# Advice requiredfrom experts!



## Hampshire Residents (Aug 20, 2012)

My husband and small dog and me are planning to rent in Javea for April and May2013.....we have just found a perfect villa/apartment in the port.
We intend to travel by car from Portsmouth.
Any advice on which is the best way to go? Any recommendations on overnight stops for us....dog friendly? 
Have thought about Pet Passport/Car Breakdown cover and new regs about breathalisers and lights.....anything elseto consider or plan for?


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## fergie (Oct 4, 2010)

Hi,
Hope I can help, we actually live in Javea, and if you haven't been to Javea before you will like the town.
The Port area, has some lovely restaurants, as does the Arenal. There are many pet shops in Javea, where you can buy dog foods, and also good vets if you pet should unfortunately not be well.
Your dog will need his Pets passport to travel to and from Spain, and when you leave Spain to go back to Uk it will need to have a worming tablet 'Drontal", actually given by the vet here, with the passport stamped, and the time and date the tablet was given recorded. The Drontal tab. had to be given within 3 days of us reaching the channel tunnel when we left Spain.
Also we had to be at the Tunnel about and hour earlier than normal to go to the Pet passport checking area, so you need to take that into consideration when doing your booking and drive from Portsmouth to the tunnel.
You need to speak to your vet at home, about planning to get your dogs injections for the Pets passport, you can google the defra site to read up about this as well.
There are many very good food stores in Javea, plus we have an Iceland store, where they also sell UK Pet food.
We have done a road trip from Spain to Uk and back with our little dog, in July this year, we 'googled' pet friendly hotels in France as our stopping points. We chose routes which avoided Paris centre, as it can be a nightmare at busy times. 
The route you choose will depend on how many stops you want to make, leaving Spain we made two stops, because of having to get our fur baby to the tunnel within 3 days of the drontal, 
We stopped in Millau city (Deltour Hotel), then in Arras (Holiday Inn Express) on the way to Uk.
On the way back from UK, 3 stops as the dog didn't need Drontal on the way to Spain. 
leaving Uk, we stopped in Epernay, champagne country (Le Magellan)-which was very basic, then stayed in Chagney, burgundy country at: 
Hotel Auberge de la Musardiere-- this was memorable! and I would stop there again--nice wide bed in a clean cosy room, very welcoming hotelier, they serve meals to staying hotel guests only, a wonderful 'local' burgundy menu, and wines, good job we had a comfortable bed to flop in!
Our last stop on the way back to Spain was at the Hotel Hexagone, Narbonne, also a memorable place to stay, the hotel owner is a very nice Indian gentleman,he adores any dogs and is charming to the owners as well. we had a nice comfortable bed to sleep in, the restaurant which is part of the hotel has a very good menu and wine list.
Even if we decided to do a wine tasting tour in France, the last two hotels we would drive out of our way to go to!.
Whilst some 'dog friendly' hotels allow a dog to stay in your room with you, they don't want you to leave the dog alone when you go out to dine, which is understandable as they would get stressed in a strange place, we found most of the dog friendly Hotels in France didn't mind you taking your dog into the dining room for dinner or breakfast.
Whilst travelling with our dog, he is a Westie, we took his favourite blanket, on the rear seat of our car, we also took the cushion out of his basket,and his favourite toy, so that when we made our stop overs he had some 'continuity' in a strange room. We also took a supply of his favourite dog food, and treats, and bottled water to give him to drink. We made brief stops on our journey for him to have a drink and stretch his legs, and plenty of 'poop bags', I have always used 'poop bags' to clean up after him, only recently in Javea and Denia, it is an offence not to clean up after your dog, although some people still ignore this.
Well good luck with your planning, it may seem a little daunting, but honestly once you have done it, it is not that bad at all, and our dog was a great little traveller, he loved hopping in and out of the car, 
and was perfectly happy staying in strange Hotels because he was with us all the time.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

:clap2:

more people coming to Jávea!!

nothing to add really to fergie's post - but if you want any more info I've been here 9 years & if I don't know the answer I almost certainly know who does 

I love the port - I don't drive, so it's perfect, you can walk/cycle to just about everything you need on a daily basis, I walk to work & my girls walk to school


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## Cazzy (Nov 23, 2008)

Hampshire Residents said:


> My husband and small dog and me are planning to rent in Javea for April and May2013.....we have just found a perfect villa/apartment in the port.
> We intend to travel by car from Portsmouth.
> Any advice on which is the best way to go? Any recommendations on overnight stops for us....dog friendly?
> Have thought about Pet Passport/Car Breakdown cover and new regs about breathalisers and lights.....anything elseto consider or plan for?


Just do the journey in one hit that's what we do and we live in Andalucia.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Hampshire Residents said:


> My husband and small dog and me are planning to rent in Javea for April and May2013.....we have just found a perfect villa/apartment in the port.
> We intend to travel by car from Portsmouth.
> Any advice on which is the best way to go? Any recommendations on overnight stops for us....dog friendly?
> Have thought about Pet Passport/Car Breakdown cover and new regs about breathalisers and lights.....anything elseto consider or plan for?


I just remembered - if you have a look on the 'forms........animals......etcetcetc....' sticky thread above you'll find a post with lots of info about bringing pets, including soem links to dog friendly hotels


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## Tiger~lily (Aug 18, 2012)

Cazzy said:


> Just do the journey in one hit that's what we do and we live in Andalucia.


Cazzy, how long does it take you from uk to Andalusia and what route do you take?


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## fergie (Oct 4, 2010)

Cazzy said:


> Just do the journey in one hit that's what we do and we live in Andalucia.


That is an option, if there are more than one person driving, but a bit dangerous to drive, if you don't get enough rest.
We did Uk to Murcia once, via channel tunnel, and only one overnight stop in France, that was some years ago, and very tiring, also the speed limits on the motorways in Spain were higher then, than they are today. We didn't have a dog with us in those days, so didn't have to worry about stops for him to stretch his legs either.


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## Dowror (Feb 2, 2012)

Hampshire Residents said:


> My husband and small dog and me are planning to rent in Javea for April and May2013.....we have just found a perfect villa/apartment in the port.
> We intend to travel by car from Portsmouth.
> Any advice on which is the best way to go? Any recommendations on overnight stops for us....dog friendly?
> Have thought about Pet Passport/Car Breakdown cover and new regs about breathalisers and lights.....anything elseto consider or plan for?


If you are travelling from Portsmouth to Santander or Bilbao you will arrive afternoon or early evening in Spain, so driving down in one go would mean much of the journey would be in darkness. An alternative would be to stop at Hotel Tudanca-Aranda II which is just off the A1/E5 approx 3 -4 hours from the port. You will then have a 7 hour drive the following day.

Be careful when googling the name of the hotel because there are two hotels on the same site, Hotel Tudanca -Aranda is a 4* hotel and Hotel Tudanca-Aranda II is a motel type of establishment, pet friendly and with luck you can park right outside your room door.


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