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🇳🇱 Cross-border drive · Netherlands → Spain 🇪🇸

Driving from The Hague to Madrid

Drive from The Hague to Madrid. Navigate the A13, E19, A16, and Spanish A-62. Discover tolls, fuel, and border tips for your journey.

Heads up Brussels Low Emission Zone covers all 19 communes Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla now run ZBE low-emission zones Order your Crit'Air sticker before the trip See all →
Drive time
18h 39m
Distance
1,741 km
Same day?
Split it
12 h+, plan a stop
Fuel cost
≈ €244
petrol · diesel ≈ €212
Tolls
≈ €131
per-km
EV charging
Unknown
not yet surveyed
Countries
🇳🇱 🇪🇸
2 countries
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

+9h 23m
Distance:
1,805 km
(+63 km)
Duration:
28h 3m

Via: N 10 · CL-101 · N 2 · CM-1001

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.

By car

18h 39m

1.741 km · €244 fuel

See details ↓
By bike

Not realistic

1.741 km is far beyond a typical multi-day cycle tour. Try a shorter pair like a day or weekend stage.

By bus

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.

What the drive is like

Drafted from the route's computed data on April 24, 2026 and reviewed against the route summary card. Read our methodology.

You’ll pick up the A13 motorway heading south from The Hague, quickly joining the A16 and then the E19 towards Belgium. This initial stretch is straightforward, keeping you on well-maintained Dutch and Belgian motorways where speed limits are generally adhered to. Expect good signage and plentiful service areas. As you approach the French border, the E19 becomes the Belgian R1 and then the French A1. Be mindful of potential traffic around Antwerp and Lille.

Once on French soil, you'll transition onto the A1, which is part of the French autoroute network. This means tolls are a certainty for much of the French leg. Budget accordingly for these costs. The A1 will eventually merge with other routes, guiding you southwest. Keep an eye on your fuel gauge; while service stations are frequent on the main autoroutes, they can be spread further apart on secondary roads, especially as you move deeper into France. The route continues its southerly trajectory, potentially involving segments of the A10 and A63 depending on the most efficient OSRM routing, all leading you towards the Spanish frontier.

The most significant border crossing will be into Spain. Leaving France, you'll typically join the Spanish AP-8 or A-8 briefly before connecting to the A-62 (Autovía del Duero). Spain operates an autovía network (A-roads) that is largely toll-free, a welcome change from French autoroutes. However, some sections, designated AP (Autopista), are tolled. Speed limits in Spain are generally 120 km/h on autovías. You'll notice a shift in landscape and potentially fuel prices, which can vary significantly across regions. The final push to Madrid involves navigating the approach roads to the capital, where urban traffic will become a factor, especially during peak hours. Be aware of Madrid's low-emission zones (Madrid Central) if your vehicle falls within certain emission categories.

Route highlights

  • Belgian service areas on the E19
  • French autoroute toll system
  • Transition to Spanish autovías
  • Varying fuel prices across countries
  • Navigating Madrid's urban approach

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: Pons (fr).

Distance:
1,741 km
Duration:
18h 39m (free-flow, no traffic)

Where to stop

Places along the route that make natural breaks for coffee, lunch, or a night.

  1. Deerlijk 🇧🇪 be

    ≈218 km

    ≈ 1.4 km detour from the main route

  2. Fosses 🇫🇷 fr

    ≈435 km

    ≈ 5 km detour from the main route

  3. Blois 🇫🇷 fr

    ≈653 km

    ≈ 5 km detour from the main route

  4. Niort 🇫🇷 fr

    ≈871 km

    ≈ 10.4 km detour from the main route

  5. Mios 🇫🇷 fr

    ≈1,088 km

    ≈ 10.3 km detour from the main route

  6. Zarautz 🇪🇸 es

    ≈1,306 km

    ≈ 1.8 km detour from the main route

  7. Burgos 🇪🇸 es

    ≈1,524 km

    ≈ 25.1 km detour from the main route

Along the way

Places to stop for coffee, a bite, a view, or the night — from OpenStreetMap.

