[Closed] Logistics of driving to the Pyrenees

viamichelin will give you an accurate cost for tolls and a rough cost for fuel. Go and look there you lazy arse! 🙂

Can you your the nearest

Price the boat from Portsmouth to Bilboa. Not saying it will be cheaper but might be competitive??

Any car with a towbar/rear rack.

We have driven out a couple of times, we got the ferry from portsmouth to bilbao. Not a bad crossing really although it feels twice as long on the way back. Saying that wecwere heading back up to scotland.

You'll need to factor in a hotel enroute if driving from the channel ports, it's too far for one hit really

Where in the pyrenees? How about Ryanair to Biarritz, easy for the western end. Though with 4 plus bikes and gear I don't imagine it'd be much cheaper than the car.

crossing on tunnel is about £120 return .

tolls to go to perpignan will be about 100 euros each way .

i guess a diesel car will need 2 full tanks each way , so 150 euros each way .

You'll need to factor in a hotel enroute if driving from the channel ports, it's too far for one hit really

I'm booked on the Portsmouth - Bilbao ferry in September, although I'm on a motorbike. Was about £400 all-in.

Rachel

We're going end March. Close to Perpignan. We looked at the longer ferry's but decided to use the tunnel and drive the rest.. One hit from Ross-on-Wye, a few different drivers. T5 Sportline, 4 blokes, 4 bikes, a phone full of dodgy music. It worked out cheaper than flying, probably a bit longer but flying with bikes is such a pain. Especially if you live in the midlands.

do it in one lump from the tunnel, share the driving.. easy hop if you do two hours at a time each.. ferry to bilbao/santander is ok but is 24 hrs each way and that bay of biscay can be ROUGH..

from calais to paris about 3 hours

1 hour to go round paris

and then probably 8 to 9 hours to perpignan .

Quick sum up,

7 Seater week plus £700
Fuel/tolls £400 return
Chunnel £170 return.

Sounds good, compared to;
Four air fares.
Three excess baggage.
Two hire cars
Fuel/less tolls
Taxi to and from airport

To Bagneres De Luchon my mates house.

I drive from Calais to Bilbao in one day. With plenty of breaks in one day. Be easy if you can share driving.
For Eurotunnel/fuel/night in Calais/food/tolls costs about 400 euro.

crossing on tunnel is about £120 return .

tolls to go to perpignan will be about 100 euros each way .

i guess a diesel car will need 2 full tanks each way , so 150 euros each way .

from calais to paris about 3 hours

1 hour to go round paris

and then probably 8 to 9 hours to perpignan .

Matches up with my experiences when driving down to Spain past Toulouse. Get a late night tunnel crossing and miss the madness around Paris. Plenty of you to share the drivingif you want to do it one hit otherwise look around Limoge as a half way point rest up.

Thought about P'mth to St Malo ferry?

Used to do that trip all the time, car/boat then head south to La Roch/Lorient etc.. be easy to head towards Bordeaux then turn left intowards Pau (done that trip a good number of times) Used to take about 7hrs from Malo to Bordeaux so could make it to Pau in say 8..

Just a thought.

we normally take a 7pm crossing , drive an hour , stop for dinner , and then drive to Millau via paris and clermond ferrand .
with petrol stops , arrive at my mum for 7/8 am in time for breakfast .
kids can sleep and we share the driving .

perpignan is about 3 hours further south .

Did this last summer.
Tolls £150
Fuel £140
Ferry £200ish Portsmouth - LeHavre

4up in a Passat deisel

Autoroute all the way down and about 2/3 way home.
Overnight boat 11pm sailing , in Ageles Bazost by 6pm
Home , stopped at a F1 near Le Mans iirc then caught the 3pm boat next day.

erry to bilbao/santander is ok but is 24 hrs each way and that bay of biscay can be ROUGH..

Not half as rough as the singers/entertainment on board!

Drove to the Pyrenees from Leamington Spa in both 2013 & 2014. Eurotunnel @ 8:30ish and then autoroute pretty much the whole way. Get there 8/9ish. No problem with a comfy car and sharing the driving. Biggest tip is to put the bikes on the back of the car and then use the brilliant new tunnel that goes round the west of Paris (if you have the bikes on the roof you can't use the tunnel due to height restrictions). It costs about Euro5 but can save you an hour compared with the hell that is the east of Paris as it is really quiet (Parisiens too tight to use it.....). Alternative is to go via Chartres but that's been a bit rubbish recently due to road works in Rouen (although I presume they surely must have finished them by now!).
As above Via Michelin is a pretty good guide as to costs, but with four of you it's fine.

bikebouy - Member
Thought about P'mth to St Malo ferry?

that's how we used to do it when a friend had a house in the pyrenees
longer ferry trip but less boring driving

Jate, that must be the tunnel we did a few years ago on our return leg. It was very quiet which was a good job because in my van I felt like it was a few mill off the tunnel roof, I couldn't help sitting a bit lower in my seat..

