Touring abroad in Winter

There are two ways of overwintering in Spain.  You can drive down to your chosen resort, with overnight stops en route depending on how far you like to travel each day, then sit in the sun for a month or two, or you can take your time, use your caravan as it is surely meant to be used, and wander, following the weather and the sites.

If the first is your choice, then the sort of good site you would choose does get quite full and pr-booking might be advised, particularly the sites along the "Costas".  If you choose the latter, looking at smaller, touring sites outside the main resort areas, then you would not need to book at all.  We have had three winters in Spain, 2008/9, 2011/12 and 2014/5 and the only site we ever booked was over Christmas in 2014, when we wanted a guaranteed mailbox for our new ACSI book and card.  Even then there was space on the site (Pinar San Jose).

As Eurortraveller says, the journey through France at that time of year is one to get through quickly as the weather is miserable.  Easiest route would be via Tours, Bordeaux, Bayonne, then either via Zaragoza & Valencia or Burgos & Madrid.  Bear in mind that while the Med coast is mild and pleasant, the coast between Gibraltar and Cadiz is much less crowded, mild, but windy.  More than 100 miles inland it is very very cold.  One winter in Madrid we were camping in sub zero temperatures.

If you do want to tour, or even just take your chances on the way down and back, the ACSI card is a must.  It will pay for itself within a week.  However for longer stays many sites offer a discount better than the ACSI rate, so check individual campsite websites.

For some ideas you could look at our travel blogs, and I know many others on this forum have travel blogs too.

Click here for our blogs. oldagetraveller

We've caravanned near Paris in early May, and it was still bitterly cold so be prepared.  You may be lucky in March and have hot weather but it can be very changeable early in the year and you may have hot sun during the day, but freezing temperatures at night (or even during the day!)

What are you so apprehensive about? If, as I infer from your OP, you want to tour in Winter, and thus, presumably, escape the UK Winter, then please do not be deterred from going to Spain in Winter. We do, every year, as do thousands of other "snowbirds" from all over Northern Europe. Were it that bleak, weather wise,and were the journey that difficult, the place would be deserted. But it is not. Sites are very busy with people having a good time.

We leave home on the 2nd January and make our way back sometime around the middle of March. The only exception has been this year but that  was because we went to New Zealand for 2 months instead. To have our "Spanish Winter Blues Breaking Break" we went South through November and December instead.

We have encountered snow only once in all our years of travelling that way. And we were not held up because the snow ploughs were much in evidence. Once we get to Spain we enjoy much better weather than we would do at home, escape the Winter Blues, and have a thoroughly good experience.

Coming home in March, the weather has always been much better than it was heading South in January.  And we do take our time getting home. We linger a bit longer in various places. Let's face it, nights can be cold in the UK at that time of year. With a caravan with all its creature comforts you will be fine.

Paris in March? Why not? We have visited Paris at many different times of the year (admittedly travelling usually by Eurostar  and saying in a hotel) and haven't noticed any hardship, even when we stayed a week in our caravan on the outskirts.

Please, do go is that is your wish. You will not regret  it. For us, it's heaps better than staying home in a grey Pembrokeshire Winter.

Of course. But I was only responding to the original request. And, it seems, that the change of mind is that of a time shift, not an intention to tour in Spain a caravan.

I've been doing it for more than 20 years.   I leave at the beginning of November and return home at the beginning of March.   I used to set off from Calais, having used either the tunnel or ferry crossing, but for the past four years I've travelled from Portsmouth to Bilbao or Santander.   My destination has sometimes been the Costa Blanca;  occasionally Portugal but more often the Costa del Sol.  

In winter time the weather travelling through France can be unpleasantly wet and cold and once you are away from the coast in Spain, nights can be very cold with temperatures down below freezing.

There are sites open during the winter months fairly close to the main routes through France and also in the Spanish interior.   On the Spanish coast route there are hundreds open throughout the year so it isn't necessary to book in advance.

Ferry crossings are best booked as early as possible, not because of parking space but because cabins tend to get booked early.

Now that I travel on my own I like to plan a different route through Spain each year, taking two weeks or so travelling down to the southern coast.   I spend hours planning the route and where I'm going to stay and what I want to see but I never book any sites in advance.      For the past three years I've written a blog about my journeys here.

We live just a very short drive from Fresh East, however, we are away ourselves at the moment. Arriving home on 25th. If you will still be there, we might be able to arrange  a meet up and we can give you much more info?