First time to Portugal
Now we are both retired we are planning to take our Motorhome to Portugal next January/ February to try and avoid the English winter. We have toured France fairly extensively so are familiar with European driving, but have some other questions:
Which route would people recommend at that time of year? Dover/ Calais and drive through France to Spain/ Portugal, or Plymouth/Santander?
When touring France we have never pre- booked sites. Would we need to do so in Spain and Portugal?
We generally prefer CL type locations, does anyone have any recommendations for Spain and Portugal?
i shall be buying 'All the Aires in Spain and Portugal' and renewing my ACSI membership.
Any other tips gratefully received!
Comments
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quite a few questions.....but here goes...
firsty, living in Hampshire, you didn't mention the Western crossings Poole-Cherbourg or Portsmouth-Caen or Le Havre....?
why drive to Dover if heading for Portugal?
weve just done 3 months (Jan, Feb, March) down there and crossed from Poole (we live in Somerset), drove to Nantes (aire), Irun (aire) then Benicassim, stayed a while at the site there...then off south west via Granada (booked a site) and Seville (aire), before heading to Touriscampo at Lagos, where we stayed for two weeks...
heading back along the Algarve (and the cost deal sol) we booked nothing and stayed in aires and wild camped a bit and it was the best part of the trip....we then came back up via Valencia and then back across to Irun and then took a week to enjoy the beter weather on the French west coast, crossing back to Poole from Cherboug.
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We’ve recently visited Portugal, entering from northern Spain and exiting via the Algarve to Seville and beyond. Make sure you familiarise yourself with the toll road system beforehand. It’s quite complex and potentially expensive. We don’t do the ‘show bird’ thing, so can’t advise on sites in winter. We did stay on a site near Cabanas de Tavira (Cámping Ria Formosa) in the Algarve which seemed very geared up to long-term winter stays. Not a bad site, near a lovely beach (short boat trip required) good rail links along the Algarve, but I think I’d be bored stiff after a week. Nearby Tavira is a nice town. Northern Portugal has a lot to offer, empty wild beaches - very different to the Algarve. Porto is a fantastic city and we really liked Evora, an old town inland from Lisbon, (also worth a visit). Portugal is quite cheap - food, drink, diesel.
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Plymouth to Santander ferry usually shuts down in winter. Portsmouth to Santander or Bilbao stays open, but with the big ship out of action for repairs taking ten weeks and being replaced by a small ship I would book as soon as the new timetable is out in July if you decide on that route - especially if you want a dog in bedroom booking. Those cabins sell out fast.
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Many thanks for these replies, they are very useful and are giving us much food for thought.
Next task Is to look into crossings from Portsmouth and to get a map and book of aires to start planning!
Thanks again.
Mike
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