Comparing journey costs to Tarragona

Compare cost of different routes to Tarragona

Planning a trip to Tarragona to view the Roman remains, which is the quickest and lowest cost route? There are many options, ferry to Santander, Caen or Dieppe; Eurotunnel to Calais. Each results in a different number of miles in the UK, then miles in Europe, so here’s my simple notes showing the distances and costs.

Figures in yellow are the costs of ferry crossings, hours  driving and distances  are from Google maps.

I enjoy planning trips like this, checking out the costs, number or hours on ferries and costs. I realise that for some people it would be a nightmare, and each of us does have a preferred way to cross the channel. On balance the cost of taking the ferry to Spain is often repaid by several days less driving through France to get to the same point. It all depends what is most important on any particular trip.

Any of the major factors can influence the choice . . .

• Cost – is finance limited for this trip?
• Duration – do we have time to drive the miles?
• Vehicle miles – do we want to put hundreds more miles on the vehicle?
• How will we return?
• Where else are we visiting on this trip?

Our final choice was to take the ferry to Caen, then drive across France, enter Spain and drive south to Tarragona. The deciding factor was that we wanted to visit the Priorat wine-producing area in Spain after the Roman remains.