Christmas in Spain
With the family squabbling going on this Christmas we are thinking of clearing off next year and looking at southern Spain. Would appreciate recommendations for sites. I know some get booked up quickly but I have looked at a couple of popular ones and some have availablity this year so its doable.
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Hi, we are off to Spain in January staying at Alicante Imperium, Castillo de Banos and then Bella Vista in Manilva for a month each returning early May. These are booked through the other club. We did the same earlier this year with no problems staying on the above sites along with Tauro in Benicassim and Alegria del Mar at Benicarlo.
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Hi
We spent four winters at Camping Cabopino that's just between Marbella and Fuerengirola, lovely but when it rains...…. Stayed on many sites from Barcelona to Marbella. There are lots of sites off the beaten track, ukcampsite, acsi and google are your best bet for research. We've settled now on an annual plot at Camping Marjal Costa Blanca just south of Alicante, it seems to have a slightly better winter climate, this winter we're getting average temps of 24 degrees.
Cheers
JK
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It must be global warming then JK. It was never that warm when we used to go down there in December. I can't believe the temperature changes that much between Santa Pola and Guadamar.
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will be passing that way after New Year, have used Marjal Guademar (nice) before and also paid a visit to Marjal Costa Blanca.
have also thought we might try Capobino as we get a bit further south. visited that area before on other non van (golf) trips and would like to take a bit of time in the area.
BBC weather app has Torrevieja at a fairly steady 17-18 at the moment but these are shade temperatures and being out in the sunshine should see it comfortably up over 20 deg.
a bit better than what I can see out of my window this morning...
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Hi, this is my first time joining a forum and posting.
We are planning our first trip abroad in our motorhome and was hoping for some advice on driving from Santander to Almeria. Easiest journey on main roads and any site recommendations on the way down?
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Would suggest, again as previous, that a cheap fly drive re-con holiday trip perhaps during this winter is fully recommended before the long long journey to arrive disappointed. You intend to long stay visit in Winter time when your own requirements & needs will be very different to a brief Summer holiday.
The Spanish sites & huge camping villages have very variable standards, prices, positives & negatives and sadly some websites & reviews are not at all truly accurate. One person's heaven is often another one's version of hell.
There are many many more sites than the ones listed, but not owned, by CCC & C&MHC and we would not pre-book.
The 'Caravan Talk' Forum 'Abroad' is substantially more active for info.
Looking forward to your feedback.
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Many thanks but a bit too late, sorry I should have said we have already booked the ferry for 1st feb and first main site in Almeria which we are staying at for 25 days (this gave us some reassurance rather than just arriving and having no idea where to head to). I guess I was just wondering if the driving down would be tricky or relatively easy. We’re well travelled in uk having previously owned a VW and your absolutely right when you say one persons paradise is another’s hell. If the site in almeria is no good we will just move on.
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Welcome to CT Dolly. The shortest route is via Burgos, Madrid and Albecete mostly on free autoroutes. There is an open all year site in Burgos, Camping Fuentes Blancas and another, Camping Pico de la Miel, about 40 miles north of Madrid at La Cabrera and another about twenty miles south of Madrid, Camping International at Aranjuez..
Hope that helps.
peedee
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Well, hello Dolly. The autoroutes from the northern Spanish ports are very good and I would agree with Peedee about the route. Can't help with stopovers as I've only done it solo without stops although not quite as far as Almeria.
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We had a very enjoyable Christmas at Pinar San Jose near Conil in 2014-5. The site had plenty of room and the regulars organised a wonderful Christmas Dinner on Christmas day. Great festivities on New Years Eve, and wherever you go in Spain watch out for the Three Kings parades on January 6th. Because we like to tour and take our time, our route was not a direct one, but through France at that time of year one's options are limited and out of season France is to my mind a miserable place (it's great in the summer!). We stopped at Tours, Urrugne, Guernica, Burgos, Salamanca, Caceres, Puerto St Marie, Zahora, Then back via Antiquera, Torrox Costa, Roquetas, Elche, Kiko Park Rural, Navajas and Zaragoza to Urrugne. You can read the story and see the pictures on our blog at http://www.oldagetraveller.net/439946491
Other poster to look out for is John Douglas (JayDug) who visits Torrox Costa every year and is a mine of information about routes..
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You intend to long stay visit in Winter time when your own requirements & needs will be very different to a brief Summer holiday.
We have not done this but have friends who have for the last three years and when talking about their experience the made the point that the first year came as a surprise to find that there are very long periods with nothing going on and had nothing to fill the time with.
They now take lots of 'aids' such as downloaded TV shows, videos etc and have a phone contract that gives them decent internet access.
They often make the point that long stays are not a holiday but a lifestyle choice
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A and J, certainly agree with your last para...
we have several couple friends who migrate to Spain at the end of Aug, early Septemer and are there until Easter...
we will be a calling in to visit a few this January to say hi on route to Portugal.
they stay for lots of reasons....weather, cost, like minded friends, culture, great area to explore....and for a great many, improvements in health and quality of life that the warmer climate brings.
although we don't get bad winter weather here in the SW, compared to many more northern parts of Britain, the short hours of daylight and the numerous dull days can make winter seem a long time.
we will be back home just before Easter and will then start to enjoy the uk in better weather....until we run away again in May....and September
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There's lifestyle choice and there's lifestyle choice... If it means touring places like Seville, Granada and Cadiz, exploring tapas bars and New Year festivals, then that's one thing - but if it means just sitting out the winter on a gravel square 10m. X 8m. for several months on a campsite that's somewhere or anywhere, playing cards and bingo with other OAPs to while away the time, then that's a lifestyle choice I can live without.
