# Spain & France in March/April - any advice welcome



## jrr (Oct 17, 2011)

A couple of days ago, over dinner, my good lady suggested a trip in the van next March, "maybe to Spain?" (She's just been reading this month's MMM, which has articles on said topic). So, some looking at the calendar, Google-mapping distances and reading past MMM articles has ensued. However, some input from the learned souls on MHF would be welcome.

Relevant facts:
- Ruth is retiring in March, hence her suggestion to escape (I guess by way of celebration!)
- I'm still working part time (boo-hoo), 2 or 3 days a week, so with a bit of juggling can turn a 3 week holiday into about 23 or 24 days away.
- Other than a weekend in Barcelona, neither of us have been to Spain; well, I did a school trip to Mallorca as a teenager, but that's not exactly useful.....
- We like walking, cycling & photography, so normally err towards scenery rather than resorts.
- We are planning longer trip when I retire (in about 18 months) to Northern Spain, Portugal and Andalucia.

So, what we were thinking of is taking the ferry to Santander/Bilbao in mid-March spending a couple of weeks (ish) in Northern Spain, then heading into the South of France and trundling back towards Calais, getting the shuttle back on the day after Easter Monday.

Getting the boat one way is, I think, a no-brainer, given our time constraints, and heading back into France in early April hopefully means some camp-sites will be opening up.

General comments on the above plan would be welcome, as well as answers to specific questions:

- any suggestions of places to go in North-East Spain, on the coast or inland?
- Are plenty of camp-sites open all year away from the coast? (The Caravan Club guide implies that there are).
- Is it likely that booking sites is necessary? I've seen articles and posts on hear implying that things are pretty busy over winter.
-What sort of weather is normal in NE Spain at that time of year?
-Has anyone ventured into southern France in late March/early April, and is so, how was it?

Many thanks


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## Cazzie (Feb 13, 2009)

Yes, we are down that way most years in March & April. We never book sites and have so far always been able to get a pitch. 
Although this year we were told that some sites were fully booked until mid March.
Coastal scenery is much better on the Costa Brava than further south but as it's very rugged cycling is not so good.
We enjoyed the site at Bennicasim as there is a very good Voie Vert which runs right past it and lots of good walking in the hills behind.
As you travel back through France I would recommend using Aires as many campsites in France don't open until May.
Scenery wise you will be spoilt for choice on your route back through France.
Weather wise, you will have an excellent chance of sun in Spain and southern France but of course may encounter anything as you travel back north!

Cazzie


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## Geriatricbackpacker (Aug 21, 2012)

John, just south of Santander is the Parque Natural Cabarceno. Located here is a free aire that is right next to the Pozo del Acebo (large lake). 
The aire has all the usual services (free) takes 40 vans and you can officially park for 48 hours. On the parque is a wildlife park (I think it was about 20 odd euros per person for entry) but you can see the elephants, water buffalo and other animals without going into the park. There is also a small village nearby.

We found it very safe and peaceful, we could have sat out and had a picnic on the grassy area that leads onto the lakeside had we wanted to, although awnings are banned the locals and French all ignored the rule.

co-ordinates are N43.358146 W3.819226

We were there late July this year so I don't know what the weather would be like earlier in the year, however being inland it should be more sheltered than the coast.

There are plenty of wildcamping spots all along the North and West coast but you need to plan your service points for fresh water and dump off. 

Terry


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## tonyt (May 25, 2005)

About the only place I like in NE Spain is the little coastal town of Calella Palafrugell. A bit of old Costa Brava.

Small, with lots of reasonably priced restaurants. Nice little coves - not miles and miles of bleak beaches. Not great for cycling but some nice clifftop walks in both directions.

Camping Moby Dick is OK and just 10 mins stroll to the seafront. there is another, better equipped, campsite a bit further out of town but I've not tried that one - too far to walk.


