Portugal Spain and Extremadura advice

[nettypoole]

Hi all

Am just starting planning our first motorhome trip for late September. We have around 8 weeks and are thinking of driving down the Atlantic coast of France, along the top of Spain, down through Portugal to Cadiz then back up through central Spain through Extremadura. We want to go via the Pyrenees and end up in Albertville in France for mid November.

I'm not sure if the itinerary is too long for the time available, we don't want to spend all the time on the road. As this is our first adventure I don't really know how many miles/kilometers we can comfortably expect to cover per day. We have a spanking new Autocruise Starburst.

I have scanned the forums for advice and am not too concerned about the coastal routes, but I can find little information about the inland portion back up through Spain. We were not planning on going to Madrid - we'll save that for another time.

I am looking for general advice rather than specific site information.

Should we invest in the CampingCar-infos DVD of Aires in Europe and/or the ASCI dvd/camping card? We will have a laptop and TomTom with us.

Any other suggestions gratefully accepted.

We did a 6 month ad-hoc trip through Europe to southern Greece with a caravan in 1976 with 2 babies, (- totally unplanned! (the trip not the babies)) when we met loads of interesting people on the road (mainly at the other end of the life timescale to us at that time). I vowed then that when we had the chance to do it again we would, but haven't camped since the early 80's. I expect things have changed a bit since then.

Look forward to your suggestions.
Thanks
Janet

 

[Teasy2007]

The best thing we bought for our France and Spain trip was the Acsi Card and book, it saved us a lot of money and the sites are very good indeed. 'All the aires' is ok, but we certainly had more use from the ACSI book and card. 'Camaping Car Europe' is pants, difficult to read and not user friendly.

We hava a Starburst, and think it is absolutely great - apart from the problems with the Peugeot Boxer bit at the front!!

We are going back to Spain in September for 2-3 months, we like Santa Suzanna - Bon Repos - a lovely site right on the beach with a pool, restaurant, and just round the corner from the town itself. There is a Carefor and Lidl within walking distance across the fields and you can catch the train into Barcelona - just over 6 euros for an hour and half train ride, return!!!

Wherever you go I am sure you will enjoy every minute - but dont forget to take plenty of teabags, (4 euros 60 for 40 Typhoo).

Ginny

 

[geoff1947]

If you get a chance go to Salamanca. Having read all of Bernard Cornwell's "Sharpe" series ( about the Napolonic War) I found it a fascinating city. Wife is away in the van till next Wed so my diary/books are unavail but can recommend some good areas on her return. The best book is definately the ACSI book from Vicarious Books (Gooogle it) and it will save you loads out of season all over Europe. Enjoy :thumb:

 

[Colomane]

Spain and the ACSI card

Hi Janet,

We are in Spain ( upto now 4,000km), in Villafranca, about 8miles from Cordoba, about 36 C today, 38 C yesterday Friday 20th, get the card and DVD it's great, saved us a packet, also free camped along the south east coast, Mazarron and Bolnuevo beaches, Aqua Amarga too, towing a bike for all the bike rallies along the coast runs including Faro on the 17th July 30,000 bikes are attending wahooooooo.

Go for it, you won't regret it, we are on a year tour, in a Hymer 6 berth with bike in tow.

Mike H. :Cool: