Northern Spain and Portugal

Kamperkev

Kamperkev

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Hi, we are off on a six week tour of France, northam Spain and Northern Portugal, in just over a week's time .
We have never been to Northern Spain or Portugal any recommendations where to visit we like mountains and the coast,not into cities
France will be a slow drive through taking about a week
We will be using ares most of the time and will be off Grid
Thanks Kev
 
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jumartoo said:
I find this very hard to believe. We're in Galicia right now and haven't met any negativity at all. In fact we were offered free coffee at a bar when we stopped nearby to look at a river.

Do your family speak Spanish to ask why they were refused? They appear to be holidaying at peak times here and the tables were most likely to be reserved. It's been busy here with Spanish August holidays and eating out is big on the Spanish daily itinerary.
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That’s good to hear.

They said they always tried Spanish but several places told them sorry, they only spoke Galician (Galego?). It may have been a staunch nationalist area they were in, or something.

BiL is a journalist who has lived all over the world and travelled most of it. His wife is ex-UN relief and they are both humble people who love meeting new people and learning about the history and culture and immersing themselves in new places, especially off the beaten track. They didn’t experience any aggression, just…antipathy towards them and a lot of unwillingness to help or be helpful.

They just encountered a strange atmosphere in many places rather than a feeling of being welcome. They did love the scenery and beauty of the place, though.
 
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Sdrawde said:
An hour west of Bilbao is a small town called Noja which has a great campsite with spacious pitches and only yards from the beach.
The mountains are behind you with the sea in front of you. Last time we went (a few years ago) was at the start of September, which coincides with the migration of many birds of prey from northern Europe back to Africa. One day I looked up and there must have been 30+ eagles above me.
Have a great trip.
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Sold it to me…

Which campsite are you talking about please?

IMG_4333.png
 
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Wanders from Glos said:
Another vote for the Picos mountains, Potes its lovely. There is a nice aire at Santillana del Mar and Bilbao is worth exploring. Just across the border in France, Sant Jean de Luz is worth a day or two.
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If visiting Potes then consider taking a trip to nearby Fuente De which has the longest singlespan cable car in the world. You can take the cable car up and then walk down the reverse side of the mountain back to Fuente De - about 5 miles from memory.

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PlacidoD said:
If visiting Potes then consider taking a trip to nearby Fuente De which has the longest singlespan cable car in the world. You can take the cable car up and then walk down the reverse side of the mountain back to Fuente De - about 5 miles from memory.
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We were in the Picos 3 years ago. The cable car at Fuente De are happy for you to park up overnight in their carpark if you arrive after the last cable car for the day. You're then on pole position to get the first cable car in the morning, to hike from the top.

Another great hike in the Picos is through the Cares Gorge.

 
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If visiting Santiago de compostela I would recommend this site
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Short walk to the local bus stop, run by a crazy Dutchman, has its own bar on site, nice loos 🚻
We got as far as Tomar (home of OldCodger) on our trip last year, 3 weeks Santander loop, booked some sites and linked with aires from searchforsites.

Most of all ENJOY !!!
 
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Depending how far south into Portugal you want to come i can recommend Tomar. It’s central Portugal, but if you want to know more about this town, its magnificent history, good restaurants and free Aire with walking distance of the town let me know! :wink:
 
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Kamperkev said:
Hi, we are off on a six week tour of France, northam Spain and Northern Portugal, in just over a week's time .
We have never been to Northern Spain or Portugal any recommendations where to visit we like mountains and the coast,not into cities
France will be a slow drive through taking about a week
We will be using ares most of the time and will be off Grid
Thanks Kev
Click to expand...
Ill Be watching your trip. I live down the road from you and we are doing northern Spain Portugal in April . Please post your tips. We are interested in the same idea, mountains coast, woodland, gorges. Small towns and real local food etc.
 
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Kamperkev said:
Hi, we are off on a six week tour of France, northam Spain and Northern Portugal, in just over a week's time .
We have never been to Northern Spain or Portugal any recommendations where to visit we like mountains and the coast,not into cities
France will be a slow drive through taking about a week
We will be using ares most of the time and will be off Grid
Thanks Kev
Click to expand...
We transversed the Spanish Pyrenees this year on N 260 west to east and back again ,crossing over 3 times. Superb.
 
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We are setting off on the 7th sept, finding jewels of info on the thread. thks

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The north coast of Spain is littered with pretty small towns & villages. They have put lots of free aires & service points in. An Eye Witness guide is useful to take to look places up quickly & easily, you can buy a used one off ebay.

Go back via the Rioja wine region & stock up if you like rich red wines. A nice ancient hill top village there is called Laguardia. Bodegas Carlos San Pedro Perez in the village sells a gorgeous red for only a few euros a bottle. Parking overnight is free. Spain is a lot cheaper than France.

September is a great time to visit. Enjoy
 
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Barti Ddu said:
We were in the Picos 3 years ago. The cable car at Fuente De are happy for you to park up overnight in their carpark if you arrive after the last cable car for the day. You're then on pole position to get the first cable car in the morning, to hike from the top.

Another great hike in the Picos is through the Cares Gorge.

