santander to south spain...

[apcomark]

HI

The GF and I are planning a trip down to Tarifa for a bit of kitesurfin' around July..have drove all round south west france so want to miss all this driving hopefully get the ferry to santander then drive down see some sights..maybe even pop to morocco van and money willing..!!...can anyone recomend a route away from toll roads.... ? are there aires same as france along the way .... ? fuel cost in spain...?....anyone wild camped near Tarifa...? lots of questions...

[andisnewsyncro]

Tarifa is great, but VERY busy in July, all of Italy seems to come over for a mass holiday

There's a good wild camping spot, known as The Dune about 5 or 6 km West of Tarifa town. Good campsite nearby too, Camping Rio Jara - but is a bit pricey in Summer ( do a month in Winter on there for about £100 though if you pay cash ) Lots of folk stay on the Dune but call in to Rio Jara for laundry and showers.

Rio Jara is also the starting spot for Blue Camel Tours who lead groups of motorhomes into Morocco. If they are about, they are more than willing to have a chat with you and give practical advice about driving in Morocco & recommend good spots to park up over there, even if you're not going on one of their trips. Just nice people really !

Have Fun

[albertramsbottom]

HI

The GF and I are planning a trip down to Tarifa for a bit of kitesurfin' around July..have drove all round south west france so want to miss all this driving hopefully get the ferry to santander then drive down see some sights..maybe even pop to morocco van and money willing..!!...can anyone recomend a route away from toll roads.... ? are there aires same as france along the way .... ? fuel cost in spain...?....anyone wild camped near Tarifa...? lots of questions...

Well fuel is cheaper in Spain, but becuase of the value of the pound at the moment its not as cheap as it was. I think fuel is around 96 cent a litre.

Yes there are aires in spain, do a search for "All aires spain and portugal"

I will be doing that exact trip at the end of July, so will look out for you. The ferry from Plymouth is quite expensive but I suppose you save on fuel through France.

Albert

[andisnewsyncro]

Petrol in Spain is around 1.16 Euros a litre at the moment. Depending on how long you've got for your trip, I wouldn't rule out the toll roads, they're very good and cheaper than the French ones. Also travel on Sundays is a lot easier as not many trucks run then.

[kevtherev]

as for route we've travelled the Valladolid.. Salamanca..Seville ..Cadiz route.

[chippieshaun]

I would recomend the same route as Kevtherev.
Salamanca is worth , at least , an overnight stop.....really stunning city.
Also , Merida (on the same route) has spectacular roman ruins.......blow your mind!(if you're into that kind of stuff!)
Seville.........well , nice but a big city , if you've got the energy!
Would definately take in Jerez de la frontera aswell.
As for Tarifa , when we were there in December , they were having a crackdown on wild camping and had cleared the dunes of motorhomes! Maybe ok again in july. If not you will have to pay the very expensive campsite fees! Stayed at Rio Jara (after recomendation from andisnewsyncro) Great site but , yeah , tad expensive!

[chippieshaun]

oh........and if your running on gas , you'll get it in santander,vallodolid,seville and jerez.....

[kevtherev]

We overnighted in Valladolid.
after a straight from the ship dash.

travelled up the Portugese coast to Lisbon then as far as Cortegaca then over the mountains to Guada and back across the plains to Salamanca.

[AngeloEvs]

I don't recall paying any Toll fees(Santander to Almeria). We used Motorways mainly.

[andisnewsyncro]

I don't recall paying any Toll fees(Santander to Almeria). We used Motorways mainly.

There are very good motorways but some of them do have a "paid for" stretch, usually well signed in advance and there's always an alternative (you can't get on one by mistake, so don't panic )

As already mentoned, Jerez is a great place to visit. We stayed in El Puerto de Santa Maria for a month or so and visited it from there on the train. El Puerto is a good base for Cadiz too with a very good daily ferry service.

Also have a look at El Rocio on your way down to Tarifa if you have time. Absolutely crazy place, every house has a hitching post outside (as do the bars and shops) and the tarmac road stops at the roundabout on the edge of town. It looks like the set from a movie !

Don't forget to have a ride to Gibraltar too; take a bus or park on the Spanish side & walk in. You can park but it's a bit of a pain. Be careful how much duty free you try to bring out, the Spanish border guys love to argue about how much you can have.

Most of all, enjoy yourselves. My advice would be don't plan too far ahead, you might well find that you end up somewhere great by accident and want to stay there for a bit longer than you anticipated

[Louey]

My advice would be don't plan too far ahead, you might well find that you end up somewhere great by accident and want to stay there for a bit longer than you anticipated

That's been the theme of most of my adventures abroad - always works too

[Ian Hulley]

When sorting the trip last year I worked on a 1 day's (300-400 mile) hard drive to get to the 1st main objective, then 3 days off, then some much shorter days of touring through scenery, each then with 3 days to enjoy a destination. It helps when the driving you're doing is a pleasure ... whistling Matt Monroe to myself as Kev will testify

Given the choice (and especially coming homewards) I'd drive in an evening when it's cooler and use the motorways to eat up the distance, done this a few times back from the South of France and it works well ... apart from having to debug the headlights everytime you stop

Ian.

[kevtherev]

Yep I can

.. In Portugal we headed for what looked like an idilic remote spot on the map.. turned out to be an oil tanker terminal

[apcomark]

Hi all

thanks for all the advice .... ferries booked next weds 7th for a whole month...!!! .... vans serviced and ready to go .... cant wait ... look out for some pics on here in about a month...

Hasta luego...