Best route to Barcelona

[mikehamid]

Hey guys. I'll be travelling to Barcelona by car over Easter and I'm curious if anyone has done it before. I'll be getting the ferry to Calais and ideally want to stop over for one night, before arriving the next day. Does anyone have any advice as to which route to take? Any hints or tips will be much appreciated

[Onne]

Biggest problem is Paris... That tends to get a touch busy at times.

Calais
Paris
Orléans
Vierzon
Clermont-Ferrand
Béziers
Narbonne
Perpignan

Then the E15 to Barcelona from the border.

Not a very exciting route (99% motorway), but a beautiful landscape.

[retroade]

Mate of mine travels to Southern France a lot and avoids Paris like the plague. He travels over the top of Paris then via Dijon and Lyon.

Calais
Reims
Troyes
Dijon
Lyon
Avignon
Montpellier
Perpignan
Girona
Barcelona

Longer but average speeds are much higher as there's less traffic.

Have fun on the Ronda Litoral!

[sharkattack]

Watching this as I'm planning on the same journey this July. I was wondering how far out of the way it was worth going to avoid Paris.

[swampy76]

Mar 16, 2015 10:45:34 GMT Onne said:

Biggest problem is Paris... That tends to get a touch busy at times.

Calais
Paris
Orléans
Vierzon
Clermont-Ferrand
Béziers
Narbonne
Perpignan

Then the E15 to Barcelona from the border.

Not a very exciting route (99% motorway), but a beautiful landscape.

this is the way we go

Nice route and you get to cross the Millau bridge which is fantastic.
You can get to it in around 8 hours from calais and it's a lovely town to stay in

[SmokeEm]

I did this a few years ago - best place for stop over I found was La Rochelle.

[thechef]

Edinburgh airport - Easyjet to Barcelona - about 2.5 hours LoL

[covcourier]

Calais
Rouen
Le Mans
Tours
Poitiers
Limoges
Toulouse
Then either Perpignan and down the coast road or straight through the twisty roads skirting round Andorra

60miles further than going through Paris but we find it an hour or so quicker. Our vans do it twice weekly using this route

[glenanderson]

Mar 16, 2015 18:42:16 GMT retroade said:

Mate of mine travels to Southern France a lot and avoids Paris like the plague. He travels over the top of Paris then via Dijon and Lyon.

Calais
Reims
Troyes
Dijon
Lyon
Avignon
Montpellier
Perpignan
Girona
Barcelona

Longer but average speeds are much higher as there's less traffic.

Have fun on the Ronda Litoral!

This is the way I'd go.  

It's nominally a half-hour and 75km further than going via Paris, but 99% of the time you lose that time (and more) going around Paris. There's loads of roadworks on the Paris route at the moment too. 

It's a much nicer drive via Lyon. The whole trip is about 12 -1/2 to 13 hours in a car, with Dijon about half way. 

[retroade]

Mar 19, 2015 21:14:29 GMT covcourier said:

Calais
Rouen
Le Mans
Tours
Poitiers
Limoges
Toulouse
Then either Perpignan and down the coast road or straight through the twisty roads skirting round Andorra

60miles further than going through Paris but we find it an hour or so quicker. Our vans do it twice weekly using this route

If you're going this route the smart move is to sail overnight on the Portsmouth to Caen ferry, short hop from Caen to Le Mans then pick up the route as above. Few drinks and kip on the boat, wake up early morning with a shorter drive through France. I lived in Tours for a few months and we'd always go for that route if not on the train.

[Dorset_Clive]

I've done the trip as far as Perpignan about 20 times over the last few years. Going via Rouen much nicer than Paris, a lot less traffic.

Personally I'd cut across to Orleans because despite the long boring drag down past Clermont-Ferrand you'll be rewarded with the trip across the amazing Millau bridge plus there's bit where you go through tunnel and burst out at the top of a huge mountain valley which the road switch-backs down the side. For an autoroute is probably my favourite bit in the whole of France.

Depending on time of day it can get slow around Beziers, but if the timing is right you can always stop off for lunch at the side of the Canal du Midi, and see the flight of locks in the centre of Beziers.

As for getting across the border going via Anndora is amazing but will add HOURS to the trip, so depends if this is about the journey or the destination!

C-F is about halfway but grim for a stop over. Saint-Flour is another ~50km but a much nicer feel to the place, as is Millau itself but then you miss out on the bridge (and it is another couple of hours on the road).

HTH

[glenanderson]

Whatever way you settle on, you're going far enough that there's no real "right" way. I find distance driving in France to be an absolute pleasure provided I can keep away from Paris. Enjoy the trip.






Oh, Barcelona is pretty cool too!