🇫🇷 Cross-border drive · France → Spain 🇪🇸
Driving from Montpellier to Bilbao
- Drive time
- 7h 7m
- Distance
- 678 km
- Same day?
- Yes, doable
- under 8 h
- Fuel cost
- ≈ €107
- petrol · diesel ≈ €90
- Tolls
- ≈ €65
- per-km
- EV charging
- Plenty fast
- 45 of 117 ≥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.
Alternative
+1h 18m- Distance:
- 681 km (+3 km)
- Duration:
- 8h 26m
Via: A 64 · AP-1; AP-8 · A 9 · AP-8
Avoids motorways
+4h 37m- Distance:
- 687 km (+9 km)
- Duration:
- 11h 45m
Via: D 1124 · D 824 · D 908 · N-634
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.
7h 7m
678 km · €107 fuel
See details ↓
Not realistic
678 km is far beyond a typical multi-day cycle tour. Try a shorter pair like a day or weekend stage.
9h 45m
FlixBus-eu
See details ↓
9h 32m
SNCF VOYAGEURS · Euskotren Trena
See details ↓
Trip plan
How to think about the drive: one day, split, or overnight.
Consider splitting over two days
Technically a one-day drive, but it is a slog. Splitting overnight halfway makes it a much better trip and lets you see the middle, not just the endpoints.
A natural overnight stop near the halfway point: Mourenx (fr).
- Distance:
- 678 km
- Duration:
- 7h 7m (free-flow, no traffic)
Where to stop
Places along the route that make natural breaks for coffee, lunch, or a night.
-
Lézignan-Corbières 🇫🇷 fr
≈113 km≈ 5.3 km detour from the main route
-
Escalquens 🇫🇷 fr
≈226 km≈ 3.8 km detour from the main route
-
Saint-Gaudens 🇫🇷 fr
≈339 km≈ 16.7 km detour from the main route
-
Mourenx 🇫🇷 fr
≈452 km≈ 6.7 km detour from the main route
-
Irun 🇪🇸 es
≈565 km≈ 1.9 km detour from the main route
Key moves
Things to know before you set off — borders, sides of the road, tolls.
Cross-border drive · FR → ES
You'll leave one country and enter another on this trip. Keep your ID close, even inside Schengen, and check current border-control status before you go.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
Smaller stations close on Sundays
TipMotorway service areas (aires) run 24/7 with a fuel-price premium of about €0.15/L. Off-motorway stations in towns under 20k people often close Sunday afternoons and overnight Mon–Sat. If you're fuelling on a Sunday route, plan around motorway stops — supermarket pumps (Carrefour, E.Leclerc) are your cheapest option but typically 9:00–12:30 / 14:30–19:00 on a Sunday, where open at all.
Money & connectivity
EU roaming covers calls, texts and data at no extra cost
TipYour home EU SIM works at home rates across every EU member, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. The "fair use" cap on data only applies if you're abroad more than four months. For a 2-week road trip, just use your phone normally — but switch off "data roaming" if you're leaving the EU into UK / CH for any segment.
Emergency & breakdown
112 works everywhere in the EU and continental neighbours
TipSingle number for police, ambulance, fire — works from any phone, any network, any country. On motorways, the orange SOS pillars every 2km connect direct to the regional traffic control centre and pinpoint your location. Use them over your phone if you can — it speeds the response.
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 64 La Pyrénéenne286 km
-
A 61 Autoroute des Deux Mers136 km
-
A 9 La Languedocienne85 km
-
AP-1; AP-8 AP-1 / AP-871 km
-
AP-8 Bizkaiko Golkoko Autobidea36 km
-
A 63 Autoroute de la Côte Basque31 km
-
A 620 —9 km
-
A-8 Kantauriko autobidea4 km
Route character
How much of the drive is motorway vs. secondary vs. rural.
Motorway drive — fast, predictable, uneventful.
- Motorway
- 98%
- Secondary
- 0%
- Other / rural
- 2%
Drive difficulty
At-a-glance feel: how demanding is this drive for one driver?
