1

You are really travelling at the wrong time for the things you are looking for, you might get some good shots of rainy days and possibly snow in Andorra, it is not a time I would reccomend for riving around Spain in a camper

2

My thoughts exactly Richiavo. Also dragging a big motor home to up and down Andorra's mountain roads - not for the fainthearted (I did this in a car on a dark stormy night and it scared the living daylights out of me).

3

Hello

It´s quite open "plan", so not sure if we can help you a bit or not. I would recomend you to take the map and imagine how you would distribuite your available days, at least roughly, because you may want to go from San Sebastian to Santiago de Compostela and then go south to Sevilla in 20 days, and then with the distances in hand, you may see that this is not an option, so you´ll have to think again in places to skip. In november the days are short, so around 18h is dark in most of spain, so you´ll have to get up early if you want to enjoy the landscapes.

Also, if you will not drive more than 3 hours/day, then this is also a handicap to take into account. And please, don´t do one day in each place: 1 day in San Sebastian, 1 day in Bilbao, 1 day in Vitoria, 1 day in ..., because you won´t enjoy the trip, take some time in each place. There are campings in almost everyplace in Spain, so you won´t have trouble to stop with your campervan.

Enjoy!

4

I would avoid the mountains like Andorra at that time of the year. Andorra isn´t a good place anyway, crowded and full of tax free shops. I would rive down along Asturias and Galicia. Nice people and culture. From there I would go down to Andalucia where the weather will be pleasant warm during the day but could be pretty cold at nigh

5

For castles and landscapes in november there's no better place in Spain than Castilla y Leon (Castles, river Duero scenary, monasteries) and then go south to Andalusia (White villages, olive tree landscapes). The north is too wet and no many castles, and the east (Valencia, Catalonia) is not so awe inspiring, well, at least for me as I live there :)
The third place I would put in your list is Aragon and the fourth the province of Caceres in Extremadura and the fifth the white windmills in La Mancha. So what I would do is something like....

(Please note that when I say "province" I mean that there are a lot of inspiring places to see except in the provincial capital which, by the way, is always difficult to navigate without walking).

1) Getting into Spain through the Basque Country, visit San Sebastian.
2) Drive down to Burgos province,
3) Burgos to Soria province
4) Soria province to Valladolid province
5) Valladolid province to Salamanca province
6) Salamanca province to Caceres province
7) Caceres province to Sevilla province
8) Sevilla province to "Pueblos blancos" area, between Cadiz and Malaga
9) Pueblos blancos area to Granada city, a real must, for me better than Madrid or Barcelona, although is difficult to move around there without walking, I would suggest a tour or a taxi. Granada is the only big city together with San Sebastian that you should definitively visit.
10) From Granada to Jaen province
11) From Jaen province to Toledo province
12) From Toledo province find your way to Loarre castle in Huesca province (More than 3 hours, but nothing worth visiting on the way up there, with the exception of the city of Madrid, but according to your preferences there's not much to see there).
13) From there you can get into France through the Aragonese Pyrenees or through Catalonia and Barcelona, but please note that parking in Barcelona is a real nightmare.

One last thing, the coast, visit as much coast as possible while in the Basque country as down in Andalusia it's full of concrete, with the exception of Cabo de Gata area but this would be out of my suggested itinerary.
Hope I have helped!

6

There are tons of places in Spain that meet your requirements. Garrufatus provided in #5 an itinerary that could work. However, I'd like to make some comments about it.

Please note that when I say "province" I mean that there are a lot of inspiring places to see except in the provincial capital which, by the way, is always difficult to navigate without walking

It's true it's difficult to navigate most capitals without walking but it's also true some of them have interesting places you should visit. Salamanca, Cáceres, Sevilla, Granada, Toledo, San Sebastián would be good examples.

4) Soria province to Valladolid province
5) Valladolid province to Salamanca province

I would go trough Segovia and Ávila provinces instead of through Burgos (you didn't quote it but the provinces of Soria and Valladolid don't share a border and the most direct route means going through Burgos province) and Valladolid provinces. BTW, both Segovia and Ávila are wonderful towns/cities although, as noted above, are difficult to navigate without walking.

