Campsite Reviews from a Journey through the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain and Portugal in the Winter of 2025/6
The motorhome and bicycle journey of over 4,500 miles lasted for the Post-Brexit Schengen Area time allowance of 90 days, staying on 33 campsites and aires. All the 23 campsite reviews here were published by Google and many of them in the excellent website ukcampsite.co.uk and/or the ACSI website.
Country: Netherlands
Town: Melderslo
Camping: Kasteelse Bossen
Open All Year
The water was turned off to avoid freezing in November, except for one tap inside the heated facilities (the Ladies, used for both genders). As no hosepipe connection was possible, we had to carry water over to the motorhome a bowl at a time. The electricity was metered and the supposedly 6-amp electricity supply (1.5 kW) was tripped twice by our low wattage kettle, so we had to change to 10-amps and were charged 6.9 Euros each night for the electricity we used above 4 kWh. No way of checking this inflated price, charged on leaving. The restaurant was closed but free WiFi worked with a password.
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Country: Belgium
Town: Jabbeke
Camping: Klein Strand
Open All Year
In addition to being a very good campsite, with a tap by each pitch and reliable free WiFi, there is a café/bar at the site entrance and a Chinese restaurant along the lane at Reception. It’s a great location for visiting Bruges or Ostend, by bus or by cycling alongside the canal, and there’s an Aldi a mile away in the town.
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Country: France
Town: Héric
Camping: La Pindiere
Open All Year
After almost getting stuck in the mud twice on grass pitches, we did find one firm location on a side track at the back of the site. WiFi only works at the bar, which was closed, but a positive feature is the low off-season price including electricity. The well-equipped laundry also had outdoor washing lines for a fine day. The friendly owner speaks fluent English and she presented us with a big bag of sweets from the local Christmas Fair. There is a large Super-U supermarket nearby, with fuel and plenty of parking space. An excellent stopover site between Nantes and Rennes.
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DECEMBER 2025
Country: France
Town: Capbreton
Camping: La Civelle
Open All Year
The good points are the low off-season price including electricity, good facilities and reliable free WiFi. The restaurant has evening meals and takeaway pizza, but we chose a bargain lunch: a galette (substantial pancake) stuffed with cheese, ham, mushrooms and a fried egg, served with salad, bread and water, for 5 Euros each! There is a gate to a cycle path which runs alongside the site to the coast. One negative: it’s a long way to the motorhome service point for a fill of water, the tap being on the way out just before the exit.
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Country: Spain
Town: Olite
Camping: Olite
Open All Year
The campsite consists of a large open field at the back of an area of permanent holiday homes. You get a key to one of the four individual toilet/shower huts in the field, shared with any other campers, but we preferred to use the main facilities among the holiday homes. There is no WiFi but the 16-amp electricity is included. At the site entrance there is a bar and a separate restaurant with a splendid all-you-can-eat buffet lunch for 16.5 Euros each, including desserts and a drink. A rough foot/cycle path runs from the site for 4 km to the village of Olite with its impressive medieval church and royal residence.
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Country: Spain
Town: Zaragoza
Camping: Ciudad de Zaragoza
Open All Year
This is a large and busy municipal site based around an anticlockwise road. Pitches vary in size and we had to negotiate a better one than that allocated. The facilities are good but the WiFi functions only in the common room near the reception and the restaurant is beyond our price range. Cycling into town would have required the patience and risk-taking that wisely we did not have (even though we have cycled round the world!) Others caught a bus.
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Country: Spain
Town: Navajaz
Camping: Alto Mira
Open All Year
The campsite is laid out on terraces up a steep zig-zagging road, although our pitch near the top was big enough and on level hardstanding. Each pitch has its own tap and sink and the 10-amp electricity supply was not metered. The facilities above us were very good but the free WiFi came and went. Sadly the excellent restaurant (we had been before) was closed for 2 weeks until Christmas Day. The nearby cycle path (a former railway line, now a greenway) was only accessed by climbing a very steep gravelly hill, so we rode into Navajas village and along to its impressive waterfall.