Overall
Challenging
Long day with at least one complicating factor. Split into two days or share the driving.
- Long drive: 7h 7m behind the wheel at free-flow speeds.
- Cross-border: fr → es. Keep documents accessible and check border rules.
Elevation profile
Highs, lows, and the total climb / descent along the route.
- Lowest point
- 7 m
- Highest point
- 599 m
- Total ascent
- ↑ 943 m
- Total descent
- ↓ 976 m
Fuel & tolls
Rough cost expectation for a typical EU passenger car. Treat as an estimate — pump prices change weekly.
Petrol (RON 95)
≈ €107
50.8 L × €2.11 / L · 7.5 L/100 km
Diesel
≈ €90
40.7 L × €2.20 / L · 6 L/100 km
Electric (DC fast)
≈ €69
119 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
≈ €65
- FR — €0.10/km on the motorway network (≈ 417 km in-country ≈ €42)
- ES — €0.09/km on the motorway network (≈ 261 km in-country ≈ €23) 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
45 at 50 kW or above (fast / ultra-fast).
Fastest first
- Fastned - Narbonne La Coupe — Narbonne 400 kW
- Mobilize - Renault Narbonne — Narbonne 320 kW
- Bump - E.Leclerc - Narbonne — Narbonne 320 kW
- Mobilize - Renault Tarbes — Tarbes 320 kW
- TotalEnergies - Relais Aighelongue — Montpellier 300 kW
- TotalEnergies - Relais Costebelle — Montpellier 300 kW
- Allego - Intermarché Montpellier — Montpellier 300 kW
- Electra - Castelnau-le-Lez - Grand Frais — Castelnau-le-Lez 300 kW
- Electra - Narbonne - Hôtel Campanile — Narbonne 300 kW
- Engie-Vianeo - A61 - Aire de Port-Lauragais Nord — Avignonet-Lauragais 300 kW
- Tesla Supercharger Narbonne Sud — Narbonne 250 kW
- Tesla Supercharger Castelnaudary — Castelnaudary 250 kW
Weather by month
Average daytime high / overnight low and typical monthly rainfall, over the past five years.
🇫🇷 Montpellier
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
12°
4°
|
14°
4°
|
16°
7°
|
19°
10°
|
23°
13°
|
29°
18°
|
31°
20°
|
32°
20°
|
26°
15°
|
22°
13°
|
16°
8°
|
13°
5°
|
| 75mm | 67mm | 95mm | 68mm | 94mm | 56mm | 25mm | 25mm | 90mm | 100mm | 77mm | 108mm |
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 26 manoeuvres
- Rue Foch 0.3 km
- Rue Pierre Causse
- Route de Sète (M 612) 0.1 km
- Route de Sète (M 612)
- (M 116E1)
- — 0.2 km
- (A 709) 0.9 km
- La Languedocienne (A 9) 85 km
- Autoroute des Deux Mers (A 61) 136 km
- (A 620) 9 km
- La Pyrénéenne (A 64) 286 km
- — 1.0 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 coach from Montpellier to Bilbao
Indicative duration of the fastest direct long-distance coach found in the FlixBus and BlaBlaCar Bus EU schedules.
- Travel time
- 9h 45m
- Direct
- Operator
- FlixBus-eu
- Departures / day
- ~1
- Approximate based on the published schedule.
Show coach corridor on map
Schedules sourced from the FlixBus and BlaBlaCar Bus GTFS feeds via transport.data.gouv.fr. Times are indicative; verify on the operator's site before booking.
Booking link coming soon.
By train from Montpellier 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
- 9h 32m
- 4 changes
- Lead operator
- SNCF VOYAGEURS
- + 2 more
- Alternatives
- 5
- Itineraries returned by the planner.
Trains on the fastest itinerary
- TGV INOUI 6823
- IC 14155
- E2
All operators across alternatives
- SNCF VOYAGEURS
- Euskotren Trena
- RENFE OPERADORA
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.