The best roadtrip route to the center of Spain

In the hot summer of 2018 we decided to do a roadtrip starting from Bruges in Belgium and going all the way to Toledo in middle Spain. We crossed the south west part of France and the north of Spain during our 2 week roadtrip. In this article we will tell you more about the stops we did and the time you need to go from one place to the other. Enjoy!

Our route:

Belgium -> France

Stop 1: Bayonne & Biarritz (13u40, 1.1117km)

Biarritz is surfers paradise! The waves here are amazing! At the time we had never surfed before and we didn’t really have the time to learn because we were on a deadline to get to Madrid, but if we would go back we would definitely book a surf lesson! Instead we just watched the surfers while getting a tan on the beach. The cold breeze was more than welcome in the heatwave of almost 40 degrees Celsius. We stopped in the cute town of Bayonne to do some groceries and buy some delicious croissants.

France -> Spain

Stop 2: San Sébastian (1u17, 58,3km)

After only one stop in France, we headed to San Sebastian in Spain, close to the French border. The views here are really breathtaking! Go do the climb/hike on Monte Ulia and you will have an amazing view overlooking the citycenter and ocean! In summer it can get real crowded in here because a lot of Spanish people go to this place for their holiday. Especially the more wealthy Spanish people. Therefore it’s expensive to book a room here. Because we had a car, we booked a room 20 minutes from the center of San Sebastian at €50 a night. In the center, we couldn’t find anything less than €200 a night. That’s one of the many advantages of doing a roadtrip 😉

Stop 3: Logroño (2u08, 165km)

Personally, for us Logroño wasn’t so special and interesting so we only took a quick walk around town before heading of to Madrid.

Stop 4: Madrid (3u39, 330km)

Just in time we arrived to Madrid. It has always been Jari’s dream to go to Madrid and visit Estadio de Bernabeu of Real Madrid. We did the stadium tour which was so amazing and elaborate and at night we watched the game. We were sooo close to the world famous players I couldn’t believe it! Besides the football or soccer aspect, Madrid also has tons of other qualities!

The architecture here is amazing, the bars and shops are so much fun to visit. We especially liked the fact that there were so many smoothie bars and I (Joyce) am a smoothie addict. The variety of parks were a real necessity because of the overwhelming hot temperatures in summer. We would advise you to visit in Spring or fall and not in summer.

Stop 5: Toledo (1u10, 87km)

Toledo was such a magical place! It felt like we went back in time to the middle ages and were in some sort of a princess disney movie! It’s only a one hour drive from Madrid and we would definitely recommend visiting this incredible place! It is sooo romantic here!

Stop 6: Valladolid (3u04, 270km)

Valladolid wasn’t that special to us. It was a nice pause from driving all day, but for the rest it wasn’t really our thing. The locals also said to us that it’s more of a modern city for working Spanish people and not so much for tourists.

Stop 7: Burgos (1u18, 127km)

Burgos had a great historical center, but for us personally we wouldn’t stop here again. We did a fun hike in the city but decided to drive through to Bilbao.

Stop 8: Bilbao (2u09, 186km)

We would really recommend visiting Bilbao! It’s such an underrated city! I (Joyce) really fell in love with the Guggenheim museum and the boulevard filled with creative people (music players, art makers…). The colorful architecture is also very interesting! We would definitely recommend visiting this beautiful fun city, but do it as a citytrip! Don’t go here for a 2 week trip, but do it as a 4 day citytrip!

Spain -> France

Stop 9: Biarritz (2u58, 171km)

It was already time to head back home 😦 Because we did a roadtrip in the middle part of Spain we didn’t spend a day at the beach. We really are beach persons so we missed that! Luckily we could stop in Biarritz again to spend another day at the beach. It was amazing watching the surfers and feeling the soft cold breeze on our skin after being in those 40+ degrees in Spain.

Stop 10: Lourdes (2u49, 161km)

Lourdes is famous for it’s christian pilgrimage site. Although the architecture of the building is amazing, we weren’t really keen on spending over 4 hours waiting in line to see the holy water. There were tons of nuns and nurses here.

Stop 11: Toulouse (2u45, 163km)

Toulouse is such an underrated city as well! Most people only visit the coastline of the South of France like Nice, Saint-Tropez and Cannes, but Toulouse is so beautiful as well! We are in love with the beige buildings and streets filled with trees. The food here is great as well! Personally we would take the french cuisine over the spanish anyday.

France -> Belgium

(12u41, 1.015km)

We would love to had made a lot more stops and discover new places, but unfortunately Jari had to go back to work and I (Joyce) had to go back to uni.

Do you know any stops along this route that we have missed, but are definitly worth a visit? Please let us know in the comments!

Next time we would like to do a roadtrip to either the coastline of Spain so the eastern side of Spain like Barcelona, Valencia, Calpe… or to the northern side like Galicia and Asturias and maybe do Portugal as well. If you know any stops here that we should visit, please let us know in the comments! Which one would you choose?