Brittany runs ferries to northern Spain all year round, though slightly reduced service in the winter months as the ferries are taken out of service, one by one, for maintenance work.

My favourite crossing heading south is the two nights on board. I can't remember the exact timings, but you would have all day to ride to Portsmouth, board the ship about 9pm, it leaves an hour or so later. You have one night on board during which the ferry travels slowly, calls in at Roscoff the next morning for a crew change, then carries on with a second night on board and you arrive at Santander at 8am (7am UK time). You are now totally refreshed and have all day to make progress heading south through Spain. The price for this crossing is the same as one-night versions.

One word, however. After Switzerland (OK, and Andorra), Spain is the most mountainous country in Europe and crossing in mid winter can be very cold. On one trip a group of seven of us set out from the UK on Boxing Day. We were heading for Lisbon to follow the Dakar rally into Morocco, six of us had electrically-heated vests and were fine, the seventh suffered big time and had his wife buy and ship a vest to a hotel in Algeciras for the return trip.

A Gerbing heated vest is worth three layers of clothing and you can dial in the amount of heat as you wish. You will need this at altitude in Morocco as well. I also ride with handlebar muffs in winter.

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"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

Yes it gets cold in sunny spain !
I always find the worst part when going to maroc is just past Salamanca when you climb and pass Beja ( ski resort on left ) and after the that it tends to warm up !

Thanks for your replies everyone, great they sail throughout the winter.

I'm expecting a very cold ride through Spain so currently looking for a set of handlebar muffs that will fit over Barkbusters to compliment my Oxford heated grips and Keiss heated vest; thanks for reminding me Tim.

A good shout about the two night boat being the better option, I'm sure I took that crossing last time in 2007. The boat got into Bilboa early and I was on the road by 8am, in Algeciras by 6pm, then in Tangier Med lunchtime the next day. But that was in April and the weather was on my side.

There only one Uk to Spain ferry that’s 1 night on board and that’s the Pont Aven Plymouth to Santander route that doesn’t operate over winter.

All the new ferries (Salamanca, Santona and Galicia) are 2 nights on board for the Portsmouth to Spain routes. Non of the times I’ve used these has it stopped part way.

I came back on the Salamanca last week - only one night.
Looks the same southbound from the current BF timetable.
I've also never noticed stopping in France on on this route in all my years, but I suppose it's possible.
From what I recall of the Pont Aven, I prefer it over the Salamanca.

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The portsmouth to bilbao night ferry has been stopping in Roscoff for a crew change for ages hence the 36 hrs travelling time . Most people are still asleep then anyways

We didn’t stop in Roscoff at the beginning of March or any of the other crossings I’ve done on the new ships over the last 3 years although I do usually use the Portsmouth Santander route.

2 nights on the way out, 1 night on the return though.

So maybe it's only Bilbao route that gets the Roscoff.
I think I have only gone via Bilbao once, and that was northbound.

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Just a note to say that we got tickets from Normandie / Carlos / Gutierrez, who were open on May Day public holiday no less.
Price was 180 Euros one-way open ticket or 280 open return. Price online was 227 one way so we made a saving and got a bottle of wine too.

NB around the corner from Viajes Normandie is a car camping car park where you can stay the night for free. It is a bit noisy overnight from the nearby roads but felt safe enough.

Top tip - Carrefour at this site doesn't open until 9am but if you need facilities the ObraMat store opens earlier and has toilets and a little cafe inside.
It also has pretty much any hardware or tool that you may require, including lifting gear/slings suitable for non-kinetic recovery applications (check suitable ratings and make sure you know what you are doing blah blah blah...).

Crossing to Tangier Med was uneventful if slightly behind schedule.

You will need to fill out the immigration card and take to the booth on the boat during the crossing to get your passport stamped.

At Tangier Med after passport control, we almost got sent into the queue for the x-ray scanner with a shedload of white goods vans (driving a big white boxy vehicle), but the chap in the uniform had a bit of a conflab with his superior and we eventually got sent into the customs/Duoane queue with the other tourists.

Immediately after the booths we were pulled over with everyone else, whilst they had a look in the vehicle, ran sniffer dogs over it, asked if we had drones or weapons, and took drivers passport and vehicle V5 away for a little while.
They then returned with the temporary import document (tiny white slip of paper) without me needing to fill in a single form.

After that we were free to leave, and on the way out there is a parking place with a row of money exchange places, and at the end of the row, the insurance/assurances counter where we bought vehicle insurance for our stay in the country.

Everyone was helpful and friendly - even the customs guys once we had passed the 'attitude test'.

Was nice to hear 'you are welcome in Morocco'.

Now hoping that as we head south perhaps there will be less rubbish everywhere. I don't remember it being so bad but here up north its starting to look like India on a bad day...

Business as normal then.

What vehicle are you in? I paid €180 open return at the beginning of March and my last customer paid €150 a on the 15th April. Both 1 person with a 4x4

I've done Al to Tan Med about 10 years ago and it was very functional on both in and out legs.

However, aiming to go back next time on a bike and was thinking of Tarifa to Tangier for a change.

I know this used to be a den of rip off merchants but perhaps it is not so bad these days?

The pluses are that it suites my route better, I'm aiming to arrive at 09:00 and get as far south on toll roads on old tyres, change to more capable tyres once in range of the piestes. Tan knocks off a almost an hour.

On going back I'm going to have a day in Tangier at a hotel for a bit of a look around, so going back on the very early ferry makes sense as it is a few mins from the hotel.

However, negatives are:

Being held up in Tangier due to traffic.

More difficult, less streamlined immigration and customs situation.

Not so easy to get insurance, perhaps there are not booths making a trip into town for insurance a bit of a ball ache?

Hassle. I guess this is probably less of a problem for people in vehicles these days especially early on, as I'm sure that day tripper foot traffic are going to be like lambs to the slaughter! I'm fairly good with hassle so not to bothered about test riding a carpet that will fly me to Zagora!!!

I think the whole forum might be informed if anyone has done the Tarifa to Tan crossing just to see what it is like.

Please share if you can?

Thanks

Dave

Perhaps to nobody’s interest, but I took the ferry from Motril in Spain to Melilla a couple of days ago. Price and timetable worked very well for me. The ferry seems to leave daily at 23h. Arriving in Melilla at 06.30h.
It prevented me another night “on the road” in europe. Both ports are quiet & easy. Drove to the port, bought tickets at 19h and was boarded by 22h.

Me, the Hilux and the included chair where about €130 one way.

Cheers.

Thanks for update.
Were you able to buy Mk insurance at the frontier, or did you have a green card insurance already?

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Morocco Overland 4 pre-order for Xmas • Trans Morocco Trail

Thats a new crossings that I've neverhead of before. Shame it is on the wrong side of the country for me, but interesting to know about. Thanks

Balearia opened this route in 2016.
In January 2025, Armas will also operate on this route.

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