Travelling from the uk to spain

[Jeannie]

Hi I’m looking for any advice on travelling to Spain next winter. We have travelled to Portugal, but that was during the summer. Any advice greatly received.

 

[Deleted member 127]

It all depends on the weather!
Remember you will need to have Snow tyres or chains in mountains in France.
Do check the road conditions before crossing the Pyrenees if you are using a high route. ( We crossed at 1510M, almost 5000 feet whilst the world Cup final was on, beautiful and so little traffic we thought the road must have been closed by an accident! No snow in site and +11°C )
The centre of Spain can be cold and snow, we had that five years ago.
If it is cold empty you loo every chance you get and also waste water. Most Aires will have water turned off in France.
One campsite in Belgium only had water in the shower block, no outside tap was working. This also happened in France. We were the only visitor on both sites!
All the Aires we went to were open but water was more difficult, fill up whenever you can and try as soon as you arrive, before overnight Frost. It is sometimes possible to find the stop cock and turn the water on to fill up. Please do turn it off afterwards.

 

[Burge]

Hi I’m looking for any advice on travelling to Spain next winter. We have travelled to Portugal, but that was during the summer. Any advice

 

[Burge]

Sorry about above could I ask where in Portugal did you stay & did u go by ferry to Santander

 

[Jeannie]

It all depends on the weather!
Remember you will need to have Snow tyres or chains in mountains in France.
Do check the road conditions before crossing the Pyrenees if you are using a high route. ( We crossed at 1510M, almost 5000 feet whilst the world Cup final was on, beautiful and so little traffic we thought the road must have been closed by an accident! No snow in site and +11°C )
The centre of Spain can be cold and snow, we had that five years ago.
If it is cold empty you loo every chance you get and also waste water. Most Aires will have water turned off in France.
One campsite in Belgium only had water in the shower block, no outside tap was working. This also happened in France. We were the only visitor on both sites!
All the Aires we went to were open but water was more difficult, fill up whenever you can and try as soon as you arrive, before overnight Frost. It is sometimes possible to find the stop cock and turn the water on to fill up. Please do turn it off afterwards.

Thank you some sound advice there, although we thought of avoiding the Pyrenees and crossing at Bieritze? But good advice on the water situation. Thanks

 

[Jeannie]

Sorry about above could I ask where in Portugal did you stay & did u go by ferry to Santander

Hi No we drove down through France, crossed the top of Spain and into Portugal. We stayed near Avario .

 

[Deleted member 127]

I've always driven South, as my wife is Dutch we usually go Harwich ( close to home ) Hook van Holland ( close to family) and then Belgium, France, Spain crossing the Pyrenees to the West.
We wanted to try Newhaven Dieppe ( 50 Km to Montville Aire, nice town to stop in 50Km from ferry ) but a family member in hospital put paid to this .
Campercontact is most useful for finding Aires and you can also search for places to get water or empty tanks.

 

[Deleted member 127]

This Christmas we were at Sitava Milfontes Orbiter campsite. ( NOT the site in Milfontes)
A vast campsite but only 4 vans for 3 nights and 2 for 2 nights so lots of space and quiet.
Poor for nearby shops.
Lovely empty beach 800M away and cliff top walks are spectacular.
We are now on the Algarve coast, perhaps a little warmer but very many more people.

 

[marchie]

We crossed Newhaven-Dieppe in early March 2022 and managed OK with finding free Aires and water [we tried to carry about 30 litres of fresh water, and had a fall back of buying 2 x 5 Litre bottles from a supermarket for less than €1 each].

Stopped at La Ferté St Aubin [south of Orleans]; Saint-Ybard; Grissoles: Gruissan; Le Boulou, before crossing into Spain via Perpignan

Steve

 

[Jeannie]

We crossed Newhaven-Dieppe in early March 2022 and managed OK with finding free Aires and water [we tried to carry about 30 litres of fresh water, and had a fall back of buying 2 x 5 Litre bottles from a supermarket for less than €1 each].

Stopped at La Ferté St Aubin [south of Orleans]; Saint-Ybard; Grissoles: Gruissan; Le Boulou, before crossing into Spain via Perpignan

Steve

Thank you. We’ve just started planning for next Christmas. Never used ours through the winter before, but really looking forward to this trip.

 

[marchie]

Thank you. We’ve just started planning for next Christmas. Never used ours through the winter before, but really looking forward to this trip.

This was our first trip after buying the [first ever] M/Home in April 2021. The trip had been planned for late November 2021, but the Airbag ECU blew about 2 weeks before the sailing date, so we had a forced deferral of travel plans! Worth waiting for though ...

Steve

 

[Jeannie]

This was our first trip after buying the [first ever] M/Home in April 2021. The trip had been planned for late November 2021, but the Airbag ECU blew about 2 weeks before the sailing date, so we had a forced deferral of travel plans! Worth waiting for though ...

Steve

Yes even when you think you’ve got everything covered, something can catch you out.
We went to Portugal with our first m/home, but in the summer.

 

[Pauljenny]

It makes sense to take the long ferry to Santander..
Rather than slogging through cold France, using valuable Brexit time.
The Basque country can be cold and difficult. If you're aiming for SE Spain get through it early-ish in the day. Follow the coast South. The sea acts like a storage heater.


If you are aiming for Portugal, the route to Salamanca is high and chilly. Don't hang about .. Burgos can be icy.
South of Salamanca, descending, it's suddenly as if you enter a different room
Warm and green.
That makes the whole palarva worthwhile.

 

[Jeannie]

It makes sense to take the long ferry to Santander..
Rather than slogging through cold France, using valuable Brexit time.
The Basque country can be cold and difficult. If you're aiming for SE Spain get through it early-ish in the day. Follow the coast South. The sea acts like a storage heater.


