Book in advance? (1 Viewer)

[phodetheus]

Can any of you seasoned Spanish winterers (yes I know it's not a real word) please offer a bit of advice.

We are planning to spend this coming winter in Southern Spain to get away from the terribly British weather. However I am not sure the best course of action. Is it better to book in advance or should we just turn up. The plan is to stay in a location for at least a month and t.hen maybe move on, unless of course were having such a good time we don't want to.

Your advice will be greatly appreciated.

Gary

 

[bobandjanie]

Hi, normally no problem, but this year the Costa Blanca has been full since December, and still only a few pitches empty now.

Hopefully next year will be back to normal, because the wifi is taking a bashing. oh: Bob.

 

[grasscutter]

The problem with booking is you are stuck if you don't like the place. We have not had a problem over the last three years but this year was definately busier than the previous two.
I know some sites require full payment up front for bookings.

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[brynric]

We're just on our way back from a first visit to Spain. We wanted to tour around the Costa Blanca coast to get an idea for the future, as such we didn't book before we left home.
The results:
Our main stay was at Marjal, lots of space and they still have space to expand. (Thanks to Mr Motorhome for the code.)
We also stayed for a week at the CC&C rally at La Manga. You can't just turn up for the rallies so we made a phone call a couple of days before we got there and had no problems getting on. Other people not on the rally were arriving all week, there were always a few free pitches.
The first time we tried the aire at Calpe it was full. When we revisited a few days later we could get on but only for a couple of days, that suited us.
Vilanova had plenty of space but the club rally hadn't started. They block book some areas.
The other aires/ campsites we stayed on were busy but not full.
Having said all that we didn't visit Benidorm because of the reports of it being full.
The other point to be wary of is that away from the coast lots os sites are closed for the winter. Next year - and we will go again next year- we'll play our stops more carefully to avoid Pamplona.
Bryn

 

[Mikeco]

It depends also on how much you want to spend on site fees, we are now content to stay in one place and at the moment we are 8 weeks into a 14 week stay at La Manga. This means that we have paid around £9.50 a night. If you move around a lot then expect to pay quite a bit more.
Many sites have been busy this year even La Manga has been turning people away and it seems Benidorm was also busy.

Mike

 

[Ed Excel]

Have a look here: http://www.acsi.eu/en/home/l2-n144/

Get the book and the club card.

If you're touring you can camp for a single night at what amounts to a monthly rate ie 10€ and the book has lots of sites that are open in the winter, not all are!

The club card can be used in lieu of your passport at sites and it gives you third party insurance whilst you're camped.

Well worth it, both of them.

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[Geejay]

Have a look here: http://www.acsi.eu/en/home/l2-n144/

Get the book and the club card.

The club card can be used in lieu of your passport at sites and it gives you third party insurance whilst you're camped.

Well worth it, both of them.

I think it's the Club ID, rather than the discount card which comes with the books, which can (allegedly) be used instead of passports. It doesn't cost much, but all the sites we've been to in Spain have asked for the passports, although they didn't keep them, only scanned or copied the details. Maybe others have had different experiences.

 

[Forestboy]

I think it's the Club ID, rather than the discount card which comes with the books, which can (allegedly) be used instead of passports. It doesn't cost much, but all the sites we've been to in Spain have asked for the passports, although they didn't keep them, only scanned or copied the details. Maybe others have had different experiences.

Quite right I bought the card and it wasn't accepted anywhere still insisted on passport so didn't get it this year. Although it saves money I've never managed the 10 euro always seem to pay the top 16 euro. Must try harder and not look so affluent .

 

[Geejay]

I've never managed the 10 euro always seem to pay the top 16 euro..

Likewise, and now the top is 18. :Sad:

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[phodetheus]

Many thanks everyone for your advice. We already have the ACSI discount card and ID and are currently enjoying discounts at sites here in the UK.

I think on the face of it we will just go in September and not book anywhere as confident now we will be OK.

Not going straight to Spain as want to visit relatives in Germany on the way.

 

[Steve304]

We're just on our way back from a first visit to Spain. We wanted to tour around the Costa Blanca coast to get an idea for the future, as such we didn't book before we left home.
The results:
Our main stay was at Marjal, lots of space and they still have space to expand. (Thanks to Mr Motorhome for the code.)
We also stayed for a week at the CC&C rally at La Manga. You can't just turn up for the rallies so we made a phone call a couple of days before we got there and had no problems getting on. Other people not on the rally were arriving all week, there were always a few free pitches.
The first time we tried the aire at Calpe it was full. When we revisited a few days later we could get on but only for a couple of days, that suited us.
Vilanova had plenty of space but the club rally hadn't started. They block book some areas.
The other aires/ campsites we stayed on were busy but not full.
Having said all that we didn't visit Benidorm because of the reports of it being full.
The other point to be wary of is that away from the coast lots os sites are closed for the winter. Next year - and we will go again next year- we'll play our stops more carefully to avoid Pamplona.
Bryn

Hi Bryn,

What was wrong with Pamplona? We were thinking of going next time we pass by.

Steve

 

[Ed Excel]

I think it's the Club ID, rather than the discount card which comes with the books, which can (allegedly) be used instead of passports. It doesn't cost much, but all the sites we've been to in Spain have asked for the passports, although they didn't keep them, only scanned or copied the details. Maybe others have had different experiences.

That's right. The 'discount card' is entitled Camping Card and is only to show membership.

The main advantage of the Club ID card, I think, is third party insurance but I have used it on three sites in Spain this year in lieu of a passport, in fact just used it again today.

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[Ed Excel]

Quite right I bought the card and it wasn't accepted anywhere still insisted on passport so didn't get it this year. Although it saves money I've never managed the 10 euro always seem to pay the top 16 euro. Must try harder and not look so affluent .

The point of ACSI is, you get the discount rate even if you only stop one night!

 

[Geejay]

The main advantage of the Club ID card, I think, is third party insurance but I have used it on three sites in Spain this year in lieu of a passport, in fact just used it again today.

Their website says the main purposes of the ID are the Insurance and instead of a passport, but as mentioned above that's not been our experience re passports. Maybe we didn't present it properly.

PS there's a new ACSI CampingCard app out for €3.59 which works offline. There's a special code in the 2014 books.

 

[trophychap]

I'm wondering about Pamplona too - we stayed on an aire there just overnight, somewhere beginning with B - in December (free!) and it was fine.

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