Camping in Spain

[Swim41]

Has anyone any experience of camping in Spain? I am considering a two week tour there next year but as usual I'll be on my own and camping to keep the costs down.

I've re-read Itchy's tour write up and get the impression he had mixed experiences with the quality and availability of campsites. Also getting the feeling that a camping guide book and maybe a sat nav (or at least plenty of research into campsites) might be a good idea, compared to camping in France where there's a well signposted campsite in most settlements and no need to plan ahead.

Not sure of a route yet, but thinking of taking making my way down from Santander to visit friends for a couple of days near Alicante and then back up, taking a circular route.

Are there many campsites in central Spain? Are the ones on the coast chav filled nightmares? I've searched the net but can't find much about Spain on the usual motorbike touring places.

Any tips/suggestions gratefully received.

cheers

Ben
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[Ste]

You don't need campsites, there are loads of places you can just camp.

But someone had the clever idea of letting bulls wander around the countryside, don't camp anywhere where there is bullshit on the ground cos you'll get woken up by a bull in the morning.

Camping on beaches is no problem as well, either find somewhere out that isn't in a town or if you can't be bothered you can just camp on tourist beaches as there isn't anyone to stop you.

[Itchy]

Some hints.

Bring a self standing tent

OR

A hardened steel tent pegs and a hammer,

The earth in Spain is baked rock solid which presents difficulties in putting your tent up.

Also bring at the very least a 3 season sleeping bag, the clear skies at night mean its cold.

I bought along this book (borrowed from the library)

https://www.alanrogers.com/guides/spain-portugal .

The Alan Rodgers guide is not comprehensive it tells you about the good ones, as there were plenty of campsites just some not as good as others or out in the back and beyond ie enroute to Cidad Rodrigo there were a few on the way but were not to my liking.

You will find plenty of campsites but in bad places like beside the main roads which is most definately not good!.


Or just wild camp, but since I like my beer cold I stopped at campsites.
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[Swim41]

That book sounds like a good investment, even if just for piece of mind. I enjoy the make it up as you go style of touring but it's good to have something like that to help out.

The last two trips I've done (Germany, Swiss Alps) I took a hopeless Navigo satnav with Tomtom on it to help me find campsites. It was pathetic - if it wasn't crashing every five miles it was reporting my current location to be hundreds of miles away in some random country (or on one occasion in the Irish sea). Going to go without it this time and trust to books/maps/luck.
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[G]

I'd just camp-wild where possible.
I did actually stay in a campsite for a bit and it was ok, but I much prefer finding somewhere quiet out of the way for various reasons; cost, toilet-access, solitude, etc. I just used my sat-nav to guide me to them (tarty Garmin), but further south they seemed to be signposted ok.

It was a Garmin Zumo 660 I was using and I was generally impressed. Definitely made it a lot less hassle than faffing with maps, though I rarely had specific destinations in mind.

[Clanger]

Actually when I was looking for accommodation around Barcelona I found some really good camp sites, which are situated near a railway station, so you could camp and get the train into the city...thus saving mucho cash.

Oddly enough, I haven't made a note of it at all. I usually do. But if I found it easily enough I'm sure others can.

I also found out that there are state run campsites in places like Gran Canaria. They have the basic facilities, showers/toilets/hose pipes, and you need to arrange for a permit (Cabildo de GCm Edificio Insular 1, Calle Professor Augustin Millares Carlo, Las Palmas), but they are FREE! So I would imagine if GC has free sites, then the rest of Spain would too.
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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter won't mind - Dr. Seuss

[G]

There's lots of free camper-van/caravan sites around, but I didn't see nearly as many free normal camp sites. Wasn't particularly looking, however.

[Clanger]

Oh here we go: www.campingbarcelona.com Costa Maresme, 20 mins from town, regular trains & night bus. Good for Girona, Barcelona, Tordera and Mataro.

Tel: 0034 93790 4720 £7pppn
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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter won't mind - Dr. Seuss

[Swim41]

[ms51ves3]

[New Sarum]

You do not indicate what time of year you intend visiting Spain. I was in Northern Spain at the end of May this year and found that several commercial sites had not opened for the season.

[TheDonUK]

I arrived in Valencia at Dusk, followed the universal brown campfire signs for about 5 miles out of the city, ended up paying 14 euro to pitch my own tent on some baron hard gravel. Bit miffed as the night before i had slept in a F1 hotel for about 20 euro maybe 25.

I would just camp wild, but find a spot before dark if you do just to reccie the area.
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[G]

Most of the time I was wild camping it was pretty dark when I stopped; if you're only staying for the night it shouldn't be a big problem if you're chosen fairly sensibly.

[Swim41]

[Peirre oBollox]

[tatfan]

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I've just found it through google, as I'm looking to do the same thing, but at the end of august. I was wondering if anyone, esp. swim 41, found out anymore info on this or not. So far, all I can find is that it's a 50/50 thing about wild camping!

[Swim41]

[Quickly]

If you're wild camping two or three days in a row do you not get a bit... smelly, by the end? Especially wearing bike gear, in Spain, in summer. I'd treasure a shower.
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[Itchy]

[G]

[ms51ves3]

[tatfan]

[Grazoid]

[Tonka]

I'm leaving for Spain in 10 days time and will be wild camping for most of the 3 week trip along the Pyrenees and through France. Planning on camping near water, either rivers or lakes, in order to get around the washing facilities issue. Aiming to find a proper campsite every 4/5 days in order to get a shower, clean up kit and do any running repairs, but even that might not happen if we find good wild places to camp.

Having said that we're trail riding, so not planning on being in close company with anyone who will mind the pong, so no big issue really

First thing I'll be doing when I get home though is having a big hot bubble bath!!
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[rob c]

Dont want to sound a bit thick here but what does "wild camping" mean, does it mean you can camp anywhere you want to, also last year I notices on the Motorways in Spain that some of the rest areas had a picture of a car with "zzzzz" above it which I took to mean you can sleep in these areas overnight but does this include sleeping in a tent?
Rob