more than on a plane, & I'm taking the bike, fishing gear the lot.
Plus, It's a road trip & I'll have just got my 1st state pension.

It depends how used to trans European journeys you are?
630 miles is a long distance if you are only used to a few hundred miles max in the UK. Also depends on what vehicle? Pre Covid we were doing the 1000mile to Perpignan from Manchester non stop* a few times a year but this is in a big long legged Volvo that just eats continents with the comfiest seats in the business.
Fuel stops are splash and dash gumball style. Sanef auto toll cards.

Anything less than the above book a hotel.

*Me and MrsRNP taking turns driving / sleeping, no kids.

Yeah, might be a good idea to stop over one night centrally. Drop me a PM and I'll recommend some places. I'm Madrid-based.

Also depends on getting a decent sleep on the Bilbao ferry - the ship's engines reverberate through the whole ship/cabin/bunk and I didn't sleep well but we were on a business trip in our van so didn't have far to drive that day.

It depends how used to trans European journeys you are?
630 miles is a long distance if you are only used to a few hundred miles max in the UK.

This and tbh I always found that leaving the boat fully refreshed after a good nights sleep never seemed to happen for me me 🙂

Mrs DoD and me would share the drive but book a parador for the night at the mid point , state owned hotel chains based in old monasteries or castles to break the drive.

We used to drive from Bilbao or Santander to the murcia/Lorca area so not right to the bottom but a fair way.

You can get a via-t (blip and drive)so to just drive onto the toll roads without the farf.

I used to spend the last night before catching the ferry back at the

Limpias Parador

Probably not super cheap but we were in the amigo club and had discounts and offers that made it more reasonable.

Also depends on getting a decent sleep on the Bilbao ferry – the ship’s engines reverberate through the whole ship/cabin/bunk and I didn’t sleep well but we were on a business trip in our van so didn’t have far to drive that day.

I’ve been on that when it was a bit of a rough night luckily Mrs DoD was a better sleeper than sailor as I had a rollercoaster nights sleep without much sleep 🙂

Done the ferry to Santander and back from Bilbao, big seas on the way back but I slept like a baby. Mrs Tuboflard however spent the entire night gripping on for grim death thinking the we were about to drown. Fun times.

Take the Salamanca route, avoid Madrid, stop in Bejar would be my choice. After that Extremadura is quiet and beautiful.

Alternatively stopping in Madrid would actually be good if you like cities.

It depends how used to trans European journeys you are?

I've driven from Durham to Benidorm twice, & from North Yorkshire to Montpellier once.
The 1st Benidorm trip was immediately after a summer Polaris Challenge, like 3 hours after. Dunno how we ever got there without falling asleep at the wheel TBH, very foolish.

Thanks for everyone's input up to now!
@devash very handy thanks, I may be in touch.

You can get a via-t (blip and drive)so to just drive onto the toll roads without the farf.

Excellent point! Thanks.

Do that ferry to Santander and Bilbao quite often. The last two times we got the 36 hour ferry and we are doing it again in summer. it works out better as you arrive really early in the morning and have all day to get across Spain. I’ve not driven to the south but have gone to Tarragona a few times and the motorways were empty. Same going to Ainsa this year

We did Caen to Morzine in Feb and that took about 10 hours with the traffic after the ferry at that was hard driving in the queues I suspect 10 hours on Spanish Motorways would be a lot easier.

@Stainypants right, we arrive in Bilbao at 08.00 Saturday morning, so yes, If we crack on It's quite doable in one go. We did Montpellier-Calais in one hop in 10 hours or so a few years ago but I'd rather take something in.
Decisions decisions!

It’s toll roads to just north of Madrid. After that it’s national motorways. These are concrete plinth roads lacking investment. We took our van and a trailer laden with motorbikes to Malaga last September. The roads south of Madrid did my mate’s back in and he spent two days not able to ride.

As stainypants suggests, the regular “fast” ferry arrives about 3pm. Which is just inconvenient enough to make you question the whole thing - you can drive to Bordeaux or biarritz from Caen or Cherbourg having gotten on a more convenient early morning ferry, overnight there and do the whole of Spain the next day.

Think it’s about 5 hrs Bilbao-Madrid so possibly a good stopover point.

Sanef tag is a good shout. Just beware they don’t work on all the barriers and if you choose the wrong one it’s about a ten minute negotiation with someone to make it work.

I have done this twice en route to Morocco (once from Bilboa and once from Santander). Both times in a Land Rover 110 and both times in a single day straight through. No problems, good quality roads, little traffic, and the only toll was between Cadiz and Gib. The first time the motorway that cut through the coastal mountains hadn't even been built.
For what its worth on both occasions we took the western route down which avoids Madrid altogether.
On each trip we came back via Madrid and spent a night somewhere south of the capital on a campsite

As you're not time limited, you could turn it into a nice road trip and call by to see us in Southern Cataluña. From Bilbao the AP68 or N232 meanders through La Rioja to Zaragoza then through the mountains to Alcaniz and to us at the coast. We can put you up for a day or 2 if you want to go fishing on the Ebro or biking. The AP7 coast motorway has recently been de-tolled all the way to Alicante then on to Murcia and Malaga it's about 8-9 hours. This is us
Casa Tomillo, Costa Daurada

Big Sis and BiL travel back and forth regularly from Andalucia to UK via Santander. They always stop off on the way through Spain - normally pick somewhere new each time.

