We are contemplating driving from London, UK, to the Algarve and if anyone has some great ideas for a route, we would really love to hear them. On first look, I suppose a trip down the west coast of France, along the top of Spain and then down the coast line of Portugal to Algarve. However, any tips are welcome.
On the return, we were thinking back through central Spain, French Riveria and up through Switzerland etc.
Thanks!
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Driving from the north-east of France to the Algarve by the most direct route would take three days if you were going to do it in any degree of comfort. Even then you would probably be travelling 8 hours a day with fairly minimal stops. You could do it in two *very* long days I suppose.
The route south that you are suggesting would take quite a bit longer. Suppoosing you travelled Calais-Nantes-La Rochelle-Bordeaux-Biarritz then into Spain and onward to Bilbao-Santander-Oviedo-Santiago da Compostela-Vigo and through Portugal via Oporto and Lisbon to the Algarve, one possible route, I think you would probably be looking at five eight hour days.
Similarly with the return. If you travelled from the Algarve to Barcelona via Sevilla and Cordoba, the most direct route, that would be two more 8 hour days. Then on to Nice and through the Alps to Switzerland would be another two 8 hour days and from there back to Calais via southern Germany and Strasbourg another two.
So you now have 11 long days driving. I%26#39;d much rather cut the driving down and make it about 14 six hour days.
Now if you consider that there are literally dozens of places along both routes that are worth between a few hours and a few days of your time I think you need to add at a minimum another two weeks to make the whole exercise worthwhile, and again double that would be better. Otherwise I think you%26#39;d just be driving way out of your way and burning tanksful of expensive fuel for no very good reason IMO.
So do you have 4 to 6 weeks to make this trip? If not how much time do you have?
BTW, viamichelin.com is a great site for checking out distances and driving times. You can plug in all these suggested places and then come back and tell me how wrong I am. Don%26#39;t forget to allow for stops for food and fuel and all the time it will take you to drive into and through the cities along the way if you are actually going to see anything other than the bypass roads round them.
Good luck!
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If I remember rightly, there is a ferry from Plymouth to Santander... (It may be Portsmouth to Santander)
Take the Ferry down to Santander and drive back or vice versa.
This is the sort of trip that requires a camper van and a good six months...
Yes the roads are good in France, - but good roads usually mean no views. This would literally be a %26quot;road trip%26quot; because unless you give yourself a lot of time, all you will see is the road.
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Thank you both so much for your tips. I did look into the Santander ferry option, but it%26#39;s quite expensive and as we have all the time in the world (fortunately!) to do the trip, I want to make it both interesting and economically viable. On a recent similar European driving tour we did to France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany and Bruges, we saw the most amazing scenery along the way (especially from Chur through the Swiss and Italian Alps) and I do want to make this one as good as possible.
I agree, good roads don%26#39;t always equate nice scenery along the way, which is why good stopover points are so important to make it really worthwhile. So, your tips are very valued.
We have Microsoft Autoroute which is also very good and have used the Michelin website a lot in the past ... excellent alternative, especially in judging the budget for petrol and road tolls.
So, if you have good ideas for the stopover places and also tips on where to stay - even better! Thanks so much.
I will start to plan our route based on your suggestions - so keep them coming! :-)
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How much time is %26quot;all the time in the world?%26quot; Seriously it%26#39;s hard to even begin to put together an itinerary if we don%26#39;t know how much time you have for the trip.
Do you have (at a minimum) copies of the Michelin Green Guides to France, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland?If not you might want to get them so you can begin making your own list of %26quot;must see%26quot; places..
What specifically are your interests? Art? Architecture? History? Beaches? Scenery? Or some other things entirely?
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I think we would probably give ourselves 3-4 weeks in June to do this. Our interests are scenery, beaches, archaeology, churches and driving along mountain roads.
Given time, I will start to do my research on suggested stopovers to see if they are for us. Something to do in the winter evenings!
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Hi, CharliesGirl,
Check out my reply to you on the Spain forum.
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