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Country: Spain
Town: Crevillente
Camping: Alannia Costa Blanca
Open All Year
This is an enormous site where it’s easy to get lost on the long walk to and from the reception; you could walk up to a kilometre to get to the crowded noisy restaurant and back! WiFi has to be paid for, but there are excellent facilities and a site shop with food specially brought in for English campers: baked beans, ambrosia creamed rice pudding, Aunt Bessie’s apple pies, chips, fish fingers, etc. All good for long-termers, along with the free DVD and book swaps available! Although listed under Crevillente/Alicante it is some 10 miles from the coast in an area of parched empty farmland.
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Country: Spain
Town: Mojacar
Camping: Los Gallardos
Open All Year
WiFi has to be paid for and unmetered electricity is 5 Euros/day extra (it’s not an ACSI-Card site). The facilities are old but functional, with a good laundry and book swap, though the washing up sinks have to share a single hot tap (bring your own bowl)! There is a very good onsite supermarket with food for English appetites, including Huntley & Palmers mince pies and tubs of Roses chocolates. This is complemented by the restaurant, where we enjoyed chicken or scampi with chips and a side salad. However, the allocated ‘comfort pitch’ we’d booked was too small and we had to change to one a little larger, though it was good to have our own tap. We cycled almost 10 miles to the coast at Garrucha, taking the main road there and finding the return ‘cycle route’ muddy enough to jam the wheels!
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Country: Spain
Town: Bea de Granada
Camping: Alto de Vinuelas
What a wonderful position at 1111 metres (3,670 ft) above sea level with magnificent views of the snowy Sierra Nevada across the southern horizon. The WiFi was free and worked well, 10-amp electric was included, but there was only one service point where we could fill with water. The restaurant was closed and for sale and the quiet campsite was about to close for a few days over Christmas and New Year. We cycled into the nearby villages of Beas Granada and Huetor-Santillan, looking in vain for a post office and a coffee, but we did enjoy the hills! The local bus to Granada stops by the campsite gate both ways, taking about 30 minutes and costing less than 2 Euros each way (in cash, on the bus). The campsite reception provides a local map and a bus timetable. Above all, the air was crisp and clear and free of noise!
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Country: Spain
Town: Manilva
Camping: La Bella Vista
Open All Year
This site, along with many others, is mainly for long-term overwintering visitors. Travellers such as ourselves can expect to pay 37 Euros a night for a short stay (it’s not an ACSI-Card site). This includes good WiFi and the excellent new underground facilities (access by ramp or lift) – the very best of any on our trip. The restaurant served fish & chips on Fridays and a Sunday roast dinner with Yorkshire pudding and gravy, although the vegetables were served in the Spanish way – that is, without being cooked! We had our own water tap on the pitch, although toilet dumping was some distance away by the site entrance at the back of a car park with a height barrier – not at the modern underground facilities. Similarly, the washing-up areas were scattered around the site in the cold open air rather than in the new facility. There is a locked gate with a pass-code leading straight onto the promenade and beach for cycling or walking to (or past) the nearby marina, which is surrounded by cafes, Irish pubs, etc where you can happily pay more than double the usual rate for a coffee!
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Country: Spain
Town: Conil de la Frontera
Camping: Rosaleda
Open All Year
This was yet another long-stay site like many another strewn along the Costas. However, in this case the ACSI price for passers-by was only 21 Euros including 4 kWh of electricity plus a very modest cost for more. The WiFi was good at first, until it stopped working altogether after Christmas. The facilities are old but functional, with a good laundry and book swap, though the washing up sinks have to share a single hot tap (bring your own bowl)! Locks on the toilet and shower doorknobs were loose and ill-fitting, leading to one of us being locked in for a while. There was only one place to fill a motorhome with water and that was at the very top of the site next to the car wash. The steep hillside and unlevelled terraces meant that everybody needed ramps, airbags or jacks. Pitches are generally too small and often overhung by trees – so much so that we had to change the allocated pitch and find our own, as many others were doing. The expensive a la carte restaurant actually closed over Christmas. There was very good cycling with separate cycle paths starting just outside the gate: left for Conil, Cape Trafalgar and beyond to Canos de Meca, as well as riding the other way past Conil lighthouse to Chiclana. Conil de la Frontera itself is nice town with the impressive Cathedral Santa Catalina (Saint Catherine of the Wheel), part of a 1567 Franciscan monastery whose cloisters now house the town hall.
