Driving to Manilva

Hi Everyone

We are arriving in Bilbao soon and want to know the best route to drive down to Manilva (Costa Del Sol) avoiding as many Toll roads as possible and ideally avoiding Madrid.

Try using 'Via Michelin'

I've added the Route options to avoid tolls.

Must admit when we drove from Santander to Manilva last year we came via Motorways and Toll roads, and the tolls we not that bad, paid much less than the 30€ that Via Michelin stated.

And we even came past the outskirts of Madrid stopping in a Dog Friendly hotel in Mostoles.

Thanks technoape. That site hasall the information i need . We are staying in duquesa for 5 months , can you reccomend any ex-pat bars in this area ? . cheers Marky

oh boy, can I or what! lol

To many to list, but in the port our fav's are Bar Duquesa, C Bar and Oasis out of the 20 or 30 or so bars and restaurants.

In Sabinillas again there are loads, but our fav's are Cafe Plaza, ItZabar, Last Resort and our fav Spanish bar Lo de Andreas.

Just don't stop at any along the way!

As I said, Via Michelin is great for planning routes and with one click it will add hotels along your route.

Thanks technoape. we are staying very close to the port , hopefully arriving tuesday ! weather looks great been watching the golf at finca cortesin.  might see you around the port ? . cheers Marky

look at this    http://manilvalife.com/  site for local news 

Castillo area is great too...

Hi There

I am interested in this thread as I will be driving down in December with dogs and will be looking to stay near Madrid on my 2nd night.

Would you recommend the hotel you used, Technoape?

Grateful for any recommendations near Madrid.

Thanks

Hi b4ssy,

Sure can recommend the hotel we used. It's on the outskirts of Madrid which is great as you avoid going into Madrid itself.

It's the: Ibis Madrid Alcorcon-Móstoles

And the address is: Travesía de Móstoles n°3 E - 28922 ALCORCON

Here is the route we took from Santander to Manilva

Tyler stayed in the room with us and the staff were very friendly and very helpful.

Using this route means that your doggies are not in the car for too long and there are plenty of service areas to stop at so they can stretch their legs,

And the different scenery along the route is breathtaking.

Thanks Techno

Hotel looks perfectly located even though we will be approaching from a slightly different direction ( from Bordeaux )

How long, approximately, did the drive from there to Duquesa take?

Cheers

 Just to let you know we stayed in the Ibis Alcorcon-Mostoles last week en route to CDS. Everything was perfect for our 2 large dogs and 9 month old boy. We had 2 rooms at €49 each as they are quite small. Parking was secure inside a perimeter fence and behind a security gate.

It is probably easier to access coming in from the Santander direction than from San Sebastian because you don't get so involved in the Madrid traffic.

On our return journey we will stay north of Madrid somewhere just off the main road to Burgos. This will enable us to completely bypass Madrid via the excellent ring road which is like an empty version of our M25.

I can also highly recommend the Pullman hotel on Le Lac at Bordeaux. I have rarely encountered such friendly and helpful staff in a hotel. Also had secure parking and is reachable in a day travelling south from Calais.

On our return I am looking to stay further north (near Poitiers) in order to shorten the final leg back to Calais.

Hope this info useful.