overnight stay in France and Spain. Safety.
Hello, we are travelling to Spain this November. Towing the caravan from Calais to a Camping Site on the Costa del Sol. I estimate that this will take 3 days of shared driving. At the end of day 1 driving I expect to be around Niort in France and at the end of day 2 I expect to be just North of Madrid. For security reasons, I would like to find a camp site (for 1 night) near Niort and 1 night near Milagros (say). However, I have not found a site open nr Niort at that time of year.
Firstly can anyone recommend a camp site nr Niort and nr Milagros for overnight stays.
If not, is it safe to stay overnight at Aire de Repos in France and the equivalent (aires?) in Spain.
Comments
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Perhaps this should be moved to the overseas section.
Venturer, I think you are very optimistic in your timings. It is almost 1000 miles from Calais to Madrid. I would say that even with you sharing the driving you would need another day to get to Madrid. This west route to Spain has recently been discussed in the o'seas section and I can add no more. Some people do stay in Aires in France/Spain but not us when there are sites available on your route.
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A campsite near to Niort which is open all year is Camping les Rulieres at St Valerien - about 30 miles NW of the city and just N of the motorway.
Although personally I would drop down the coast road and stop at Fouras, just south of La Rochelle, using Camping Le Cadoret - because I like visiting Fouras.
But I wouldn’t start from Calais .
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We used the following sites when travelling to La Bella Vista, Manilva in 2018. Les Acasias, Tours - Larrouleta, Urrugne - Camping Olimpia, Salamanca - Camping Casares, Casares and on to Bella Vista.
We did a couple of nights at Salamanca and Cacares to look around the towns.
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I did a thousand miles in two days driving down into Spain from Calais. I was doing it solo in a car. It's two very hard days. With a van on the hook - no way Hosea unless you are a masochist.
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Personally I would not stop the night at a motorway picnic area. I would, at a push, stop at a motorway service area where there are people about. The down side is that these can be quite noisy with refrigerated lorries and general vehicle movement.
I would be far less ambitious and travel about 350 miles per day maximum, usually less. The book "Travellers France" by Arthur Eperon is well worth a read.
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Venturer, if you really want to get to the Costa del Sol with three days driving then you can make it more possible if you take the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo and start from there instead of starting from Calais.
Day 1 St Malo to Bordeaux Camping Village du Lac -320 miles.Day 2 Bordeaux to Camping Riaza, an hour north of Madrid - 370 miles.
Day 3 Riaza to Malaga - still 400 miles, but downhill.
Or use EasyJet and rent.
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No way would I do the mileage you suggest in 2 days. Approx 5 years ago we HAD to drive from Perpignan on the Med coast to Manchester in one day with 3 drivers. It was hell, even with 3 drivers we were all very very tired. Although you think you can sleep whilst the other person drives it reality it doesn't happen. Allow more time.
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But they might be younger than you and me. We watched a family dismantle tents near Avignon and spend most of the day packing - and then as it got dusk set off to drive overnight 600 miles to Calais.
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