Overnight stays during our Spain Trip
1. Camping Bungalow Costa San Juan
Small, simple campsite close to Santander. Good for a first night sleep from the Ferry to orientate yourself before starting the journey in Spain. 10 mins from a local supermarket and nice beach.
2. Motorhome Aire in Elciego - Park4Night
Park4Night is a brilliant app to find motorhome overnight stays. Campsites are often too small in rural areas in Spain to cater for large motorhomes and these Aires are often free with payment for electricity. We tried out our first Aire in the La Rioja region in a small town called Elciego. Worked really well. 2 Euros per 12 hour electricity, all other motorhome services available and direct access to the old town. Something to repeat!
3. Motorhome Aire in Arnedillo - Park4Night
Fantastic motorhome aire with an amazing view over the mountains and high up in a small village with hot springs. There are the fancy ones for the hotel guests but everybody else just uses the river where the hot springs are free. Evening swim at 10 pm and early in the morning again.
4. Motorhome stay at Trujal Artajo (Olive oil mill) near Tuleda - Espana Discovery
Espana Discovery is a book of Motorhome stopovers at special places like Bodegas or in this case an olive oil mill / factory. We stayed here two nights (=maximum) with beautiful views over the olive tree orchard and a visit to the mill / shop afterwards.
5. Camping Urrobi near Burguete and Roncesvalles
This time a campsite. Electricity again to charge the laptop and a pool!! Nice campsite well situated for walks on the camino de Santiago in the vicinity.
6. Camping Rio Ara, Torla, Aragon
Torla and the nearby Ordesa national park was something we wanted to explore a bit longer including an overnight wild camp. We decided therefore to go again for a campsite (rather than an Aire) where we felt the motorhome was safer whilst we were away on our overnight hiking trip. The campsite is close to the village on the other side of the river with a steep footpath from the campsite to the village. Places are good, lots of shade. Clean facilities.
7. Aire in Rialp & Camping Sol i Neu in Espot
We approached Aiguestortes National park from the East towards Sort / Espot as we wanted to do a rafting trip in Sort on the Noguera Pallaresa river. This is a famous river for rafting in Spain and in Summer it is possible to raft as the dam upstream releases water for a couple of hours in the morning. For the rafting we stayed at a basic but decent large Aire in Rialp near the river (found through Park4Night) close to Sort. Then after the rafting (really good!) we drove half an hour to Espot for a two night stay at Camping Sol i Neu. Small, but really nice campsite. Lots of shade, very clean facilities and walking distance from the village.
8. Camping Talamanca, Natural Park Sant Llorenc, Catalonia
Quite an interesting experience. We drove up a hill into a national park for about 20 mins to a campsite that was advertised with a reasonable website, but not on Park4night. We found a completely empty campsite or so it appeared. Whilst walking around to find the owner, we found some Australian / Spanish cyclists who were camping there and someone living in a small cabin. He told us to put up camp and talk to the owner in the morning. The owner then came by later and was a very friendly guy with lots of stories in perfect English. The location was brilliant with fantastic views and a really nice sunset. Later in the evening we found a few more people in the restaurant and it turned out a great stay, albeit a bit eccentric.
9. Camping 3 Estrellas, Castelldefels, Catalonia
It is not easy to find a decent, safe spot to leave a motorhome during a visit to Barcelona. We decided to play it safe and stay on a campsite. But even then, you are not spoiled for choice. We found a beach campsite close to El Prat airport with decent bus connection into town (about 1 hour). It is your typical beach campsite...
10. Motorhome aire, Peniscola
Large motorhome aire near Peniscola a great little town with beautiful castle, but very busy. The motorhome aire was nice. Cheap (8.40 Euro) and some shade. Basic facilities of course. We used the bikes to cycle to the main village
11. Camping Javea, Xabia
Nice campsite near the expat village of Xabia (lots of Brits). Luckily not as busy/crazy as Peniscola. Great facilities, nice pool. Xabia has some nice restaurants, a little harbour and a nature park close to it
12. Camping Capfun la Manga, near Cartagena
As the name suggest a lot of fun! Massive campsite, easy for a visit to Cartagena, that's all...