Food · 6

Coffee · 6

Museums & history · 6

  • Zusters van Liefde

    memorial

    +0.3 km

  • Aartsengel Michael

    memorial

    +0.3 km

  • Sinti- en Roma monument

    memorial

    +0.4 km

  • Beeld en Geluid Den Haag

    museum · 's-Gravenhage

    +1.1 km

  • Plaquette Prinses Irene Brigade

    memorial

    +0.6 km

  • Monumento a los Caídos por España

    monument

    +0.7 km

Outdoors · 6

  • Wereldvredesvlam

    attraction

    +1.2 km

  • Constantyn Huygens

    attraction

    +1.5 km

  • Sint-Hubertusduin

    viewpoint

    +2.4 km

  • Mirador de Tierno Galván

    viewpoint

    +2.7 km

  • De Bloedberg

    viewpoint

    +2.7 km

  • De Hoge Nol

    viewpoint

    +2.8 km

Stay the night · 6

Key moves

Things to know before you set off — borders, sides of the road, tolls.

Multi-country chain · NL → BE → FR → ES

You'll cross 4 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.

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 know

Brussels 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 know

Spain'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 know

Paris, 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.

Official source

Foreign plates must be pre-registered to enter the centre

Must know

Madrid

Cameras read your plate but don't know your emission class. Without registration on Madrid's portal (madrid.es/zbe), the system flags you regardless of the car's actual rating, and the fine reaches your home address weeks later via cross-border collection. Register before you set off.

Madrid 360 / ZBEDEP — pre-2000 cars banned outright

Must know

Madrid

Madrid Central (now ZBEDEP) is one of the strictest emission zones in Europe. Within the 4.7 km² central perimeter (formerly Distrito Centro), vehicles registered before 2000 are banned outright; the rest need to match Spain's "Etiqueta Ambiental" rating. Operates 24/7. Fine is €200 per entry.

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'Aquitaine
    554 km
  • A-1 Autovía del Norte
    255 km
  • A 63 Autoroute des Landes
    205 km
  • A 1 Autoroute du Nord
    193 km
  • AP-1 Iparraldeko autobidea
    126 km
  • E17 —
    101 km
  • A16 —
    67 km
  • AP-1; AP-8 AP-1 / AP-8
    65 km
  • E19 —
    34 km
  • A 86 —
    20 km
  • N 230 Rocade Intérieure
    19 km
  • R1 —
    15 km

Route character

How much of the drive is motorway vs. secondary vs. rural.

Motorway drive — fast, predictable, uneventful.

Motorway
96%
Secondary
2%
Other / rural
2%

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: 18h 39m behind the wheel at free-flow speeds.
  • Cross-border: NL → ES. Keep documents accessible and check border rules.

Fuel & tolls

Rough cost expectation for a typical EU passenger car. Treat as an estimate — pump prices change weekly.

Petrol (RON 95)

≈ €244

130.6 L × €1.87 / L · 7.5 L/100 km

Diesel

≈ €212

104.5 L × €2.03 / L · 6 L/100 km

Electric (DC fast)

≈ €190

305 kWh × €0.62 / kWh · 17.5 kWh/100 km

Public DC fast charging — slower AC charging at home or hotels typically costs about half.

Motorway tolls & vignettes

≈ €131

  • FR — €0.10/km on the motorway network (≈ 808 km in-country ≈ €81)
  • ES — €0.09/km on the motorway network (≈ 555 km in-country ≈ €50) Toll-free on the A-network; charged only on AP roads.

Prices last refreshed 2026-05-04.

Weather by month

Average daytime high / overnight low and typical monthly rainfall, over the past five years.

🇳🇱 The Hague

Month
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
7°
3°
9°
4°
11°
4°
14°
7°
17°
10°
21°
14°
21°
15°
22°
15°
20°
13°
16°
11°
11°
6°
9°
5°
111mm 65mm 67mm 80mm 78mm 52mm 114mm 76mm 95mm 120mm 128mm 86mm

hot mild cold

🇪🇸 Madrid

Month
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
11°
3°
14°
3°
16°
5°
21°
9°
24°
11°
30°
18°
35°
20°
35°
21°
27°
15°
22°
12°
15°
7°
11°
3°
50mm 17mm 120mm 44mm 62mm 43mm 1mm 6mm 64mm 87mm 39mm 30mm

hot mild cold

Next 5 days at Madrid

Live forecast — refreshes every few hours.

  • Tue 12

    ☀️

    15° / 11°

    0.1mm

  • Wed 13

    🌧️

    19° / 9°

    15.4mm

  • Thu 14

    ☀️

    20° / 8°

    —

  • Fri 15

    ☀️

    15° / 8°

    0.4mm

  • Sat 16

    ☀️

    17° / 6°

    —

Forecast: MET Norway

Directions

Turn-by-turn summary of the main manoeuvres, generated by OSRM.

