Open a GPX file

Calais to Santander through France

Ride out from Calais and take the ferry home from Santander, or the other way round. Normandy and the Perche, the Loire, the Dordogne and the Lot, the Gers, the Basque Pyrenees at Roncesvalles and the Basque coast to Cantabria.

Distance
1,118 miles (1,799 km)
Type
Point to point
Where
France and northern Spain

At 150 to 300 miles a day, this is 4 to 8 days of riding. Set your own daily distance and add rest days.

Plotted by us, not yet ridden

Starts at Calais ferry port

Download GPX Plan this tripBook this trip
Book this tripCrossing Eurotunnel Le Shuttle, P&O Ferries, DFDSBeds from Calais, and each nightCover insurance and breakdownSee it all

Click a dot for details. White dots are the stops, each with a bed search. Yellow dots are places to see.

Main roads

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From the map

Longest gap between fuel
48 miles
Fuel stations near the line
273
Curvature
141 ° a mile
Campsites within 2 km
215
  • The longest stretch with no fuel station within 1 km of the line runs from mile 571 to mile 619. Check it against your range with the fuel range calculator.
  • The twistiest 20 miles run from mile 1,057 to mile 1,077, at 405 degrees of turning a mile.
  • Passes: Roncesvalles Pass (1,057 m, mile 860).
  • Countries: France.
  • 60 motorcycle shops are within 3 km of the line.
  • More routes from this port.

Measured on the route line from OpenStreetMap data, which can be missing or out of date. Curvature is degrees of turning a mile, measured every 100 metres. On our routes they run from 6 on the E19 to 701 on the SP638.

Before you go

  • Brittany Ferries sail between Santander and Portsmouth or Plymouth. Book the return before you set off.
  • The line keeps off motorways and toll roads by design.
  • The Basque coast road is twisty and busy in summer.

On the way

  1. Calais
  2. Abbeville
  3. Neufchatel-en-Bray
  4. Les Andelys
  5. Verneuil-sur-Avre
  6. Belleme
  7. Saumur
  8. Chinon
  9. Brantome
  10. Sarlat-la-Caneda
  11. Rocamadour
  12. Saint-Cirq-Lapopie
  13. Lectoure
  14. Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port
  15. Roncesvalles
  16. Lekunberri
  17. Azpeitia
  18. Bermeo
  19. Castro Urdiales
  20. Santander

Split it into days

Pick the miles you like to ride in a day. Each day ends at the named place on the route nearest that distance, and you get a GPX file for each day.

This is your pace, not our estimate of how long the riding takes. Day lengths vary because each day ends at a named place.

Ready to ride it?

Book this trip

Plan it with dates in the tour planner

1Getting there

This route starts where the boat or train lands at Calais. Book the bike as a motorcycle, not a car.

Compare every crossing

2Places to stay

Split the route into days above and each day gets its own bed search for where it ends.

Back to the days

3Cover

Check your bike insurance covers riding abroad, get travel insurance that covers motorcycling at your engine size, and breakdown cover that recovers a motorcycle in every country on the route.

What to check before you buy cover

The country on this route

What GOV.UK says riders need for it, checked 05/11/2026. Rules change, so read the official page before you go.

France

Money
Euro
Ride on the
Right
  • Riding into central Paris, Lyon, Grenoble or another low emission zone? You need a Crit'Air sticker. Buy it only from the official site (official site)
  • Some mountain areas require winter tyres or chains from 1 November to 31 March: check which vehicles and areas it covers (official site)
  • The drink-drive limit is a third lower than in England and Wales, with regular roadside checks

On every trip abroad: your licence, insurance that covers riding abroad, the V5C and travel insurance with medical cover. The tour planner turns all of this into a checklist each rider in your group can tick off.

Places to see on the way

Castles, passes, viewpoints and more within easy reach of the line, in the order you reach them. Yellow dots on the map.

Place details from Wikidata. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each card.

More routes in Europe

See them all
Adriatic coast road, Rijeka to Dubrovnik 366 miAlta to the North Cape 146 miAmalfi Coast road 36 miAuvergne volcanoes and the Puy Mary 186 miBlack Forest B500 127 miCalais to Lake Geneva for the Route des Grandes Alpes 575 miCalais to Roscoff along the Normandy and Brittany coast 562 miCalais to the Alps and back 1,418 mi