peterjl Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 Hi We are planning a trip to Andalucia in April/May and look mainly to travel around inland, the Sierra Nevadas and a number of the parques naturals - principally for the walking and mountain biking but also to look round some of the cities. Does anybody know if there are any restrictionson taking dogs into any of these parques? + Recommendations for camp sites would be welcome - 1) in/near the parques 2) near Grenada and Sevilla;where we can take a bus into the city for the day.(without the dog - after a few miles running - i take her on my training runs for 6 or 7 miles - she will sleep the rest of the day whilst we are out). City sites with shade would be an advantage. I have tried the search engine and i am now looking through old MMM's - i'm sure i have seen some sites recommended in the past Also i have read the coast near the Portugal border is relatively undeveloped - comments anybody? Many thanks Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BGD Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 Hi Peter - We live in Spain and have just last week done a mini-tour a round the Andaluica region from our home on the Costa Blanca. There's NO restrictions at all on taking dogs into Natural parks. Basically there are no borders at all around natural parks here.....they are just regions of wild land outside of cultivated areas. There's no entry gates or anything like that at all....nothing to stop anyone and anything just driving through them. Normally we wild camp whenever roaming around Spain (it's not the like the crowded UK, here you can normally find a quiet spot up a little side road anywhere in the countryside, 'cos it's such a big country that outside of the cities and towns you hardly see anyone). We did however use a proper (and extremely good) campsite just outside of Granada for one night of our tour. It's in the countryside on the lower slopes of the Sierra Nevada, about 10 kms along a wigglyish road east of Granada city , to the left of the huge valley with the big reservoir in it, up past the damn end of the reservoir (but there's a bus service that runs right past the campsite door into the city). It's called Las Lomas - I'll get Kathy to post in this thread some more details on the site. Very good, and very cheap (€23 including electric hookup for our MH plus us two, plus our dog which got in for free). Fantastic hot showers too. When we were there you could see the snows further up the range from tha camp site - I'll try and add a piccy or two to this post. By total coincidence we noticed when we got back that it's been reviewed in this months MMM Magazine (- the mag had arrived at our home in the post from the UK whilst we were in Andalucia). Whilst we did not eat in the restuarant on site, it looks very good indeed. But then frankly almost any Spanish restaurant is very good indeed. I assume your dog his it's pet passport and all it's jabs up to date - but there are two other things you MUST be aware of if bringing your dog to Spain: 1. Leishmania desease. Spread by sandflies, mostly in summer 6 months from about April to October. Make sure your dog wears a Leishmania collar. If you can't get one in UK before you leave, get one at any vets here. Just ask for it if vet does not speak English by saying "Puedes ponerme un cinturon de protecion por leishmaniosis". 2. Processional caterpillars. Details on this risk in another thread hereabouts about taking dogs to Spain. Basically keep your dog on a lead if wandering in pine woods between Feb and end April. If you see any columns of small dark caterpillars wiggling along nose-to-tail on the ground, or you see what looks like very large white cobweb nests on the branches of the pine trees, DON'T go near them, don't step on them, and DON't allow your dog to sniff at them. The caterpillars are covered with millions of tiny hairs that are an intense irritant if they get on to skin, and even worse if inhaled or swallowed. Every year hundreds of dogs and cats are killed by these things, and hundreds of humans need hospital treatment 'cos they've stepped on them or picked them up. If you think your dog has sniffed at or licked any of them......get to an emergency vet IMMEDIATELY. This actually happend to our own dog 3 year ago, we got him to our local vet within 30 minutes, and the vet JUST managed to save his life by injecting anti-inflammatory drugs so that his throat did not completely close up from the irritant. Please don't worry though - in practice these are both incredibly rare events, but it's wise to be aware of them just in case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BGD Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 Here's the view up into the mountains from our van on it's pitch at the Las Lomas campsite just outside of Granada, at dusk, last week: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparkle Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 Hiya As my hubby Bruce mentioned - I've covered some of the stuff in this thread, which is worth a look - http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=9616&posts=16 Also I find this site very good for searching for campsites which allow pets...http://www.spain.info/TourSpain/Alojamientos/Campings?Language=en The latest MMM mag has a review of Las Lomas, which we stayed at last week... has some shade, and is a bus trip into Granada, also with good walking around it being on the edge of the Sierra Nevada. http://www.campinglaslomas.com/index.html Or their English site... http://www.campingsonline.com/lomas/index.asp?idlengua=3 Hope this helps Kathy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterjl Posted January 22, 2008 Author Share Posted January 22, 2008 Hi Bruce & Kathy. The info is just what i'm looking for - great. + the site looks ideal. Re the dog - many thanks for the advise - i was aware of the caterpillares but not the sandflies! Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syd Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 Try this site for campsites, hope it helps http://www.eurocampings.co.uk/en/europe/spain/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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