🇩🇪 Cross-border drive · Germany → Spain 🇪🇸
Driving from Frankfurt am Main to Bilbao
- Drive time
- 15h 8m
- Distance
- 1,485 km
- Same day?
- Split it
- 12 h+, plan a stop
- Fuel cost
- ≈ €245
- petrol · diesel ≈ €207
- Tolls
- ≈ €118
- per-km
- EV charging
- Plenty fast
- 26 of 69 ≥50 kW
On this page
Route map
Route options
Other paths OSRM found between the two cities — handy when traffic, tolls, or scenery matter more than raw speed.
Avoids motorways
+8h 24m- Distance:
- 1,548 km (+63 km)
- Duration:
- 23h 32m
Via: N 145 · N 10 · N 57 · B 9
How else can you make this trip?
Driving is the focus of this guide; here's how cycling, coach, and (soon) train and plane stack up for the same pair.
15h 8m
1.485 km · €245 fuel
See details ↓
Not realistic
1.485 km is far beyond a typical multi-day cycle tour. Try a shorter pair like a day or weekend stage.
No direct service
Our coach data (FlixBus + BlaBlaCar) doesn't list a direct service for this pair. National operators (e.g., National Express in the UK, Eurolines feeders) may still cover it — check their site directly.
2h 52m
from €40
See details ↓
16h 38m
SNCF VOYAGEURS · Renfe Cercanias
See details ↓
Trip plan
How to think about the drive: one day, split, or overnight.
Overnight recommended
Too long for a single-driver day. Plan on 1 overnight stop(s) to do this trip right.
A natural overnight stop near the halfway point: Blois (fr).
- Distance:
- 1,485 km
- Duration:
- 15h 8m (free-flow, no traffic)
Where to stop
Places along the route that make natural breaks for coffee, lunch, or a night.
-
Stiring-Wendel 🇫🇷 fr
≈186 km≈ 3 km detour from the main route
-
Sainte-Menehould 🇫🇷 fr
≈371 km≈ 25.3 km detour from the main route
-
Sens 🇫🇷 fr
≈557 km≈ 5.4 km detour from the main route
-
Vineuil 🇫🇷 fr
≈743 km≈ 8.7 km detour from the main route
-
Saint-Benoît 🇫🇷 fr
≈928 km≈ 29.7 km detour from the main route
-
Blaye 🇫🇷 fr
≈1,114 km≈ 19.9 km detour from the main route
-
Saint-Vincent-de-Tyrosse 🇫🇷 fr
≈1,299 km≈ 10.5 km detour from the main route
Key moves
Things to know before you set off — borders, sides of the road, tolls.
Multi-country chain · DE → FR → ES
You'll cross 3 countries on this drive — each with its own toll system, fuel pricing, and motorway rules. Skim the must-know section below before you set off, and have your registration plus insurance card in the door pocket for any roadside check.
Tolls on motorways in FR / ES
Budget for motorway tolls — France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal charge per-km, Croatia and Greece by section. Contactless cards work almost everywhere; have one loaded.
Long rural stretch on N 230 Rocade Intérieure
Plan for about 19 km of two-lane country roads. Slower than motorway, but often the pretty part — fewer overtakes after dark.
Must-know before you go
The things a driver from another country wouldn't think to ask about — fines, stickers, payment cards, opening hours.
City access & emission zones
Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart need a green Umweltplakette
Must knowGermany's low-emission zones (Umweltzone) are simpler than the French system but stricter on entry. You need a colour-coded sticker physically on your windscreen before entering. The vast majority of zones today require a green sticker (Euro 4+ petrol, Euro 6+ diesel). Order via TÜV / DEKRA / certified workshops — about €6–13, ships in days. Driving without one costs €100 even if your car would qualify.
Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla now run ZBE low-emission zones
Must knowSpain's Zonas de Bajas Emisiones (ZBE) cover central Madrid (24/7), Barcelona inside the Rondes (weekdays 7:00–20:00), Sevilla, Valencia and a growing list. Foreign plates need to register at the city portal in advance — your Euro emission class determines whether you get in. Without registration, cameras log entry and the fine reaches your home address.
Order your Crit'Air sticker before the trip
Must knowParis, Lyon, Strasbourg, Marseille, Toulouse and a growing list of cities require a Crit'Air air-quality sticker visible on your windscreen — even for a single drive-through. It's €4.51 from the official site and ships by post (allow 2–6 weeks abroad). Without it, expect on-the-spot fines from €68. Your registration document tells the issuer your emission class.
