Caroline Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Hola! At long last we are of to Spain sailing to Santander and then down with a stop over at Camping Pico de la Miel near Madrid and then further on down to La Manga. This will be our first time in Spain not staying at a Hotel, so please excuse these silly questions. What is it like driving in the country, have driven in France is it similar? Does Spain have large supermarkets like the French ones? Is there a recommended place to food shop, easy access at Santander or on the route out? Do you know of places of interest on the way down, somewhere to break the journey for a cup of tea? Road signs - although I have been attempting to learn basic Spanish, is there somewhere that I can find them translated? What else do I need to know? Is Easter the right time for fiesta’s in Spain? Gracias Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 If French supermarket prices are anything to go by (we were there at weekend) Bring plenty of money, prices are now outragous....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randonneur Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 JudgeMental - 2011-03-02 12:52 PM If French supermarket prices are anything to go by (we were there at weekend) Bring plenty of money, prices are now outragous....... Depends what you are buying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 fruit/veg...twice UK prices Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BGD Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Caroline - 2011-03-02 11:24 AM Hola! At long last we are of to Spain sailing to Santander and then down with a stop over at Camping Pico de la Miel near Madrid and then further on down to La Manga. This will be our first time in Spain not staying at a Hotel, so please excuse these silly questions. What is it like driving in the country, have driven in France is it similar? Does Spain have large supermarkets like the French ones? Is there a recommended place to food shop, easy access at Santander or on the route out? Do you know of places of interest on the way down, somewhere to break the journey for a cup of tea? Road signs - although I have been attempting to learn basic Spanish, is there somewhere that I can find them translated? What else do I need to know? Is Easter the right time for fiesta’s in Spain? Gracias Caroline - don't worry. We live here; and hopefully the following may help. In all cases what I say is only my own experience, others may disagree of course. Driving in Spain: absolutely easy peasy. The roads are almost without exception fantastic; and almost always traffic-free........Spain is as big as France, but with only 44 million people, and a much lower ratio of cars-per household. You simply will not believe just how traffic-free most of the roads are. "A" roads are motorways, "N" roads are national roads.......like "A" roads in the UK. "AP" motorway sections are "autopista peatge" (toll motorway). Unless in a mad rush, stcik to the N roads......much better scenery. Avoid AP motorways sections unless rcih, they can cost quite a lot of money (they all take any credit/debit card). Road signs: all follow the EU standard, you'll have no problems at all. Pico de la Miel: a nice site, smallish, not too much in the way of luxury facilities, set in the country nest to a tiny village, a little way north of Madrid. But be aware that it's quite high up, and also that the middle of Spain gets very cold in the winter. At Easter you may well still be wanting heating and winter woollies in that part of Spain......it doesn't warm up until you are much further south, a lot close to the Med coast, through winter. Shops: there are MASSES of big supermarkets in every town and city. Real biggies like Carrefour; mediums like Mercadona, Mas y Mas, and smaller ones like Aldi and Lidl too. Don't buy UK brands, they are generally very expensive. Buy the Spanish brand that'll be right next to it on the supermarket shelf.........cheaper, and fun to experiment with. Also, go into any of the little owner-run shops that abound in every town and village too - just point at what you want. They are really friendly, really helpful, and they need your money to keep going. Prices: we've recently been up to France for a couple of weeks, and in our personal experience, France is a LOT more expensive for food and fuel, and MASSIVELY more expensive for any sort of eating out. Even a couple of coffees were costing 5.40 euros, in little village bars no-where near touristy areas....that's probably well over double the price you might pay in Spain. Outside of top tourist areas expect to pay 8 to 10 euros for a three course "menu del dia" meal, including bread and half a bottle of house wine Deisel is presently about 1.25 to 1.30 per litre in Spain. Try NOT to fill up at motorway service areas, as they charge top prices, get off the motorway and fill up at a garage on any "N" road instead. Everywhere takes credit/debit cards with Visa or Mastercard, using chip & pin nowadays, or cash. Not cheques though. You always have to show ID whenever paying with a card, so keep your passport or driving licence with you to show at the till. Seafood is wonderful here in Spain, plentiful and really cheap. Language: do your best to speak a word or two of Spanish whenever you can. It goes down fantastically with the locals, who'll smile and help you. Hola - hello (pronounced ola). Gracias - thankyou (pronounced gratheeas). Fiestas: there's no right or wrong time, as each village/town has its own fiestas at different times of the year (usually depending upon their patron saints day in the Roman Cathollic calendar). Tune into "Espana Directo", the nightly news magazine programme on the Spanish version of the BBC (called TVE, usually channel 1) between 6.20pm and 8pm weekdays, and at the end of the programme they list the towns who are having fiestas the following day. Alternatively, ask at Tourist Info in towns as you pass through. Buy plenty of booze(spirits) and ciggies/tobacco (stick to one brand so it looks as though they are all for your personal consumption) to take home and flog to relatives for profit, even if you don't drink or smoke. Keep the receipts though to show to UK Customs to prove you've paid the Spanish VAT. You'll not believe how cheap they are here compared to the UK. (Totally illegal to sell on such stuff in the UK for profit of course....ahem). Make sure you have your mobile phones set with your airtime operator to allow international roaming BEFORE you leave the UK. Don't bring posh clothes. Really. Don't. People here dress far more casually than in the UK (they still manage to do it far more stylishly