Driving to Santa Pola from northern England

Hi

We drove down from Yorkshire last year and took the Channel Tunnel, cost about £86 and 35 minutes travel time to France. All booked online hassle free.

Remember to pay the fee for the Dartford Crossing, cost £5 and lasts a year for the return journey.

We booked a hotel in France to stop off at which was very good cost about £55 or £60 for the room, it was free for the dog.

Thanks for the prompt reply, i'd forgotten all about the channel tunnel, sounds like an option worth looking into...i'll take a look at the weekend...

Thanks again, Steven

we always travel by ferry from Plymouth to Santander they have kennels on top deck saves a long drive through France . Or there's a crossing from Portsmouth that let you take your dogs in the cabin but you have to book it as cabin with dogs are booked up quick. Regards Paul  

Most hotel through Spain are pet friendly we use booking .com we stop at Burgos not as busy as Madrid breaks the journey up   

thanks Paul,

all this info is really useful, having never done it before it makes a great difference knowing someone like yourself has done the journey and is happy to share their knowledge...

regards,

Steven

We did this journey on the 1st April, from Manchester to Santa Pola.  We have a Golden Retriever so decided to drive.  We came via the Shuttle and they have a good exercise area for dogs.  I added the app Booking.com and just before we decided to stop for the night I was able to book online using the filter of hotels that accept dogs.  We set off Sunday morning, had two overnight stops and arrived late Tuesday afternoon.  Hope this helps.

Hi,

Thanks for the information, really useful, would you know the approx. cost of the toll roads through France???

Thanks,

Steven

We've done the trip twice with dogs and the tunnel is just so straightforward. The first time we tried to avoid many tolls and it just isn't worth it. The second time we just paid up and it was so much easier, taking the E15 the whole way, just make sure you hit Paris in the early hours of the morning as its a doddle. We also used booking.com for dog-friendly hotels but the first time we booked in advance which just put extra pressure on us so it's easier to book as you go. We travelled at the end of June the second time and had no problems at all.
Please also make sure that you follow the laws for both France and Spain for driving and carrying dogs such as dog guards, muzzles, breathalyzers, spare glasses, warning triangles, spare bulbs, fuses and hi-viz jackets because foreign plates stand out and headlight beam deflectors are essential.
Also, once here, check out the rules for dogs on beaches or off the leash as they change all the time.
Michelin do a good guide for toll costs and how to avoid some or all of them.

Re ferry to Santander, I looked at this service and it was really very expensive at around £1300 for 3 adults and the dog so as I said in my first post we used the Chunnel.

I did use the Santander route to return to the UK last year and it was about £350 for 2 adults and the crossing was so boring as it takes about 20 hours or so.