Driving from Dieppe to La Siesta

Hello, both Google maps and Michelin have very good route maps and Michelin will show fuel usage and tolls so is brilliant. Looking on google maps quickly, the A10 and A28 look like construction sites.
Unless you want to arrive on holiday exhausted, I would recommend two night stops, so the best part of 3 days here and 3 days back.
One trip (not your route), I researched hotels and booked in advance but the second time I just winged it using hotels as close to the motorway as possible and it was much better. I´ve avoided many tolls once and stumped up another and I would pay tolls every time.
I would also fly every time and I´m sorry you´ve been ripped of at Alicante as we´ve never had a problem but there are many recommendations on this site for hire cars.
Enjoy your new home however you decide to get here.

Cheryl

"I am not keen on these motorway motel type places. I imagine UK registered cars might be a target there for would-be thieves." 

You imagine wrong, would be thieves look for easy pickings so if you don't leave things on display a UK car is at no more risk than any other reg. 

Cost wise reckon on the round trip costing around €400 in tolls and depending on vehicle as much again, or more, for fuel. Then chuck in the ferry and 4 to 6 nights accommodation and meals and you'll soon find yourself heading towards perhaps as much as €1500 - what we're you saying about the cost of flying.........?

When driving to La Zenia from Cherbourg we used Via Michelin to plan the route, detailed information including where and how much the tolls are. We also split the journey with pre-booked pet friendly hotels as we were bringing our dog to Spain. No problems enroute and mostly easy driving on motorways that were not busy even in August.

Thanks Cheryl.  I'm pretty good at navigating my way around Europe having done it in both Easterly and Southerly directions over the years.  It was just personal experiences I was looking for - you know, that nice little B&B a few miles from the autoroute with secure parking (that kind of thing).

Since I posted the decision has been made anyway NOT to take the car.  It's good old Jet2.com again and (probably) a hire car although this time I will try a local supplier.  There is one on the La Siesta urb, near JMG inmobilaria, but I need to look up the name

Yes but my original idea was to put a few things in the car (for the new house) so there would be no possibility of hiding everything from view.  Even covered with a big blanket it would look tempting enough to smash a window for a look.

I've decided against it anyway.  Too far, too much hassle, too expensive!  Jet2.com it is!

Thanks John.  I'm familiar with Michelin and all the other good sites but, as I have already said in another reply, it's the plane again.  Too much hassle driving 2,750 miles (that's the round trip mileage).  20 years ago I would have done it without a thought.  Not now!

Good decision and means you get to spend more time where you actually want to be rather than getting to and from from it!

Bon voyage. 

Michael, I have done the trip many times 1600 miles one way.  Always bring things over from the UK and initially the car was full of stuff.  I never do tolls, set the sat nav to miss them.  I use about £150 diesel, £60 ferry one way.  Its a camper so can now sleep in it and save on hotels.  Usually 2 1/2 - 4 days depending on what mood I am in... sometimes look round France.....

I love the journey and save as you say on hire cars and like you have been ripped off at Alicante car....

So for me it works and makes departure either end very flexible....  Its a great start to the holiday...

Enjoy..

We used to live in Cerbere, the last village in France before Spain on the Med coast, and frequently drove to and from the UK using all the Channel ports. From Dieppe we would go via Rouen , using RN roads, then a little hop onto the A13 before taking the A154, morphing into the N154 past Evreux, through Dreux and Chartres, meeting the A10before Orleans.  We would always have a break at the Saran services, although they were altering the area last time we passed through, so it may no longer be as pleasant.  Back on the autoroute, we would turn onto the A70 for its entire length, then forward on to the A75, eventually reaching the A9, which would take us to Perpignan ,where we would exit for the more scenic coastal road, which rejoins the A7 just past Figueres, you would probably wish to stay on the motorway through to Spain and down to Alicante, then the 332.

We would quite often take the N11 from Figueres back to the coast, then the C32 to Barcelona, where we'd take the Ronda littoral to the airport and the C32 out again, then the 340 to Valencia, and the A7 rather than the toll road from Valencia.

We would stop overnight, usually in a chain hotel, as I have mobility issues, around Clermont Ferrand  in France, and around Benicassim in Spain.  I would suggest an extra stop somewhere in the region of Perpignan to Figueres.

We found that mix of toll and non toll roads to be the most varied scenery wise, there's no avoiding the rolling plains of Northern France, but the adrenaline of being on the way used to make up for that. Over three days you'll spend around seven hours daily on the road, including breaks.

I hope you do manage the road trip in the future, the scenery makes it worthwhile, but realistically it would take one of your three weeks holiday to do the journey service as part of your holiday rather than a headlong dash.