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JANUARY 2026
Country: Spain
Town: Caceres
Camping: Caceres
Open All Year
A very warm welcome from the young man in the reception with its blazing log fire. He was full of information, with a leaflet giving the restaurant menu, bus timetable and map of Caceres centre, and keen to give us a quiet place in this 129-pich campsite. What a good price of 21 Euros with ACSI - and the fourth night free! This includes reliable WiFi and 16-amp electricity to keep us warm. Each pitch has an outside tap, hookup and light, as well as a washbasin, hot shower, toilet and toilet rolls all in your own adjacent private hut. Even a table and two chairs are provided to sit outside. Unbelievable but true! The restaurant offered a ‘Camper Menu’ – a choice from each of three courses plus bread and a drink for 20 Euros. We also tried their take-away pizza. Beautiful Azure-winged Magpies live in the trees and on the ground around our motorhome! Resident in and unique to southern Spain and Portugal, they have distant relatives only in the far east of Asia. There is a regular bus into Caceres or, as we did, you can ride the excellent new cycle path into town once you have crossed the dual carriageway outside the campsite. Although part of the 10650 km (6,656 mile) European Atlantic Coast cycle route (EuroVelo1), the route is not signposted at all. Sadly we found it hard to find the way into the impressive medieval centre of Caceres, which is UNESCO listed and founded on extensive earlier Roman occupation.
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Country: Portugal
Town: Castelo de Vide
Camping: Quinta do Pomarinho
Open All Year
It was a mistake staying at Quinta do Pomarinho at the time we did, in a wet and cold January, waiting for the weather to improve. We came to cycle but found only a busy main road leading uphill to the nearby town of Castelo de Vide. We may as well have been in England for all the notice the speeding cars and trucks took of us. In the town, the steep cobble roads meant that we had to take the bikes for a walk, rather than them taking us for a ride. Much better cycling would have been from Camping Asseiceira in the same area, where we had stayed in previous years, but sadly it was closed until the end of January.
Practical points. The facility block, with unglazed windows and open doors, was so cold that showering was no pleasure. Most pitches need a very long lead to the few electrical hook-ups. There is no outside water tap for connecting a hose to fill a motorhome or caravan tank, so campers had to fetch water from a tap at a laundry sink using plastic watering cans, which were at least provided for that purpose! Toilet cassette emptying was out in the open air into a non-flushing orifice with a weak water supply for rinsing out the cassette. Grey water could only be disposed of by pouring it down the same orifice, carrying it by whatever means the camper had available. One small old domestic washing machine was provided, but there was no dryer, so we were advised to put up lines up between trees (it rained throughout our stay). There were no lights at night, adding to the challenge of walking on uneven rocky ground, tripping over tree roots. The access to the site was up a steep narrow lane, hoping no-one was coming the other way. There are no nearby shops, cafes or restaurant, so you really need the use of a car. In short the site is only suitable for the long- term caravanners who predominated, or for very keen walkers. Finally, payment was by cash only, with no receipt given.
This campsite was yet another cause for us to wonder if any licensing or inspection is required in Portugal. Several other inland sites publicise the benefit of ‘being among nature’, using it as an excuse for simple facilities, rough tracks, lack of terracing on sloping ground and proper level pitches. It’s up to the campers to make their own level beds to sleep in! In the same area, both Campscape Beira Marvao Alentejo and Camping Puro Alentejo are even more nature-based, whilst the ultimate is Quinta do Maral which is a naturist camp, albeit with no pictures to prove it!
