First trip to Spain
We have visited France Many times . Now looking to venture to Spain , a bit anxious would like to find any easy site to find on our first visit .Any help would be appreciated
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We were due to go next week and have had to postpone to next March.
You don't say how long you are going for but if it is more than a couple of weeks you will probably want to venture further afield. Before we went for the first time I found John's blog very helpful.
https://jondogoescaravanning.com/2015/10/06/welcome-to-my-blog/
and here is the one I did on our trip
https://jennyandjohngocaravanning.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=3135&action=edit
You will find it a great deal easier than you expect.
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Hugh, passing into Spain from France is no different from crossing over the Severn into Wales....you just carry on but the signs change language.
you havent said what time of year you'll be travelling...if winter time many choose the Western route, via western france and then crossing the border near Irun and on to Pamplona, Zaragosa and down to Valencia.
some head via the south east of france, crossing near Perpignan and down the eastern A7, past Barcelona to wherever..
others even cross the Pyranees anywhere between the two, but this might depend on the weather and tome of year.
As David says, driving in Spain is easy, with wide quiet roads of wonderful quality, as are many of their popular sites. theyre geared up to keep us all amused for months on end away from the UK winters.
you'll get pools, bars, restaurants, trips around places (local and further afield), no arrival times, no queuing, plenty of reception staff just waiting to look after you....
oh, and loads of sunshine, cheap food and wine and one of the friendliest places you'll ever visit.
we go every winter (either before or after Christmas)....you'll go back for sure...
enjoy.
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Hugh, you don’t say if you’re a ‘vanner or a motorhomer.
If you’re a ‘vanner , like ourselves, you could well have problems finding transit sites in France open in March. If you’re motorhoming, no problem, lots of Aires open all year.
As BB has said, as you’ve camped in France many times, you’ll hardly notice the difference camping in Spain.
Enjoy the tapas and sangria, wonderful country. 😊
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As all above have said you will find driving in Spain easy and a more relaxing experience than in the UK. If you are going in March I would use the western route and head for somewhere south of Valencia. The north coast of Spain and the northern Med coast can still be quite cool at that time of the year and in those areas many sites will not open until May.
My notes on the visits I have made can be found >here<
peedee
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FWIW ...
Big big ditto to the Deleted User post - agree plenty of convenient acceptable overnighting Winter site choices for Caravans & also Motorhomes in France.
Sure there are some big black holes if you solely look at the very restricted CMC & CCC listings of third party owned winter transit sites. The club listings are long long overdue for updating with all of the many Winter opening sites to assist the members with their route choices as it is very poor & mis-leading. Sometimes wonder who is producing the vague listing at CMC Overseas etc - not a route planner !
We also travel early January down and also utilise options with :-.
ACSI Camping Card - use the search filters
UK Campsites (sites in France & Spain) - use the search filters.
Ditto Bay of Roses in March - we stayed at beach side Camping L'Amfora in March which was fine & pleasant.
M
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Two possibilities in that zone around 250 miles from Caen are Camping les Rulieres at Saint Valerien, and Camping Le Futuriste at Jaunay Clan. A third, Camping Le Cadoret at Fouras, is a little further at 290 miles. All three are open all year for touring caravans, depending on the route chosen.
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FWIW ...
True , the CMC & CCC versions of 'France in Winter' site availability leaves large black holes / voids - correct - leading sadly to mis-information, zig zag routing down France or the Biscay Ferry option.
The ACSI site map after pre-selecting the filters of choice & needs is probably the most complete overview. It does take a little time & patience though.
It is a great pity that the two UK 'Clubs', who seemingly actively promote overseas travel, do not address this Winter issue to assist their customers / members and give them the full picture.
Rowena & others. I would love to know why or how privately owned random overseas sites of very variable quality get onto the CMC ( & CCC) site listings ?
Rowena. I would love to equally know how you trough route members down France in Winter / January ?
M
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Surely it's not hard to cross France in winter with a caravan?
Day 1 Portsmouth to StMalo overnight ferry.
Day 2 St Malo to Camping Cadoret at Fouras - 217 miles
Day 3 Fouras to Camping Larouletta at Urrugne - 233 miles.
