Choice of routes to Spain

French motorway tolls

Alternative routes via Bordeaux

►ALL ROADS SOUTH LEAD TO SPAIN ......

It's a long drive from the UK to Spain, even further to Portugal, and drivers heading south need to establish their priorities in terms of time, speed and cost. Motorway tolls between Calais and the Spanish border can vary between zero and over 100 Euros, (over 160 € for campervans) depending on the route chosen. Yet unless time is no object, paying a few French motorway tolls makes sense ; it will even normally work out cheaper on fuel than slavishly avoiding all tolls, given that stop-start driving through urban areas is very heavy on ruel consumption.
  Trying to avoid all tolls is generally a pointless exercise even for motorhomes or campervans; driving hundreds of kilometres on slow roads with numerous towns and villages to negotiate is not the best way to cross France, unless you want to keep stopping to visit the sites on the way. There are more economical ways of driving to Spain than that.
   There are four main routes south through France, and all of them lead to Spain. They all include long stretches of toll motorway, but three out of four also include long sections of road that are not toll roads.
    If you want to cross to Chrebourg or Caen rather than Calais, see Routes from Cherbourg.

Time, distance, tolls - compare the routes UK to Spain:

• E1  ► All motorway, avoiding Paris. : Leave Calais on the A 26 following signs for Reims. Then follow down through Reims, Troyes, Dijon, Lyon, Valence, Montpellier and Perpignan, to the Spanish border at Le Perthus. 
  See  Route guide - Calais, Reims, Dijon, Lyon, Mediterranean
  
  Toll  April 2026 ~ 130.90 €  Distance:  1246 km    Driving time: about 11h 30. 
• E2 ► All motorway, via Paris. Leave Calais on the A 26 following signs for Reims as far as Arras. Then follow down through Paris, Orleans, Clermont Ferrand, Beziers, Perpignan. Motorway toll-free from Clermont Ferrand to Béziers, except for toll on Millau viaduct.  
  See  Route guide - Calais, Rouen, Orleans, Clermont-Ferrand route
  
  Toll  April 2026 ~ 94.50 €   Distance:  116873 km    Driving time: about 11h.40  ( if no delays round Paris)
• W1► Fastest - all motorway or dual carriageway except through Rouen. Leave Calais on the A 16 following signs for Abbeville. Then follow down through Rouen,, Alençon, Le Mans, Tours, (or Rouen, Chartres, Orleans, Tours) and the A10 to Bordeaux, Bayonne and the Spanish border. 
    ►  See detailed map, showing Route guide UK - Spain via Rouen and Bordeaux
  
  Toll  April 2026 ~ 92.50 €  Distance:  1090 km    Driving time: about 10h.30.
  Alternative route: use Portsmouth Le Havre or Portsmouth Caen ferries for 150 km less driving in France (and less driving in the UK too if coming from west or northwest of London, as well as avoiding M25). Check with Brittany Ferries
• W2 ► Like W1 but via Paris and Orleans, not Rouen
  Toll April 2026 ~ 103.90 € Distance, about 1035 km - Driving time: about 11h 05.
  But beware of delays round Paris

Cheaper routes to Spain

Tip: reduce your fuel costs by driving less fast. Driving at 70 mph (112 kph) rather than 80mph (129 kph) reduces average fuel consumption by a huge 15%..... the equivalent of 30 centimes less per litre at 2026 fuel prices, or 18 € less on the cost of a full tank of 60 litres.
On a 1100 km journey through France, that works out at an average saving of  about 20 €

• E3 ► Good cost / time balance  Calais to Orleans avoiding Paris. Then ► same as E2.  Mostly motorway,  8 km longer than E2, but less tolls and no Paris.
  Leave Calais on the A 16 , then follow down through Rouen, Evreux, Chartres, Orleans, Clermont Ferrand, Beziers, Perpignan. Motorways free from Abbeville to Rouen, and Clermont Ferrand to Béziers, except for toll on Millau viaduct. Map with hotels
  
  Toll April 2026 : ~ 74.80 €.  Distance: 1177 km  Driving time: about 11h 30. 
• E4 ► The fastest eastern route with less tolls:
  see Route guide - to the Mediterranean without tolls Same as E3 except for Orleans to Clermont Ferrand. But it will take about 3 to 4 hours more driving than any of the other routes. After Béziers, follow the old routes nationales to the Spanish border. Rather slow after Perpignan, and not for HGVS.
  
  Toll  Around 60 € or 50€ if you don't take the Millau viaduct. Costs and driving time depend on how many time-saving toll sections you prefer to take.
  Distance, around 1200 km. Driving time: about 13h  to 14h.30.
• W3 ►Good cost / time balance A fast western route with few tolls:  Calais - Irun via Rouen, Orleans, and A10 to Poitiers, then N10 to Bordeaux:  tolls depend on what toll sections you prefer to take. It is possible to avoid tolls after Bordeaux, but this is slow and not worthwhile unless you have all the time in the world.
  For detail see Calais to Southern Spain via Bordeaux with few tolls
  
  Toll  April 2026 - 45.30 €.  Distance, about 1030 km. Driving time: about 11h 40.
• W4 ► Shortest Calais - Irun with few tolls  via Rouen, Chartres, then N10 to Tours, and A10 to Poitiers, and N10 to Bordeaux: shortest route, but longer in time than W3,  Note: Chartres to Tours, 120 km, mostly single carriageway. For more details, notably regarding toll motorways south of Bordeaux, see Calais to Bayonne / Irun without tolls 
  
  Toll : April 2026  :  42.90 €.  Distance: 1038 km   Driving time: at least 11h. 33.... up to an hour and a half more if you avoid tolls between Bordeaux and the Spanish border.
• W5  Cheapest Calais - Irun with few tolls  via A 28, Rouen, Orleans, Vierzon, A20, N141, Angoulême, Bordeaux: more motorway than W4 but most economical in tolls. A good balance between distance, speed and tolls   .See route guide
  
  Toll April 2026  :  39.20 €.  Distance: 1112 km  Driving time: about 12h. 20.

 

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