🇵🇹 Cross-border drive · Portugal → Netherlands 🇳🇱
Driving from Lisbon to Rotterdam
- Drive time
- 23h 5m
- Distance
- 2,179 km
- Same day?
- Split it
- 12 h+, plan a stop
- Fuel cost
- ≈ €337
- petrol · diesel ≈ €286
- Tolls
- ≈ €172
- per-km
- EV charging
- Plenty fast
- 54 of 127 ≥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
+13h 50m- Distance:
- 2,379 km (+200 km)
- Duration:
- 36h 56m
Via: N 10 · N-122 · N-620 · N 2
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.
23h 5m
2.179 km · €337 fuel
See details ↓
Not realistic
2.179 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.
3h 37m
from €40
See details ↓
23h 20m
SNCF VOYAGEURS · NS International
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 2 overnight stop(s) to do this trip right.
A natural overnight stop near the halfway point: Bayonne (fr).
- Distance:
- 2,179 km
- Duration:
- 23h 5m (free-flow, no traffic)
Where to stop
Places along the route that make natural breaks for coffee, lunch, or a night.
-
Covilhã 🇵🇹 pt
≈272 km≈ 5.9 km detour from the main route
-
Tordesillas 🇪🇸 es
≈545 km≈ 11.1 km detour from the main route
-
Gasteiz / Vitoria 🇪🇸 es
≈817 km≈ 5.9 km detour from the main route
-
Mios 🇫🇷 fr
≈1,089 km≈ 26.6 km detour from the main route
-
Parthenay 🇫🇷 fr
≈1,362 km≈ 30.4 km detour from the main route
-
Saran 🇫🇷 fr
≈1,634 km≈ 21.7 km detour from the main route
-
Saint-Laurent-Blangy 🇫🇷 fr
≈1,906 km≈ 7.3 km detour from the main route
Key moves
Things to know before you set off — borders, sides of the road, tolls.
Multi-country chain · PT → ES → FR → BE → NL
You'll cross 5 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 PT / ES / FR
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 R1
Plan for about 15 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
Brussels Low Emission Zone covers all 19 communes
Must knowBrussels LEZ runs 24/7 across the entire city; foreign plates must register online before arrival. Diesel pre-Euro 4 and petrol pre-Euro 1 are banned outright. The fine for unregistered entry is €350. Antwerp and Ghent have their own LEZs with different sticker requirements.
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.
ZER Avenida-Baixa-Chiado — pre-2000 petrol, pre-2005 diesel banned
Must knowLisbon
Lisbon's Zona de Emissões Reduzidas covers the central historic axis (Avenida da Liberdade, Baixa, Chiado). Hours 07:00–21:00 weekdays. Pre-2000 petrol cars and pre-2005 diesels are banned 24/7. Foreign plates: register at the Câmara Municipal portal. Park at one of the EMEL underground garages and walk.
Tolls, vignettes & road payment
A22 Algarve and ex-SCUT roads — electronic only
Must knowPortugal has two toll systems. Most autoestradas use a normal ticket-and-pay barrier. But the A22 (Algarve), A23, A24, A25 and A28 are "ex-SCUT" routes with no booths — only overhead gantries that read your plate. Without a Via Verde transponder or pre-registration, you have 5 days to pay at a CTT post office, or the fine reaches your home address. Easiest fix: rent a Via Verde Visitors transponder (€6/week) at the airport or border.
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.
No motorway tolls, but Westerschelde tunnel charges
TipDutch motorways are free for cars, but a few specific crossings charge. The Westerscheldetunnel near Vlissingen is €5–7. Kil Tunnel (A29) and Liefkenshoektunnel (Antwerp side) are similarly priced. Pay contactless on entry — there's no booth queue.
What your car must carry
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
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.
Bicycles have right-of-way at unmarked junctions
UsefulIn the Netherlands, cyclists are treated as full traffic and often given priority you'd expect from a pedestrian crossing back home. Always check the bike lane before turning. At a roundabout in town, cyclists get the inside line and you yield. The rule that bites is unmarked junctions in residential streets — yield to the bike.
