Spain, Portugal & France on €19/Day: 52 Days Sleeping in Car
Andalusia, Catalonia, the Algarve, Madrid, southern France and Andorra. 52 days, 39 nights sleeping in our car, 13 in hostels:
TRIP STATS
- DAILY RATE: €19.03 (per person)
- SLEEP: Sleeping in Car (39 nights), Hostels (13 nights)
- BY: Car
- PEOPLE: 2
- DAYS: 52
- TOTAL: €1,978.63
- CURRENCY: Euro (€)
- DATE: October–December 2025
- ROUTE: Lisbon → Algarve → Andalusia → Valencia → Barcelona → Andorra → Madrid → Northern Portugal → Lisbon
- TOOLS: DiscoverCars, park4night, Revolut, Lidl
| ITEM | COST (2P) | NOTES |
|---|---|---|
| Southern Portugal | €106.60 | 4 days. Slept in the car. Lisbon to the Spanish border on free coastal roads. |
| Andalusia | €725.94 | 20 days. 14 nights in the car, 6 in hostels. Seville, Málaga, Córdoba, Granada. |
| Cartagena to Valencia | €104.00 | 3 days. Slept in the car. Murcia, Elche, Alicante, Valencia. |
| Barcelona and Catalonia | €306.18 | 7 days. 4 nights in the car, 3 nights in a Barcelona hostel. |
| Southern France and Andorra | €193.81 | 4 days. 3 nights in the car, 1 in an Andorra hotel. |
| Central Spain | €286.10 | 8 days. 5 nights in the car, 3 in a Madrid hostel. |
| Northern Portugal | €256.00 | 6 days. Slept in the car. Bragança to Évora. |
| TOTAL | €1,978.63 | 52 days at €19.03/day per person |
How €19.04/day per person compares to my other trips: Budget Travel Cost per Day.
Route
All 52 days by car: Lisbon → Southern Portugal → Andalusia → Valencia → Barcelona → Southern France → Andorra → Madrid → Northern Portugal → Lisbon.
The whole trip ran about 10 weeks. Three of those weeks, in November and December, went to volunteering at a dog shelter in Catalonia. Those days are not counted in the 52 or in the daily rate.
The trip splits by month:
- October: Southern Portugal and Andalusia. 24 days at €17.34/day per person.
- November: Cartagena to Valencia, Catalonia, southern France and Andorra. 14 days at €21.57/day.
- December: Central Spain and northern Portugal. 14 days at €19.36/day.
November cost the most. It had three nights in a Barcelona hostel (€83.68), a hotel night in Andorra (€38.81) and fuel at €17/day in both the Valencia and France legs. October was the cheapest partly because Granada was 5 days parked, with €23 in fuel for the whole leg.
Southern Portugal – €13/Day
Cheapest leg of the trip. 4 days from Lisbon to the Spanish border for €106.60 (two people). We skipped the A2 toll motorway (Lisbon to Faro costs around €22.70) and took free coastal roads through Alentejo and the Algarve: Comporta, Porto Covo, Cabo de São Vicente, Lagos, Silves, Faro and Tavira.
Slept in the car every night, three of them in Lidl car parks with dedicated campervan places (Vila do Bispo, Portimão and Faro). Overnight stays are banned inside natural parks and coastal protection areas along the Costa Vicentina and western Algarve, with environmental fines from €200.
Full report: Portugal – Alentejo & Algarve on €13/Day: Sleeping in a Car.
Andalusia – €18/Day
20 days, four reports, €725.94 for two. Granada was the most expensive one at €22.44/day: 5 nights in a room at €12.40/person/night, plus a flamenco show at €15.30 each (down from €25 with a GetYourGuide deal and a welcome voucher).
Seville’s cathedral queue was massive, so we bought tickets at the Church of San Salvador next door (same ticket, no wait). The Alcázar sold out days ahead. Málaga on a Sunday has every major sight free. Caminito del Rey self-guided tickets (€10) sell out months ahead, but last-minute guided tickets (€18) were available on the day. Mulhacén (3,479 m, the tallest mountain in mainland Spain) took around 8 hours and cost nothing.
In Granada I refreshed the official Alhambra page 50+ times before two tickets appeared. We paid the official rate of €22.27 each. Third-party resellers charge €50–€100+. Also, we got the car stuck in the sand at El Rocío. It took digging with our hands and a push to get out.
