# South for the Autumn/Winter



## RichardD (Sep 14, 2009)

Hi All, need advice for our first trip down to Spain and possibly Portugal in October and November.

1. Where is best to go to get good weather?

2. Are their Aires or are we going to have to look for Campsites?

3. What is the South of France like during October?

4. Are most of the Aires through France likely to be open later in November?

Richard


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## Kev1 (Apr 4, 2011)

Really interested in this one as well
we are heading off on the 5th of Sept for a month or so

Kev


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## palaceboy (Mar 9, 2008)

We leave on 12 th sept by Eurotunnel and have 12 days to get down to near Marbella . We use a mixture of campsites , aires and french passion stop overs , everything is open then but sites start to close from the end of sept in France . After 2 weeks in Marbella we move on to Cabo De Gata in Almeria for the winter its our preferred choice of campsite fees are under 300 euros a month for pitch and electric and the weather is generally better as its a desert climate in mid winter although sometimes a little windy.
W e will leave around end of March and do a long trip home via france , italy ,croatia , czech , austria , switzerland , germany and home mid May


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## Westkirby01 (Jan 25, 2009)

We headed south to France. Med border with Spain for the winter 2010/11

Travelled through England in September 2010. Took Dover/Calais Ferry on 1st October, turned right and travelled round the Normandy/Britany coast. The aires were plentiful. In November many of the aires were still open but as it was getting cold we required EHU, as the leisure battery failed (replaced now), so campsites were the order of the day. Very few were open with reduced price ACSI. in fact, very few were open. Unfortunately we had to return early. Aires in the winter are just parking areas with no water (frozen) and waste for dump only (no water to rinse/swill toilet)

Coming up from the south from Avignon we found only 3 campsites open. Many nights we free camped. 

We only travelled on non-toll roads. Had a great time. We are going to do it again.

Palaceboy route seem to be good


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## McGeemobile (Jun 10, 2010)

In our experience,
1. Weather can be variable anywhere but we have had very very hot weather in the south of Spain for the last 3 winters. We usually follow the sun and one year missed out the Malaga area completely as it was warm but wet. Stayed mainly in the Murcia region instead.
2. There are more aires in Spain than there were a few years ago, and an increasing number of camperparks for motorhomes. In addition there are loads of places where people wild camp on a regular basis. Likewise in Portugal. You might also consider Espana Discovery.
3. South of France in October can be OK or not.
4. Aires in France tend to be free therefore open all year. We travelled up last March with a gas fault which meant that we needed to use aires with electricity, and we found plenty.

One last note; if you think you might want to use campsites it's worth considering the ACSI book for low season.
I'm sure you will enjoy yourselves. You can't beat the lifestyle!


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## RichardD (Sep 14, 2009)

Thanks for the responses so far. 

What about the best routes down to Spain avoiding tolls? I'm assuming that it would be best to stick to the Med side at this time of year?

What are the best guides for Aires and Camp sites in Spain and Portugal? I've got 'All the Aires' for Spain and Portugal, the ASCI guide and the CC of Europe.

Richard


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## McGeemobile (Jun 10, 2010)

If you do a search of this forum there are lots of details of toll free routes.


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## RichardD (Sep 14, 2009)

Anymore advice on good campsites in Spain and Portugal please?

Richard


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## rayrecrok (Nov 21, 2008)

Hi.

We had December and the new year in Spain wild camping, blue sky's every day, it did rain for 3 hours during the night once and of course it was chilly when the sun went in, then down to Portugal near Beja at a place called Camping Markadia, once again wall to wall sunshine but it could be windy, and once again it rained for a couple of hours during the night.. 
So total of 6 hours rain in 3 months and it was warm enough to get a tan during the day, so it should be even better when you are going.

Portugal January.










>Markadia<

ray.


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