for mobiles

For no-toll route from Calais or Paris to Bayonne, see
        Through France without tolls .

Hotels along the route - all very easy to find
Coloured markers on the map indicate handy hotels close to the road. Click any marker for details. Direction indications for reaching hotels are for southbound traffic.
  To book any hotel, click hotel name or booking-link in the info window that opens up on the map

   

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About-Spain.net recommended toll-saving route: Bayonne (France) - Pamplona - Saragossa - Teruel - Valencia -  Elche - Almeria   .

This route through Spain offers a combination of no tolls (or minimal tolls, if you prefer a few stretches of toll motorway), together with fairly easy driving conditions, avoiding the major urban areas, and difficult driving conditions, of both Madrid and Barcelona. It also avoids taking any of the crossings between France and Spain across the Pyrenees, which are very attractive, but generally rather slow, specially on the French side.

   The essential part of this route follows the free Spanish A23 motorway, the Autovia Mudéjar, from Saragossa (Zaragoza) via Teruel to Valencia, then the free A7 just inland from the Mediterranean coast

The route starts from the French border crossing on the   A64  motorway or D810 (ex French N10 route) at Biriatou or Irun, in the southwest corner of France, near Bayonne.

Immediately after the Spanish border crossing on the motorway, leave the motorway at Biriatou, at Spanish Exit 1 (not French exit 1 before the border) clearly marked as the exit for   N121a  for Pamplona.
The N121a is a good modern Spanish main road, avoiding towns and sharp bends. It winds gently and easily up through the Spanish Basque country to Pamplona, a distance of just over 70 km.
  Skirt round Pamplona to the east, following the signs for Zaragoza. Briefly join a free section of the toll   AP15  motorway at the exit from Pamplona, before leaving at exit 81, signed  N121  for Tudela, Zaragoza and Madrid.

Follow the N121 for 34 kms, before rejoining another free section of the AP15, shortly after an exit to the village of Pueyo. Leave the AP15 again after bypassing Tafalla, and return to the N121 at exit 50.  Keep following Zaragoza on the N121, which after 36 km becomes the  N113 . It's all clearly signed.
After 2.5 km on the N113, at a roundabout, take another free section of the AP15.  Leave AP15 again at exit 6, signed A68 Tudela.

 You will now follow a route which alternates between A68 (free autovia) and  N232 , as far as Saragossa.  This free route runs parallel to the toll A68., which it joins just short of the Saragossa ring road.  On approaching Saragossa, follow signs for  A23   Teruel.
   Keep following signs for Teruel, leaving the Saragossa southern ring road (Z40) at exit 29, marked A23 Cariñena and Teruel.
   Wine-buffs may like to go off at exit 240 and visit the small town of Cariñena, a reputed wine-growing town with wine museum. If stopping off, stay at the Hotel del Vino, a wine themed hotel surrounded by vineyards. Rejoin A23 at exit 232, south of the town.
 
  From now on, it is hassle free driving for almost 300 km along the A23 Autovia Mudéjar motorway, a modern free motorway with relatively little traffic. This motorway crosses the heart of Spain, and between Saragossa and Valencia there is only one small city, which is Teruel, capital of the province of this name.
   The A23 meets the free Mediterranean coastal motorway, the  A7 , at Sagunt, just northeast of Valencia.  From here on, follow the A7, then   A77 , then   A70 , after which the A7 again following signs for Murcia. The free A7 continues to  Almeria and beyond.
For Granada, Sevilla and the Costa del Luz, take the free A92N at Puerto Lumbreras.