Town names switch language across the border
TipBelgium signs towns in the local language: Mons becomes Bergen in Flanders, Liège becomes Luik, Brussels becomes Bruxelles/Brussel. SatNav usually handles both, but printed maps and exit signs can throw you. If you're looking for "Mons" on a Flemish-side motorway, you'll see "Bergen" on the gantry.
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.
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'Aquitaine555 km
-
A-62 Autovía de Castilla348 km
-
A 1 Autoestrada do Norte288 km
-
A 23; IP 6 Autoestrada da Beira Interior213 km
-
A 63 Autoroute de la Côte Basque205 km
-
AP-1 Autopista del Norte126 km
-
E17 —100 km
-
AP-1; AP-8 Kantauriko autobidea65 km
-
A16 —52 km
-
A 25; IP 5 Autoestrada das Beiras Litoral e Alta35 km
-
E19 —34 km
-
A-1 Autovía del Norte30 km
Route character
How much of the drive is motorway vs. secondary vs. rural.
Motorway drive — fast, predictable, uneventful.
- Motorway
- 98%
- Secondary
- 1%
- 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: 23h 5m behind the wheel at free-flow speeds.
- Cross-border: pt → nl. Keep documents accessible and check border rules.
Elevation profile
Highs, lows, and the total climb / descent along the route.
- Lowest point
- 4 m
- Highest point
- 833 m
- Total ascent
- ↑ 1,179 m
- Total descent
- ↓ 1,228 m
Fuel & tolls
Rough cost expectation for a typical EU passenger car. Treat as an estimate — pump prices change weekly.
Petrol (RON 95)
≈ €337
163.4 L × €2.06 / L · 7.5 L/100 km
Diesel
≈ €286
130.7 L × €2.18 / L · 6 L/100 km
Electric (DC fast)
≈ €223
381 kWh × €0.59 / kWh · 17.5 kWh/100 km
Public DC fast charging — slower AC charging at home or hotels typically costs about half.
Motorway tolls & vignettes
≈ €172
- PT — €0.09/km on the motorway network (≈ 414 km in-country ≈ €37)
- ES — €0.09/km on the motorway network (≈ 579 km in-country ≈ €52) Toll-free on the A-network; charged only on AP roads.
- FR — €0.10/km on the motorway network (≈ 827 km in-country ≈ €83)
Prices last refreshed 2026-10-12.
Fuel and EV charging along the route
Stations within a few kilometres of the road, sampled at evenly-spaced waypoints.
EV charging
54 at 50 kW or above (fast / ultra-fast).
Fastest first
- Ionity Guarda 400 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
- Engie-Vianeo - A1 - Aire de Coeur des Hauts de France Ouest — Assevillers 400 kW
- Ionity Saint-Léger — Saint-Léger 350 kW
- Mobilize - Renault Blois — Blois 320 kW
- Atlante - A10 - Aire de Saint-Léger Ouest (direction Bordeaux) — Saint-Léger 300 kW
- TotalEnergies - Relais de Cœur des Hauts-de-France — Assevillers 300 kW
- Engie-Vianeo - Intermarché Péronne — Péronne 300 kW
- Tesla Supercharger Blois — Blois 250 kW
- Tesla Supercharger Blois - Avenue de Chateaudun — Blois 250 kW
- GRD-00024 — Guarda 200 kW
Weather by month
Average daytime high / overnight low and typical monthly rainfall, over the past five years.
🇵🇹 Lisbon
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
16°
10°
|
17°
10°
|
17°
11°
|
22°
13°
|
23°
14°
|
27°
17°
|
29°
18°
|
30°
19°
|
26°
17°
|
24°
17°
|
19°
13°
|
15°
10°
|
| 113mm | 68mm | 98mm | 52mm | 20mm | 25mm | 6mm | 0mm | 29mm | 96mm | 110mm | 61mm |
hot mild cold
🇳🇱 Rotterdam
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
7°
2°
|
9°
4°
|
11°
4°
|
14°
7°
|
18°
10°
|
22°
14°
|
22°
15°
|
23°
15°
|
21°
13°
|
16°
11°
|
10°
6°
|
8°
5°
|
| 100mm | 60mm | 67mm | 74mm | 84mm | 51mm | 115mm | 68mm | 84mm | 114mm | 108mm | 76mm |
hot mild cold
Next 5 days at Rotterdam
Live forecast — refreshes every few hours.