Frankfurt Umweltzone covers the entire inner ring
Must knowFrankfurt am Main
Green sticker required for the Innenstadt zone, which is bigger than most foreigners expect — it extends past the Anlagenring to the Mainz–Hanau line. Fines are €100 even for parked cars. Bavarian and Hessian rental cars come with the sticker; foreign-registered vehicles need to order one before arrival (about €13).
Tolls, vignettes & road payment
Contactless works at every autoroute booth
UsefulFrench autoroutes use a ticket system: take a card on entry, pay on exit. Every barrier accepts contactless tap-to-pay — pull into the "CB / bank card" lane (orange "t" logo means Liber-T transponder only, avoid those). For frequent EU travellers a Bip&Go transponder pays itself off in two trips by skipping the queue.
Most Spanish tolls were abolished in 2024
TipThe AP-1, AP-7 (Bilbao stretch) and most of the Mediterranean coast highways are now toll-free. A handful remain: AP-9 (Galicia), AP-66 (León–Asturias), Catalonia's C-32/C-16 tunnel approach. Spain is no longer a high-toll country for cars — your fuel + a few specific bridge fees is the realistic budget.
What your car must carry
Triangle, first-aid kit, hi-vis vest — all three
Must knowGermany requires a warning triangle, a first-aid kit (compliant with DIN 13164, with a "use by" date — €10 at any pharmacy), and a reflective vest in every passenger car. Roadside checks do happen at borders. The first-aid kit is the one foreign drivers most commonly miss.
Hi-vis vest in the cabin, triangle in the boot
Must knowA reflective vest must be reachable without leaving the vehicle (in the door pocket or under your seat — boot is too late). One warning triangle is also mandatory. The 2012 breathalyzer rule was scrapped in 2020 but is still nice to keep. No spare-bulb requirement.
Driving rules & habits
Left lane is for overtaking only — return immediately
UsefulOn unrestricted Autobahn sections (where you'll see no speed-limit-end signs), faster cars expect to use the left lane unobstructed. Drift into it without checking the mirror and a 911 closing at 250 km/h becomes your problem. Indicate, overtake, return right — every time. Slowing in the left lane to "make space" is more dangerous than predictable speed.
Phone-mounted radar warnings are illegal
UsefulActive radar-detector apps (and the "police nearby" feature on Waze / Google Maps) are technically banned in Germany — fines hit €75. Most drivers leave them on without consequence, but if you're stopped for any reason, the officer can ask to see your phone. Switch the warning layer off when crossing into DE if you want to play it strict.
Priorité à droite still applies in towns
UsefulOn urban streets without signs, traffic from your right has priority — even from a side street that looks subordinate. Outside cities the rule is mostly retired, but in residential French villages it survives. Slow at every right-hand junction unless a yellow diamond on your road tells you you're on the priority road.
Plan your stops, not just your finish time
UsefulOSRM gives you free-flow drive time. Realistic add: 10% on motorway-heavy routes, 25% if you're crossing two cities. Eat at off-peak hours (11:30 lunch, 18:00 dinner) — service-area queues at noon kill 20 minutes. EU fatigue research is consistent: 15-minute break every 2 hours, full 45-minute break before 6 hours. The drive between hours 7 and 9 is where avoidable accidents cluster.
Fuel stations
Off-motorway stations close late evening
TipSpanish provincial fuel stations often close 22:00–07:00, especially in the south. Motorway services (Cepsa, Repsol on the autovía) run 24/7. If you're routing through an Andalusian backroad, fuel before sunset and don't bank on a small-town pump.
Contactless cards work at virtually every motorway pump
TipMajor brand stations (Shell, Total, BP, Repsol, Cepsa, OMV, Eni, Esso) take Visa and Mastercard contactless without an issue. American Express and Diners are spotty south of the Alps. A €100 pre-authorisation hold is normal — it releases within 5 days. Carry €50 cash for the rare independent station.
Rules, fees, and thresholds change. Always verify against the official source the day before you drive — this page is a checklist, not a legal reference.
Main roads
The highways this route spends the most kilometres on.