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Country: Portugal
Town: Abrantes
Camping: Parque Tejo
Open All Year Jan 2026: 8.38 Euros !
Not in UKcampsite.co.uk or ACSI
A small municipal site on the south side of the mighty River Tejo, and a bargain at less than 10 Euros including electricity and free WiFi! From the town, cross the bridge, turn sharp left and look out for a poorly signed entrance. Our satnav was misleading so we asked directions at a large café on the riverbank. The site has hard standing pitches, each with water and electricity. The concrete facility block with open windows was unheated and freezing cold, apart from a cosy kitchen with a hotplate and two microwaves. The laundry had a modern washing machine but no drier, just clothes lines (and it was pouring down!) The site lies on the Camino de Tejo long distance walk/cycle route to Fatima, and bikes can be hired at Reception. A shorter walk is over the bridge and eastwards along the north bank for a mile or so to the Aquapolis bar, for coffee or drinks on the terrace.
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Country: Portugal
Town: Foz do Arelho
Camping: Orbitur Foz do Arelho
Open All Year Jan 2026: 21 Euros
Reviewed for UKcampsite.co.uk and ACSI
Little seems to have changed since the last review posted here 15 years ago! If this is a typical Orbitur site, they are best avoided. The large site is mostly old permanent caravans, small grassy pitches and bungalows. There is only one area suitable for motorhomes in a wet winter, and we drove round the site twice to find it (and only then because a helpful camper pointed us up a narrow cobbled path to access an empty parking lot with 6-amp hookups). The only toilet/shower block open was near Reception, a long downhill walk from our pitch. Cafe and pool were closed, with WiFi only available at Reception.
On the plus side, the price of 21 Euros was less than the published ACSI Card rate and the laundry had modern washing and drying machines, though it was a long way to carry the load. We cycled into the town but found very little open and nothing of interest.
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Country: Portugal
Town: Nazaré
Camping: Orbitur Valado
Open All Year Jan 2026: 23.05 Euros
Reviewed for UKcampsite.co.uk (not in ACSI)
Another disappointing Orbitur site. Hardly needed the advice to avoid the soft sandy or grassy pitches in this wet weather. The better pitches were already taken, or were too short, so we joined a tightly packed row of motorhomes along a strip of tarmac, with no space or privacy, next to a noisy main road. (The marked parking for motorhomes at the Lidl in town had been better - at least it was level.)
The dated and draughty WC/showers were below a cafe, a small shop and a common room, all of them open. However, washing up sinks were some distance away across the site, outside another toilet block, though those toilets were locked up. The motorhome service point had fresh water and a dump, and the free WiFi worked well. Modern laundry machines available outside Reception. There was no easy route for cycling into town, other than the busy main road. It is not an ACSI Card site.
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Country: Portugal
Town: Porto Covo
Camping: Costa do Vizir
Open All Year Jan 2026: 27.00 Euros
ACSI Awards: 2024 Best Bathrooms in Portugal and 2025 Best Site in Portugal
Hard to believe that this large site (or ‘beach village’ but with no sign of a beach) was the ACSI winner of ‘2024 Best Bathrooms in Portugal’ and ‘2025 Best Site in Portugal’. The site itself is hard to access, a long drive from the A2 motorway, through endless road works and along a narrow coastal lane. There is a nice pool and children’s playground (no use in winter) and a small shop but no common room, and the bar/restaurant is closed in January. You can walk about a mile into Porto Covo, a tiny village by a rocky Atlantic cove, but it has very few shops or eateries open in winter. A narrow long-distance footpath runs along the coast but there is no provision for cycling. The site-wide free WiFi was not working when we arrived (‘due to the rain’) but it did function later the next day.
