From North to South

It won't take you that long but it depends on how you intend to manage the journey.  My wife and I drove from Santander to La Linea in August.  We arrived in Santander at lunchtime and kept on driving for about 7 hours which took us to the South side of Madrid where we stopped for the night at an hotel.  We left at about 10.00am the next day and arrived in La Linea at approximately 5.00 pm.  So I would say we drove for not more than 14 hours.  The scenery from Santander to North of Madrid is stunning but don't take your eyes off the road whilst driving, it's a long way down.  Madrid is a nightmare and be prepared to have traffic coming at you from all directions, and nobody will let you in, let you out, give way, or make allowances for you!  The roads are pretty good, especially the further South you go.  Just watch those Spanish drivers, they can use their horns but they just haven't mastered indicators yet.  Drive carefully.

Adrian Ord

hello

my first post on here so hope it will be helpful

have driven from Santander to fuengirola twice  took 11 hours in a renault megane and 16 hours in a ford transit fully laden 1/2 tonne overweight ( opps )

thats driving solid with no breaks apart from the calls of nature and a petrol refill

take the a8 to bilboa

a68 to pick up the a1

onto the a5 at burgos then its pedal to the metal  till you see the signs for malaga

theres a toll just after you get on the A1 from memory where you get a card then you pay about 2 hours later when you think you have bypassed the next toll and have to rip the cab apart to find the ticket , it will cost you about €25

as previously mentioned Madrid is quite a nightmare due to heavy ignorant traffic and it also gets quite hilly along the way so i hope its nat  a 1 litre fiat panda your travelling in

times are based upon an average of 100-120 kmh as you cant really clog it much more as obviously its illegal ( smirk ) and the roads are not up to the standards of the uk dual carriageways/motorways, more like an old dual carriageway with the frequent pothole,loosechippings,confusing markings thrown in to keep you awake

hope this is of some use

regards

chalky

Hi.Any help, would be grateful.Driving toMojacar Jan 5 with my wife & 2small dogs via Channel tunnel following A.A. route.Need any information re motels etc.that will allow dogs for 2 stops say south of Paris & north of Alicante-here,s hoping.

Regards Haydn & Judy.