Help in travelling down to Costa tropical Spain
Hello. Has anyone travelled from Calais down to costa tropical southern Spain in January-February. We have never taken our motorhome abroad before, but we feel that my husband, who suffers from a chest complaint, would benefit from spending the coldest of our winters in a warmer climate.we have researched and found that that small area of Costa Tropical has a micro climate and an average temperature of 20 during winter. Have any of you ever done this trip. If so can you recommend a site. Any help at all would be very much apriciated. We are planning to go mid January till the end of February
Comments
-
Hi Coralroma, Honestly - for your first Motorhome trip overseas wait until the Spring and go exploring then.
For a first overseas visit a round trip drive of 2500 miles across France and Spain from Calais and back again in mid winter is not the best way to start. If you are looking for better weather for health reasons talk to a travel agent about flights and a four week stay in the Canary Islands where the weather is even warmer than mainland Spain, and then make a gentler Motorhome tour and get the feel of things later in the year.
But I hope your winter goes well.
1 -
Friends of our, who had never taken their caravan out of the country, and only once done an independent trip by other means anywhere apart from in the UK, also did a long trip to Spain with the C&CC (the other club) on one of their rallies. They had a fantastic time, were helped with arranging routes and overnight sites, and they stayed in Spain the first time for a couple of months. That was about five years ago and now they go independently for the winter.
The price they paid seemed very reasonable to me - not a lot more than doing it completely independently, and they were free to join in activities, or do their own thing.
0 -
For what its worth ...
A previous tip on this and other forums for your query is to take a late deal cheap 7 or 10 day fly drive trip to the area you fancy. We did and were thankful.
At the worst you will get 7 or 10 days + in a better climate visiting sites, locations and perhaps even the CCC Rallies for a taster.
You will then have a much better grasp of the practicalities of what Wintering in Spain (or Portugal) in 2018 in your Motorhome is really like.
Castillo Banus - 7/10 OK but a bit remote for us for a very long stay.
NB There is much greater input & views on Caravan Chat Overseas forum & UK Campsites Abroad forums.
0 -
And a fly drive exploration will show you whether Costa Tropical is an accurate name and whether it looks like this.
0 -
If you are looking for a dry area to overwinter then try the area around Almeria. Much drier than anywhere else in Spain, actually having the only official desert in Western Europe on its doorstep. When we were down there one February there were numerous overwinterers suffering from chest complaints who extolled of its virtues for their health. Not the most attractive of areas but there was enough to keep us going for a month.
0 -
Hi Coralroma,
Have you done any research on what sites are available? I know from experience that most of the popular Costa sites are already fully booked up in Jan/Feb. I booked my pitch for 3 Feb - 29 Apr 19 last February.
I have justed returned from 6 weeks Touring the Spain South East coast from The Bay of Roses down to Denia and from reading advice on this forum didn’t expect any problems with getting into sites, but on several occasions I got the last pitch. All sites were packed.
if you don’t mind going inland a bit you might find plenty of sites with pitches. I am sure others on here can advise you on where they are.
I go to Spain in Winter because it is good for my bones and joints but I have met a lot of people during these trips who caught very bad colds and even bronchitis.
BillC
0 -
Greetings
Well there have been enough comments here for you to be totally confused - so I hope you will accept my additional comments.
Firstly - I would not worry too much about driving in Europe. The locals tend to give the Brits a wide Berth and you will soon get the hang of things!. There are a number of good clues on the web about how to drive - such as wearing your watch on your right arm and keeping that arm by the side of the road. After an hour it will be easy peasey!
In my view you might be better looking around Alicante as that has a better winter climate than Andalucia. This year (2018) the Malaga / Marbella stretch of coastline was cold, wet and windy from Jan thru to late March, you needed the van heating to be on. Yet Alicante on the way down was quite delightful and there are many from Northern Europe who overwinter there.
I hope I have helped - just be sensible in terms of journey times and miles, and enjoy it!
0 -
The nights can still be cold in Alicante, although the days generally aren't too bad.
0 -
Hi KB, will be travelling from Mazarron - Bay of Roses late May early June, have dug out what appear to be some good sites you got any recommendations mainly Bay of Roses, only planning very short stays on way up but could be in BR 2 - 3 weeks tks
0