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You don't have to participate in any of those activities if they are not to your taste ET. Cards and Bingo have never appealed to us either but I have enjoyed the last two winters I have spent in Spain but have not stayed on any one site for longer than a month and my trips are rarely longer than 45 days. I'm giving it a miss this year in favour of other activities but we will no doubt return to Spain for at least some of the winter of 2020.
peedee
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Hi Peedee
Thank you so much for your advice, I will look at this route and sites you have recommended.
Dolly
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We are just looking forward to escaping the long dark winter for some sunshine. We left until October to book anywhere so are staying at Mar Azul for 3 weeks which I understand is in the middle of the polytunnels but if it is warm with some sunshine we don’t mind. We also have a scooter so intend to explore on that. After that we are moving up to Valencia. I’m sure after the first trip we will be more confident. It’s really good to hear others experiences in Spain.
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Hi Peedee
Hope we can meet up for a game of cards next winter!
JK
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as in many things in life, they are not necessarily black or white.... sometimes black AND white...
we have about 10-12 weeks away and we will be touring Seville, Granada, Cadiz and many more, but we will also have a few longer stops to put our feet up, enjoy the tapas bars, the wine and the company...
we will visit some old friends who are long terming and hopefully meet some new ones, maybe in a bar, maybe in a city or maybe on a new spot we put our feet up at....
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John Douglas's blog which oldagetraveller mentions was my bible planning our trip last year and the link is
https://jondogoescaravanning.com/2015/10/06/welcome-to-my-blog/
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Hi BB,AD and ET, first apologies to the OP for being off thread but what a pleasant thing to be able to comment and discuss without the ,too often, negative leanings!
Our hobby will always involve compromises, and these will often differ depending on if you caravan or MH, but ours start way before even thinking about the trip which, due to family reasons, will not be more than 4-5 weeks.
This means that we want to be enjoying good weather and late Spring is probably the earliest we would go and Sept the latest. When discussing the lifestyle v holiday take on trips it seemed that, for us, with the length of our trips and other factors we will, for the foreseeable future, be taking holidays not least as we quite enjoy our home lifestyle and the many benefits of living where we do.
In regard to ETs comments our friends MH so they are a little more restricted in what they can do but really enjoy their trips having made many friends that they look forward to being with but, for me, I could not envisage such a trip without having the car to enable me to explore/visit etc.
I don't mind sociable activities, we do rally and we will be away on one over the Christmas New Year, but would not wish that to be the only option!
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i've got around 25+ potential vist/explores pencilled in for this trip, but things will almost certainly change, as they always do...we will skip some and include others...
however none of these visits will require a car (as there are parking places handy to where we want to be)...we may use the bikes, but prefer this for a couple of hours in the sunshine....
our linear type of touring means that, if there's a place to see, we go there as part of the route...
i can't say we've ever 'missed' the car....even at home we regularly choose to cycle even for shopping trips with the car sat on the drive...
i do have a view that, for those with only a car on site, this becomes the default choice, for even the shortest of trips, even becoming a habit to 'jump in the car'....
we also really value the ease of finding stopping places when on a long journey, we don't require a site just to overnight.
i see so many threads where folk are struggling to find night halt campsites that are open, especially out of season, but we just don't give this part of the journey a though...
in fact, it's so easy to pull in (say) an hour before your 'intended' stop, or indeed an hour after, if making good time...
not that easy if relying on a limited number of spread out open campsites, some of which might even take you out of the way of your preferred route.
i agree that not having a car when on a long term site 'might' be regarded by some as a disadvantage, but if required, we could easily hire one with the money saved by not having to use sites on the way 'there'.
there will be three of four 'Theres' for us, where we will camp up for a week or more and chill with pools, beach and bars, but at the moment we only have an idea where two of them might be.
i certainly don't feel 'a little more restricted' because we have a MH, in fact, in many cases we see it as an advantage.
certainly horses for courses and, if the course is mainland Europe, we reckon we're on the right horse....
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I agree that not having a car when on a long term site 'might' be regarded by some as a disadvantage, but if required, we could easily hire one with the money saved by not having to use sites on the way 'there'.
great for me as well with my caravan, only with the money save by not paying for overnights, I don’t have to spend it on car rental
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that's great, what overnighting areas do you use....are you a campingcarinfos or bordatlas person....
obviously, you wouldn't be so naughty as to be using those thousands of stopping places reserved for MHs....? however, perhaps some nice wildcamping?
whatever you're doing, you'll be in the very smallest minority compared to the number of MHs using those types of places....
..as it happens, like you, we spend our 'savings' on things other than cars..
AD raises an valid point that is surely age related...we havent reached the stage yet of relying on a car....home or away....it's too darned nice to be out in the sunny countryside on two wheels.
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Regarding the ‘little more restricted’ our friends have almost 8m long Autotrail which, they say, can be sometimes restrictive. I love biking but it’s for fun and, as our nearest big 4 supermarket is 18 miles away, it’s not really an option for shopping!
My wife cannot ride a bike, not having been allowed to for medical reasons when a child, and due to other issues walking far is also now not an option, so that’s restrictive for us.
So far as overnighting we always use sites but, due to the times we travel, finding one is never a problem. Having said that if you can hire a car on the savings made on overnights then I am finding very cheap sites or there is some very cheap car hire around!
Interestingly our MH friends have commented that the cost of staying on Aires is now much more likely to be a paid for option and that prices have been rising.
But in the end we do what suits us both individually and have great holidays together, both in the vans and package style.
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