Driving London to Malaga via Eurotunnel

My partner and I will be driving from London to Malaga in July via the Eurotunnel

Can anyone recommend the best motorway route?  I am thinking down past Reims in France, onto Barcelona and then the cost route to Malaga

Or, do we go via Madrid ?  We are both experienced drivers so are planning on 1 x over night stop each way at the beginning and end of the holiday

Thanks

Best to plan using www.viamichelin.com . It shows a route of 2200 kilometeres and down passing close to Bilbao and straight down the other side of Spain. We drive to Cartagena and generally take two stops each way. Also remember speed limit now reduced in SPain to 110Kph.

Guy

mapquest dot co dot uk  gives mileage of 1,407 miles.

I have done this trip a couple of times and it is a lot cheaper (fewer tolls) via Madrid. no difference in time or distance

coming down through France, if you take the route via Riems, this will incurr a lot of tolls. If you want the route without tolls, as we travel all the time, the western route down France is not as quick but avoids the tolls. Heading Rouen, Evereaux,  Chartres, Bordeaux then around the end of the pyranees and from there Madrid would be the best option. Pm me if you want more info on this route 

 I agree with jencoo. Except we went over the pyranees. Probably took about the same time but shorter and incredible views, then headed on down to Valencia. We drove on down to Torrevieja. We only paid 0.60 Euros in tolls the whole way. We did it last august. The speed limits were higher. I think if you are going further you might need to think about 2 stops en route. We stayed in Bordeaux the first night and made our villa the second evening. The Michelin website as previously suggested is excellent and you can enter extra options to pick non toll motorways. We loved the trip.

 A couple of people have asked for our route to Spain. Please find attached the route we did. However, Day 1 is showing around 3.50 Euros in tolls we only paid 60 cents

Day 1 

http://www.viamichelin.co.uk/web/Routes?&&strStartLocid=32NDJxeG01NjIyMzExMGNOVEF1T1RNME5qaz1jTVM0M09Ua3lNdz09&strDestLocid=31NDJna3IxMGNORFF1TnpRd05qRT1jTFRBdU5qZzJNRGs9&intItineraryType=1&isFavoriseAutoroute=true&isAvoidPeage=true&isAvoidVignette=false&isAvoidLNR=false&isAvoidFrontiers=true&dtmDeparture=23%2F07%2F2010&distance=km&devise=1.0|EUR&carbCost=1.05&Fp=1&autoConso=5.1&villeConso=4.5&routeConso=4.20&Fl=0&indemnite=&caravaneHidden=false&vh=CAR&empriseH=275&empriseW=315&reinit=true

Day 2

http://www.viamichelin.com/web/Routes?&&strStartLocid=32NDJna3I1MzM2MTAxMGNORFF1TnpRd05qRT1jTFRBdU5qZzJNRGs9&strDestLocid=31NHVzNXAxMGNNemN1T1RNd05BPT1jTFRBdU56SXlOVGM9&intItineraryType=1&isFavoriseAutoroute=true&isAvoidPeage=true&isAvoidVignette=false&isAvoidLNR=false&isAvoidFrontiers=true&dtmDeparture=24%2F07%2F2010&distance=km&devise=1.0|EUR&carbCost=1.1&Fp=1&autoConso=5.1&villeConso=4.5&routeConso=4.20&Fl=0&indemnite=&caravaneHidden=false&vh=CAR&empriseH=275&empriseW=315&reinit=true

Try Google maps for your route - there's an option to avoid tolls...!

Also, it's worthwhile booking the eurotunnel over the internet in advance. Earlier this year we opted to simply turn up (not being sure how long we'd take meandering through France). The price on the internet was in the order of €60 ......at the kiosk when we arrived......wait for it........ was over €260 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

:-(

 You can use Tesco vouchers to exchange for Tickets to go via Eurotunnel. When we went last August we got a £60 crossing, 1 way, for £15 worth of Tesco vouchers. Don't leave it to the last minute. Kevin

 It will be a minimum of 20 hours actual driving time from Calais. Depending on how many hours you want to drive each day will govern the number of overnight stops.

I have done it with one stop ( Biarritz ) and 2 stops ( Bordeaux and Madrid )

The Vamichelin website not only shows you the different routes available but also calculates tolls and shows hotels on your preferred route.