Full reports:
- Andalusia – Seville, Gibraltar on €16/Day: Sleeping in a Car – 5 days, €163.80
- Málaga, Ronda & Caminito del Rey on €15/Day: Sleeping in Car – 4 days, €118.00
- Córdoba, Sierra Nevada, Mulhacén on €16/Day: Sleeping in Car – 4 days, €130.00
- Granada and Almería on €22/Day: Alhambra and Sleeping in Car – 7 days, €314.14
Cartagena to Valencia – €17/Day
3 days, €104.00 for two. Fuel was the biggest cost at €52 (€17.33/day). The AP-7 toll road between Vera, Cartagena and Elche has a free alternative that is not much slower.
Sights were almost free. Batería de Castillitos costs nothing, the Cartagena Roman Theater is visible from the public paths above (the ticket is €7), and Salinas de San Pedro del Pinatar has flamingos and no entry fee. In Valencia we paid €2 each for Torres de Serranos and €2 each for La Lonja de la Seda, and treated the city as a day trip. Museo de la Valltorta is free, including guided tours to prehistoric rock art. The tours are Spanish only.
By this point the cathedrals were blending together, so we skipped the interiors in Murcia (€6) and Valencia (€12).
Full report: Cartagena to Valencia on €17/Day: 5 Cities & Sleeping in Car.
Barcelona and Catalonia – €22/Day
7 days, €306.18 for two. We slept 4 nights in the car and 3 nights at Safestay Passeig de Gràcia in Barcelona: €13.95 per bed through a promo on the hostel’s own website (account required). Tourist tax is €5 per person per night and was already included in the €83.68 for the stay. More hostel booking tricks: Budget Travel Tips.
Montserrat’s Black Madonna is free for EU residents. Most online sources say residents of Spain only, but the official rules include EU countries, and you book on the official site. In Barcelona the T-Familiar (8 trips for €11.50, shareable) beats the €2.90 single ticket. Sagrada Família was €26 each, booked 2 weeks ahead in mid-November.
We parked free in Pedralbes, a 20-minute walk from the metro, and left most of our things in the car with no problems. Barcelona’s low emission zone runs Monday to Friday 7AM–8PM, so we timed our driving around it. Pickpockets are everywhere. We saw 2 incidents in 3 nights.
Full report: Barcelona & Catalonia on €22/Day: Free Montserrat Tickets.
Southern France and Andorra – €24/Day
Most expensive leg at €24.23/day. 4 days, €193.81 for two. Fuel was €69. Diesel in France cost €1.65–€1.70/L in November 2025 against €1.20–€1.30 in Spain and Andorra. We filled up in Spain and topped off in Andorra.
The route ran Collioure, Perpignan, Narbonne, Béziers, Carcassonne, Toulouse and Foix. The fortified city of Carcassonne is free to walk, with the castle at €13 in low season and €19 in high season. In Toulouse we parked at the Ramonville park and ride (free up to 24 hours with a validated metro ticket). Merens hot springs in the Pyrenees are free, under a kilometer’s walk.
Andorra was the one hotel night (Hotel Sant Eloi at around €39) because it was already very cold in the mountains. Winter tires or chains are legally required there from November 1 to May 15, with fines from around €180. We carried chains, but never needed to put them on. The Envalira tunnel costs €8.10. The pass over it is free, and we drove it in snow.
Full report: Southern France & Andorra on €24/Day: Sleeping in the Car.
Central Spain – €18/Day
8 days, €286.10 for two. 5 nights in the car and 3 nights at Hostal Chueca in Madrid: €11.02 per bed through a winter promo on the hostel’s own website (Madrid has no tourist tax). Sights for two cost €20 in total – Aljafería Palace in Zaragoza (€7 each) and Sinagoga del Tránsito in Toledo (€3 each).
Madrid has a lot of free hours for its sights. The Prado is free in the last two hours every day (regular admission is €15, so €30 saved for two). Reina Sofía is free in the last two hours with online booking (regular admission is €12). The Royal Palace is free Monday to Thursday in the last two hours, but only for EU and Latin American citizens (regular admission is €18). We parked free in Pozuelo de Alarcón, outside Madrid’s low emission zone, and took the train in.
Ávila and Salamanca were rainy. In Salamanca we walked through the door where the €10 cathedral tickets are sold and saw most of the interior from there. That worked in several other Spanish cathedrals too.
