Costa del Sol

[cricket50]

Due to three USA trips being cancelled over the last year or so we have decided to drive down to the Costa del Sol from mid February for six weeks. We have done numerous long road trips in America so the distance does not phase us. We are driving down from Yorkshire. For the first four weeks, our accommodation is covered by timeshare vouchers we got for our cancelled trips to America. If anyone as any suggestions on routes, tolls, ferries and channel tunnel your thoughts and advice would be appreciated. Looking forward to reading your comments. Peter

[pompeyboy]

I find Viamichelin a good route planner, it shows toll costs and you can change the default to miles and £s from kms & €s if you prefer.

I'm probably out of date as Google maps might well do the same thing.

Hotels used to be much cheaper in France than here but things have levelled up a bit with premier Inns and the like. I would still aim to catch an early evening ferry or tunnel and stay the first night in or around the Calais area and then you will wake up ready for the first leg down towards Spain.

Others might suggest overnight here then an early ferry or train over. Whatever suits you I guess.

I go with the cheapest crossing and have found both P&O and the tunnel flexible with changing when we have arrived late and never had to pay more even on their cheapest ticket types. However it can be difficult to predict a crossing time especially on the return so might be worth paying a bit more for the guarantee to change at minimal cost.

[mickeyspal]

We lived in the costa del sol for 2 years , and drove there and back twice, it's a 2 day trip with an overnight stop. I cant remember the road but we headed pretty much straight down through France, stopped over near Bilbao then headed to Madrid and Malaga.

Whenever we had visitors we always took them to Benalmadena Marina, Puerto Banus, and Mijas.
Fuengirola zoo is very nice .
Theres an area called Castillo de monde it's a beautiful turquoise lake with a nature area around it , up in the hills about an hours drive ,
Also you can drive to Gibraltar in about an hour or so as well , or head in the other direction to Nerja . Try and find a local Ferria where all the locals go and try the paella cooked in an enormous pan with about 10 people stirring it, theres usually a fairground, flamenco dancers , the locals wear traditional clothes, you can see the real Spain.

[Daisy_Do_72]

Just spent a week in benalmadena-it’s been lovely. Have talked for years about a road trip down to Spain so I will follow this with great interest… it’s even influenced my next car choice! 😊