13. Camping Albergue Tau, San Jose, Cabo de Gata
Nice little campsite in San Jose, in the Cabo de Gaia NP. Good facilities. Shade netting high enough for the motorhome. Close to the village. Lots of restaurants and not too busy.
14. Camping Ruta del Purche, Northern Sierra Nevada, Andalusia
Nice little campsite at around 1450m in the Sierra Nevada above Granada. This takes a bit of the heat off specially at night. But still 34 degrees this afternoon. It has a small pool and a restaurant. We were met by locals partying with cowbells :)
15. Camping Balcon de Pitres, Southern Sierra Nevada, Alpajurras, Andalusia
Beautiful little campsite, but very difficult to reach with a large vehicle like ours. Lots of high mountain roads and tight bends in the road and the approach onto the pitch isn't easy, but then you are in a beautiful shaded spot close to the village (one of those white Spanish villages). Good access to hiking routes (GR7), swimming pool, good facilities.
16. Motorhome Aire, La Linea de la Concepcion
Fantastic Motorhome Aire in the harbour of La Linea just before the border with Gibraltar on the Spanish side, 12.50 Euro per 24 hours, good motorhome facilities although filling water took ages!. Nice windy place to keep things cool, spectacular view of the harbour and the Gibraltar Rock.
17. Camping Cameleon, Canos de Meca
Nice little Andalusian campsite in Canos de Meca, a relaxed beach resort where the Spanish go on their holidays. Beautiful beaches, great restaurants, live music! Campsite has some quirky buildings and is difficult to manoeuvre on with the motorhome, but very nice.
18. Camping Villsom, Dos Hermanas, close to Sevilla
A good option to visit Seville. We parked the motorhome outside Sevilla and used the bus / taxi to go to Sevilla and back. Also because of the temperature (38 degrees) we decided to stay a night in a hotel in Sevilla to really be able to enjoy an evening there and see the sights. The campsite is good, has a nice pool and shade, that's the most important in this area!
19. Aire in Caceres
Busy but well positioned aire for the town of Caceres. Campers arriving until deep in the night (even up to the point of someone trying to park next to us so we couldn't open our door!).
20. Camping Don Quijote, Salamanca
Nice campsite close to Salamanca with easy bike path access (c6-7km) to Salamanca. Good facilities, small pool, restaurant.
21. Camping Monte Cabo, Noalla, Pontevedra
Last minute choice, but a great one. Very friendly Dutch owners. Nice food, good facilities and the views are absolutely stunning. The pitches are right on the cliffside with views over the sea.
22. Fogar de Santiso restaurant, near Santiago de Compostela
Great find via our Espana Discovery book with free overnight stays at restaurants, vineyards, etc. In this case a great restaurant in the forest, 'druid' inspired, great food!
23. Parking Patin beach, Valdovino
We tried a few campsites, but they were all full! We then found this amazing overnight spot on a parking lot overlooking Patin Beach, a surfing beach. Absolutely stunning.
24. Laciana Natura, Villablino
Stop over campsite as the campsite in PN de Somiedo was full. Decent stop over, One of those green cycle lanes (old railroad) next to the campsite.
25. Camping La Pomadara de Somiedo, Pola de Somiedo
Nice campsite in the Natural Park. The visitor centre is also in the village.
26. Park4Night, car park at Playa de las Dunas Natural Park
With the weekend filling up all campsites, we used Park4Night to find us a stunning spot for the night at Las Dunas Natural Park. A large car park with many surfers staying in their camper vans and motorhomes. Bit difficult to find a parking spot and a lot of manoeuvring in/out, but it was definitely worth it. Two nice restaurants as well, one with live music in the evening. And the view was amazing with huge waves with surfers, a pine trees forest and a beach peninsula to walk around with beautiful inlet.
27. Park4Night, car park at Orinon
Same again - campsites full for the weekend, used Park4Night to find a spot close to Bilbao (40 mins). Beautiful beach parking spot with many other camper vans / motorhomes. Beautiful large beach, mountains on either side.