It’s finally starting. It’s the end of August, the summer vacations are already over and luckily Corona hasn’t put a spanner in the works. We have roughly planned our route through Spain and Portugal, but now in late summer it doesn’t seem necessary to reserve campsites in advance. For us, it’s also the freedom and flexibility that makes being a camper so special – at least in our minds.
Here we stay on small, natural campsites far away from the hustle and bustle and mass tourism. We chose a small campsite (24 pitches) – Camping La Fresneda – as the destination for our first stage.
A well-kept place in the interior of the country with a fantastic view and warm hosts. Children certainly don’t have enough action here for a longer stay, but it’s the perfect place to relax for two days after a 15-hour drive and get a first impression of how nice camping can be.
We have deliberately left toys at home, firstly for reasons of space and secondly because nature offers enough to stimulate the imagination and different places want to be explored. The playground built into the rocks and the mountains on the campsite are perfect for this.
After 2 nights we travel further south. After all, we want to be in the Algarve in 3 days, where we have booked a large vacation home with friends and family.
We spontaneously decide to drive along the east coast of Spain. However, this is just as disappointing for us as the campsite, which we arrive at shortly before sunset. After all, it is right on the beach, so we can still enjoy the last rays of sunshine and the sea.
Playa La Roqueta
It only takes two minutes to set up the Skycamp 2.0, but even longer to prepare the sleeping area in the bus thanks to the child seats. As we want to continue straight away the next morning, the five of us decide to sleep in the roof tent. The children (4yo, 2yo, 1yo) slept great, the adults were fine ;-). Conclusion: You can do it, but it’s better not to.
The next morning we continue on to Andalusia, to Malaga, 350 km away. This time we drive through the interior of the country, the Sierra Nevada .
We have our eye on a small campsite in Nerja, tucked away and within walking distance of the beach. We are given a warm welcome, including by a parrot that attracts the children’s attention, and we choose a pitch with a banana tree. The sun is so blazing in the midday hours that we go to the trouble of putting up the Skycamp awning, even if we only stay for one night and spend the rest of the day on the beach.
Camping Nerja Cortijo San Miguel
Dismantling the next day is no fun, the temperatures are already almost 30° in the morning, but the anticipation of Portugal makes us forget this.
The next stage therefore flies by, luckily our friends are already there to guide us to our rather remote accommodation.
Here we are – arrived at a dream property. The trip has been quite adventurous so far, but still better than we imagined. Now we are looking forward to spending the next 10 days together. And of course we have no objection to a proper bed and our own bathroom.
Quinta Amarela Moncarapacho
Relax by the pool, watch the children play, take a trip to the beach, have dinner together or enjoy the warm, never-ending summer nights. If you want to enjoy Portugal like we did, even with about 15 people, I would recommend this property.
So on the day of departure, it feels a bit like the vacation is over, but for us it’s “back on track”. We drive north along the Alentejo coast and are amazed by its beauty. After just an hour, we stop in a small village to enjoy its flair and spend a few hours on the beach there.
In the late afternoon, we set off again – without a destination. The beginning sunset and the many vans with surfboards reinforce the feeling of freedom and we are drawn cross-country towards the sea.
Four-wheel drive certainly wouldn’t have done us any harm at this point, but even so, at some point we stand right on the cliff to marvel at the sunset. Without children, we would certainly have pitched our tents here and spent the night.
But we listen to a tip from a local and let him guide us to the campsite (Parque de Campismo da IIha do Pessequeiro) just a few kilometers away, where the view of the sunset is said to be no less beautiful. The ratings given are subterranean. We don’t care about them, because we don’t want to spend several weeks’ vacation here, we just want to enjoy the moment and spend a night.
After spending the next day in a bay among the locals, far away from mass tourism, we decide to spend another night in Porto Covo before continuing on towards Lisbon the next morning. Our destination, the local oceanarium.
The city is beautiful and definitely worth a visit. Contrary to our original plan to spend a night at a campsite close to the city, we continue on to Viana do Castelo. Due to an ailing child and the forecast of bad weather, we spontaneously booked an apartment there for 2 nights (Enjoy Viana Guest House). Even though it’s centrally located and we’re usually on foot, it’s nice to have a car that’s always ready to go on the doorstep, without having to remove or install the tent, bed and child seats. So we also spend a lot of time here with our friends and my brother’s family. We are on the beach, in the playground, in a cute café or end the evening in a nice restaurant.
After 2 days in the apartment, all the children are fit again and we want to get back to the adventure. Even though our trip is slowly coming to an end, there is still one highlight to come. The 5th birthday of Romy and Emmi, my niece, who were both born on the same day, is coming up.
Towards evening we drive to the local campsite, right on the beach, a hotspot for surfers and without much frills. We feel at home here. The children fall asleep quickly and I look forward to decorating the bus for tomorrow.
We spend the children’s (and Christoph’s) birthday together on the beach before spending the evening in an even bigger group in the restaurant. Aunts and uncles, cousins and friends of my sister-in-law enrich this evening. This warmth is another reason, along with the Portuguese cuisine, why I like this country and its people so much. A worthy end to a 3-week trip.
The next morning – it’s Friday – a slight hangover sets in. Christoph has to work on Monday and we still have more than 2,000 km to go. We had long since abandoned our original plan to drive home in several stages via the north coast of Spain in order to celebrate our birthday together.
So there’s only one thing to do: close your eyes and get on with it. The tablet, which unlike toys we don’t do without, in the holder, Peppa Wutz on and off we go. After 8 hours of driving, we take a break just before the French border to stretch our legs, have something to eat and get the children ready for bed. Darkness falls, we drive on and arrive home the next morning, overjoyed after almost 21 hours of driving.
Conclusion
A vacation that we will remember for a long time to come. Adventure, a sense of freedom and maximum flexibility. At the same time, to spend a lot of time with loving people in beautiful places in a country that is made for it.