that the Brits here of course though). Bring easy-care stuff like T-shirts, jeans, shorts, sweatshirts. And remember that we do actually have shops here, millions of them, that sell everything that you might want/need/have forgotten, almost always cheaper than you could buy a similar item in the UK. You can drink the tapwater throughout Spain. It may taste a little more "minerally" than UK water, but it's utterly fine. Having said that, big 5 litr bottles of springwater are on sale dead cheap at every supermarket....that's what we use in our MH whenever away from home for cooking. Consider buying an ACSI discount camping card and accompanying book of sites that take it. (Google for ACSI or search these forums for more info). It could save you a lot of site fees money. I know that the picos de miel site takes it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolandrat Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Thanks for the info BGD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted March 2, 2011 Author Share Posted March 2, 2011 Wonderful thanks BGD they seemed such silly questions. For our first time we have booked a package with Carefree, proberly more expensive, but next time we might be more daring. We are time limited this time so the faster roads might be our choice as the destination is warmth, will have to study the route carefully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Hope your expectations are realistic, Alicante 13 deg C at moment and Murcia 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverback Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Good posting BGD im not going as yet, but good info for future use :-D not driven abroad yet in the MH but hoping to in the near future jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave225 Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Caroline, May I suggest consider driving from Santander to Zaragoza and then south to Valencia and then take the inland route to Murcia. It is a better road and a lot cheaper for tolls than the one through Madrid. There are also some better campsites on route although they can be a bit distant apart. Check the Camping Cheque book for some good ones. We used Camping de Haro for the 1st night and Camping Altomira just before Valencia for the 2nd. We did this very trip last year, however I must admit we found La manga very disappointing and left early. If you are part of one of the rallies held there then that is different. We arrived the week after the rally finished and the place was like a ghost town. It was also very windy so we moved further south to Mazzaron which in our opinion was far nicer. Asa mentioned by others Spain is significantly cheaper than France and we are returning again this year for our usual 3 months, but going through the normal route thorugh France as the bay of Biscay was too rough for us. One last point watch getting out of Santander. The boat drops you on the promenade and you wind your way around town to get to the motorway. It is signposted but the traffic can be disconcerting as you arrive at lunchtime. Good luck and enjoy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Momma Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Did a tour of Spain in 2009 from Bilbao via madrid as far South as Valencia then back up the coast via Barcelona. The Motorway route from Madrid towards Valencia in the east was FREE when we were there, don't know if that has changed now. i was in a 7.5metre long motorhome and used primarily Motorways but where convenient also used the 'N' roads and as previously stated they were absolutely fine. We used a combination of large supermarkets and also smaller local shops as well as the many markets. We used the same food budget that we would have done at home and did not exceed it and ate well, very well and could even afford several meals out. We also found using the Public Transport to get around very economical and reliable. Enjoy :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike88 Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Dave225 - 2011-03-02 8:14 PM May I suggest consider driving from Santander to Zaragoza and then south to Valencia and then take the inland route to Murcia. It is a better road and a lot cheaper for tolls than the one through Madrid. Are you sure? I travelled on the route between Santander and Alicante last November and the cost was 1.9 euros (I think) for the Madrid Ring Road. Otherwise it was free as far as I recall. There are also a couple of campsites and Aires on this road at Aquillar de Campo (Aire and ropey campsite) about 60 miles from Santander and at Cabrera south of Madrid and less than a mile from the main road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T8LEY Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 I would agree with all BGD's sound advice. Another thing worth noting. Some speed limits in Spain are being reduced to save fuel. The maximum speed on motorways will be, in old money, 68 mph, reduced from 74. The change will be enforced from 7th March. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted March 3, 2011 Author Share Posted March 3, 2011 Thanks everyone :-> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave225 Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 I followed advice given to me on another Forum, and it worked well for us. I don't think we paid very much for tolls. However, the advantage was that on the Madrid route there is one reasonable campsite north of Madrid but not a lot else worth stopping for until you get to the coast, a bit too far for us oldies. I know some motorhomes are happy to stop in service areas, and the Spanish Police do apear to be more present than the ones here, but with a caravan i was not prepared to do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derek500 Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 T8LEY - 2011-03-03 1:27 AM I would agree with all BGD's sound advice. Another thing worth noting. Some speed limits in Spain are being reduced to save fuel. The maximum speed on motorways will be, in old money, 68 mph, reduced from 74. The change will be enforced from 7th March. Incidentally, the speed limit signs will not be changed from 120kph to 110kph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Momma Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Dave225 - 2011-03-03 4:25 PM I followed advice given to me on another Forum, and it worked well for us. I don't think we paid very much for tolls. However, the advantage was that on the Madrid route there is one reasonable campsite north of Madrid but not a lot else worth stopping for until you get to the coast, a bit too far for us oldies. I know some motorhomes are happy to stop in service areas, and the Spanish Police do apear to be more present than the ones here, but with a caravan i was not prepared to do that. We stayed at a campsite just outside Madrid (El Escorial - North West) it had a big swimming pool complex and great for a 2-3 day stop en-route South. At the end of the campsite road (5-10 minute stroll) you caught the bus to Madrid (30 minutes journey). Well worth the visit and a good break before the main trip further South. