# Southern Spain Italy or Portugal ?



## 106573 (Aug 20, 2007)

Hi All
Could I ask those of you who have personal experience, which of the three countries named in this post, you would choose if you could spend the coming winter months there?.
I'm thinking of spending quite a bit of time wild camping, so things to consider will be:
Access to fresh water.
Gas (Gaslow)
Food supplies
Places to camp
Safe (if anywhere still is!)
S/Italy, poor roads, dirty beaches. But very friendly people!.
S/Spain, high crime rate, unfriendly Police!. Good places to wild camp.
S/Portugal, crime rate on increase, poor roads, good places to camp.
I would be grateful for any information that can help make the best choice!
So .......over to you guys

Thanks in advance 
Tinhuttraveler


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## 106573 (Aug 20, 2007)

Could a mod move this post to more suitable forum please.


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## wilse (Aug 10, 2007)

Personally we only did an handful of wild camps in Spain and didn't like it.

Haven't been to Italy in the truck, so can't comment.

Portugal... I'd be back there tomorrow.
I was expecting a down market kind of Spain 8O but in my opinion it was way better.

The people friendly, wild camping not a problem, water easy to find, LPG available easily. It also felt very safe and on the whole the road were very good.
We went from Cabanas, right to the SW tip [Sagres] then up as far as Porto [west coast].

Go now, don't hang about.

PS campsites were also cheap... €5.15 with EHU [Peniche] through to €9... I'm sure there are dearer ones!

w

PPS have a search for Roteiro campsite book [on the forum] it's about €7 it's worth the money.


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

Have moved to Continental Touring info,

Dave


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

wilse said:


> Personally we only did an handful of wild camps in Spain and didn't like it.
> 
> Haven't been to Italy in the truck, so can't comment.
> 
> ...


Hi

Thinking of the same thing but we wont be able to travel until end of Dec beginning of Jan. Considering Portugal or Sicily. I think probably Portugal. My worry is the route down there in the middle of winter. Is there a route you can take that avoids most tolls and is going to be snow and ice free? Dont mind using the tolls if it saves lots of time and avoids snow and ice.

Thanks
Barry


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*Winter*

Okay, here goes.

I would prefer the South of France (Eastern Mediterranean). I have known the weather to be better there than in Costa Tropical, Spain. In fact, they have just had such a two week spell.

That way you could always then get over to Sicily or Southern Italy should you have a change of heart.

You will However, find more all-year campsites in Spain and Portugal. Of course you will have more chance of warmer weather but as I suggested, no guarantee.


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

*Re: Winter*



teemyob said:


> Okay, here goes.
> 
> I would prefer the South of France (Eastern Mediterranean). I have known the weather to be better there than in Costa Tropical, Spain. In fact, they have just had such a two week spell.
> 
> ...


AGHHH! Southern France is where we originally thought of going and just about every man and his dog on here and the other forums has told us to go to Spain or Portugal! We love France and would consider it. We have only been along the stretch from St Tropez and then 50-60 miles west of there before going inland, any recommendations. Sorry to hijack post!


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## eddied (May 9, 2005)

Ciao tutti, my first suggestion would be to have a good browse of the BBC weather site, and check out average conditions for each winter month in each of the countries you are considering. Winter is winter even in Southern Europe, especially the period December to beginning of March.
On average I think you'll find Spain and Portugal a bit warmer than Sicily, which is a long east and therefore subject to weather from Russia/the Balkans. It does however have lots of S.W. coast campsites open all year with good rates in the winter months, and has lots of interesting places to see and things to do. Somewhere on MHF is quite a lot of info (I'm on a PDA connection just now so can't help the search). I contest the idea of poor roads/dirty beaches ?
saluti,
eddied


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## 106573 (Aug 20, 2007)

South of France is O K, but a friend of mine has had 6" of snow to deal with in mid Jan/Feb. He was camped up near Nice. This was a few years ago now, but proves it can happen!.
Tinhut


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## C7KEN (May 27, 2005)

I am parked at El Campello right now with Seanoo from the site a matter of 3 vans away and most of the other vans are from FRANCE why do you think they come here for the winter? Quite simply because the weather is going to be warmer down here. Also there are plenty of excellent wild camping places in Spain such as here, Mojacar, Agua Amarg, Torre del Mar etc. look at my previous post with the TomTom Co-ords and the link to photos .


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Well a rough plan for us might be to bumble around France for a couple of weeks over Christmas and New YEar and then head to probably Portugal. We have done the Isle of Arran in the middle of Winter so surely southern France should be warmer than there. Can anyone tell me if we will have a problem getting to southern Portugal from France in the depths of winter?


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## greygit (Apr 15, 2007)

barryd said:


> Well a rough plan for us might be to bumble around France for a couple of weeks over Christmas and New YEar and then head to probably Portugal. We have done the Isle of Arran in the middle of Winter so surely southern France should be warmer than there. Can anyone tell me if we will have a problem getting to southern Portugal from France in the depths of winter?


We hit pretty bad snow in Madrid last January on our way to Portugal so we are going in December this year and hoping to avoid it.

In answer to the original question, Portugal!
Gary


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## Briarose (Oct 9, 2007)

Hi we have been down to Portugal (Algarve) in the past two winters, the first time we left the UK at the end of Jan and came back middle of March we had no problem either way on the roads, and enjoyed some welcome winter sunshine. 

Last year we left in late Nov, my Friend had travelled down in early Nov and had some fantastic weather........however the minute we left the UK it changed for the worst in Portugal and from arriving until our return on the 21st Dec we had rain rain rain and more rain, OK it was better than the UK not the oppresive heavy dark days that we get here, but it did spoil it somewhat as we had so many happy memories of the previous trip sitting out in the sunshine etc and to be honest we did feel that in a way we had wasted a lot of money in fuel to get there as for us the weather was a big part of why we went. Travelling back was fine except for a stretch just after Salamanca which was a bit scarey due to the heavy snow.

I have to add though that everyone was saying the weather was not normal for the time of year. The trend seemed to continue after Xmas according to posts on here.

Not sure what we are going to do this year, but must admit it didn't seem the same without the lovely sunshine..........we did have an odd day when you could sit out but I could count it on one hand.


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## 106573 (Aug 20, 2007)

Thank you all for the interesting replies to my post.....................Mexico here we come!!! :lol: :lol: 
Only joking, sounds like Porugal is the winner, I expect to leave first week of November and drive down from Calais.
Regards
Tinhut


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