-
A 10 L'Aquitaine458 km
-
A 63 Autoroute des Landes341 km
-
A 4 Autoroute de l’Est200 km
-
A 19 —129 km
-
A 26 Autoroute des Anglais75 km
-
AP-1; AP-8 AP-1 / AP-871 km
-
A 5 —50 km
-
AP-8 Bizkaiko Golkoko Autobidea36 km
-
N 230 Rocade Intérieure19 km
-
A 60 —18 km
-
A 320 —14 km
-
A 3 —11 km
Route character
How much of the drive is motorway vs. secondary vs. rural.
Motorway drive — fast, predictable, uneventful.
- Motorway
- 96%
- Secondary
- 3%
- Other / rural
- 1%
Drive difficulty
At-a-glance feel: how demanding is this drive for one driver?
Overall
Demanding
Tough drive — multiple complicating factors compound fatigue. Strongly recommend splitting across days.
- Long drive: 15h 8m behind the wheel at free-flow speeds.
- Cross-border: de → es. Keep documents accessible and check border rules.
Elevation profile
Highs, lows, and the total climb / descent along the route.
- Lowest point
- 15 m
- Highest point
- 356 m
- Total ascent
- ↑ 704 m
- Total descent
- ↓ 798 m
Fuel & tolls
Rough cost expectation for a typical EU passenger car. Treat as an estimate — pump prices change weekly.
Petrol (RON 95)
≈ €245
111.4 L × €2.20 / L · 7.5 L/100 km
Diesel
≈ €207
89.1 L × €2.32 / L · 6 L/100 km
Electric (DC fast)
≈ €150
260 kWh × €0.58 / kWh · 17.5 kWh/100 km
Public DC fast charging — slower AC charging at home or hotels typically costs about half.
Motorway tolls & vignettes
≈ €118
- FR — €0.10/km on the motorway network (≈ 999 km in-country ≈ €100)
- ES — €0.09/km on the motorway network (≈ 205 km in-country ≈ €18) Toll-free on the A-network; charged only on AP roads.
Prices last refreshed 2026-09-28.
Fuel and EV charging along the route
Stations within a few kilometres of the road, sampled at evenly-spaced waypoints.
EV charging
26 at 50 kW or above (fast / ultra-fast).
Fastest first
- Zunder - Aire de Loiret — Beaune-la-Rolande 500 kW
- Electra - A10 - Aire de Saint Palais Est (direction Paris) — Saint-Palais-de-Phiolin 400 kW
- Electra - A10 - Aire de Saint Palais Ouest (direction Bordeaux) — Saint-Palais-de-Phiolin 400 kW
- Zunder - Aire de L’Ocean Ouest — Lesperon 400 kW
- Zunder - Aire de L´Océan Est — Lesperon 400 kW
- Ionity Saint-Léger — Saint-Léger 350 kW
- Mobilize - Renault Saint-Avold — Saint-Avold 320 kW
- Engie-Vianeo - A4 - Aire de Longeville-lès-Saint-Avold Nord — Longeville-lès-Saint-Avold 300 kW
- Engie-Vianeo - A4 - Aire de Longeville-lès-Saint-Avold Sud — Longeville-lès-Saint-Avold 300 kW
- Electra - Saint-Avold - Novotel — Saint-Avold 300 kW
- Engie-Vianeo - A19 - Aire de Loiret — Beaune-la-Rolande 300 kW
- Atlante - A10 - Aire de Saint-Léger Ouest (direction Bordeaux) — Saint-Léger 300 kW
Weather by month
Average daytime high / overnight low and typical monthly rainfall, over the past five years.
🇩🇪 Frankfurt am Main
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
6°
1°
|
8°
2°
|
12°
3°
|
16°
6°
|
20°
10°
|
25°
15°
|
26°
15°
|
26°
16°
|
22°
13°
|
16°
9°
|
9°
4°
|
6°
2°
|
| 79mm | 46mm | 56mm | 62mm | 77mm | 55mm | 90mm | 72mm | 72mm | 81mm | 60mm | 46mm |
hot mild cold
🇪🇸 Bilbao
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
14°
6°
|
15°
6°
|
17°
8°
|
19°
9°
|
20°
11°
|
25°
16°
|
25°
17°
|
27°
17°
|
24°
15°
|
23°
13°
|
17°
10°
|
14°
7°
|
| 163mm | 99mm | 99mm | 79mm | 89mm | 53mm | 42mm | 50mm | 97mm | 128mm | 161mm | 119mm |
hot mild cold
Next 5 days at Bilbao
Live forecast — refreshes every few hours.
