Spending winter months in Spain
Hi everyone,
I wonder if anyone can help or advise on the following;
At last I am retiring at 72 and my wife and I are looking forward to Caravanning without worrying about when to get home!
We love England in the summer and have planned a 10 week trip through Devon and Cornwall (our favourite Counties) early next year. However we really fancy spending the winter months i.e. late September/October/November returning mid December (to spend Christmas with the family) in Spain.
Can anyone advise: Where in Spain is best for the warm winter (not too hot but say 22-24 degrees)
Which is the best route: The Chunnel then through France, or Ferry to Santander etc.
Average cost of sites and any that could be recommended.
All help, advise, experiences will be most appreciated.
Thanks for your time
John & Jan.
Comments
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J&J
We have spent our winters in Spain for at least ten years and we enjoyed it that much we have now lived here for the last four years, so in order of your questions in my opinion.
Anywhere below Valencia will give the sun and heat you require
We always go Caen too Portsmouth, this is a personnel choice don't like long crossing and all that driving from Calais
Costs vary with ACSI card for little as 20 euros a night but with long stays like a month the sites price might bring it below ACSI around 15/16euros a night dependent of quality of site.
The sites down here are now starting to fill up for the winter and we can't usually get a pitch between January and March unless we go into the mountains but you should be ok until December with out booking. Also don't just keep to campsites as some of the Camper stops are excellent standard, two of our favourites are El Campello (area7) and Alcossebre.these are really cheap around 10 to 12 euros.
One last piece of advise don't drink and eat too much because the cost of living is so cheap.
Enjoy
Phil
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For what it's worth .. (FWIW) ....
1. Recommend do a cheap winter fly drive trip to the area you fancy prior to view sites and the region & area. Very enlightening before the 1500+ mile drive. Glossy fancy Websites do sometimes fib. Sites & locations & appeal can vary hugely.
2. Via Michelin is good for route planning options.
3. Overnight Winter Sites open en-route. Try UK Campsites & ACSI. Filter search to your wants. CMC & CCC have very restricted offerings. We dont pre-book any sites. For long stay honeypot sites you'll need to book & save up prior.
4. Caravan Talk Forum - Overseas bit, a lot more following & input & current chat on this subject.
5. We tow, with 2 dogs, so do Tunnel and down France to Eastern / Med over border and then down the coast. South of Valencia for better mid winter sun & temps.
M
NB Feedback helps encourage advice & input.
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Caravanning and Motorhoming inSpain and Portugal in Winter are not what they once were! We started in 2004 traveling down through France (Reims/Lyon/Avignon/Perpignon > Barceleona).We'd set off in January and come home at the end of April.
Back then, the French went to Maroc and Germans bought appartments: we could turn up at sites such as Javea and have a pick of several pitches, not so the last time we went! (2016).
Our advice would be to save Spain until late February or March. The overwinterers will be packing up and making space. The weather is a bit warmer and the days are longer. It can get quite cold even far south when the sun goes down at teatime!
Why not consider Late August to early October in Brittany and Normandy. Not so far and it can still be very warm - we had to seek shade at Trintie sur Mer in September.
Here's a photo of Cath on the beach at Kikopark south of Valencia in February 2015
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We've only spent up to December but never after.
The sites start to get very busy by November, some folk book up in advance for mid December on so while you may find a nice site in October /November come December you may have to move on.
Away from the coast sites are usually not as busy. Are you looking at going and staying on one site or looking at touring?
We only go up until Christmas as we like to fly off to somewhere where the weather is more predictable come January /February.
We tend to start off in France and keep going south as the weather starts to cool down, usually by the end of September first week of October. We tend to wander around Spain rather than head to the coast and pitch up. Future years that may change who knows.
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John has been going for years using every route and staying at so many sites that I found him a fount of knowledge when we wanted to go two years ago. His blog is
https://jondogoescaravanning.com/
The blog of our trip is
https://jennyandjohngocaravanning.wordpress.com/2017/11/11/spain/
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The earlier photo of Cath on a bleak beach in February, muffled up and huddled up, with a threatening sky behind her, sums up why I have never believed the stories of winter sun in that part of Spain, and have never been tempted to go at that time of year.
