Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020

Prices to run on the toll roads in Spain

Country forums / Western Europe / Spain

Hi, I have heard that the toll roads in Spain shall be rather expensive to use. Anyone know what they will charge for a normal car from Barcelona to Alicante?
Do they take card or bills/coins at the gates?

Viamichelin has a pretty accurate estimate

They take both credit cards and cash. Needless to say cards are quicker and easier to use.

Not everywhere in Spain roads are that expensive. It´s mainly Catalunya and Madrid, and it is a loooong story :-)

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And you don't have to take the toll road. You can run parallel in places on a dual carriageway road

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There are toll free autoroute alternatives most of the way to Alicante, so put "tollfree"into your route planner as an option. Otherwise I thought Spanish tolls were expensive. Going north from Barcelona the free roads are very slow, but going south even on ordinary roads cruising at the legal limit of about 60mph is pretty stress free.

There's a nice corniche coast road south from the airport but there's a toll free inland alternative to the toll motorway starting a few miles outside Barcelona which runs pretty much all the way to the Ebro. At this point you might consider diverting about 20 miles up the Ebro to Miravet, a well preserved Templar fort. A lot of Civil war history in this area.

The N340 road south is being improved and most of the time you can cruise high 50s, but it is still mainly single lane and frequently goes through towns. at Vinaros I would take the Morella/Alcaniz road and turn off to San Mateo and then take the very quiet CV10 south down a pretty valley. About 20 miles south, near the infamous new Castellon Airport, this turns into a motorway running all the way to Valencia but even before that 60 is pretty comfortable.

Follow the Alicante signs round Valencia and then follow the Alcoi signs for a new toll free motorway to Alicante.i don't know why so many foreign drivers go the toll route as it's longer.

Sorry to be so long but I've covered the whole section more than a few times and the Valencia Vinaros bit once a fortnight for about 10 years. Avoid the N340 where you can, and look for the tollfree. Be aware that some route planners avoid "shadow" toll roads but the shadow tolls are not your responsibility.

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Like in every country roads have a number in Spain. The motorways start with A, followed by a number. The toll-motorways start with AP, but the number may be the same. Therefore A2 is a different road from AP2. Just be aware of it.

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Thanks for all your valuable replies!

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