Driving to Alicante
 

Planning on driving to Alicante at the end of August with my wife, we will be taking a 4-5 days leisurely drive down thru France (route still being worked out) before eventually dropping down into Spain.

Taking my MY20 XC60 Inscription Pro B5 so I know comfort won't be an issue and of course, I am hoping the same can be said for reliability.:tounge_smile:

Never driven these types of distances before so am quite excited!

For budget purposes, it would be good to know what type of MPG I could expect with carrying 2 adults with luggage, I appreciate these types of calculations can be complex (road conditions, speeds weather, etc) so just a rough idea would be good?

Also, any tips and ideas on how to get the best out of this (return) journey would be appreciated from anyone who has done anything similar (i.e the best place to get a French driving kit, vehicle security tips, and any general do's and don't's) or maybe from anyone who has had experience driving long distances?

Skip the section through France and take the ferry from Portsmouth to Bilbao or Santander.
You also get a nice cruise and only one night to get you to Spain. Going via France could add 2 or 3 days driving. Plus consider the French Covid implications.

I plan to be on the sea route in September to Bilbao for a trundle round some Paradores in the north of Spain.

Have a good trip.

Thanks, we may look at the ferry on the way home but heading down thru France is all part of the holiday (we are away for 1 month). Covid of course has to be taken into consideration and we will take all the necessary precautions as and when we possibly can.

When planning your route, look to avoid Paris (obviously) and Rouen. Also Nantes and Rennes bypasses during the weekends. It's the worst part of our journey when travelling down to Bordeaux via Plymouth to such an extent I've considered travelling via Caen and Le Mans instead and stumping up the extra £100 in tolls instead

My preferred method is to add a day or more to the timing and set the satnav so that it won't plan any tolls in the route. The smaller roads offer a much better way of exploring a country or countries.

This should be of some help:

https://about-france.com/

Especially that part:

https://about-france.com/driving.htm

I would recommend split the trip into 2 or 3 parts, and have one-night accommodation somewhere nice in France en route, definitely off the motorway.

If you are wanting to use toll roads then get an Emovis tag in advance. They work really well and help you avoid the queues at the toll booths by skipping through the tag lanes.

You also need to be aware of the low emission zones across France. Paris runs this but I think some of the other cities and departments have something similar where you need to register your car in advance (or just avoid them like the plague!).