Place to park overnight in Santander

Robina

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Our ferry gets into Santander on 11th January at 17:30. It will be dark and we do not want to drive far - ideally just stay at the ferry port until morning if possible. Does anyone know if this is possible or maybe a nearby spot to park up?
 
There is a free aire near the port.

If you use the online POI Map you will see its location and you can take a peek at it using Streetview.
 
You can park in the lorry park on the right, just as you're leaving the port. I stayed there last time. Ask at reception and they'll show you on a map.
 
There is an excellent free Aire near the university. It is at Calle Marino Fernandez Fontecha. It is about 3.5km from the port, 8 minutes according to google. It is on search for sites. We stayed at it in early October. Nice city, worth staying for a couple of days if you have time.

Davy
 
We found that coming off the ferry a lot of vans are looking for parking so drove to Cabarceno (Elephant Park) 43.358100 -3.819767 about a 1/2 hrs drive there's plenty of parking there and free services so you can fill up before setting off if it's not freezing
 
TeamRienza said:
There is an excellent free Aire near the university. It is at Calle Marino Fernandez Fontecha. It is about 3.5km from the port, 8 minutes according to google. It is on search for sites. We stayed at it in early October. Nice city, worth staying for a couple of days if you have time.

Davy
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This is the aire in the POIs that I mentioned above ...
 
witzend said:
We found that coming off the ferry a lot of vans are looking for parking so drove to Cabarceno (Elephant Park) 43.358100 -3.819767 about a 1/2 hrs drive there's plenty of parking there and free services so you can fill up before setting off if it's not freezing
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Also in the POIs :D
 
We stayed on the Elephant Park aire earlier this year and NEVER AGAIN :mad2: It was by far the worst night we`ve ever had and any aire :scared:

The local VW camper brigade was at it playing music, shouting and opening and closing them bloody sliding doors until after 03.00am :mad2:

Then not long after that we had some cars doing what could only be described as drag racing the full length of the parking area along the lake.

Come 09.00am when we was ready for leaving all the little poppets were fast asleep tucked up tight in their campers so i made a hell of a racket when packing up.

It woke a couple of them up and they got out to say something, my answer to them was .......... **** Off .......... i`ll let you fill in the blanks :mad1:
 
When I stayed there it was great - only a handful of vans and not a peep from anyone so it obviously varies and it is a lovely place to stop.
 
Many thanks for the suggestions and comments. The one near the university sounds, and looks, perfect for what we want after the crossing. Being the middle of January I am rather dreading the Bay of Biscay! Hoping to take the coastal route down to the Algarve after that.
 
Leave the port, turn right and climb the main road up to the light house, a big quiet area next to a campsite .
 
carol said:
When I stayed there it was great - only a handful of vans and not a peep from anyone so it obviously varies and it is a lovely place to stop.
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That was precisely the reason why we went out of our way to stay there because of all the good reports about it.

Because of the lack of sleep we only went a short distance to AF Lierganes.

We had a couple of very pleasant days in the town including a mountain bike event and the weekend market which was a very short distance away from the aire.

An Irish lady that had also been on the other aire also turned up for the same reason and planned on staying 4 days until her ferry was due.
 
Wooie1958 said:
We stayed on the Elephant Park aire earlier this year and NEVER AGAIN :mad2: It was by far the worst night we`ve ever had and any aire :scared:

The local VW camper brigade was at it playing music, shouting and opening and closing them bloody sliding doors until after 03.00am :mad2:

Then not long after that we had some cars doing what could only be described as drag racing the full length of the parking area along the lake.

Come 09.00am when we was ready for leaving all the little poppets were fast asleep tucked up tight in their campers so i made a hell of a racket when packing up.

It woke a couple of them up and they got out to say something, my answer to them was .......... **** Off .......... i`ll let you fill in the blanks :mad1:
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You were just unfortunate Wooie, it does get a bit busy at weekends, but normally it’s an excellent stopover.
 
RoaminRog said:
You were just unfortunate Wooie, it does get a bit busy at weekends, but normally it’s an excellent stopover.
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It was a friday night so maybe different during the week.

The VW camper lot only turned up at about 10pm and i`d had a drink so it was too late to move on.
 
Robina said:
Being the middle of January I am rather dreading the Bay of Biscay! Hoping to take the coastal route down to the Algarve after that.
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The west coast in January is very likely to be quite rough You haven't said how long your staying but it would make a better return route later in the year
 
witzend said:
The west coast in January is very likely to be quite rough You haven't said how long your staying but it would make a better return route later in the year
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We're going for a couple of months but will travel back up the Spanish coast as we need to be in the middle of France mid-March.
 
I would also say be careful of the north and west Spanish coast at that time of year. I was there in April of this year and it was horrible. Pouring rain and strong wind for days on end. Don't forget it is the Atlantic coast.
I would recommend driving straight south from Santander. Some wonderful small towns and villages to discover, beautiful Salamanca and open arid places. Also Caceres is wonderful, however I would Turn right before Caceres and head past the lakes, cross the amazing Roman bridge, and into Portugal on a small road. Head for Castelo Branco, in the aires book is a small municipal camp site that might be open in winter and then head south. On these routes I me few Brits and not many other vans. Nice if you like it like that.
Only a suggestion.
 
Wooie1958 said:
The VW camper lot only turned up at about 10pm and i`d had a drink so it was too late to move on.
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Thats just the luck of the draw a group like that without regard for anyone eles could turn up anywhere. It,s nothing to avoid the aire for. I,ve visited 3 times apart from late arrivals from the same ferry as us who had tried everywhere else only to find them full. We,ve had quiet nites
 
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