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Driving from Calais with a dog - Page 3

Bill17520

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2018 8:53am

Bill17520

Helpful member

Posts: 278

142 helpful points

Location: Los Urrutias

Joined: 10 Mar 2018

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2018 8:53am

Ibis Irun is cheaper, pet friendly and good food close.

Jim1954

Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2018 6:17pm

Posts: 61

6 helpful points

Location: La Torre Resort

Joined: 5 Nov 2018

Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2018 6:17pm

Hi,

I will also be doing this trip, probably in April.

To avoid the worst of the tolls i am taking a route to Bordeaux and crossing into Spain  at Bayonne. The hotel chain Campanile almost always take dogs in France.

In Spain slightly more difficult but around Pamplona there are some, just google on Booking.com and from there u are 8 hours from Mar Menor.

Hope this helps

Jim

Mark69

Posted: Sat Dec 1, 2018 4:32pm

Posts: 23

5 helpful points

Location: Camposol

Joined: 31 Aug 2017

Posted: Sat Dec 1, 2018 4:32pm

Susierosie wrote on Fri Jul 14, 2017 6:49pm:

I am driving from Calais to Campasol with my dog,can you tell me the best route and is there a hotel where I can stay with my dog, halfway on my journey. Thanks

I have a Tom Tom day nav and it gives you the option to avoid toll roads. Mark

Jim1954

Posted: Sat Dec 1, 2018 7:16pm

Posts: 61

6 helpful points

Location: La Torre Resort

Joined: 5 Nov 2018

Posted: Sat Dec 1, 2018 7:16pm

Yes, that is the problem with the ferries. I tried to book and was told they were fully booked a year in advance and you can only hope for cancellations. 

Jim1954

Posted: Sat Dec 1, 2018 7:18pm

Posts: 61

6 helpful points

Location: La Torre Resort

Joined: 5 Nov 2018

Posted: Sat Dec 1, 2018 7:18pm

Also mate avoid Madrid if you can. Bloody nightmare. Go from Pamplona to Zaragozza and its a dawdle from there

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Trace79

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2020 11:18am

Posts: 4

Location: Camposol

Joined: 25 Feb 2019

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2020 11:18am

Lilkal wrote on Wed Aug 9, 2017 12:06pm:

Ok we have finally arrived with our dog from .uk.  as promised this is route hotel petrol and toll costs.

We started on 28th july.  Euro shuttle a breeze.  Booked on 8:25, got their early so was able to go on 8:05 at no extra cost.

Once you get off shuttle in Calais u r straight on road.  No passport checks just open road so if u using sat nav set it up before getting off train because the route starts as soon as u get off.

My car fills up on £52 which we did in Essex.  We filled up a further 2 x costing €41 and  €46 before reaching Los alcazares.  1,356 miles door to door.

You get yr first toll ticket within 10 mins of leaving Calais and the exit toll was not until we got off roadcat Dijon for our hotel.  Cost €24.10.  You can pay by credit card cash or pre paid toll (a dart tag system).  On the bigger tollsthis would have been best option as people with cash got in credit card booths andvuts held up the lines.  I would suggest u look up toll booths before hand (we didnt) and although the signs for cash cards or auto pay are easy to distinguish on toll with lots of booths we did come thru some that only had 2 lanes and we did get in the auto pay one in error.

Clear roads all way.  6 hours drive time.  Plenty of service stations on route.  We did not stop at anything that wasn't a large service station area.

First day we stopped in Dijon.  Holiday inn.  It was great.  Quite.  Rooms good.  Eve meal there was fantastic.  Breakfast is basic but dud the job.  Just across from hotel is a park and although u have to keep dogs on a lead it was great to walk round.  Open from 7:30 am till 9:00 pm.  There is an outside seating area to restaurant at back and our dog was allowed to be with us.  U could also have yr dog in restaurant for eve meal and breakfast but We opted for outside as is a large dog.  Staff fantastic nothing too much trouble for them.

Next stop girona.

Tolls €15  €44.10  €6.25

From Dijon to girona we stop start for no apparent reason.  Instead of 7 hours it took nearly 11 for this stretch.  Here the tolls are a free for all with people moving from queue to queue.

The boarder from France to Spain was a nightmare.  A 6 kilometre stretch to boarder took 1 hour 45 mins.  Purely because of how many cars (plenty of toll booths but just not enough for volume.  It's 2 lanes this part of road and then it opens to about 15 booths.  As you can imagine it's like Next opening the doors for their Xmas sale.

We stayed at hotel costabella.  Nice hotel. Staff great and again ate outside on terracecwith dog.  Both eve meal and breakfast lovely. There is an area to walk your dog which is a grass area and long lane which I get to be walking out exit/entrance to hotel and immediately double back on yourself.  You in fact look down on the cars in car park is the best way to describe it.