7) Caceres province to Sevilla province

If you want to break that route, you could make it in Zafra or Llerena or, if you like Roman ruins/art, Mérida.

12) From Toledo province find your way to Loarre castle in Huesca province (More than 3 hours, but nothing worth visiting on the way up there, with the exception of the city of Madrid, but according to your preferences there's not much to see there).

I disagree, Sigüenza, Medinaceli or the monasterio (monstery) de Piedra (among others) could be some interesting stops for the OP.

The problem, as I said above, is there are too many places that could meet your requirements. Perhaps, you prefer to visit more coast, in which case a different route would be advisable... Perhaps, you would prefer to focus in places with a warmer climate... I think it would be a good idea if you make some research by your own and provide a rough itinerary including places that you think could be interesting for you so we could help you to refine it.

7

Thank you so much everyone. You have given me a lot to think about. I will look in detail until all the places you have mentioned.

I am doing a week's placement which I think is in Santiago next year, so I will avoid that area for now and explore it then.

I do want to visit Madrid because i have a friend who lives there and I want to say I have seen at least a bit of it. Although I agree, from my understanding it is not pretty like some of the other cites.

I really appreciate all of your detailed answers.

Concerning the termpature issue, I cant handle my body temperature when the heat gets above 35 degrees, so I chose to come in the autumn, which became mid october because I am getting baptised in a few days. I know the weather in europe has been awful for a while now. I don't mind earlier sunsets, cooler temperatures, or clouds. But rain will make camping and travelling etc a lot harder. Is it worse in Spain too? What sort of weather are you expecting for November this year?

Is it impossible to get to Andorra with the van without it being very difficult. My van is a medium sized 4 berth. I would like to get to Andorra seeing as I would be so close just to tick it off the list. Even if I just spend half a day there. Is it really not worth it and will it be far out of the way?

Thanks again guys, I will work on an itinerary and ask you more individual questions.

Laura xxx

8

I think Andorra is quite nice - as far as views go but its like most towns in the Pyrenees. The drive can be quite windy and mountainous especially the south approach. The northern approach is easier from memory. Just make sure you drive during the day as you know the sun sets quite early in (4pm-ish) from November.

It road may have snow at that time of year also....can you handle that?

9

What sort of weather are you expecting for November this year?

Sadly, it's unpredictable yet. Even when predictions become available, you'll find they aren't the same for all Spain...

10

Andorra is best approached from Spain than from France, as the road from France is a very long one.

It is like no other place in the Pyrenees, as it's very crowded and full of shops, at least in the capital and the closer towns to both borders. Only the Val d'Aran in north-west Catalonia and the city of Jaca in northern Aragon are similar to Andorra, but not so crowded as this small country anyway.

No problem to access Andorra at all with your car, the only hassle is the long waiting when back to Spain in the border as you are out the EU and the Spanish Police is very suspicious of tobacco and alcohol smugglers.

Even if I think it's not so nice as other parts of the Iberian Peninsula I don't agree with people saying that there are only shops and ski stations there, as there also some nice romanesque churches to visit, have a look at this

http://www.andorra.ad/en-US/Suggestions/Pages/art_romanic_andorra.aspx

11

Thanks guys, that is a lot to thank about.

Laura x

12

Castro Marim (southern Spanish/Portuguese border) and Aguilar de Campoo for photos (and good campervanning)

13

Thank you guys. Sorry it has taken me so long to return to this. I have been a busy girl getting baptised. I am planning to leave within a week hopefully, so I really do need to get down to business.

Anyway, does anyone know where I can go on entry into Spain from France where I can get a sim card which I will put in my unlocked smart phone. I have heard that you can use your phone to set up a wireless internet on a laptop. Would be the case even if I get a pay as you go spanish sim for my phone? If so, how would I go about this?

Thank you

Laura x

14

Any decent sized town will have a shop where you can buy sim cards you now need to show some phot id when buying one in Spain, does your laptop not have a wifi facility most laptops do even my old 9 year dell does so you do not need a phone, you just need to find a hotspot. Or do you mean you want to use the wap facility on your phone to on the internet on your laptop? Not sure how you do this but mobile interent with pay as you go is still quite expensive.