# Best Route from Eurotunnel to Benidorm without large tolls



## lulabelle

Hi there,

My daughter and her fella are bringing my motorhome down to my house in Spain in October. They are travelling from Newport in Wales to Eurotunnel. From there on, its seems there is lots of choices for Autoroutes, N roads, etc.
They want to get to Albir (beside Benidorm) using motorways, but avoiding most tolls, as this seems to add quite a cost to the journey.
Has anyone got a good reliable route (they dont want to do scenic, as they want to get here asap, but avoid large toll fees.
I would be very grateful for any good advice from you lovely people


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## rosalan

I would use TomTom and avoid Toll roads. The same for any SatNav. While it is more economical to avoid Peage, it is not always easy to describe mile by mile how to do this. If you can find them, a 'Bis' route is a good way to travel.
For what you request I would be lost without TomTom.
Alan


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## levoyden

We traveled down to our place in Almaradi, just up the cost from you.
We used the Motorway taking in the Milau bridge, very low tolls this way and a bonus scenic in some areas. Through Spain we left With tolls, not so expensive as France and like your Daughter, we had tight schedules. We used an Aire on the South coast near the Spanish border and the following evening arrived at the Apartment.
Den


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## mikebeaches

I agree with Alan. Nonetheless, I always like to have a road atlas as well as sat nav and up until now always used a Michelin one.

However, this time I tried an AA Big Road Atlas France 2011 (as well as a new Michelin edition). What a revelation - you can see at a glance which motorways are free, aiding route planning significantly. Currently £3.99 + postage on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Road-At...=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1316520101&sr=1-2

I've copied below the 5-star review I left on Amazon, which expands the point:

"Having just returned from three and a half weeks touring in France I felt compelled to comment on this excellent atlas. Before our trip I purchased both the AA Atlas and the Michelin France 2011 Atlas.

The AA Atlas had a number of advantages over the Michelin one, in my opinion:

1. It is easy to see at a glance which of the motorways are chargeable and which are free (it is much more difficult to distinguish on the Michelin version).

2. The AA Atlas has just the right amount of information; is much lighter weight and easier to handle (Michelin was heavy, floppy and unwieldy - awkward to handle).

3. The Michelin Atlas contained a lot of superfluous information that was of no value to us (pages of fine dinning and motorway filling station details, which are of course the most expensive!).

4. The AA Atlas costs less than the Michelin."


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## Stanner

They could also use the viaMichelin route planner it allows you to choose fastest, shortest or most economical, avoid tolls etc. and shows you the total cost fuel + tolls or just fuel if you avoid the tolls.

I've just done a check Coquelles to Albir and there isn't much in it avoid the tolls and you only save about £20 in overall costs, but the journey is about 5 hours longer.

http://www.viamichelin.co.uk/viamichelin/gbr/tpl/hme/MaHomePage.htm

Choose <Luxury car> + <Diesel> + <car/caravan> for best match to motorhome costs.


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## teensvan

HI.

The route we use is. Calais/Abbeville/Rouen/Le-Mans/Saumur/Niort/Biarritz. Thats france no toll roads.

Spain. Biarritz/Pamplona/Zaragoza/Sagunt/Benidorm. The route through spain can be done in one day not using toll roads 485 miles best done on a sunday

There are a load of aires on this route in france and at least 3 campsites that are open all year on the spanish route. 

steve & ann. ------- teensvan.


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## peedee

or Calais/Abbeville/Ruen/Evreux/Dreux/Chartres/Tours/N10 to Bordeaux/N524/D932/D934 to Pau/N134 to Somport Tunnel/Huesca/A23 to Zaragossa and Valencia/AP7 to Albir.

I did most of this route in January this year, see my outward notes >here< for likely stopping places and distances.

peedee


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## locovan

teensvan said:


> HI.
> 
> The route we use is. Calais/Abbeville/Rouen/Le-Mans/Saumur/Niort/Biarritz. Thats france no toll roads.
> 
> Spain. Biarritz/Pamplona/Zaragoza/Sagunt/Benidorm. The route through spain can be done in one day not using toll roads 485 miles best done on a sunday
> 
> There are a load of aires on this route in france and at least 3 campsites that are open all year on the spanish route.
> 
> steve & ann. ------- teensvan.


Did you find the Aires open though as on the toll road when we did it in Jan we found so many Aires shut in France.
Thats why we stayed in Service Stations


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## caulkhead

Hi All,


The France-AA-Big Road Atlas that Mikebeaches refers to is currently available from Lidl for £2.99. Bought one on Sunday despite the fact that I already have 3 other French road atlases.

Caulkhead


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## peedee

Just to add to my note above, the route via Chartres is in my view quicker but there are not so many stopping places as via Le Mans.

peedee


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## teensvan

Hi Mavis.

We have never done this route later than late October or coming back first week of April and all the aires we use have been open with the water on. I will as always take notes on the trip as to what is open/closed.

We have never used any of the aires on motorways as we get charged to much on the tolls.

steve & ann. - teensvan


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