Traveling to Santander End of April

Keithellwood123

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Hi, we are travelling to Santander to then travel back up through France for 10 days, this is our first trip abroad, any tips would be great to where to stay and nicest route up. Also we don’t arrive in Santander until 15.45 so a suggestion to where to stay the first night would be great. Many thanks
 
Keithellwood123 said:
Hi, we are travelling to Santander to then travel back up through France for 10 days, this is our first trip abroad, any tips would be great to where to stay and nicest route up. Also we don’t arrive in Santander until 15.45 so a suggestion to where to stay the first night would be great. Many thanks
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We've only done the France-Spain-France using Newhaven to Dieppe (over 60 discount) ferry and a variety of Aires (mainly free) First stop this trip was Carrefour Mini Market in Dieppe, followed by an overnight at Meung sur Loire (€3 for water refill). We abandoned the proposed stay at St Y Bar because of the weather and pushed on to Murat La Bastide (allocated parking on a Carrefour Mini Market which has an external Launderette. Sadly, freshwater was disconnected, and blackwater was 'empty only' with no flushing water supply Next stop was Le Boulou Aire, and then into Spain via Perpignan to Vilafranca del Penedes. Our return journey will be a little more leisurely, adding St Y Bar back in, plus Grissoles (outskirts of Toulouse), giving about 4 hours driving each day

Steve
 
just 16km from santander port is the wonderful elephant park at carbeceno there is a free aire and without going in you can wander around the outside & see the cable car and the elephant field , the parc itself is a 26 acre old open cast mining site the animals wander free within whole valleys , the cable cars swing out over the valleys making a triangle with a spur after you’ve been on the cable car you can drive your motorhome round the 25 mls of rd visiting the other locations worth every penny ,
i would sign up to ‘camping car parks ‘ you purchase a card and preload it then use it at the barrier they have a lot of good aires eg two at Biarritz, prices are between €11:50 or 14:50 there are lots of lovely free aires around an various others that have their own barrier system such as blaye chateau and brantome all around the same pricing structure, personally a good parking spot with electric for about £12 is wonderf
 
marchie said:
We've only done the France-Spain-France using Newhaven to Dieppe (over 60 discount) ferry and a variety of Aires (mainly free) First stop this trip was Carrefour Mini Market in Dieppe, followed by an overnight at Meung sur Loire (€3 for water refill). We abandoned the proposed stay at St Y Bar because of the weather and pushed on to Murat La Bastide (allocated parking on a Carrefour Mini Market which has an external Launderette. Sadly, freshwater was disconnected, and blackwater was 'empty only' with no flushing water supply Next stop was Le Boulou Aire, and then into Spain via Perpignan to Vilafranca del Penedes. Our return journey will be a little more leisurely, adding St Y Bar back in, plus Grissoles (outskirts of Toulouse), giving about 4 hours driving each day

Steve
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Thanks great advise.
 
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rugbyken said:
just 16km from santander port is the wonderful elephant park at carbeceno there is a free aire and without going in you can wander around the outside & see the cable car and the elephant field , the parc itself is a 26 acre old open cast mining site the animals wander free within whole valleys , the cable cars swing out over the valleys making a triangle with a spur after you’ve been on the cable car you can drive your motorhome round the 25 mls of rd visiting the other locations worth every penny ,
i would sign up to ‘camping car parks ‘ you purchase a card and preload it then use it at the barrier they have a lot of good aires eg two at Biarritz, prices are between €11:50 or 14:50 there are lots of lovely free aires around an various others that have their own barrier system such as blaye chateau and brantome all around the same pricing structure, personally a good parking spot with electric for about £12 is wonderf
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Thank you for this 👍
 
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Hi Keith glad you've got on ,Ken's advice is good he knows his stuff ,marchie (Steve is from Burntisland and shrewd
guys will give you good sensible advice
all the best and enjoy
Gordon Bryson
 
as an illustration these are the two biaritz aires both the same price both include hook up and are operated by the camping-car group the card costs a one of €5 then you top up and use the card as a credit card at the barriers when you purchase the card you get a map showing all their parks and for a first visit you wouldn’t go far wrong planning a route using them , the first aire you can almost see the sea from the top of the site but it is always absolutely rammed approximately 2mts between vans that is the car park just above the search banner in the picture, the second aire just below the center is about 6-700 mts from the sea but if you walk in the opposite direction there is a lovely lake to walk around good track all the way couple of miles but good shady stroll. IMG_1514.pngIMG_1513.png
 
We have the camping car card also found it really useful esp high season we paid for the privilege pack which means you can pre book your space and also you can come and go from the aire and keep a space as ken stated ehu can be invaluable at certain times of the year ,also barrier operated all for a year membership think it was 29"99 euro
 
We stayed at this new aire on our way back to Santander in October.
Bárcena de Pie de Concha
43.12662, -4.05719
AF Wide spaces next to pump track
The village has a Germanic feel to it, aided by some live accordion music from a house near the aire.
Santander 35 mins
 
We've done over 200 nights in Spain & Portugal, so if you have any specific interests please let us know. Plenty of free aires, a lot of new ones, in Iberia.

Screenshot_20240111_204950_Maps.jpg
 
Hi Keith,
We have stopped at The Elephant Aire @ Cabercerno on multiple occasions & have had some gr8 stopovers there,,,, 2yrs ago a luvly sunny day approx 50 motorhomes there the taverna,s open for drink & food 75yds from the aire ,,,,, HOWEVER we returned there mid April 2023 & will NEVER stay there again ,,, Even deleted from my sat-nav now as 4 x motorhomes there & NO loo emptyimg facities avail now as been disabled by local council / Tavernas all closed & this was @ 2.00pm & not opening at all ,,,. "L" drivers on aire thru afternoon ,,,, Boy racers doing wheel spins thru evening ,,, Some local drove up at 1.00am & talking on his phone outside his car in the early hrs & could hear every word ,,,, So its a NO from us in the future ,,,,
 
rugbyken said:
as an illustration these are the two biaritz aires both the same price both include hook up and are operated by the camping-car group the card costs a one of €5 then you top up and use the card as a credit card at the barriers when you purchase the card you get a map showing all their parks and for a first visit you wouldn’t go far wrong planning a route using them , the first aire you can almost see the sea from the top of the site but it is always absolutely rammed approximately 2mts between vans that is the car park just above the search banner in the picture, the second aire just below the center is about 6-700 mts from the sea but if you walk in the opposite direction there is a lovely lake to walk around good track all the way couple of miles but good shady stroll. View attachment 71088View attachment 71089
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This sounds like a great recommendation. Is this card only for use with french aires? Thanks
 
yes it’s a french company taking over municipal aires upgrading and charging for them
 
I've watched this thread with interest.
Many years ago a colleague intended to holiday in Biarritz and after he returned I asked for his thoughts.

He said it was a huge disappointed and wouldn't return. I was genuinely surprised and some time later returned through Spain to the town. After my visit I agreed with him, and won't return either. For me it was a beach, a casino, and not much more.

For my money, the place that I will always return to (and have done) because it works for me when I pass by is Donastia-San Sebastian, Amezketa Bidea, 905, 20018 Donostia, Gipuzkoa, Spain. It's the university site and basic, but a very short walk through the streets to the bay with a fortress, wind chimes, family bars and plenty of shops.

We are all different, and look for different things. 🙂
 
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