Full report: Central Spain on €18/Day: Madrid & 5 Nights Sleeping in Car.
Northern Portugal – €21/Day
6 days, €256.00 for two. Fuel was the biggest expense at €136: €21/day plus a €10 tire patch. We lost air in the Serra da Lousã, found a tire shop in Lousã the next morning and were done in 20 minutes. Diesel was around €1.55/L in Portugal, against €1.30/L in Spain that month.
The route ran Bragança, Peneda-Gerês National Park, Braga, Guimarães, Passadiços do Paiva, Aveiro, Coimbra, Piódão, Serra da Estrela, Marvão and Évora. Passadiços do Paiva costs €1 online, but only around half of the trail (5.5 km one way) was open. Almendres Cromlech is free, but the last 4 km is a dirt road with massive potholes, so we drove it at 10–20 km/h.
December is wet. Braga was rainy, and Torre (1,993 m, the highest point of mainland Portugal) and Marvão were both in fog with visibility around 10–20 m. Overnight stays are banned in Peneda-Gerês and Serra da Estrela, with environmental fines from €200.
Full report: North and Central Portugal on €21/Day: Sleeping in a Car.
Costs by Category
| ITEM | COST (2P) | NOTES |
|---|---|---|
| Food | €698.00 | €6.71/day per person. Shopping mostly at Lidl. |
| Fuel | €596.00 | €11.46/day. Includes a €10 tire patch. |
| Stay | €341.59 | 39 nights slept in the car (€0). 13 paid nights: Córdoba €29, Granada €124 (5 nights), Barcelona €83.68 (3 nights), Andorra €38.81, Madrid €66.10 (3 nights) |
| Sights | €343.04 | Includes a flamenco show |
| TOTAL | €1,978.63 | 52 days at €19.03/day per person |
Food was the biggest category at 35% of the total. Fuel was 30%.
Car Rental in Spain and Portugal
We drove all 52 days in our own car (a Volvo V50), so I can’t comment on rental providers. Didn’t rent, but we looked into it. Each report has the rates I found at the airport nearest to that leg. Rates below are 7-day small car rentals via DiscoverCars (my review) at the time of writing.
| AIRPORT | 7 DAYS FROM | PER DAY |
|---|---|---|
| Málaga (AGP) | €20.00 | €2.86 |
| Alicante (ALC) | €29.10 | €4.16 |
| Granada (GRX) | €33.65 | €4.81 |
| Seville (SVQ) | €43.00 | €6.14 |
| Faro (FAO) | €47.48 | €6.78 |
| Lisbon (LIS) | €52.49 | €7.50 |
| Barcelona (BCN) | €61.87 | €8.84 |
| Valencia (VLC) | €87.53 | €12.50 |
| Madrid (MAD) | €94.46 | €13.49 |
| Toulouse (TLS) | €140.54 | €20.08 |
- Per Day: Spain and Portugal offer some of the cheapest car rentals in Europe. The figures are for the whole car, so split them by the number of people in your group. Porto Airport is another cheap hub in Portugal. Full comparison: European Car Rental Price Comparison.
- Excess: Decline the desk insurance. Cover it with an independent policy like Cover4Rentals instead. Full process: €3/Day Rental Car Guide.
- Tolls: Most Spanish roads are free. Exceptions on our route were the AP-7 between Vera, Cartagena and Elche, the AP-6, AP-61, AP-51 and AP-41 around Madrid, and Gibraltar to Málaga. All have free alternatives. Portugal’s A2 from Lisbon to Faro costs around €22.70, and rental cars there come with a transponder (daily fee €1.50–€5.00 plus tolls). French autoroutes cost roughly €0.10/km.
- Fuel: Diesel in October–December 2025 was €1.20–€1.30/L in Spain and Andorra, €1.55 in Portugal and €1.65–€1.70 in France. In Spain, unstaffed stations like Plenoil and Ballenoil are cheaper than BP and Shell. Google Maps didn’t show Spanish prices reliably, so we used the Gasall app.
- Low Emission Zones: Spanish-registered rental cars already comply with Barcelona’s zone and can drive in Madrid’s general zone.
Season
We traveled October to December 2025. Southern Portugal and Andalusia were still warm in October (t-shirt weather), with fairly high tourist numbers in Seville, Málaga and Granada. November is quieter. By early November the nights were getting colder and the east coast crowds were mostly gone. Barcelona was the exception.