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having said that, this was the late afternoon (16:15 ish) on the day we arrived at Benicassim this spring....10th January. no jacket required
i can assure you we had amazing weather with shirt sleeves the order of the day, and a street Paella Party positively hot...
its a great place to unwind for a while after the long drive from Cherbourg and we will be doing it again this spring before pushing on to explore...
whilst we also like a bit of winter sun on boats and in hotels, getting into the 'lifestyle' for three months or so also suits us fine and seems to be what the OP is lookng for.
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Telling Lies?
Not sure what that means or who it's aimed at! My point was that Spain in winter is pretty busy these days and the photo was intended (light-heartedly) to show that the weather in Spain in winter is not always sunny and warm. We've been to Spain every year from 2004 to 2016, sometimes twice a year, so we clearly enjoyed the experience.
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Hi
Just to give everyone a taste of the what the weather here in Spain can be, for the last couple of days we have been in Madrid at a major motorhome show looking for a new Motorhome and the maximum temperature today at an outdoor show was 2 and as the Spanish say "mucho frio"
Phil
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TG, you seem to have become a poster girl
(not that you weren't already).0 -
was in Mazarron during the Easter Festival this year, spent almost 2 days in caravan, driving rain, cold, most of the carnivals cancelled, streets under water, but beautiful in the UK. Check out places such as Mar Menor sea etc still heavily polluted from the last storms, people still not able to return to their homes, my daughter lives and works in Spain, yes weather is great but they also have some very rough times.
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if i wanted a bit of winter sunshine (and some warmth) i wouldnt be heading to Madrid....
we have many (older) friends who 'live' in Spain for 6 months or so each year and the better weather does wonders for aching joints (as well as sun tans) and the lower cost of living (food, drink, fuel, clothes etc) means being able to eat out more often and to perhaps a better social life than 'being stuck at home'...
there are far worse places to unwind....(or 'live')...a great country and lovely people.
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"was in Mazarron during the Easter Festival this year"
whats Cornwall got to do with this thread?
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Nobody in their right mind goes to Madrid in winter for pleasant weather. I stopped there for three nights last year in November and Yes! it was cold and wet. It stands at over 2000feet for a start. Granada which is less than 40 miles from the sea is also at 2000feet and when I used to stay there overnight, I scraped the ice off the windscreen and yet 40 miles down on the coast, the temperature had shot up to 18C I've been spending winters in Spain for 25 years and have found that anywhere from Valencia round to Portugal will get you some decent temperatures. Not sunny every day - some days cloudy, but often 22C by mid-afternoon. Then occasionally it rains - sometimes all day, but then it's over and done with and the sun is back again. When I travel to the Costa del Sol, I now take the ferry to Bilb/ander, but then take up to two weeks travelling down to the southern coast, taking a different route each year. There are some truly amazing places to see on the way
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I get why people do the winter in Spain thing, but the evenings are still early, dark & cool. I think I’d get cabin fever after a week or so. How do people cope with that for weeks on end or am I just not very good at amusing myself? I often go to Lanzarote and/or Fuerteventura in December/January, but never for more than 7 days as I get bored. Sometimes the daylight hours are a bit chilly as well out of the sunshine. It’s a very different experience to the outside summer lifestyle dining alfresco, evening walk along the beach, people watching sat outside a bar etc etc.
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Similar to you Bill I don't really fancy spending weeks and weeks away in winter in Spain although I do accept even cool sunny weather is far better than what we expect at home. I probably would enjoy it more if touring was a possibility but couldn't stand being on the same site for weeks on end.
We arrived back last night from a week in Tenerife following a week of fabulous hot weather where it was possible to walk back to the hotel at 11.00pm in shirt sleeves ( the illuminated signs were showing 23C at that time). Even more pleasing was it was still very very warm as the sun set at 61.5pm and only became dark at 6.30pm so the days were much longer than here. The outdoor eating and drinking experience was possible at all times. In fact we were passing the beach one evening at 9.30pm as a bikini clad woman appeared from the pitch black sea!
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