But let’s look at the luxury toilets! The one and only toilet/shower block (unheated, in a cold wet January) is a long walk from many pitches and is badly signed. Each gender has a long row of toilets with no hooks, each has an open wastepaper basket with no lid and they are so small that knees almost touch the door. Directly facing the toilets is a long row of shower cubicles with a fixed overhead spray of water. Separately two parallel long rows of hand-basins have people standing close together, back to back, seeing each other in each other’s mirror. Overall there is no privacy and not even one self-contained cubicle with its own WC and/or washbasin. There is a separate disabled/children’s shower for each gender, squeezed into a tiny cabinet with no screen or curtain and nowhere to hang clothes inside or outside the cubicle. Totally unsuitable for the disabled, or a parent and child, or anyone else.
The toilet/shower block also has an area of washing-up sinks and a modern laundry, with the large commercial washers and driers, operated with a bank card, that are the norm in Portugal, though there is nowhere to hang washing if the sun should shine. The pairs of double doors into the various parts of the block are made of clear plate glass, with just a tiny No Smoking sticker on one side. And if you avoid walking into that hazard, you can instead trip over the small marble step at each entry. There is a toilet dump point next to the Ladies (a long walk with your cassette), but if you prefer the motorhome service point it is located down an unsigned narrow cul-de-sac (accessible only one motorhome at a time) that you will only find if you ask at Reception (there is little signage of any kind around the site and you can forget the useless site map).
One of the two receptionists was extremely helpful, translating a recorded message in Portuguese on my phone and making a call for me. Unfortunately, she was not the one who dealt with me on arrival! The totally confusing site map indicated two sizes of pitch in Zone A at 30 or 31 Euros (the smaller ones being better, with hardstanding and water), or two types in Zone B at 29 or 32 Euros (soft ground, no water). When I referred to the ACSI Card rate of 27 Euros, I was told that each price had a 10% ACSI discount and I was to go and choose a pitch and report back. After settling in Zone A at 30 Euros less 10% (= 27 Euros) I returned to check in, armed with my 2026 ACSI card. I was asked for over 60 Euros for 2 nights; I protested; I was told I had a larger pitch; so I invited the receptionist to come and look for herself. The other receptionist then came to my rescue and charged 54 Euros, but I got no apology. I would have left at this point, but it was late afternoon and pouring with rain.
To summarise, this site is not at all suited to the needs of motorhomers and caravanners. The owners should continue building new bungalows for a different clientele, seeking an upmarket pool and restaurant rather than a place to empty a chemical toilet.
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Country: Portugal
Town: Alcacer do Sal
Camping: Municipal, Alcacer do Sal
Open All Year Jan 2026: Euros 12.60 (Low Season, Seniors rate)
Reviewed for UKcampsite.co.uk (not in ACSI)
A small basic municipal site, just 3 miles off the A2 motorway, past a fuel station and 3 supermarkets (Lidl, Aldi and Intermarche). The campsite is next to the municipal sports stadium and swimming baths (closed in winter), and less than a mile's walk into the heart of Alcacer do Sal. Here we visited the Archaeological Crypt below the castle, the best museum we know in Portugal (entry 1.7 Euros for Seniors, complete with a film in English). Also had a splendid and very affordable lunch at a new restaurant in the centre, the 'Rota 027'. Town map and leaflets from campsite Reception.
The campsite pitches have 10-amp hookups, the free WiFi kept working through stormy weather, and the service point with dump and fresh water is easily accessible on entering or leaving. There is a heated common room next to Reception, with TV, a computer, books and coffee/snack vending machines. Also a nicely fenced little playground for children, and friendly staff who speak English.
Sadly, the site is let down by the dismal old facilities building in the centre. Outdoor washing-up sinks have only solar-heated water, tepid in winter. The toilets have neither seats nor paper, though at least the water is hot at the basins and uninviting showers. But given the low season price of 12.60 Euros a night (that includes 10% discount for Seniors) we can hardly complain! Hopefully improvements are planned, and outdoor barbecue shelters are currently being built near the covered picnic tables.
