Portugal

[cleo]

We are hoping to travel down to Portugal/Spain leaving England in January. Not sure if its best to go straight to Spain for the weather then travel to Portugal March time or will the weather in Portugal in Jan/Feb be reasonable. Can anyone out there advise. Thanks (lol)

[Guest JudgeMental]

well from what I have read the weather has not been that good over the winter for last 2-3 years...You need to use the search function and look at old threads. MHFun has a lot of threads re wintering and weather in spain.

 

I am of the opinion that a couple of cheap tickets to s/e asia is a much more attractive proposition :-D

[olley]

Hi we were in Quateria for a week in Feb 08, and sunbathed on the beach, weather was lovely.

 

Olley

[w1ntersun]

Hi as a rule of thumb. Se east spain drier but colder Than Sw Spain where it is wetter but warmer in Jan Feb.

 

This year we were in SW Spain and it was very wet Jan Feb but lovely in March.

 

Portugal had floods storms and tornados this year and it was not a good time to be there.

 

having said that we have been goingfor 6 years and it has only been the last 2 that were poor to bad.

 

Still going next year had lets hope its back to normal ie more good days than bad and a lot warmer than the UK

 

Richard

[Guest JudgeMental]

Richard when best to visit do you think?

 

oct-nov-dec Or Feb-mar-april

[w1ntersun]

For the best weather Oct Nov Dec is better than Jan feb. But I have to say march was up in the 20's and very nice indeed.

 

Normaly Sw spain in Jan Feb has lows of 10c at night and average of 14/15 during the day. You tend to get 1or 2 rain showers a week but they clear up quite quickly. This year we had 2 to 4 days rain and it was heavy with floods etc.

 

Portugal tends to be a bit wetter but still not bad.

 

The SE of Spain eg La manga or Mazaron. Has a lot drier weather but quite cold nights and chilll days They also get some good downfalls. so its a simple choice really dry and cold or damp amd warm

[Bojitoes]

hi Cleo

As anyone who was in Spain / Portugal this year will tell you the weather was dreadful in Jan & Feb. Just to illustrate how bad, we were near Huelva in SW Spain, average annual winter rainfall is 1000 litres, this year it was in excess of 60,000, more than any of the local's parents or grandparents had ever seen in winter. So unless you are really unlucky, like we were, it should be dryish. Even though it was wet however it was generally still warm, 16-18 degrees.

it seemed as though a large weather system covered the entire Iberian peninsular and the weather was the same all over. having said that some travellers suggested that SE Spain, Benidorm for example, was dryer but colder, so that is where we are going to try next January, start at Malaga and work our way back up via Benidorm, Valencia & Barcelona over the next couple of months. Let's know what you decide

Bojitoes

[Randonneur]

I suppose we were very fortunate to be in Portugal end of December and all of January as we only had about 3 days of rain, it was still warm though. Obviously it was colder at night but that is to be expected. We wore our winter coats only twice in all the time we were there so it wasn't that bad. The last 2 years have apparently been worse than in previous years so we are told by regular visitors to the Algarve at that time of year, but it won't put us off going again this year and for a longer period of time.

[vindiboy]

We set off for Portugal January 6th this year when all the snow was on the ground in England, we had a reasonable drive to Dover from Southampton considering the road conditions , and crossed to Calais on the 4 o'clock ferry, staying the night on the dock at Calais, we awoke next morning to about 6 ins of snow and thought Oh Oh ,but it was Ok as we got on our way by 9.30 am, we took 5 night stops to travel through France staying on Aires, we crossed into Spain and took another 5 night stops again staying on Aires which we found in the Vicarious book, Aires in Spain and Portugal we did not leave the snow and ice till after ZAFRA in Spain, but had no real problems,as the roads were OK. Our first stop in Portugal was on the new Aire at Castro Marin, a good place to start we thought, we then made our way along the Algarve wild camping all the time to ALVOR, up to SILVES , PADERNE and then retraced our steps to Castro Marin. The weather for us was great, we had rain but it only lasted a few hours and stopped , we were able to walk on the near deserted beaches and ride our bikes all over, we had some very warm days too, I was in shorts the whole time .After leaving Castro Marin we followed the Guardiana River up the border between Spain and Portual still wild camping and stayed on some super wildcamp spots, we re entered Spain and headed for the North West corner of Spain where friends live and spent a couple of nights there, we then followed the coast back into France and travelled Back through France to Calais, arriving at the ferry on the 15th April. overall the weather was great, much better than it was in England according to text messages we were getting from friends whilst away. So overall the weather did not bother us , we had a great time and would reccomend you go for it, the weather may be better or worse next year who knows ? but if you worry about the weather you will never go anywhere . :-o :-o :-o

[vindiboy]

Some pictures [i hope ] of Portugal trip.

[cleo]

Guess we will just have to trust the weather and bite the bullet but will let you know what we decide. Thanks for taking the time to replying to my thread. *-)

[cleo]

Thanks Malc for info - I am sure we will find that very useful but unfortunately could not view photos. Any ideas how to ? B-) *-)

 

Chris - destination unknown

[vindiboy]

cleo - 2010-06-26 11:40 PM

 

Thanks Malc for info - I am sure we will find that very useful but unfortunately could not view photos. Any ideas how to ? B-) *-)

 

Chris - destination unknown

Sorry the photos didn't appear.I got a message that the server was playing up, which probably means some one didn't pay the rent. :-o :-o :-o

[berti]

hi cleo

 

we did a blog on here ' hi from berti on winter trip to portugal'

from jan-march 2010

if you try the search using author ( berti )... rather than subject it should appear..

whether the situation will be the same this winter is anyone's guess....

portugal is in the economic doldrums.....so we may be welcomed !!!

if you are thinking of wild-camping

water was extremely difficult to access...

and we met someone who had had their van broken into at portimao carpark in feb 2009...so it seems as if this area is being targetted by thieves..

 

cheers

berti

 

 

[Brian Kirby]

I think you are trying to plan too rigidly, too far ahead.  You will be in northern Europe in winter, and the weather will be influenced by what is coming across the Atlantic, just as it is at home.  It just is not possible to make hard and fast statements about what the weather will be like in any given month, or place.

What you need to do is make sure you have a means to pick up weather forecasts as you travel - a laptop using WiFi hotspots would probably be favourite - and then try to stay clear of the worst weather as you go.  That may mean you never get to Portugal (or Spain), or never leave.  :-)

Remember that altitude makes a big difference to weather, and central Spain and Northern Portugal are high, and both get snow.  Also remember that both countries can cop very heavy rain, and are prone to flash flooding, so riverside locations can be high risk.  Flexibility, and good information, will be your best guides.

[cleo]

Thanks Brian Will take your advice and be flexible and watch the weather forecasts before we go and whilst we are there. :-D

[Rowan Lee]

Just to reinforce what others have said, you can NEVER be sure of the weather. We went to Florida last winter and they had the worst winter in decades. We bought two electric heaters to try to keep warm in the van and our water hook up froze. We too are thinking of Portugal for this winter.