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vindiboy Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 Get the Vicarious book, ALL THE AIRES SPAIN AND PORTUGAL, there are some great free aires in Spain now and a boon to travelling through, Bon Voyage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T8LEY Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 derek500 - 2011-03-03 7:27 PM T8LEY - 2011-03-03 1:27 AM I would agree with all BGD's sound advice. Another thing worth noting. Some speed limits in Spain are being reduced to save fuel. The maximum speed on motorways will be, in old money, 68 mph, reduced from 74. The change will be enforced from 7th March. Incidentally, the speed limit signs will not be changed from 120kph to 110kph. Just travelled up from Cartagena to north of Madrid today and seen the signs being changed to 110kph. Not sure they'll do them all by tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted March 7, 2011 Author Share Posted March 7, 2011 T8LEY Are there any large hypermarkets along the road you came to Madrid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Caroline, you have PM. One further point about driving in Spain. You will find in many towns that there are traffic lights at intervals as you pass through. Many of these are linked to speed detectors, and will change to red of you are exceeding the limit by even 1 or 2 KPH. Keep just below the limit, and you should generally get an unbroken transit.However, nothing is perfect, and there are certain Spanish drivers who blast through fast, triggering the lights to red after they have passed, so trapping all the following traffic while they speed on. Just so you know! :-DNot relevant to speed limits, but there also seems to be a small group of young men who delight in playing a version of "chicken run". You may encounter these on ordinary two way roads, where they will pull out and overtake straight at you. If you react by flashing lights or hooting, you will get a hand held up with index and little finger erect, I assume to represent bull's horns, as a demonstration of their fearless Spanish male virility! Best tactic seems to be just slow and ease over, without overt reaction. Not all that common, but I have encountered it a few times. It can seem a bit intimidating, but it just seems to be one way Spanish "yoof" likes to play with the traffic! :-) Not to put you off, as most Spanish drivers are considerate, careful, and courteous (with a possible exception around Barcelona), but again, just something to be aware of that is that bit different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BGD Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 The Spanish motorway limit is reduced to 110 KMPH with effect from this morning. Ministers are sying that it matters not whether all the signage has been altered or not: there's been enough publicity about the temporary reduction in the press/emedia for the past few weeks. Commentators are saying though that it remains to be seen whether the Courts will agree with that view if someone gets nicked by the Traffic Police for "speeding because they are doing say 120 KMPH on a stretch of motorway that is still showing "120" limit signs; and decides not to pay on the spot but to take the matter to court.............. There is also talk in the press of an "allowance" of 5% on the 110 limit, ie that Traffico won't do anyone whose actually speed is 117KMPH or less....but apparently that "allowance" is not actually mentioned in the Traffic Ministers special regulation, so it remains a grey area. Getting nicked will get you an on-the-spot fine of at least 100 euros (and that's including the discount for immediate payment via cash/credit card) The odds of getting nicked are MUCH less that in the UK, as Spain has relatively very few fixed speed cameras, and very very few mobile radar gun thingies; but still best keep your speedo-indicated speed to 115KMPH or below if travelling on Spanish Motorways and Dual carriageways in the coming 4 months or so - the Minister is to review this temporary reduction in June 2011. So ease off; just think of the improved fuel economy you'll be achieving; and more time to enjoy the scenery too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted March 7, 2011 Author Share Posted March 7, 2011 Thank you again to everyone, speed is not really an issue as you rightly point out economy, and we are in no hurry and should be able to set a leisurely pace. Nice to know that other countries have their fair share of considerate drivers, funny how they all speak the same language...!!!! Hopefully we should find somewhere with a lovely view on the road that we can stop and brew. :-> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Caroline - 2011-03-07 4:12 PM ............... Hopefully we should find somewhere with a lovely view on the road that we can stop and brew. :-> Bruce will know best, but our experience was that, unlike France with its picnic spots, stopping along the Spanish roads was not that easy. Didn't use toll Autopistas, but quite a lot of the non-toll variety, and the service areas were mainly fuel stops, with little in the way of parking/picnicking provided. Away from the dual carriageways, I understand stopping on the carriageway is not encouraged, possibly not permitted (reasonable, as the roads are not really wide enough), and laybys etc were a bit like hen's teeth! We always found somewhere at mid-day, and the views across the Meseta can be stunning but, for some reason, never from where we could actually stop! :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T8LEY Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Caroline - 2011-03-07 1:45 PM T8LEY Are there any large hypermarkets along the road you came to Madrid. You would need to pull off the motorway into any large town to find a supermarket on the route we took (A30, A3 & A1). We usually consult the satnav for such things. Can recommend the route though, if you are interested in getting south fast and without tolls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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