Show all 63 manoeuvres
  1. Sirtemastraat 0.1 km
  2. Lorentzplein
  3. Rotterdamseweg (A13) 10 km
  4. (A16) 12 km
  5. (A16) 16 km
  6. (A16) 4 km
  7. (A16) 25 km
  8. (A16) 9 km
  9. (E19) 34 km
  10. (R1) 15 km
  11. (E17) 101 km
  12. (A 22) 12 km
  13. Voie Rapide Urbaine (N 356) 7 km
  14. Autoroute du Nord (A 1) 19 km
  15. Autoroute du Nord (A 1) 174 km
  16. (A 3) 12 km
  17. (A 3) 0.2 km
  18. (A 86) 8 km
  19. Autoroute de l’Est (A 4) 2 km
  20. (A 86) 4 km
  21. (A 86) 8 km
  22. (N 186) 3 km
  23. — 0.7 km
  24. (A 6b) 3 km
  25. L'Aquitaine (A 10) 3 km
  26. L'Aquitaine (A 10) 2 km
  27. L'Aquitaine (A 10) 35 km
  28. L'Aquitaine (A 10) 72 km
  29. L'Aquitaine (A 10) 139 km
  30. L'Aquitaine (A 10) 306 km
  31. Rocade Intérieure (N 230) 19 km
  32. Autoroute des Landes (A 63) 24 km
  33. Autoroute des Landes (A 63) 150 km
  34. Autoroute de la Côte Basque (A 63) 31 km
  35. AP-1 / AP-8 (AP-1; AP-8) 7 km
  36. Bizkaiko Golkoko Autobidea (AP-1; AP-8) 4 km
  37. AP-1 / AP-8 (AP-1; AP-8; E-15) 0.7 km
  38. Bizkaiko Golkoko Autobidea (AP-1; AP-8) 3 km
  39. AP-1 / AP-8 (AP-1; AP-8) 2 km
  40. Kantauriko autobidea (AP-1; AP-8) 5 km
  41. Kantauriko autobidea (AP-1; AP-8) 44 km
  42. Iparraldeko autobidea (AP-1) 4 km
  43. Eibar-Gasteiz autobidea (AP-1) 9 km
  44. Eibar-Gasteiz autobidea (AP-1) 4 km
  45. Iparraldeko autobidea (AP-1) 2 km
  46. Iparraldeko autobidea (AP-1) 7 km
  47. Gasteiz-Eibar autobidea (AP-1) 10 km
  48. —
  49. (N-240) 5 km
  50. — 0.5 km
  51. (A-1) 27 km
  52. (AP-1) 90 km
  53. Autovía del Norte (A-1) 114 km
  54. Autovía Madrid - Burgos (A-1) 6 km
  55. Autovía del Norte (A-1) 108 km
  56. Calzada lateral M-30 (M-30) 4 km
  57. Calzada lateral M-30 (M-30) 0.6 km
  58. (M-30) 0.2 km
  59. Avenida de la Paz (M-30) 1 km
  60. Calzada lateral M-30 (M-30) 1 km
  61. — 0.7 km
  62. Paseo del Prado
  63. Calle de la Cruz

Frequently asked

Are there tolls on the A13, A16, or E19?

The A13, A16, and E19 are largely toll-free in the Netherlands and Belgium. Tolls become a significant factor once you enter France on the autoroute system.

What are the main differences driving in France versus Spain?

France uses a toll-heavy autoroute system, while Spain offers a vast network of largely toll-free autovías (A-roads). Speed limits differ, and Spanish autovías are typically 120 km/h.

Do I need a vignette for this route?

No vignette is required for the Netherlands, Belgium, or France. Spain does not use a vignette system for its main road network.

How is the fuel availability?

Fuel stations are generally abundant on major motorways in all countries. However, it's wise to refuel when you see reasonable prices and good availability, especially before entering less populated regions or switching to secondary roads.

Are there specific driving requirements for Spain?

Ensure you have the required safety equipment for your vehicle, such as warning triangles and reflective vests. Low-emission zone regulations may apply in major cities like Madrid.

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, EU Weekly Oil Bulletin for cross-border fuel-price bands, OpenStreetMap via Overpass for sights along the route, and Google Gemini drafts the narrative and FAQ from the computed route data. See our methodology for refresh cadence and limitations.

Keep exploring

Reverse trip: Madrid to The Hague

More routes from The Hague

More routes to Madrid