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## jrr (Oct 17, 2011)

*Spain/France*

Thank you Terry, Tony and Cazzie; that's very useful information - just the sort of thing I was hoping for from MHF-ers.

Terry, your suggestion of the aire sounds good - is there much of an aire network in Spain? I thought I had read that the Spanish are somewhat behind the French in this respect.


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## Geriatricbackpacker (Aug 21, 2012)

*Re: Spain/France*



jrr said:


> Thank you Terry, Tony and Cazzie; that's very useful information - just the sort of thing I was hoping for from MHF-ers.
> 
> Terry, your suggestion of the aire sounds good - is there much of an aire network in Spain? I thought I had read that the Spanish are somewhat behind the French in this respect.


The aires are nowhere near as frequent as in France (where is?), however that said they have almost doubled over the past couple of the years. A lot of them are managed so you have that half way house between a campsite and aire and these are generally prices around 10euros. Some will have washine machines/shower blocks/Wifi if you need those facilities. There are a fair amount of free ones in the area you are talking about but we found that we could stop at beaches and wildcamped.

We had problems with the Guardia when we were on the opposite coast when we wildcamped but had no trouble at all in this area.

I should point out that when we were on the South and East coast the Guardia were always polite and let us stay the night before pointing us in the direction of places we could stay if we wanted to remain in the area. We usually only wanted a stop over for the night so it wasn't a huge problem. We found the North and North West to be like it was in previous years when we toured Spain and nobody was really bothered where we stopped.

Terry


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

The northern part of Spain is not called "Green" Spain for nothing; it rains a lot. That said, it is beautiful with rugged mountains and rocky coves. There are some fascinating towns and cities too. Just take a mac....

Have you met up with the Ruta de la Plata ( the Silver Route) ? If you like a peg to hang your travels from then you could do a lot worse !

G


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## jrr (Oct 17, 2011)

Grizzly said:


> The northern part of Spain is not called "Green" Spain for nothing; it rains a lot. That said, it is beautiful with rugged mountains and rocky coves. There are some fascinating towns and cities too. Just take a mac....
> 
> Have you met up with the Ruta de la Plata ( the Silver Route) ? If you like a peg to hang your travels from then you could do a lot worse !
> 
> G


Thanks for that - having looked at where it is, I think that it will be more useful for our post-retirement trip. We (alright, me - I do all the research!) were thinking of an anti-clockwise trip through Cantabria, Galicia, down ito Portugal, over to Andalucia and then back north. The Ruta de la Plata sounds a good start point for the northbound leg. It's duly noted for 18 month time, but our shorter dash next March will have to stay further East and North.


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## boringfrog (Sep 22, 2006)

The 1st and last time I got the ferry to Santander in March if was snowing and very windy. Also do you mean drive to Southern France as the South of France (St Tropez/Nice) is a very long drive.

Santander weather in March


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## jrr (Oct 17, 2011)

boringfrog said:


> Also do you mean drive to Southern France as the South of France (St Tropez/Nice) is a very long drive.
> 
> Santander weather in March


Across into SW France for a while then turn north - definitely not as far as the Cote d'Azur!


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## Geriatricbackpacker (Aug 21, 2012)

For your retirement trip Portugal is a great place to motorhome around (some of the roads can be a bit rough unless you use the pay routes). Once again wildcamping and aires should help you eek out your pension!
This year we combined towns, cities (Lisbon and Porto) with beaches, there has also been a thread on here about the great lakes you can visit inland. 
We traveled the Spanish/Portuguese coast from Sant Feliu de Guixols and exited near San Sebastian two and half months later using aires and wilcamping using Calais as our start finish point.

Don't know if it will effect you when you go but it's worth pointing out that you can't interchange gas bottles within the different countries and would need to source the relevant pigtails and bottles if you run out. This has prompted me to buy refillable bottles (something I have been procrastinating over for years) which I hope to fit as soon as we decide if we are going to keep our van or change it before next season.

Terry


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