If you are doing 2 days then it will be motorway. We have always come down the eastern side Calais, Reimes, Troyes, Lyon, Perpignan. We usually stop at Valences Nord for the night as several of the hotels have secure parking and its only 2 minutes off the motorway. There are of course picnic areas and service stations at regular intervals that you could use if you would rather, but if you choose to do that then I would stick to service stations, not picnic areas.

You will, by the way, be pushing it to get to the CDS in two days. It takes me two full driving days to get from Calais to 80 kms South of Valencia in a car

 

I would agree that in a motorhome (and with a dog that will need more ´comfort breaks´ than you might, you will need to take more than two days.

Motorhomefacts forum will be able to help you better than an expat forum. They have a Spain and Portugal touring section.

BUT if you come down the coastal autovia from France, do not stop anywhere on the motorway services near Barcelona, even if you think you may have an emergency. It is well known for people travelling in foreign registered vehicles at this time of the year to be flagged down by people in BMWs, Mercs. etc. who then rob the vehicles when you get out. I know, they tried to pull us over one year.

There are many campsites on the coastal route and also many camperstops. If you need more info. please ask me.

jaws

 

We always use the west side - Calais, Rouen, Le Mans, Poitiers, Bordeaux, Biarritz (overnight stop at Premiere Classe [go to www.] just 2 mins off motorway and pet friendly). From there cross into Spain then via Vitoria Gasteiz, Burgos, Madrid (Just follow signs for AP4 - very easy) then you are on the A4 which you leave according to where you want on the CdS (The A44 takes you down via Jaén, Granada to Motril and the Eastern end) stay on the A4 towards Córdoba (then take the A45 for Málaga) stay on the A4 if you want to get to Sevilla and Cádiz.

You must make sure that the dog has its passport with you at all times, fully vaccinated, is chipped and fully secured when you are on the move so that it cannot interfere with the driver (this is the law in Spain.)

Since you are showing that you are expat in Spain, does this mean that you will be staying? If so, be aware that you may well not be able to matriculate your camper-van if it is RHD and it will not be legal to use it under a UK registraction after you become resident which you must within 90 days.

 

Big thanks to all who have replied so far.

RAC Route Finder is suggesting the drive to be just under 1300 miles, with a driving time of 19 hours, from Calais going the west side route.

With the western route suggested as being the quicker option, along with the fact that I've previously part driven the eastern route, I plan on travelling the westerly path, mainly to see some of France and Spain that I haven't seen previously.

We aim to be in Calais and ready to set off from there sometime between 9am & noon Wednesday.

If I set off at the later time of noon, with a target time of arriving midnight Thursday, that gives us 36 hours to travel 19 hours, sleep, and make a number of stops throughout the journey. Should things not go as expected, or we have good reason to stop and take a bit longer, we have a contingency period that allows us to take extra time, but ideally we would arrive no later than Friday 5pm.

Giving consideration to the above, I would have thought a Thursday night arrival would have been capable, quite comfortably, or is there something/s I'm not considering?


Jaws 101 - As for my dog - his comfort is priority - he is actually the reason we are not getting the ferry to Spain! As the pet cabins had sold out and I wouldn't put him in the kennels. Actually, he is also the main reason I bought my motorhome! If we need to take longer for his sake, as suggested, we will be happy to do so. Any advice regarding what's best for my dog, places to stop, recommended walks / parks etc are particularly welcome


Baldilocks - My status showing 'expat in Spain' is part accurate, part wishful thinking! Due to other commitments, I will be based there for approx half of the year in total, most likely following a pattern of 1 month here, 1 month away, give or take a few weeks either way. During some of my time away, I will be using the motorhome to visit a number of surrounding countries, I will also use it on occasion when going back to the UK, where I envisage I will spend approx 2 months of the year in total. Any tips for managing such a semi nomadic lifestyle are also welcome!

 

This sounds like you are going to live our lifestyle. We winter in Spain (at first in the motorhome but now rent a house) and travel to the UK and other European countries during the summer months.

A useful website for places to park a motorhome is areasac (put in Google). This gives daytime and night-time parking options throughout Europe (Dutch site I believe). There is also an off season campsite organisation with big discounts (ACSI). Maybe you already know this. I can give you other info. if you need it.

 

First time I did the trip and I used practically the same route as Baldi, I set off early morning on 30th August in a large van with all my worldy goods and four cats, had a puncture just south of Le Mans which took five hours to fix and arrived on CDS (Nerja) mid-day on 1st September. Second time, in a Peugeot 406, I landed at Gatwick at four pm on a Tuesday, collected daughter and left UK fours hours later from Dover, did the same trip down to Nerja and arrived 7.30 am Thursday morning. Strav stop being a wus and drive!!!!!! Both times through Madrid I found it interesting to say the least as the minimum speed seemed to be around 90 kms with cars veering across lanes in a very alarming fashion. But I survived both trips. First time we stayed in a place in La Mancha country which was very peaceful but I can't remember the name of the hotel. You could see it from the motorway (on the right) and was the only one around for many miles.