Hi - we’ve toured most of Europe in our camper and have stayed at many naturist campsites and are pretty knowledgable about France and Croatia for good naturist sites, also did a naturist site in Luxembourg last year and have done one in Austria (plus found some countries a bit devoid of naturist campsites e.g. Italy, which is disappointing but ok) .
However, we have not toured Spain or Portugal so are planning to this in May and early June. We tend to freewheel as much a possible so we’re not tied to a place at any particular time, can stay longer if it’s good or move on if not; but the only sort of planning we do is to find out where the naturist campsites are so we can head there.
Depending on mileage and time driving we’re currently thinking of a coastal circuit or going down eastern coast of Spain to Andalusia and then back up the middle.
We’ve used this website http://www.naturistguide.eu/e/naturist-holidays/6/campsite/spain.html plus a bit of googling to identify possible sites to stop at and wondered if anyone on here has experience of them, or indeed any other recommendations. The only caveats we put on the sites is they must accept dogs as she travels with us when we’re away for a few weeks (slightly concerned as we’ve heard the Spanish are not fond of dogs unlike the French who are) and there must be reasonable facilities (showers, toilets, swimming pool, ideally electric hook-up but not essential). We nearly joined Suntreckers last year (having bumped into them twice in Europe - nice bunch of people) to join their Spanish rally but the site they use (El Templo de Sol) does not accept dogs.
We’re looking at stopping at
Camping-Relax in the NE part of Spain
Centro Naturisto Sierra Natura in the Valencia area
Naturist Campsite El Zorro towards Granada
or possibly
Almanat near Malaga
then
Camping Cala del Aceite towards Cadiz
Then if we’re heading back across the middle of Spain there’s only one site shown which is
Las Grullas, sort of SW of Madrid (by quite a few Kms)
If we do go through Portugal then there are three possibles, working from South to North being
Monte Naturista O Barao
Quinta do Marai
NaturViana - naturismo (this one scores low on reviews)
I appreciate I’ve packed a lot in this post but if anyone has knowledge of any of these sites, or of any others that we’ve missed we’d be very grateful for your comments.
Thanks!
Newforestcple
We've stayed at all the ones on your list in Spain, except Las Grullas, which is fairly new and hadn't opened when we were around that neck of the woods in 2014. Shame, because we overnighted only a few miles away. Have a friend who rated it highly.
Others in Spain we've been to include: El Templo del Sol, El Portus and Cuevas Mar at Vera Playa. The latter two accept dogs. No naturist pool at Cuevas Mar, but worth a stop for going to Vera Playa. El Portus and Cuevas Mar are both in the ACSI discount scheme (as is Almanat).
http://www.campingcuevasmar.com/
Reference El Templo, you could investigate the textile campsite directly next door and very close to the stunning El Torn naturist beach - Cala d'Oques - they accept dogs. It would be a shame to miss visiting El Torn during your tour - one of the finest nude beaches in Spain.
The home page mentions "We are only a few meters away from a nudist beach."
In Portugal, we've stayed at Monte Naturista O Barao and visited the part-naturist Salema Eco Camp (formerly Quinta dos Carriços) on the Western Algarve - no naturist pool but remarkably low ACSI rates €11 euro with hook-up. Oh, and naturist beaches accessible by MH nearby.
Other - possibly rustic - places in Portugal to investigate:
naturist365.com
7670 – 609 OURIQUE
Mob: 914135074
http://www.naturist365.com/
GPS: Lat: 37.54023 – Lon: -8.27554
Quinta das Oliveiras Andorinha
R. Estrada Nova 20
3405-498 Travanca de Lagos (Andorinha)
00351 962 621 287
http://www.quinta-das-oliveiras-andorinha.com/
Lat: 40.404608
Long: -7.928524
Let me know if there is anything specific you'd like to know about any of the places we've been to.
Happy travels!
Mike
Edited to add a missing link
Thanks Mike - that's really helpful and we will digest. The next thing to do is to work out mileages and rough driving times to decide how much of the circuit we think we should do, plus cut-off points in case we linger for longer anywhere (as we are prone to doing).
Do you think we'd need to pre-book any of them for the month of May - we're hoping they're unlikely to be full as it's off-season and that gives us the flexibility we enjoy.
Out of interest, when you visited all these places was it on a 'tour' or is over a number of holidays, and were you in a camper/caravan from the UK?
Will no doubt be in touch again - thanks! Gary
Newforestcple
We stayed at all of the ones I mentioned on the one 'grand tour', with the exceptions of Relax-Nat on the Costa Brava and El Templo del Sol on the Costa Dorada, which we'd been to previously.
We went in our camper (6-metre coachbuilt, at the time) at the end of April for five weeks. We didn't make any advance bookings - just turned up with our BN cards. There was plenty of space everywhere.
We caught the ferry from Plymouth - handy for our home near Bristol - to Santander. Arrived there around lunchtime and spent the first night at an ACSI textile campsite in Burgos. From there we travelled south on the autovia through Madrid to Aranjuez, about 40 miles south of the capital. Stunning town with Royal Palaces - check out images on Google. Used another ACSI site.
The following day we arrived at our first naturist stop at Centro Naturisto Sierra Natura! From then on it was mostly around the coast all the way to Portugal, much as you are proposing.
