Bilbao - routes to France

[Stuwsmith]

I am taking the ferry to Bilbao in May and for various reasons will be heading in to France for my holiday rather than stay in Spain. The obvious route from the ferry port to the border is by way of the A-8 Autovia. I believe this is a very busy route especially round Bilbao. I am not a great lover of autoroutes especially the toll ones, does anyone have any ideas on different (and less busy) routes? Thanks

[terryW]

In the past have always crossed at Portsmouth and driven down through France arriving before the boat to Bilbao. We use the motorway from France and travel along the North coast of Spain (the last trip being 2008), and over many years of doing this we have never experienced any traffic problems.

 

I would always stick to the motorway when crossing into Spain, on either coast. I suspect if you use main roads you will meet a lot of lorries avoiding the toll.

 

 

[Brian Kirby]

We have now crossed the Pyrenees on the N-135 / D933, between Pamplona and Sauveterre-de-Bearn via St Jean Pied de Port, four times, and while there have been a few trucks there were not that many.  It is a well engineered road: it twists and turns, and is steepish in places, but it has stopping places, is a pretty ride, and is sooooooooo much nicer and more relaxed than the autoroute.  It is not that heavily trafficked, so if your van has some reasonable "squirt" the trucks can be passed quite safely as they grind their way up and, since they know the road, you'd have to be very brave, or mad, to overtake them going down!

[Stuwsmith]

Thanks for the replies. Brian, your reply on the Pamplona route is interesting and could well have decided me to give this route a try. It probably adds a few miles but from the map looks, as you say, more interesting than the autoroute. Hopefully being a mainish road it should be clear of snow in May. My campervan is 88bhp so not that much "squirt" but the driver has plenty of patience!