Taking a caravan to Spain

Annieb

Hiya Just wondering if anybody has taken their caravan to Spain, we're thinking of doing this next winter for 2-3 months. We are quite new to caravanning and have only done it in this country. Just thought maybe anyone who has done this could give us some advice
Thanks

seven-day-weekend

What sort of things do you want to know?

Annieb

Everythink lol How easy is it to travel in Spain? Campsites? Ferry or travel overland? Don't really know where to start. Any advice would be welcome.

Thanks

missile

Been a while since I went caravaning, but I found the Caravan Club a great source of information. Spain seems a bit adventurous if you are an inexperienced caravaner. The ferry crossings are quite expensive. The B&Bs are very cheap. Unless you have your heart set or a caravan full of kids you may find B&B a cost effective option.

Whatever, hope you have a great time.

beedeedee

Well we didn't bother taking a caravan down. We bought one down there by looking on the campsite notice boards. There are plenty around - don't laugh but we paid £250 for ours. Sold it later for £1000...
Anyway, whilst we weren't using it, we stored it in the site's storage compound - much cheaper than renting the pitch (although if you can get a "permanent" pitch where you pay for a year in advance, it might be worth it if you want the same pitch all the time). Sometimes we drove down, hitched up and went away touring, and other times we flew down - folk are always willing to give you a hand towing it onto a pitch, when you don't have a car. If you're new to caravanning in Spain, head for somewhere like Benidorm at first - just because there's an absolute wealth of knowledge down there on the campsites. Usually the best sites fill up quickly for the winter, starting beginning of September. Try and get a sunny pitch - facing south if poss, and not under trees. It was very galling the first winter we did it, to see folk outside in shorts and tees whilst we were shivering in the shade...we learnt our lesson quickly!

Annieb

Thanks for your advice, maybe it does seem a bit adventurous to take a caravan to Spain, but we have got to try theses things some time, now that we are both retired we do have the time just got to find a bit of courage to try out new adventures, Benidorm sounds like a good starting point for some research. Must check out the weather as well, I thought it was quite warm in Spain in the winter!

Savvy_Sue

Whatever you decide to do, unless it's renting a static caravan once you're there, I would definitely get experience of towing a caravan in the UK before setting out to drive 100s of miles on the wrong side of the road. I am sure the Top Gear programme where the chaps went on a caravanning holiday was at least partly staged, but one thing it showed was that even experienced drivers can't just get in and start towing and manoeuvering without any problem.

I do not know if you can get caravan towing lessons but I am sure I read about something like that, years ago.

Have fun!

seven-day-weekend

It can be very cold in Spain, in the winter, even on the South Coast. The first January we were here (2005) there was a heavy frost which demolished all the prickly pears right down to the Med, and a huge snowfall that reached North Africa! It can be very windy too which isn't very good if you're towing a caravan on mountain roads! March is very unpredictable - this year March and April were cold, windy and raining.

I'm 1000m up in the mountains (a little higher than the summit of Snowdon) and I never had an electric blanket in my life until I came here.

Bear in mind also that many inland cities are tremendously hot in the summer.

Coastal areas during May, June, September and October should be fine, although there is also quite often lovely weather around Christmas and January.

trish06

dont forget to insure your van and its contents :beer:

moonrakerz

Please take it to Spain - and leave it there !

Annieb

Hiya, We would like to take our caravan to spain for the winter months, we have a small dog which we will be taking with us, so we know we have to start planning now because of the list of things to do for taking Jack (the dog) with us.
As this will be our first time I was wondering if there was any one who already does this and can offer some advice on how to start and what we need to do, or maybe someone knows of any web sites that has forums that we could look at for advice.
Thanks