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FEBRUARY 2026
Country: Spain
Town: Plasencia
Camping: La Chopera
Open All Year Feb 2026: 19 Euros
Reviewed for ACSI (not in ukcampsite.co.uk)
Unknown to us, a 120-km/hour tornado had hit the town of Plasencia on the afternoon of Friday 30 January 2026. On Monday 2 February I rang Camping La Chopera to check if they were open, with a hardstanding pitch for our 7-metre motorhome, following wet weather throughout Spain and Portugal. The receptionist simply said ‘Yes, no problem’, with no mention of the recent tornado.
We arrived at the quiet site on Wednesday 4 February and squeezed between awkward trees onto one of the very few firm pitches, the rest being grass and mud. The receptionist fixed a 5-amp electrical hookup. The facilities were seriously neglected, with dirty toilets, tepid showers and outside cold-water washing-up sinks. The laundry had an old-fashioned washing machine for 4 Euros that I didn’t use, since there was no drier. The restaurant was closed. At least the free WiFi worked. We decided to leave next day.
Heavy rain poured all night until our day began before dawn, with a policeman (Guardia Civil) banging on the door, flood water half-way up his wellingtons, shouting at us in Spanish to evacuate. Our French neighbours were paddling around in the rising water, uncertain whether to go or stay in their motorhome. No sign of campsite staff, though the whole camp was awash, and no advice from anyone as to whether it was possible to drive out to the entrance gate, or essential to leave on foot, or safer to stay. We quickly uncoupled the electricity and moved enough to retrieve our underwater levelling blocks. The doormat had floated away!
As soon as it was light enough, we took a chance, driving our 3.5 ton motorhome slowly and carefully, just from memory of a rough track, through the water (about half a metre deep and rising), somehow missing trees and corners of bungalow roofs. At the entrance several police cars, an ambulance and the fire brigade were gathered in a state of confusion, almost blocking our exit. As they waved us up the hill to the road, we left them all to it, with a sense of great relief.
There is no way that this site should have been open in winter, especially following the recent storms – indeed, it should be condemned for allowing campers to enter.
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Country: Spain
Town: Tordesillas
Camping: El Astral
Open All Year Feb 2026: 28.20 Euros
Reviewed for ukcampsite.co.uk (not in ACSI Card scheme)
A very convenient year-round campsite, less than 2 miles from the A62 transit route to/from Spain and Portugal. It may be necessary to book a pitch at more popular times of year, as the site was fairly busy in February. The Motorhome & Caravan Club call here on their tours.
It’s also an easy 10-minute walk over the Rio Duero bridge into Tordesillas and we stayed an extra day to explore the medieval town. I started at the Tourist Info, where a helpful English-speaking assistant provided a useful leaflet/map with highlights and entry times. She directed me first into the adjacent Treaty House museum (free of charge), including a short film in English that explained the historical importance of Tordesillas. Other museums, churches and monumental buildings are all within walking distance, with bars and restaurants round the main square, and I had them all to myself!
The campsite does not give ACSI Card Discount but the low season rate was under 30 Euros, including 6-amp electricity and free reliable WiFi. The hedged pitches were firm but muddy after recent storms. The small shop and restaurant were open, though the a la carte menu did not appeal. We did appreciate the modern facilities block, which was unusually warm, with good hot showers and an excellent self-contained bathroom for the disabled.
I can certainly recommend El Astral for a stop-over or a short stay.
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Country: Spain
Town: Burgos
Camping: Fuentes Blancas
Open All Year Feb 2026: 27 Euros
Reviewed for ukcampsite.co.uk and ACSI
The all-year municipal site is set in woodlands on the edge of Burgos, which can be visited by bus or bicycle along easy paths. There's a small shop and a busy cafe/bar at the entrance, as well as a restaurant where we had a generous Weekend Menu lunch by a log fire. English-speaking staff were helpful and advised parking with front wheels on the drive, as the soft grass pitches were waterlogged. Just one toilet/shower block open but it was clean and (best of all) well heated, with good hot showers. ACSI discount card applied off-season.
Free WiFi only operated around the cafe and restaurant area.
