Road Trip Northern Spain - ideas needed
We are heading over the northern Spain mid August via ferry to Santander and was hoping to get some road trip ideas. We have a motorhome and are there for 2 weeks. We do not want to be travelling constantly as we have 2 children 7 & 8. Looking for places of historic interest, great food and decent campsites (the odd one with pool for kids!!) and also recommendations for aires on route too.
We don't mind heading inland if there are beautiful places to see and we don't need beach action particularly. Although I have read that the mountains are scenic, I don't really want snow for my summer hols and I think the children will be less interested in good views than places steeped in history.
If anyone can recommend a decent 2 week route and places to stay / camp I would really appreciate any tips.
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I always advocate John's blog as being full of ideas on places to go and sites to use.
https://jondogoescaravanning.com/2015/10/06/welcome-to-my-blog/
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If you are heading down towards Montfrague as David suggests (and I heartily agree with him) you could extend the trip in Extramadura by visiting Merida for the Roman Theatre from the 1st.century. Then maybe turn towards Madrid but no need to go into the city. Visit places like Aranjuez for the Royal Gardens and wonderful architecture and take in San Lorenzo de El Escorial and the UNESCO Monastery, both of which are near Madrid but not in it. Then wend your way back to Salamanca, former European City of Culture.
There are campsite in Placencia for Montfrague, one in Merida and another in Aranjuez that I've stayed at but it is several years and I would hesitate to recommend somewhere that I've not visited for some time.Look up reviews of the sites.
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San Sebastián and Bilbao are definitely worth a visit. Área de Autocaravanas de Kobetamendi is a great aire/campsite in an elevated position above Bilbao - fabulous views at night and easy bus service into the city.
Santiago de Compostela is also well worth a visit.
Look out for Cudillero, lovely little town on the north coast.
We also visited the Galicia region in the NW which has a rugged coastline, empty wild beaches and feels very different from the Spain of the costas. Nice campsite on lovely beach at Muros (A Vouga) with good chance of seeing dolphins.
The area is very green and weather not dissimilar to the UK!
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Santiago de Compostela is a hell of a long drive from Santander with a couple of young kids.
OK, it's the same distance anyway!
The Cantabria / Asturias region has a lot to offer for a 2 week trip, beautiful coastline, prehistoric caves, Picos de Europa, lovely small, very Spanish resorts. No real need to drive many more miles unless you really want to.
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On route to Salamanca a stop off at Tordesillaas, Camping El Astra is worth it. Tordesillas is a lovely old town.
peedee
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I think those comments highlight the big difference between caravanning and motorhomes. For many caravanners it’s all about the destination, tending to stopover for chunks of time, using the car to explore locally. For motorhomers it’s as much about the journey, stopping over for a day or two somewhere interesting and then moving on. Distances really don’t count for much if done in bite sized chunks assuming you’ve got time. Nothing wrong with either approach, but just different, but it does give an entirely different perspective to planning trips.
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Thank you so much for all your suggestions, I want to go to them all!!!
Really appreciate you all taking the time, shall investigate tonight, do the sites tend to get busy in August?
I've probably left it too late and will have to do non stop wild camping!!
Thanks again
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Mid August I imagine will be very hot in many parts of Spain. We go in the winter so I can't really comment. But I would have thought that children would not really want to spend a lot of time being driven around in hot weather. Why not a two centre holiday?
Have a look at the ACSI websites https://www.campingcard.co.uk and https://www.eurocampings.co.uk They have a lot of information on campsites and reviews from travellers.
One site we stay at in Extremadura in February is http://www.lascanadas.es at a lovely small town called Hervas with an old Jewish area. Every weekend the Spanish come out with their children and the site lays on lots of activities for them. They take their children very seriously in Spain and you often see multi-generation families out and about and at camp sites.
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Hi Sacha
Mid August here in Spain is very HOT even in the North expect temperatures of over 40 to 46 and this will be after two month's of over 30 today it is 36 so I hope you have aire conditioning or at least a good fan and make sure any campsite you choice has a swimming pool
As others have suggested Burgos, Salamanca are must see cites and both have excellent campsites at Fuentes Blanca and Hotel Regio, we visited Burgos this time last year and the site at Fuentes Blanca was only 2/3 full and it reached 38 one day and one other suggestion I would make is the small town of Haro which is the centre of the Rioja Region with plenty of bodegas and the bars there serve good Rioja on tap and the town campsite is very good. There will also be no snow on the mountains at this time of year and one of our favourite roads over is the AP15 with some fantastic views.
Enjoy your trip
Phil
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It's a long way to go for just two weeks holiday without a bit of research about the area. You will be landing in Cantabria which has many small towns of historical interest, some fine beaches, and the Picos de Europa mountains. The area is probably best suited for touring by car, however. Confine your search on line to beaches and campsites in Cantabria, but include a visit to the Picos national park in your plans.
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