Zamora, Leon, Salamanca, Segovia, Toledo and Cuenca are all fantastic places of historic interest I've been to. Cacares is more on route than some of those and I think is interesting too.

Did Barcelona to San Sebastian a few years ago, making it two half day drives by stopping in Rodelar for a couple of nights. Did some swimming and a day of canyoning, which was fantastic. Must go back with the bike. Anyway - better than the long schlep across the middle?

Yes. A few times in our T2 Volkswagen. Two week road trip up the West coast of France. We preferred driving south and getting the boat back - felt like a mini cruise at the end of the hols rather than driving home.

My FiL has just done Santander to Gibraltar and stopped at Salamanca and just outside Seville.

Update.

As you’re not time limited, you

Mrs has just checked & we have a very narrow time window to pick up the keys. Between 4 & 7pm, which is cutting it a bit fine if the ferry docks at 8am that morning & the quickest route takes 9 1/2 hours & everything goes ok!
Apparently if you want to pick the key up after 7pm it costs an extra 25€, which I expect is to pay someone overtime or something out of office hours.
The boss is gonna contact the agency (VRBO) & see what the alternatives are, if any. I mean I don’t mind getting there on Monday seeing as we’re there for a month.
Even paying 25€ isn’t the end of the world though.

Take the Salamanca route, avoid Madrid, stop in Bejar would be my choice. After that Extremadura is quiet and beautiful.

I'd go this way. I'm probably biased as my wife is from Extremadura, but basically you avoid Madrid and the Via del Plata is a decent, modern motorway that will take you down to Seville and from there to Estepona. Other than Bejar, Plasencia or Caceres would be decent places to stop.

That said if you want to go for the no-thinking option there's nothing particularly grim about driving around Madrid, assuming you avoid rush hour. In October that would be 7:30-9:00 and 17:00-19:00, roughly. Outside of those times it's actually pretty chill - Spanish driving is nothing like as bad as its reputation would have it.

Update.
We can now pick up the keys on Sunday, so that gives us a night to stop over somewhere.
We're going the Salamanca/Caceres route & reckon that a stopover in/near Merida would be best for me, 6.5-7 hrs from Bilbao on Saturday then 4-5 hrs to Estepona on Sunday, steady away.
So, any recommendations for a hotel/B&B/eatery around there?

Well the Parador is very nice 🙂

There are lots of hotels in the city so plenty of choice at cheaper rates - but not all the city centre hotels will have parking. Maybe something just across the river so you can walk into town over the longest survivng Roman bridge in the world?

Nothing to add but jealous of the road trip, sounds awesome have a good trip

Merida and Caceres are lovely towns to visit, well worth allowing a bit of time to see them if you can. Either would be a great place to stay. If it's only going to be the one night I'd stay at the Parador - both towns have one.

+parador

The other thing to be aware of is that in Spain is that some of the underground car parking can be well fun,tight corners and steep ramps aren’t uncommon.

I’ve parked in some small towns where you park outside and wander in on foot.
(Also had a town with a bloody bell that bonged all night on the hour,not too annoying)

Never been to Merida and Caceres yet thou.

We are doing exactly the same thing on the 25 of Sept. Somewhat strained as we are not getting a cabin on the boat (!). We budgeted for a Parador though and have been looking at the W side route (we sort of did this last year on our way to Portugal and stopped for a coffee in Salamanca, which was lovely). My issue is; the Parador people are not forth coming about which of their hotels have pools open at that time of year. For me this is a priority. I guess the trick is to hone in on one or two and then just ring. ASIDE Are you biking in October OP? I'm taking my road bike and my big-ish mountain bike (Kona process). I would have loved to squeezed in the cx I am building for some gravel routes but currently, it is in bits on the kitchen floor with significant parts missing and no money left for it. I'll just get strong and ride the Process with the suspension locked out. I want to bikepack the route that connects Malaga to the Via del Plata, did a tiny bit of it some years ago and it is majestic.

I have done this twice en route to Morocco (once from Bilboa and once from Santander). Both times in a Land Rover 110 and both times in a single day straight through. No problems

Yep, we did the same in a well loaded Landrover Discovery - think it was about 10-11 hours down to Estepona (overnight stop prior to getting the ferry from Algeciras)
We swapped drivers a couple of times and only really stopped for fuel/toilet/etc.

We've done a lot of European road-trips since - drove home from Garda to London in 1 hit last month.

You've got 4 weeks, why 'rush' across Spain?

You’ve got 4 weeks, why ‘rush’ across Spain?

Cos we're paying rental on a property & I've got mates to see in Grenada before they go away. Will be a bit more leeway on the way back though.
Parador? Think I'm made of money??

the Parador people are not forth coming about which of their hotels have pools open at that time of year. For me this is a priority.

Thankfully It's NOT one of mine.

ASIDE Are you biking in October OP?

I intend to take the gravel bike but just to mosey round & follow my nose.

Parador? Think I’m made of money??

It's only one night and you deserve it after that long drive 🙂