Newbies planning Portugal/Spain for the winter
Can anyone advise us on the best routes/campsites etc for a visit to Portugal or Spain for January, February and March next year. We have not taken the caravan abroad before and are travelling with a small dog who has had his rabies jabs etc in readiness.Any helpful tips of any sort would be very welcome to assist in our planning.
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Your first step is to decide how you would like to travel. If you are thinking of the ferries directly from Portsmouth to Spain then you will want one of the few "dog friendly" cabins. They sell out very quickly so you will need to move fast when ferry bookings opens in mid October.
But if you are thinking of driving across France then the classic route for travel in winter is the lowland western route via Bordeaux and Bayonne - that has least risk of snow in January and has enough transit camps open.
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there are many on this forum with vast amounts of experience, far more than me, but i would offer this re your dog as we too travel with a dog on such a journey
1. if you use Portsmouth to Santander/Bilboa route in January it could be very trumatic for your dog, 24 hour crossing. Dog friendly cabins are ok but like gold dust, so in all probability dog would have to be in a kennel or out on deck with you, if it is a rough crossing, dogs are locked in their kennels, January can be particularly bad. This route puts you directly into Spain so less driving to get to Southern Spain where you would want to be if you need some sun and warmth. Drive down through Spain particularly in the early stages could be hazardous, only done in March, others know better than me.
2. if you use a crossing such as Poole-Cherbourg 5 hour crossing dog has to stay in vehicle, much better from our point of view, a good walk before boarding and ours will sleep for 5 hour crossing. You are not allowed onto the car deck to check on your dog except in an emergency. Longish drive down through France, only ever done it in March which was, ok, others will comment on how much snow/bad weather you may encounter particularly in Northern Spain in January.
3. a more sensible route would be via the cross channel tunnel, i guess, not done it so do not know. Long drive through France, ditto potential for bad weather.
from our perspective we chose routes that are acceptable for us and the dog, personally would not risk Bay of Biscay in January with a dog on the current Brittany ferries, but many do. Good luck
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I prefered the tunnel crossing when I have been to Spain for some of the winter. The earliest we have been is January back in March. The risks of really bad weather are minimal and if you have time to spare you can always call a halt to your journey until it improves. The Spanish are very good a keeping roads clear of any snow. The blog of my last trip is >here<. You will see I booked through the Camping and Caravan Club. If your a member, being new to wintering in Spain I thoroughly recommend you book through them. You will learn a lot from like minded people. At least look at their winter sun guides >here<
I have done it with just a booking for the channel tunnel crossing but both Spain and Portugal get very busy in the winter and good beach side sites quickly fill up and you will find that all you are left with if you don't have a booking is the poorer sites and pitches. That is not so bad if you are a motorhome owner and can move around easily but with a caravan I guess you want to stay for longer at a site or sites.
peedee
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Many thanks for such a prompt and useful reply. We are very grateful!
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New to this forum business, so can I make it clear that my thank you message goes out to all who have replied!
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John's blog has a wealth of information about going to Spain as he has done it for many years. I used it extensively for my first trip two years ago.
https://jondogoescaravanning.com/2015/10/06/welcome-to-my-blog/
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For what its worth ....
2018 Jan - end March. Car & Cara & 1 dog, Leeds to Southern Spain, 1600 miles, 6 days / 5 stops, Tunnel & drive through France, Med side border cross & down Costas - no issues with sites (none booked prior).
2019 Feb - end March. 5 days / 4 o/n, then ditto to other bits above.
2020 Jan - end March. Repeat trip planned to same long stay site and we cant wait to escape Winter.
This subject is a regular early Autumn Post topic.
The 'Caravan Talk' forum ( see 'Abroad') has vastly greater activity. Doing a search on that forum will bring up the almost identical question as yours.
Many folks have very different views, preferences, opinons and experiences and ours is .....
We use the Tunnel - you dont state your home area.
We did a Fly /Drive trip prior to suss out our choices.
The CMC & CCC Overseas site listings for Winter are very thin on choices and have mis-leading gaping no-options in large areas. ACSI, UK Campsites (France & Spain section) and others have many other stopover and long stay sites that are fully open.
A Caravan with your tow car to get about gives greater flexibility on site choices.
We did not like many of the listed & often favoured honey pot sites in coastal towns and on the beaches etc.
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I too have enjoyed reading the replies and the advice from those who make that long pilgrimage to southern Spain every winter. They are people with experience.
But the question in my mind remains, Is the long winter trek to southern Spain a good thing to do compared with the non caravan alternatives?
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But the question in my mind remains, Is the long winter trek to southern Spain a good thing to do compared with the non caravan alternatives?
good point, i have been meaning to look at villa options, there are loads of villas up for rent, and when you consider you can pay £1k+ for a ferry this would go a long way for the hire of a decent villa for a couple of months, and car hire in Spain is very cheap during the winter months, my biggest problem is my dog, we would probably have to drive down, but ferry would be much cheaper or tunnel even cheaper, and of course more MPG if no caravan, but overnightr stops would probably be more expensive, wonder if anybody has done it ???
BUT, my long term site e.g. 5-6 weeks is only €14 euro's per night = €420 per month including 7kw electricity per day which is sufficient. Food bill would probably be the same.