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Looks like a superb spot to explore, do you know if the cable car is dog friendly
 
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Concorde said:
Looks like a superb spot to explore, do you know if the cable car is dog friendly
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Unfortunately not. Only guide dogs in the cable car. Our 13 year old border terrier got the morning off from hiking to "guard" the van!

He did the 16 mile Cares Gorge walk with us though.

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Kamperkev said:
Hi, we are off on a six week tour of France, northam Spain and Northern Portugal, in just over a week's time .
We have never been to Northern Spain or Portugal any recommendations where to visit we like mountains and the coast,not into cities
France will be a slow drive through taking about a week
We will be using ares most of the time and will be off Grid
Thanks Kev
Click to expand...
Looks like we will be about a week behind you! First time exploring the northern coast before heading to the med! At over 9m it looks like we may have to pick our routes a little carefully.
 
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Barti Ddu said:
Unfortunately not. Only guide dogs in the cable car. Our 13 year old border terrier got the morning off from hiking to "guard" the van!

He did the 16 mile Cares Gorge walk with us though.
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The photos of the gorge look impressive. That will give our galo pod cross some good exercise



IMG_2919.jpeg
 
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Kamperkev said:
Hi, we are off on a six week tour of France, northam Spain and Northern Portugal, in just over a week's time .
We have never been to Northern Spain or Portugal any recommendations where to visit we like mountains and the coast,not into cities
France will be a slow drive through taking about a week
We will be using ares most of the time and will be off Grid
Thanks Kev
Click to expand...
Definitely the Picos, great off-grid stops behind Xilloi Beach and at Muxia which we thought nicer than Finisterre. Nice stops also in Canberra and Ribadavia.
In the very N of Portugal; nice stops in Ponte de Lima, Viana do Castello.
 
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Concorde said:
Looks like we will be about a week behind you! First time exploring the northern coast before heading to the med! At over 9m it looks like we may have to pick our routes a little carefully.
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We will be taking about a week travelling through France, if we run out of time and not seen much of Portugal then there's always next year 👍

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Kamperkev said:
We will be taking about a week travelling through France, if we run out of time and not seen much of Portugal then there's always next year 👍
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We did France, Spain & Portugal in 6 weeks last year. We’re returning for 11 weeks, next Month.

It was incredibly hot in Spain, so we headed to the Atlantic Coast in Portugal. It was still hot but the sea breeze made it bearable 😎
Burgos has an amazing Cathedral, the resting place for El Cid (not Charlton Heston 😏). The festival of El Cid is the first weekend in October.

Salamanca is amazing, especially the Plaza Mayor.

Zambujeira is a quaint seaside village, with a good ACSI campsite nearby. We also enjoyed Tavira, on the Algarve.
 
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We just did the same trip Mar-May this year for nearly 10 weeks and loved it. I tracked it on Polarsteps if you want to look, I added campsites to our favourites. Too many to shortlist!

We did it in reverse & intended heading south through central Spain thinking be better for Weather but it was glorious when we arrived in mid March so we took the slow route through the Riocha which we loved, stopping at Haro them onto the hot springs and through the dinosaur route. I highly recommend that drive! Headed south then, Monfrague national park worth a stop and also Salamanca...we don't do cities either, but this one was worth it. Turned right towards Portugal and slowly back up. Loved our campsite close to Tavira, with frontline sea views. Coast path walking in Portugal is glorious 🤗
Galicia was stunning and such an unexpected surprise. Weather turned when we got to picos in late April, had been mid twenties but we had snow...but i was thrilled! Loved our stop at Riano where we had campsite to ourselves and Potes, but I had high expectations of picos as read so many positives and I was little disappointed but mainly because we were travelling with our dog which meant we couldn't use cable cars or anything so more restricted. Ribadsella was my idea of heaven, a beautiful seaside town with the pico mountains as its backdrop as was san Vincente. (caravanning oyambre) .San sebastian worth a stop if you are a foodie!

All in all loved our trip, enjoy!
 
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OldCodger said:
Depending how far south into Portugal you want to come i can recommend Tomar. It’s central Portugal, but if you want to know more about this town, its magnificent history, good restaurants and free Aire with walking distance of the town let me know! :wink:
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We plan on visiting in October 😎
Any tips/advice would be gratefully received 👍
 
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Mad dog said:
The north coast of Spain is littered with pretty small towns & villages. They have put lots of free aires & service points in. An Eye Witness guide is useful to take to look places up quickly & easily, you can buy a used one off ebay.

Go back via the Rioja wine region & stock up if you like rich red wines. A nice ancient hill top village there is called Laguardia. Bodegas Carlos San Pedro Perez in the village sells a gorgeous red for only a few euros a bottle. Parking overnight is free. Spain is a lot cheaper than France.

September is a great time to visit. Enjoy
Click to expand...
Another vote for LaGuardia . Parked looking over the plains (?) . Small staircase up to the town

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Kamperkev said:
Hi, we are off on a six week tour of France, northam Spain and Northern Portugal, in just over a week's time .
We have never been to Northern Spain or Portugal any recommendations where to visit we like mountains and the coast,not into cities
France will be a slow drive through taking about a week
We will be using ares most of the time and will be off Grid
Thanks Kev
Click to expand...
The whole area around Corunna (and the city) is superb. The north is where the Spanish go on holiday, leaving the south to the Brits, Germans, Dutch and other pale noprtherners who want to fry themselves.
 
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