West coast of Portugal or west of Spain in October

baroloman

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We have 3 weeks in October/November to get from Bilbao to Oporto and are considering either along the north coast to Santiago di Compostela and then down the coast of Portugal or "turning left" at Oviedo and taking the inland Spanish route through Leon to Caceras and then west to Portugal. Any suggestions on which would be better? Our top priorities are ease of finding quiet places to stop, benign weather and towns/places of historical and architectural interest.
Any input most appreciated!
 
Mmm can't help on your choice as both have advantages. Perhaps have a look at our Facebook page Shiraz and Jenny's motorhome adventures. Lots of info and pics of where we have been with our 2 dogs. We prefer quieter places so you might find something there.
 
Baroloman both options are good ones, travelling down the west coast the wins will be in the plenty of quiet places to stop and the stunning views (Northern Spain) /coastline (Portugal), travelling down inland the wins will be in the interesting towns/villages and places of historical interest. So no easy answer, sorry! :)
 
knowledgeseeker said:
Baroloman both options are good ones, travelling down the west coast the wins will be in the plenty of quiet places to stop and the stunning views (Northern Spain) /coastline (Portugal), travelling down inland the wins will be in the interesting towns/villages and places of historical interest. So no easy answer, sorry! :)
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Well said, you have to do both really !
 
Based on your interests and benign weather preference the inland route would probably offer more of both but carry out research and plan what you want to see. Temperatures may be lower than a coastal route but you should be beyond the moist south westerly weather stream.

An advantage of more time in Spain is that time is CET not Portugal GMT so you gain 1 hour of evening daylight so potentially lower battery usage and an extra 1 hour to spend visiting places before it gets dark. If you are going to spend most of your time in an urban environment not so much of an issue but if you are off the beaten track visiting small villages maybe.

Also Spain motorways down the west side are free. Portugal are all toll based. Depends really on whether you plan to use them or not but we tend to favour the Salamanca and Caceres route and turn right to Aveiro or Lisbon. But it does mean we miss Porto. As for aires on route plenty available but in our experience town or city based ones can be full if arriving after mid afternoon.

Diesel cheaper in Spain also so fill up before entering Portugal.

Aveiro the Venice of Portugal with free aire. Coimbra the Oxford University of Portugal with free aire and an interesting tour of the university and its museums. Sintra plenty of palaces and a castle to visit with a cheap aire. Lisbon you really have to stay at the campsite and take the 40min bus ride into town. You can cycle but there is a long hill on the way back. As you head south of Lisbon plenty to see and do.

PS assume you meant Caceres when you stated Caceras. Caceres is some way south of Porto so assumed you were thinking of turning right to Lisbon and then heading north. We normally turn right to Aveiro and head south to Lisbon and beyond.
 
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just do a circuit up one way down the other, just for a change this year turned left at burgos & went straight south it was very good & certainly different tried to just clip the edge of madrid & ended up going through the middle but the rest was great some fantastic stops toledo cordoba etc we had a couple of days on the beach at punta umbria late january then went west into portugal
 
Well if the weather this week is any indication northern Spain and west Portugal is getting totally drenched. Don't forget the wild Atlantic weather.
Inland might be better. Some lovely towns in Spain close to the border.
Lots of stopping places on " All the aires" don't forget Spain is very tolerant of you stopping in car parks, just don't camp. They don't like you wild camping.
 
Thanks to everyone for their advice and suggestions! We've decided on the inland Spain route for this time. Thanks again!
 
baroloman said:
We have 3 weeks in October/November to get from Bilbao to Oporto and are considering either along the north coast to Santiago di Compostela and then down the coast of Portugal or "turning left" at Oviedo and taking the inland Spanish route through Leon to Caceras and then west to Portugal. Any suggestions on which would be better? Our top priorities are ease of finding quiet places to stop, benign weather and towns/places of historical and architectural interest.
Any input most appreciated!
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A few years ago we did most of the Portugese coast plus "Compost" and on up to La Caruna in Spain.
It was october, rain floods and gales aplenty. On no account make the mistake we did taking a handy shortcut on an unmettled road in these conditions - big mistake!
 
baroloman said:
Thanks to everyone for their advice and suggestions! We've decided on the inland Spain route for this time. Thanks again!
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You made the right choice. Hell of a storm in Galicia last night and today. My fridge blew out twice which has never happened before. Glad I was in a PVC as I reckon a wobble box might of gone over. Severe and frequent downpours today. 3 days ago in Cantabrica it was 27c at night. Down to 12 in the day today. But it's the Atlantic coast,same as west coast of Ireland/Scotland/Norway. It's a case of "Do you feel lucky?" Last year at the same time here, wall to wall sunshine for 6 weeks with one day of rain.
 
korky said:
You made the right choice. Hell of a storm in Galicia last night and today. My fridge blew out twice which has never happened before. Glad I was in a PVC as I reckon a wobble box might of gone over. Severe and frequent downpours today. 3 days ago in Cantabrica it was 27c at night. Down to 12 in the day today. But it's the Atlantic coast,same as west coast of Ireland/Scotland/Norway. It's a case of "Do you feel lucky?" Last year at the same time here, wall to wall sunshine for 6 weeks with one day of rain.
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Been lots of weather in Spain last few days . Pissing down on way to , and in , Sanlucar de Barrameda .
No idea if storm in Scotland is anyway connected but all happened at same time
 
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