Day 4 You have reached Spain
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Don’t dismiss northern Spain just because it rains sometimes. Do so, and you’ll be missing out. The beaches are the best in Spain, the coast (outside of August) is largely empty, fabulous walks on the coasts or in the mountains. Add to that Bilbao, San Sebastián and Santiago de Compostela and it’s a great location. The far north/west is especially unspoilt and attractive.
If you head south for any distance you’ll be ‘rewarded’ with mile after mile of featureless, arid, scruffy landscape covered in litter, graffiti and derelict or half-built constructions. In some places all you’ll see as far as the eye can see in any direction is polythene clad constructions. Choose sites carefully as some are best described as shanty towns, populated with large groups of noisy locals at weekends.
Spain has a lot to offer and has some fabulous places to visit (Seville is probably my favourite city anywhere) but you've got to like sunshine and cheap wine a lot to tolerate the less attractive features of Spain.
If you want to graduate from touring in France you could do a lot worse than turning left at the bottom and heading for Italy (and beyond).
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David
I did acknowledge that Spain has a lot to offer and agree that once reached the nicer destinations are lovely places to be. But, in between quite a bit of it is fairly bleak, much more so than touring through France or Italy. The much travelled route down the east coast is particularly unattractive, mile after mile of ugly urbanisations, tacky resorts and thousands of acres of poly tunnels around places like Almeria.
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We went to Spain for the first time two years ago in November for six weeks. Yes, I thought the journey between Bilbao and Madrid was very boring, we had a major malfunction on the car and a major electric failure in the caravan, I have to keep the sun off my face and I am not a lover of cheap wine. It was still one of our best holidays ever.
Every problem was worth putting up with for the wonder of Cordoba, the exquisite Granada, the beauty of Saville and the fabulous Roman remains we saw. Spain had things I had never seen before and I can't wait to go back.
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We did our first trip to Spain last February/March 2019 using the ferry from Portsmouth to Santander. We were aiming for southern Spain & overnighted at Camping Regio in Salamanca - fine for an overnight stop as it has all the usual facilities, & being in the grounds of Hotel Regio, there is a restaurant on site. We reached Camping Valdevaqueros near Tarifa on Spanish south coast only to find that it was a 'tired' site in need of updating, however, our main concern was the strong & constant wind! We were told that the wind was a regular feature of that area of coast, so we headed inland, & arrived at Camping Pizzarra in the Andalucian hills about an hour inland from Malaga - a very poor site & one to avoid in our view (but no wind). We then went to Camping Carlos III just outside of Cordoba. The site was very quiet, but had all the facilities you would expect, & OK for a few nights, enough to see Cordoba, which was a highlight of our trip, & the old town is not to be missed!
As others have said, the driving is easy, no tolls on the 'motorways', & fuel is reasonable - very cheap if you go to Gibraltar. If you do get to Gib. parking is difficult but free in Morisons supermarket (in centre of town) & food & drink are also cheap - an ideal place to stock up.
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Jenny, you tempt me.
It's one of my regrets that I have not yet seen those wonderful historic places in Andalusia which you describe - and one day I might - but I won't cross the Bay of Biscay on a ferry in winter to get there, or drag a caravan across the boring inland stretch you found. When I go I will fly in, tour those spectacular places, stay in local houses, eat in local bars, stay ten days or a fortnight, and then fly out.
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It’s a balanced view, you could have chosen to respond - para 1 & 3, how complimentary to Spain.
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Personally I agree with you! But hubby won't fly and the journey to Madrid was only 250 miles across what I found boring, after that I loved it.
David, I did like the hills around Burgos and perhaps at a different time of year I might have enjoyed the flat scrub lands more but in November I found the change in the colour of the soil the most interesting thing.
I always say it is a good job we are all different.
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The same for us, we enjoy the drive and the diverse landscapes, the open uncrowded roads.
We have flown into Spain on many occasions, generally when we were still working, so had to maximise our time off.
Neither of us are lovers of hotels or going out trying to find somewhere to eat at the end of a days sightseeing.
There is still so much of Spain that we want to see, so many years still to come of holidays there.
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