The nearest 6-amp 2-pin hook-up was held together with Duck Tape and didn't work but a longer lead reached the next one, which looked newer. Re-investment is needed to provide hard-standing pitches and a safe electrical system throughout the campsite.
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Country: France
Town: Urrugne
Camping: Larrouleta
Open All Year Feb 2026
Reviewed for ukcampsite.co.uk and ACSI
A large and popular transit camp five miles before the Spanish border, easily accessible from the French toll motorway (exit 2, St Jean de Luz). The advertised ACSI Card rate of 23 Euros (on a large sign at the entrance) is misleading, as it's the price of a small standard pitch with 5 amps. Our so-called comfort pitch with 10 amps was 27 Euros, while a super pitch (larger, hedged, own tap, more amps) was 31 Euros - and all of those were empty! Note that WiFi cost extra.
The unisex Sanitaires were the worst on our 3-month trip, unheated and cold, with no soap and no toilet paper, and urinals on view right at the entrance. The layout could easily have been separated into two halves, and soap and paper should certainly be de rigueur these days. Toilet paper was on sale at the site shop, except that (like the restaurant) it was closed until the end of February!
On the plus side there was a good laundry with washers and driers, a big common room and a new indoor heated swimming pool that was free to use. However, it would make more sense to improve the facilities which all campers would appreciate, while making a charge for the few who want to swim. There were also tennis courts and a fishing lake but not relevant to us, as it poured with rain during our 5-day stay.
Town: Melderslo
Camping: Kasteelse Bossen
Open All Year
The water was turned off to avoid freezing in November, except for one tap inside the heated facilities (the Ladies, used for both genders). As no hosepipe connection was possible, we had to carry water over to the motorhome a bowl at a time. The electricity was metered and the supposedly 6-amp electricity supply (1.5 kW) was tripped twice by our low wattage kettle, so we had to change to 10-amps and were charged 6.9 Euros each night for the electricity we used above 4 kWh. No way of checking this inflated price, charged on leaving. The restaurant was closed but free WiFi worked with a password.
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Country: Belgium
Town: Jabbeke
Camping: Klein Strand
Open All Year
In addition to being a very good campsite, with a tap by each pitch and reliable free WiFi, there is a café/bar at the site entrance and a Chinese restaurant along the lane at Reception. It’s a great location for visiting Bruges or Ostend, by bus or by cycling alongside the canal, and there’s an Aldi a mile away in the town.
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Country: France
Town: Héric
Camping: La Pindiere
Open All Year
After almost getting stuck in the mud twice on grass pitches, we did find one firm location on a side track at the back of the site. WiFi only works at the bar, which was closed, but a positive feature is the low off-season price including electricity. The well-equipped laundry also had outdoor washing lines for a fine day. The friendly owner speaks fluent English and she presented us with a big bag of sweets from the local Christmas Fair. There is a large Super-U supermarket nearby, with fuel and plenty of parking space. An excellent stopover site between Nantes and Rennes.
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DECEMBER 2025
Country: France
Town: Capbreton
Camping: La Civelle
Open All Year
The good points are the low off-season price including electricity, good facilities and reliable free WiFi. The restaurant has evening meals and takeaway pizza, but we chose a bargain lunch: a galette (substantial pancake) stuffed with cheese, ham, mushrooms and a fried egg, served with salad, bread and water, for 5 Euros each! There is a gate to a cycle path which runs alongside the site to the coast. One negative: it’s a long way to the motorhome service point for a fill of water, the tap being on the way out just before the exit.
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Country: Spain
Town: Olite
Camping: Olite
Open All Year
The campsite consists of a large open field at the back of an area of permanent holiday homes. You get a key to one of the four individual toilet/shower huts in the field, shared with any other campers, but we preferred to use the main facilities among the holiday homes. There is no WiFi but the 16-amp electricity is included. At the site entrance there is a bar and a separate restaurant with a splendid all-you-can-eat buffet lunch for 16.5 Euros each, including desserts and a drink. A rough foot/cycle path runs from the site for 4 km to the village of Olite with its impressive medieval church and royal residence.