If you are aiming for Portugal, the route to Salamanca is high and chilly. Don't hang about .. Burgos can be icy.
South of Salamanca, descending, it's suddenly as if you enter a different room
Warm and green.
That makes the whole palarva worthwhile.

Thank you. The ferry may be the best bet, but I don’t fancy the Biscay in December, also we’re taking our 2 dogs, so need plenty of stops and exercise for them to. Thanks

 

[GMJ]

Hi I’m looking for any advice on travelling to Spain next winter. We have travelled to Portugal, but that was during the summer. Any advice greatly received.

We travel down to Spain every winter and in fact, our trip for this winter starts in 2 weeks time.

We go via the tunnel and follow a well known route down via Rouen - Poitiers - Bordeaux - Urrugne and then in to Spain. Usually we then stop for our first night in Zaragoza before heading to the south or Med coast. We stay at campsites which as far as I can tell, are all dog friendly.

Only once have we experienced snow in northern Spain but it was on the side of the road with the roads perfectly clear. I carry snow socks just in case but have yet to use them.

Toll-wise: we tend not to worry too much about using them in France as it allows for rapid progress down to the south (although the main toll free route between Poitiers and Bordeaux is a no brainer as it runs parallel with the MWay and is free). Spain is much easier to traverse using toll free roads as they have fewer toll roads and perfectly good A roads.

Don't forget to sign up for the ACSI scheme if you want to unlock cheaper prices for campsites if indeed you are using campsites.

You may also want to consider getting yourself a tag for the MWays. You can get one covering France/Sain/Portugal/Italy these days. I have a Bip&Go Tag but others are available. If you decide to get one drop me a PM/line with your email address and first and second name and I may be able to get you a €4 discount off it.

Lastly I would advise that if you are planning to stay in places for a week/2 weeks/longer in Spain, it would be worth booking those campsites as many popular places get full up across Jan - March.

 

[Jeannie]

We travel down to Spain every winter and in fact, our trip for this winter starts in 2 weeks time.

We go via the tunnel and follow a well known route down via Rouen - Poitiers - Bordeaux - Urrugne and then in to Spain. Usually we then stop for our first night in Zaragoza before heading to the south or Med coast. We stay at campsites which as far as I can tell, are all dog friendly.

Only once have we experienced snow in northern Spain but it was on the side of the road with the roads perfectly clear. I carry snow socks just in case but have yet to use them.

Toll-wise: we tend not to worry too much about using them in France as it allows for rapid progress down to the south (although the main toll free route between Poitiers and Bordeaux is a no brainer as it runs parallel with the MWay and is free). Spain is much easier to traverse using toll free roads as they have fewer toll roads and perfectly good A roads.

Don't forget to sign up for the ACSI scheme if you want to unlock cheaper prices for campsites if indeed you are using campsites.

You may also want to consider getting yourself a tag for the MWays. You can get one covering France/Sain/Portugal/Italy these days. I have a Bip&Go Tag but others are available. If you decide to get one drop me a PM/line with your email address and first and second name and I may be able to get you a €4 discount off it.

Lastly I would advise that if you are planning to stay in places for a week/2 weeks/longer in Spain, it would be worth booking those campsites as many popular places get full up across Jan - March.

Hi Thanks that’s really helpful, we are booked on to a site near Manilva for the Christmas/ new year period. We hadn’t thought about the bip&go but will now obtain one. We had decided to invest in snow socks, how long would you say to arrive at the med with reasonable stops ? Thanks

 

[GMJ]

Hi Thanks that’s really helpful, we are booked on to a site near Manilva for the Christmas/ new year period. We hadn’t thought about the bip&go but will now obtain one. We had decided to invest in snow socks, how long would you say to arrive at the med with reasonable stops ? Thanks

That's a difficult one to answer as it depends on how you feel about long driving days. We stay the night near Folkestone the night before travelling then one night in each of the places I mention (we normally have 2 in Bordeaux to break the journey up but cant this year as we need to save our Schengen days). Each day we are up to 4.5 hours max or so on the road including stops. We like to get to our stops by no later than 2.00pm if we can.

From Zaragoza you can hit the Med coast the next day no probs however it does depend upon how south you want to go. We usually start our trips in the south and work our way up the Med coast. Therefore we insert one extra night between Zaragoza and the Costa del Sol or Costa Tropical.

 

[Jeannie]

That's a difficult one to answer as it depends on how you feel about long driving days. We stay the night near Folkestone the night before travelling then one night in each of the places I mention (we normally have 2 in Bordeaux to break the journey up but cant this year as we need to save our Schengen days). Each day we are up to 4.5 hours max or so on the road including stops. We like to get to our stops by no later than 2.00pm if we can.

From Zaragoza you can hit the Med coast the next day no probs however it does depend upon how south you want to go. We usually start our trips in the south and work our way up the Med coast. Therefore we insert one extra night between Zaragoza and the Costa del Sol or Costa Tropical.

Yes we thought about similar driving times, with enough rest in between. We drove to Portugal in 2016, some of that journey involved quite long periods of driving.
Many thanks

 

[marchie]

Yes we thought about similar driving times, with enough rest in between. We drove to Portugal in 2016, some of that journey involved quite long periods of driving.
Many thanks

Our March 22 trip [Post#10] was 6 days into Spain from Dieppe [2 nights at Gruissan to have a brief break]. The Perpignan route has more Toll Free autoroute sections than the Bordeaux side, and the climbs are lower/longer. This route also gave the chance to pootle across the Med coast [Vilafranca, Moncofa, Vilajoyosa and onto Cartagena, but we abandoned the latter after 5 days torrential rain, doing an about turn to return to Vilafranca]

Steve

 

[GMJ]

We come back through the centre of France as more campsites are open then than in January.