-
Sun 25
⛅
11° / 11°
0.2mm
-
Mon 26
🌧️
14° / 11°
13.7mm
-
Tue 27
🌧️
17° / 11°
12.6mm
-
Wed 28
⛅
14° / 9°
—
-
Thu 29
⛅
15° / 9°
0.2mm
Forecast: MET Norway
Directions
Turn-by-turn summary of the main manoeuvres, generated by OSRM.
Show all 68 manoeuvres
- Praça Marquês de Pombal (Rotunda)
- Avenida Marechal Craveiro Lopes/2ª Circular 2 km
- Avenida Marechal Craveiro Lopes/2ª Circular 3 km
- Autoestrada do Norte (A 1) 94 km
- Autoestrada da Beira Interior (A 23; IP 6) 213 km
- Autoestrada da Beira Interior (A 23) 1 km
- Autoestrada das Beiras Litoral e Alta (A 25; IP 5) 35 km
- (A-62) 116 km
- Autovía de Castilla (A-62) 86 km
- Autovía del Noroeste (A-6) 2 km
- Autovía de Castilla (A-62) 64 km
- Autovía de Castilla (A-62) 75 km
- Autovía de Castilla (A-62) 7 km
- Circunvalación de Burgos (BU-30) 4 km
- Autovía del Norte (A-1) 7 km
- Autopista del Norte (AP-1) 83 km
- (A-1) 14 km
- (A-1) 9 km
- — 0.3 km
- — 0.4 km
- — 0.3 km
- (N-622) 0.9 km
- — 1 km
- — 0.4 km
- (AP-1) 43 km
- Iparraldeko autobidea (AP-1) 1.0 km
- Kantauriko autobidea (AP-1; AP-8) 42 km
- Kantauriko autobidea (AP-1; AP-8) 8 km
- AP-1 / AP-8 (AP-1; AP-8) 2 km
- Bizkaiko Golkoko Autobidea (AP-1; AP-8) 3 km
- Bizkaiko Golkoko Autobidea (AP-1; AP-8) 3 km
- Bizkaiko Golkoko Autobidea (AP-1; AP-8) 0.2 km
- AP-1 / AP-8 (AP-1; AP-8) 7 km
- Autoroute de la Côte Basque (A 63) 31 km
- Autoroute des Landes (A 63) 174 km
- — 0.7 km
- Rocade Extérieure (A 630) 19 km
- (N 230) 1 km
- L'Aquitaine (A 10) 322 km
- L'Aquitaine (A 10) 230 km
- L'Aquitaine (A 10) 4 km
- (A 6b) 3 km
- (N 186) 1 km
- (N 186) 2 km
- (A 86) 12 km
- Autoroute de l’Est (A 4) 2 km
- (A 86) 8 km
- (A 3) 0.7 km
- (A 3) 9 km
- (A 3) 2 km
- Autoroute du Nord (A 1) 121 km
- Autoroute du Nord (A 1) 70 km
- Autoroute du Nord (A 1) 3 km
- Voie Rapide Urbaine (N 356) 0.3 km
- Voie Rapide Urbaine (N 356) 0.4 km
- Voie Rapide Urbaine (N 356) 0.9 km
- Voie Rapide Urbaine (N 356) 6 km
- (A 22) 12 km
- (E17) 49 km
- (E17) 0.2 km
- (E17) 50 km
- (R1) 15 km
- (E19) 34 km
- (A16) 37 km
- (A16) 10 km
- (A16) 5 km
- Abram van Rijckevorselweg (S107) 0.3 km
- Coolsingel
By plane from Lisbon to Rotterdam
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
- 3h 37m
- Door-to-door from :from airport.
- In the air
- 128 min
- At ~850 km/h cruise speed.
- On the ground
- 90 min
- Taxi + security + boarding (typical short-haul).
- Route
- LIS → RTM
- 1.807 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 Lisbon to Rotterdam
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
- 23h 20m
- 6 changes
- Lead operator
- SNCF VOYAGEURS
- + 3 more
- Alternatives
- 6
- Itineraries returned by the planner.
Trains on the fastest itinerary
- TGV INOUI 8422
- EST 9321
All operators across alternatives
- SNCF VOYAGEURS
- NS International
- Eurostar
- NMBS/SNCB
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.