Lots of socialising on a camp site, and it is always handy to have your home mobile should you not like a place or get bored,villa could be a bit lonely depending on location, and more difficult to move i guess if you have rented for say 2-3 months. A bit of a quandry
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Just another big thank you to you all for such helpful response today and, of course, yesterday.
We are very grateful, indeed.
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No quandry for us either if you are talking about Flat/villa/hotel in Spain or Portugal for a long duration. Give me a campsite anyday. Further afield there isn't much choice and you need deeper pockets. We didn't go this year and it looks like we won't be going this winter either.
peedee
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Same for us, we did do a villa for a few weeks at the end of Nov a few years ago.However we decided that it would be a very lonely winter if we were to do it for 2-3 months. Much better to be at home and take a few fly away breaks.
The other option might be to rent a cabin/mobile home on one of the popular sites. Not sure how cost effective it would be but I think you would still have a social life.
At our timeshare resort in Lanzarote, it is busy in January/February they have an offer on rent 2 weeks get 3rd week half price and that seems to make a difference. Better to drop the price for rental and recoup it in the bar/restaurant
Lots of seniors spend their winters there and the social life is really good.0 -
Have done the crossing Portsmouth to Bilbao leaving midnight Sunday and arriving 07.30 Tuesday. That would give you a full days driving which in my case got me down to Caceres. Stayed two nights then went on to Albufeira in Portugal.
Dogs were caged but allowed out on deck in a run. Pick your time of crossing the Bay of Biscay with care.
Spanish/Portuguese motorways are a doddle but NOT toll free.
Good luck with your trip
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Hi, we have made the January trip twice now to southern Spain not Portugal with our dog. First time used the Chunnel staying overnight at the clubs Black Horse Farm site to catch an early train. First stop Les Acacias at Tours followed by Camping Beau Soleil at Gradignan just south of Bordeaux and then onto Olimpia near Salamanca and Camping Cacares at Cacares. Final run was down to Bella Vista in Manilva. Around 300 miles each day. Tolls through France were around £120. From Bella Vista we travelled to Castillo De Banos then on to Alicante Imperium, Camping Tauro in Benicassim, Alegria Del Mar in Benicarlo. From Benicarlo there are easy routes north to pick up the Chunnel.
Second time we used the midday Portsmouth/Bilbao ferry with a dog friendly cabin. Booked in July as soon as sailing were available. Its unlikely there are any dog friendly cabins left now. Drove to Zaragoza for one night then onto Alicante Imperium, Castillo de Banos and Bella Vista then back up to Bilbao stopping at Cacares and Camping Fuentes Blancas in Burgos.
First trip was booked all through the other club winter rally programme.
Hope this is of help.
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We too are relative newbies - although we went to France in May 2019 then back to the UK for summer, where we planned the exact same tour through Spain to Portugal for winter. Writing this from Silves in northern Algarve, mid-tier. This is what happened! We have a 13m van and caravan rig - which by the way needs the twin alloy long vehicle rear hazard markers in Spain.
Stayed on UK site Rookesbury Park near Portsmouth with a 'stay-hitched' ferry pitch for early Saturday 14th Oct sailing 7.30 am from Portsmouth to Santander, arriving 14.30 Sunday. Crossing with cabin was OK. Was worried about making it to Salamanca before dark so headed east to a site in Potes. BIG mistake number one! The site is lovely, the mountain road was treacherous for a rig our size, over-hanging rock BOTH sides! A chap asked how we managed it - I have no idea as all memory is erased! Lesson learned - head straight for Salamanca and use motorways - no tolls I think. But the Salamanca site was horrid, in a motorway conurbation, one night stop fortunately. Few caravan sites this time of year, easier for motorhomes.
Next stop was Caceres, a nice site and facilities for a one night stop. Then three hours on over into Portugal to Ourique, a Dutch owned site called Serro Da Bica for 28 days. Phew. It was great, a little remote, small touch of road noise for some but luckily chose a nice pitch, mostly Dutch folks, fun in the bar 5-7pm. Nice cycling. Then headed Lisbon for a one-off city trip for one week, Cascais pretty, bought a Viagem Travel Card to get about, TimeOut Market is a 'must'. Then to Camping Zamujeira do Mar on the west coast for a month, best ever site, staff and facilities, dramatic Atlantic coast, but it rained like heck, so a pitch NOT beneath trees would have helped! Now in Silves, Camping Paraiso, fantastic views, access road washed away by floods yesterday, rebuilt already today! (That doesn't happen back home!). Now sunshine after the floods, here for seven weeks then Algarve for two months. Then who knows where - except our Danish neighbours suggest avoiding France! (Might need a driving licence card from the UK to drive there anyway (thanks Boris).
Motorway tolls in Portugal are a nightmare, many operators, even the locals and site owners can't work them out! But tollcard.pt is a good starting point. Lessons learned - always collect ticket and pay at exit barriers. Crossing from Spain into Portugal, pull into the ''foreign vehicles" lane and check what you need. Algarve motorways only have overhead toll gantry cameras, no barriers, buy a virtual card online at tollcard.pt to avoid possible fines when you get home , although some say nothing happened.
Next time, we would probably cross into northern Portugal and head south, Porto is preferred to Lisbon by some.
Anyway, fun it is! Hope it goes well!
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