Driving with dog from U.K. to Spain

Hi, I drove from Spain back to the UK last April and found very cheap accommodation on the way through booking.com. Not all were good, eg extremely small rooms and noisy as they were in industrial areas on the outskirts of towns, but very good price.

Last October, we drove from Southampton via Calais (Euroshuttle) to Clermont Ferrand on the first day, then from Clermont Ferrand to Camposol (Mazarron) on the second day, bringing our two cats with us .... then back to Southampton at the end of December.

We booked the same hotel in Aubieres (Clermont Ferrand South) for both trips on-line in advance, it cost Euro 42 for a double room with toilet & shower. Pets are allowed and should have cost Euro 4 each extra at check-in, but the receptionist looked at our two fur babies and said "oh, they're so small, no-one will notice them" and didn't charge us any extra.

If you book directly with F1-Accor or Premier Hotels on-line, they charge about Euro 5 per night less than via booking.com (passing on their saved booking.com fee to you).

Euroshuttle charge £22 extra per pet per way, but the pet check-in before boarding at Folkestone and Calais was quick (10 minutes), although we had to bring the cats in their carriers from our car into their reception area.

Remember that your pet will need a rabies vaccination at least 3 weeks before the outward journey, plus a microchip (scanned at the Euroshuttle pet check-in), plus a health certificate from a specialist vet (which in our case, cost £99 per cat and took 2 minutes, the vet never examined either cat, they remained in the cat carriers, but still pronounced them as 100% healthy, she only scanned the microchips and checked those numbers against the paperwork). You have to travel outward within something like 10 days after the "health certificate check-up" has been completed. 

I believe that you will also need to get your dog treated for worms just before driving back to UK (not necessary for cats), you need to check for yourself.

Two weeks after being pronounced 100% healthy by the specialist vet in Portsmouth, one of our cats had to be put to sleep in Spain, he suddenly became extremely weak and stopped eating, and was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma cancer and terminal kidney failure :-(

Thank you so much for above information really useful so sorry to hear about your cat 

BTW, since I planned to travel with my dog several times to Continental Europe, I got her a Spanish EU passport from a local vet, which is accepted for your next trip and is valid for 3 years…

Did you get this when in Spain with a Spanish vet?  Because they don’t exist here since brexit it’s a AHC!!