Late November in southern France was mild in the lowlands, with daytime highs around 14–16°C (57–61°F), and snowing in Andorra before the ski resorts opened. December in central Spain was cold and dry, with highs around 11°C (52°F) in Madrid and possible frost in Segovia and Ávila (both above 1,000 m). Northern Portugal was wet and foggy, but the trails were empty.
Low season runs November to March. Late October worked for Mulhacén (snow-free trail). By November the summit is likely snowy, with crampons needed until May.
Avoid July–August. Madrid and Toledo regularly hit highs above 35°C (95°F), and Barcelona and Carcassonne are at their most crowded.
Practical
Currency
Euro in Portugal, Spain, France and Andorra. Cards are accepted almost everywhere, but carry some cash for parking attendants and street vendors. If you’re coming from a non-euro country, Revolut works well – note the 1% weekend markup, which you can avoid by exchanging currencies in the app beforehand.
SIM
EU Roam Like at Home covers Portugal, Spain and France. Exception: Andorra. It isn’t in the EU, so check that your plan names Andorra or switch off data roaming before the border.
If you don’t have an EU SIM, check eSIMDB, filter by data needed and trip length, make sure Andorra is listed and sort by price. Lyca Mobile Portugal periodically runs a 50GB promo for €4/month.
Language
Portuguese in Portugal, Spanish in Spain, French in southern France, and Catalan in Catalonia and Andorra (the only official language in Andorra). English gets you by in hotels and tourism, but not reliably beyond that.
Portuguese phrases: bom dia – good morning/good day, obrigado – thank you. Spanish: buenos días – good morning/good day, gracias – thank you.
French: bonjour – hello/good day, merci – thank you. Catalan: bon dia – good morning/good day, gràcies – thank you.
Tips Summary
- Cheapest Rentals: DiscoverCars small cars from €20/week (€2.86/day) at Málaga and €29.10/week (€4.16/day) at Alicante at the time of writing. Toulouse was €140.54/week. Per-day figures are for the whole car, so split them by the number of people.
- Sleeping in a Car: Legal in Spain and France if you’re legally parked and everything stays inside the car. In France, setting up a table or chairs counts as wild camping. Portugal is a gray area: tolerated outside protected zones, banned inside national parks, nature reserves and coastal protection areas, with environmental fines from €200. Country by country: Is It Legal to Sleep in a Rental Car in Europe? Full guide: Sleeping in Rental Cars.
- Car for Sleeping: Best Rental Cars to Sleep In.
- Full List of What I Pack: Sleeping in a Rental Car Packing List.
- Overnight Spots: Use park4night to find places shared and reviewed by others. Lidl car parks in the Algarve allowed overnight parking and had free toilets. Pick lit lots with other campervans over empty ones.
- Fuel: Diesel was €1.20–€1.30/L in Spain and Andorra against €1.65–€1.70/L in France and Portugal.
- Tolls: Every toll road on this route had a free alternative. Set Google Maps to avoid tolls.
- Hostels: Check the hostel’s own website before Booking.com. Safestay Barcelona (€13.95 per bed) and Hostal Chueca in Madrid (€11.02 per bed) both beat it through website promos.
- Free Sights in Spain: Málaga on a Sunday (Cathedral, Alcazaba, Gibralfaro, both Picasso museums), Córdoba’s Mezquita Monday–Saturday 8:30–9:30AM, the Prado in the last two hours daily (saves €30 for two), Santa Maria del Mar in Barcelona 6:00–8:30PM daily, and Montserrat’s Black Madonna for EU residents (book online).
- Alhambra: Book 2–3 months ahead in high season. If your dates aren’t fixed, keep refreshing the official site for released slots. Resellers charge €50–€100+ against the official €22.27.
- Seville Cathedral: Buy the ticket at the Church of San Salvador next door. Same ticket, no queue, saves 30–60 minutes.
- Caminito del Rey: Self-guided tickets (€10) sell out months ahead. Last-minute guided tickets (€18) are sold on the day if you arrive early.
- Andorra: Winter tires or chains are required November 1 to May 15, with fines from around €180. The Envalira tunnel costs €8.10 and the mountain pass over it is free.
- Season: November to March for low season and empty sights. Avoid July–August.
The Budget System
I keep daily travel costs under €30 using two methods:
● €3/Day Rental Car Guide
● Sleeping in Rental Cars
One week of travel cost me less than a day of work in Australia.
