Preplaning a route for a months tour of France & Spain Forums

HARRYH

My Wife & I are looking to tour the west side of France maybe going on down to Madrid & sw Spain.
Any one got a Route sugestion or a list of "must see places" "good stop overs" "dont go there" or just useful knowledge local to that area for the trip in May/June?
Our interests are, Scenic Country, Good beaches, wild life. history,
nice village/architecture. good eating out, antique fairs. junk market bargins, and general interests.
We did a trip in 2006 down the central route though France on to the east of Spain returning via the french south coast and up though the Alps and Geneva
Among the highlights were, The Med Coast swimming, Provance birds. Chaminix mountains , Lake Geneva the richness. Dole canal's and more. Paris and the north coast we have toured previously.
As any one a copy of the 2007 Aires De Service in english? the pubishers have not yet got to translating the 2008 version.
We are more tourers than campers, two or three night per site is our average stay over. For driving between sites, the time/distance we try to limit to 3hrs/200m.depending on conditions.
Advice would be welcome
Harry & Carol

bandaid

Stunning beaches all the way down the west coast, pretty much from St. Nazaire to past Biarritz.
The forests are immense, pine trees as far as you can see.

Historically, you should, and I mean need to visit the Town which was reazed to the ground by the Nazis. They shuffeld everybody in to ....anyway, the French have left it exactly as was. It needs to be visited, just to pay our respects/
Theres the caves in the Dordogne. 40k years old and full of the most beautiful art.

Honestly, you could spend a lifetime looking and travelling in the area.

have a stunning time.

andyangyh

If you are taking the western route you won't be going to the Dordogne (unless you turn left at Bordeaux). Likewise the village where the atrocity took place in WW2 was Oradour sur Glane, which is just NW of Limoges - again, a little outside where you are going.

La Rochelle is worth a visit. Aire is walking distance of the town and you empty/fill your tanks at the borne outside the municipal campsite.

Saintes (near where we used to live) is a good overnight stop and you stay on the aire which is in the car-park of the Abbeye aux Dames, a short stroll from the town centre. Take a trip to Cognac and see the distilleries.

Royan is also worth a slight detour - nice aire at La Palmyre. Cross the Gironde by ferry at Royan and tour a few Bordeaux vineyards.

South of Bordeaux we like the aires at Capbreton (which could be hell on earth in August but is fine in May/June/early July), Mimizan Plage and Biarritz. Try to be in France for the Fete de Musique on 21st June when every town in France has a music festival. My band played Saintes a few years back and it was a great community occasion. Lots of wine and next to no litter and certainly no yobbish behaviour.

Once you are in Spain try and visit San Sebastian. Stay at the campsite at Igueldo and catch the bus from outside the site (it's an "interesting" drive up the mountain to the campsite but the views are worth it) and go for tapas in the old town. Reputedly the best in Spain. Don't miss the Picos del Europa mountains. Santiago de Compostella is interesting too - especially if you manage to be there when they are swinging the massive incense burner from one end of the cathedral to the other.

Granada is famous for the Alhambra and it is every bit as stunning as they say.

Just a few suggestions. I could go on all day!

DorisDay

Agree with Bandaid

Beaches, woods and dunes down the West coast of France are great. Especially during the week, you may find aires busier at the weekend with the French if the weather is good.

We have 2007 aires book in English ' all the aires France'. ISBN 978-0-9552808-1-8. Includes some photos, and we think easier to use than the French version. Can we suggest vicarious books. They are available on line.

Alemo

Best advice I can give is, slow down, keep off the motorways, stop frequently, and take a good look at the country.

Plan one day at a time, don't stick to an itinerary.

Your 200m/3hrs is faster than the national speed limit 90kph 56mph.

Enjoy.

Alec

Briarose

Hi we set off in Feb for a month, and intended to travel down to Spain but ended up in Portugal (which we loved) you can read my report on this link
http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopic-42247-0.html one site that we really loved and stayed on both the journey down and back was just below San Sebastian and is in the Alan Rodgers guide is this one http://www.campingsonline.com/grancampingzarautz/index.asp?idlengua=3 the views from the touring site there are fantastic..........next time we go that way we intend to have at least another couple of nights there.

I still can't get used to the forums all split up LOL much preferred continental touring on one forum as I might have missed this post had it not been at the top of the forums........esp in a post like this when a member is asking about more than one area.

Hampshireman

A must see down west coast and well down is the largest sand dune in Europe at Dune du pilat or something like that. Lovely campsite right on it too. I reported in my journal for our trip last June, got down to Santiago. St Jean de Luz has a great festival at end of June.

bandaid

Oh forgot, have a look at Le Vieux Boucau, a sort of new town, right on the coast, theres a festival in later June, where the traditional shepherds walk about town on their stilts. Which is really clever as an idea, 'cos of the height of the vegetation locally the shepherds get on stilts to see their sheep easier.

Better than any other circus type I've ever seen.

quite spectacular in the evening, not too dear at that time of year, without hordes of Brits on holiday.

I liked the aquarium in La Rochelle, some of the fish are eye wateringly beautiful, and also quite rare, due to the usual stuff, oveer fishing, pollution, worth the money to go see that. Enormous parking availability.

javea03730

If you get near Madrid go to El Escorial built by one of the Spanish Kings (might have been Philipe but can't remember exactly) to commemorate a victory against the French. Wonderful architecture and contents including the mausoleum for all the Spanish Kings and Queens.

Also the Valle de Los Caidos, built by prisoners of war after the Civil War tunneled out of solid rock and really impressive. Good campsite close to both of these near Escorial.

If you like Roman ruins Italica is very impressive as is Merida.

Enjoy!

HARRYH