El Zorro is good, but worth advance research so you can locate the turn-off the road. It has a long un-surfaced access, but perfectly driveable, if a little dusty.
We stayed at a couple more textile ACSI sites between some of the naturist stops. Camping Garrofa is right on the beach in a cove ,just outside the city of Almeria - we were lucky enough to get a front line pitch which we particularly enjoyed.
And after Camping Cala del Aceite, we stopped near the Spanish coast shortly before crossing into Portugal.
Just a point to mention about the toll motorways - in Spain, apart from the Costa del Sol section, they were much cheaper than we expected - we were charged the same price as a car - and I've seen lots of comment from others about the same point. Most of them had very little traffic too, completely different to the UK. Oh, and there was quite a lot of free motorway there as well. In Portugal the tolls were a bit more expensive and confusingly, there are two different charging systems that operate. I can clarify if you want.
Mike
Thanks again. We'll be travelling down over about three days from a northern France port as I'm a terrible sailor on a ferry and the risk of a rough Bay of Biscay crossing would just spoil the trip for me. We'll also do Arnaoutchet near Biarritz on the way back, time permitting, as we were there three years ago or so and liked it a lot.
We've got a 5.4m panel van conversion so if you did it in a 6m coachbuilt I should be able to manoeuvre my way to all the sites. I'm free this weekend and home alone so I'll get chance hopefully to do some thinking about distances and outline planning.
Good to know you went more or less same time as us and didn't need to book. Must admit we do not have any naturist ID cards and have never been asked, I think being a couple means the regs are not enforced.
Newforestcple
Obviously there is the risk of a rough crossing taking the ferry across the Bay of Biscay - in fact it was blowing a Force 8 gale for most of the way there on our trip. So I understand why you'd prefer not to risk it. However, it wasn't as bad as I'd expected. We'd taken the precaution of booking the Pont Aven, the largest ferry in the BF fleet, and spent longer sleeping in bed than we otherwise might have done - it wasn't comfortable trying to walk around the ship during the storm. However, by mid-morning the sea had calmed down and all was good. Like a millpond coming home, which was nice. But all luck of the draw...
You won't have any difficulty with your van conversion - we've also got one now, but a bit longer at 6.4m. A big improvement on the coachbuilt for travelling IMHO. And I expect you'll manage perfectly OK without a BN or INF card. We just used ours as a courtesy and as an identity document, and must say it brought out a warm reception everywhere.
Anyway, have a great trip!
Morning folks,
There is also Quintos dos carricos in the Algarve it is a days drive from Call del aceite. We might see you at Arna as we might be there at that time.
norm
goldi
Morning folks,
There is also Quintos dos carricos in the Algarve it is a days drive from Call del aceite. We might see you at Arna as we might be there at that time.
norm
Hi Norm
It's changed its name and is now called Salema Eco Camp, but there is still a naturist section, apparently.
Mike
Morning folks,
There is also Quintos dos carricos in the Algarve it is a days drive from Call del aceite. We might see you at Arna as we might be there at that time.
norm
Hi Norm
It's changed its name and is now called Salema Eco Camp, but there is still a naturist section, apparently.
Mike
Hi thanks for that info mike its 4 years since we were there I wonder if it is still the same owners ?.
norm
goldi
Morning folks,
There is also Quintos dos carricos in the Algarve it is a days drive from Call del aceite. We might see you at Arna as we might be there at that time.
norm
Hi Norm
It's changed its name and is now called Salema Eco Camp, but there is still a naturist section, apparently.
Mike
Hi thanks for that info mike its 4 years since we were there I wonder if it is still the same owners ?.
norm
Norm, I'd assumed it had probably changed ownership, but I don't categorically know that for a fact.
Mike
Quick update on our intinery, we now have to be back in the UK for a wedding on the 28th May so landing back here on the 26th, leaving on the 1st May. so it's a bit shorter than originally planned 🙁 but still over three weeks. So we're heading straight down to Andalusia over 3/4 days (from Dieppe) through central Spain (may look into Madrid) to stay at Almanat. We'll take stock there re weather and the such like, and also how well positioned it is to explore Andalusia as that is something we want to do (we're doing our "just lie on the beach.." thing in July at Euronat).
The big decision then is whether we come back via Portugal or the East coast of the Iberian Peninsula (grabbing as many naturist sites as possible), and to a degree time will dictate that - I do fancy doing the Portugal route but it does add miles and time on the road.
Newforestcple
Arrrgh!! Sometimes things just work against you don't they...?
Firstly we had shorten our trip - for a good reason, being a wedding but now we're not leaving the UK as the in-laws have been both quite poorly. They're ok but recovering so we feel we need to stay in the UK as then we'll be within a days' travel if there's another emergency (and we had a couple such events recently).
So, it's going to be three and a bit weeks round the UK - probably predominately dressed unless there's a major unexpected heatwave l:l - hopefully we'll follow that up with 10 days or so in France naked mid-July (although it will be busy then) 🙁 around the Vendee area, and then hopefully if the old people are better we'll do the big tour to Spain and Portugal in September/October.
Hey ho...if it gets warm we'll drop into Acorns.
Newforestcple
Sorry to hear about your woes.
Hope you are able to re-schedule your trip around Iberia later in the year.