-
Sun 11
⛅
15° / 15°
—
-
Mon 12
☀️
23° / 13°
—
-
Tue 13
⛅
23° / 14°
—
-
Wed 14
☀️
25° / 15°
—
-
Thu 15
☀️
27° / 16°
—
Forecast: MET Norway
Directions
Turn-by-turn summary of the main manoeuvres, generated by OSRM.
Show all 48 manoeuvres
- —
- Vilbeler Straße
- Kennedyallee (B 43) 3 km
- (B 44) 0.5 km
- (A 3) 11 km
- (A 67) 6 km
- (A 60) 18 km
- (A 63) 136 km
- (A 6) 7 km
- (A 320) 14 km
- Autoroute de l’Est (A 4) 41 km
- Autoroute de l’Est (A 4) 159 km
- Autoroute des Anglais (A 26) 75 km
- (D 15)
- (D 15) 3 km
- (D 677) 0.1 km
- (D 677) 7 km
- —
- (D 610) 8 km
- (D 660)
- (D 660)
- (D 660)
- —
- — 2 km
- — 0.4 km
- (A 5) 50 km
- (A 19) 129 km
- (A 19) 2 km
- L'Aquitaine (A 10) 13 km
- L'Aquitaine (A 10) 139 km
- L'Aquitaine (A 10) 306 km
- Rocade Intérieure (N 230) 19 km
- Autoroute des Landes (A 63) 24 km
- Autoroute des Landes (A 63) 150 km
- Autoroute de la Côte Basque (A 63) 31 km
- AP-1 / AP-8 (AP-1; AP-8) 7 km
- Bizkaiko Golkoko Autobidea (AP-1; AP-8) 4 km
- AP-1 / AP-8 (AP-1; AP-8; E-15) 0.7 km
- Bizkaiko Golkoko Autobidea (AP-1; AP-8) 3 km
- AP-1 / AP-8 (AP-1; AP-8) 2 km
- Kantauriko autobidea (AP-1; AP-8) 5 km
- Kantauriko autobidea (AP-1; AP-8) 50 km
- Bizkaiko Golkoko Autobidea (AP-8) 36 km
- Kantauriko autobidea (A-8) 4 km
- — 0.4 km
- —
- Buenos Aires kalea
- Ibañez de Bilbao kalea
By plane from Frankfurt am Main to Bilbao
Indicative travel time on a non-stop flight, based on great-circle distance, average commercial cruise speed (850 km/h), and a 90-minute allowance for taxi, security, and boarding.
- Total time
- 2h 52m
- Door-to-door from :from airport.
- In the air
- 82 min
- At ~850 km/h cruise speed.
- On the ground
- 90 min
- Taxi + security + boarding (typical short-haul).
- Route
- FRA → BIO
- 1.166 km great-circle.
Indicative fare: from €40 — fares vary by season, day of week, and how far ahead you book. Always check the airline or a meta-search before planning around this number.
Show flight path on map
Estimate-only. We don't pull live schedules or fares for flights — see the methodology page for how this number is computed.
Air travel emits roughly 5–10× the CO₂ per passenger-km of rail for the same distance.
By train from Frankfurt am Main to Bilbao
Fastest cross-border rail itinerary from the public Transitous planner. Times reflect a typical Monday-morning departure on the next available service-day.
- Fastest journey
- 16h 38m
- 5 changes
- Lead operator
- SNCF VOYAGEURS
- + 3 more
- Alternatives
- 5
- Itineraries returned by the planner.
Trains on the fastest itinerary
- ICE 9552
- TGV INOUI 8433
All operators across alternatives
- SNCF VOYAGEURS
- Renfe Cercanias
- Euskotren Trena
- DB Fernverkehr AG
Includes a high-speed rail leg (TGV, ICE, AVE, Frecciarossa-class).
Show route on map
Routing via the public Transitous OTP planner (community-run MOTIS instance). Cached 24 hours; verify on the operator's site before booking.
How this page is built
Compiled by COD Solutions Oy from open European data — OSRM over OpenStreetMap for the route geometry, Open-Meteo for monthly climate normals, OpenTopoData SRTM 30m for elevation, EU Weekly Oil Bulletin for cross-border fuel-price bands, and Open Charge Map for EV charging stations. See our methodology for refresh cadence and limitations.