30th

Tolls €8.00  €36.15   €19.95

Traffic was clear Thursday and 7 hours of driving.

It got hotter as u travelled down and we truly never git our heads around how long it would actually feel.  Not a drive I would do again unless necessity took over but we have a dog and this was preferable to sending her with a dog transport company or flying her.

We only stopped briefly as it was so hot and also only stopped when she showed us she needed it rather than us stopping every 90 mins.  My dog is used to being left for 4 hours so this was stance I took which for us was right.  It may not be for u guys.

Hope this helps.  Any questions please do ask.

Safe journey to u all.

Karen 

Thank you for your detailed journey we are doing the same route with 3 collies, in 6 weeks easier knowing what’s ahead 😀

Fiesta Lady

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2020 1:08pm

Fiesta Lady

Helpful member

Posts: 64

53 helpful points

Location: San Cayetano

Joined: 31 Dec 2018

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2020 1:08pm

We usually do the journey from St Malo in France to San Cayetano several times a year with our 2 black labradors. Due to the time of our ferries we frequently end up staying overnight around Bordeaux as can't do more than a 5 hour drive (boat gets into St Malo around 5 pm).  We used to stay in the Kyriad or Ibis in Lormont, Bordeaux but have now discovered the B & B Hotel in Mios which is so much better.  It's cheap, they take dogs and it's right alongside the motorway so you can get straight back on the road the next day.  We usually take our tea with us to eat in the car but there is a McDonalds right by the Hotel. We then drive approximately 10 hours the next day stopping for breaks only till we get to San Cayetano.  We have been doing the journey for 5 years and our dogs are both 12 now so are used to it and sleep most of the way.  

If the ferry gets in to St Malo earlier in the day and we have more time we stay at the Ibis in Bayonne where they have a Courtpaille Restaurant in the Hotel.  Bayonne is a beautiful city and great to walk around if you have time.  The staff at the Ibis are lovely and all the Ibis Hotels are really dog friendly.  I think it's 5 euros for each dog but that seems to be standard in the basic hotels.

It costs us around £125 for diesel for the journey in total and we allow £65 for the hotel including the extra for the dogs but it's often cheaper.  The tolls each way amount to around £65 depending on the exchange rate.  We just use our credit cards all the way as much easier.  We have looked at the journey without tolls but it would take so much longer and cost more in diesel so we are happy with the route we currently use which is St Malo/Bordeaux/Hendaye/Irun/Pamplona/Zaragoza/Teruel/Sagunt/La Font de la Figuera/Villena/Elda/Elche where we pick up the AP7 down to Pilar de La Horadada/San Javier.

Hope this helps.

Good Luck.

Trace79

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2020 1:58pm

Posts: 4

Location: Camposol

Joined: 25 Feb 2019

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2020 1:58pm

Bill17520 wrote on Thu Nov 29, 2018 8:53am:

Ibis Irun is cheaper, pet friendly and good food close.

Thank you bill

Trace79

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2020 1:59pm

Posts: 4

Location: Camposol

Joined: 25 Feb 2019

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2020 1:59pm

Fiesta Lady wrote on Tue Sep 15, 2020 1:08pm:

We usually do the journey from St Malo in France to San Cayetano several times a year with our 2 black labradors. Due to the time of our ferries we frequently end up staying overnight around Bordeaux as can't do more than a 5 hour drive (boat gets into St Malo around 5 pm).  We used to stay ...

...in the Kyriad or Ibis in Lormont, Bordeaux but have now discovered the B & B Hotel in Mios which is so much better.  It's cheap, they take dogs and it's right alongside the motorway so you can get straight back on the road the next day.  We usually take our tea with us to eat in the car but there is a McDonalds right by the Hotel. We then drive approximately 10 hours the next day stopping for breaks only till we get to San Cayetano.  We have been doing the journey for 5 years and our dogs are both 12 now so are used to it and sleep most of the way.  

If the ferry gets in to St Malo earlier in the day and we have more time we stay at the Ibis in Bayonne where they have a Courtpaille Restaurant in the Hotel.  Bayonne is a beautiful city and great to walk around if you have time.  The staff at the Ibis are lovely and all the Ibis Hotels are really dog friendly.  I think it's 5 euros for each dog but that seems to be standard in the basic hotels.

It costs us around £125 for diesel for the journey in total and we allow £65 for the hotel including the extra for the dogs but it's often cheaper.  The tolls each way amount to around £65 depending on the exchange rate.  We just use our credit cards all the way as much easier.  We have looked at the journey without tolls but it would take so much longer and cost more in diesel so we are happy with the route we currently use which is St Malo/Bordeaux/Hendaye/Irun/Pamplona/Zaragoza/Teruel/Sagunt/La Font de la Figuera/Villena/Elda/Elche where we pick up the AP7 down to Pilar de La Horadada/San Javier.

Hope this helps.

Good Luck.

Thank you 

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