We've done the Pyrenees in one hit from Kent by sharing the driving.

In 3 attempts to get round Paris, only our early Sunday morning one was pleasant.

What's the height restriction in the tunnel does anyone know ? Watching with interest as heading to France in my Cali from Edinburgh. Planning one day drive and tunnel then find a quiet spot for a kip on other side and roll down to Bordeaux to meet family off plane. Means I would hit Paris on a Monday morning !

Yes. Plymouth Santander ferry - I took it in early march once, must have been the first sailing of the year so got a bargain, about £120 one way for my van and cabin for two. Saves a load of money on hotel and petrol for driving through France.

BUT. If you have any problems with travel sickness just don't do it. I lay on the deck vomiting for at least 12 hours, and that was with all kinds of medication and the usual precautions. On the plus side, I lost about 5kg.

ferry to bilbao/santander is ok but is 24 hrs each way and that bay of biscay can be ROUGH..

Ah, happy memories of laying in a bunk with horrible seasickness, praying for the world to end.

You have to go over the Millau Viaduct - its a really cool bit of engineering and not far out of your way - if at all

I do this trip 2/3 Times a year. Tunnel is about £60/70 each way. Tolls are about £50/60 each way (limoges, brive way is cheaper than millau but depends where you're going as to which way you need to go) and my passat estate take 2 tanks to get down there fully laden from Leeds. We always have a stop over on the way down as we want to get there at a reasonable time. But always do the return journey in one hit. This is 2 adults and 2 kids. Bikes in summer, snow stuff in winter.

I did it a couple of years ago from the midlands to Aramits in a day. Hardish but do-able.

ferry to bilbao/santander is ok but is 24 hrs each way and that bay of biscay can be ROUGH.

Ah, happy memories of laying in a bunk with horrible seasickness, praying for the world to end.

It just rocks me to sleep 🙂

Next time don't close yourself in the cabin, try to look at the horizon

Yep bay can be rough - TBH I never found the crossing that great for being 'refreshed' to drive the next day 🙂

I'd probably tunnel and drive to the pyrennes -with a few drivers is no that far.

(Used to drive my evo to bottom of spain - calling in every petrol station on the way)

I last did the drive in 1983 so I may be a bit out of date 😉

As above viamichellin for route. Exact routing will depend on East or West side. The roads have been improved a lot but there are some bottle-necks for sure.

erry to bilbao/santander is ok but is 24 hrs each way and that bay of biscay can be ROUGH..
Not half as rough as the singers/entertainment on board!

I don't know what you mean Mark??? 😉

Thought about P'mth to St Malo ferry?

Take the overnight ferry, get going first thing the next day, plus it's toll-free all the way to Nantes.

I'm going that way to Ile de Re this summer.

ferry to bilbao/santander is ok but is 24 hrs each way and that bay of biscay can be ROUGH.

Rachel

I don't know what you mean Mark???

Obviously been more successful in blocking the memory out 😉

I went through the tunnel round Paris in my T4, it's lowered 45mm.

And tescos vouchers for Le Tunnel.

Another vote for the 24hr ferry. The journey can become more part of holiday. Makes squeezing into 1 car more bearable as you wont be spending as much time driving.

When are you going? Forget the "do it in a day" nonsense if you are going anywhere near french holiday season. We just did 500 miles in 17 hours at the weekend because of holiday traffic ( and snow). The french motorways are fantastic most of the time, but boy, the times the french all go on their hols, they are as crap as anywhere else.

Going out is fine as you are full of holiday excitement 🙂

Coming back is a drag as its back to the grind 🙁 return journey is a real PITA

We can do the journey in one go but it is quite a trip to not far from Luchon started out at 815 and got into calais at 7 that evening with a couple of stops for lunch and tea. Between 2 of us it wasn't bad - we had to do it it wasn't a choice. our VW cruises at 60 to 65 (old T4) which is a long day but with plenty to listen to and chat about it wasn't bad. Faster car and more drivers would be perfectly enjoyable.

The french motorways are fantastic most of the time, but boy, the times the french all go on their hols, they are as crap as anywhere else.

Saturday would have been the worst day to travel during the winter half term. You've got both the Paris and Marseille zones heading up to the resorts and Lyon coming home. Fwiw on Sunday I drove 800km purely on autoroutes and it was fine.

Tunnel height restriction is 2m (it is effectively single bore, double deck hence the low height). It can be slightly tricky to find but google "A86 Paris Tunnel".