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Country: Spain
Town: Zaragoza
Camping: Ciudad de Zaragoza
Open All Year
This is a large and busy municipal site based around an anticlockwise road. Pitches vary in size and we had to negotiate a better one than that allocated. The facilities are good but the WiFi functions only in the common room near the reception and the restaurant is beyond our price range. Cycling into town would have required the patience and risk-taking that wisely we did not have (even though we have cycled round the world!) Others caught a bus.
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Country: Spain
Town: Navajaz
Camping: Alto Mira
Open All Year
The campsite is laid out on terraces up a steep zig-zagging road, although our pitch near the top was big enough and on level hardstanding. Each pitch has its own tap and sink and the 10-amp electricity supply was not metered. The facilities above us were very good but the free WiFi came and went. Sadly the excellent restaurant (we had been before) was closed for 2 weeks until Christmas Day. The nearby cycle path (a former railway line, now a greenway) was only accessed by climbing a very steep gravelly hill, so we rode into Navajas village and along to its impressive waterfall.
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Country: Spain
Town: Crevillente
Camping: Alannia Costa Blanca
Open All Year
This is an enormous site where it’s easy to get lost on the long walk to and from the reception; you could walk up to a kilometre to get to the crowded noisy restaurant and back! WiFi has to be paid for, but there are excellent facilities and a site shop with food specially brought in for English campers: baked beans, ambrosia creamed rice pudding, Aunt Bessie’s apple pies, chips, fish fingers, etc. All good for long-termers, along with the free DVD and book swaps available! Although listed under Crevillente/Alicante it is some 10 miles from the coast in an area of parched empty farmland.
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Country: Spain
Town: Mojacar
Camping: Los Gallardos
Open All Year
WiFi has to be paid for and unmetered electricity is 5 Euros/day extra (it’s not an ACSI-Card site). The facilities are old but functional, with a good laundry and book swap, though the washing up sinks have to share a single hot tap (bring your own bowl)! There is a very good onsite supermarket with food for English appetites, including Huntley & Palmers mince pies and tubs of Roses chocolates. This is complemented by the restaurant, where we enjoyed chicken or scampi with chips and a side salad. However, the allocated ‘comfort pitch’ we’d booked was too small and we had to change to one a little larger, though it was good to have our own tap. We cycled almost 10 miles to the coast at Garrucha, taking the main road there and finding the return ‘cycle route’ muddy enough to jam the wheels!
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Country: Spain
Town: Bea de Granada
Camping: Alto de Vinuelas
What a wonderful position at 1111 metres (3,670 ft) above sea level with magnificent views of the snowy Sierra Nevada across the southern horizon. The WiFi was free and worked well, 10-amp electric was included, but there was only one service point where we could fill with water. The restaurant was closed and for sale and the quiet campsite was about to close for a few days over Christmas and New Year. We cycled into the nearby villages of Beas Granada and Huetor-Santillan, looking in vain for a post office and a coffee, but we did enjoy the hills! The local bus to Granada stops by the campsite gate both ways, taking about 30 minutes and costing less than 2 Euros each way (in cash, on the bus). The campsite reception provides a local map and a bus timetable. Above all, the air was crisp and clear and free of noise!
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Country: Spain
Town: Manilva
Camping: La Bella Vista
Open All Year
This site, along with many others, is mainly for long-term overwintering visitors. Travellers such as ourselves can expect to pay 37 Euros a night for a short stay (it’s not an ACSI-Card site). This includes good WiFi and the excellent new underground facilities (access by ramp or lift) – the very best of any on our trip. The restaurant served fish & chips on Fridays and a Sunday roast dinner with Yorkshire pudding and gravy, although the vegetables were served in the Spanish way – that is, without being cooked! We had our own water tap on the pitch, although toilet dumping was some distance away by the site entrance at the back of a car park with a height barrier – not at the modern underground facilities. Similarly, the washing-up areas were scattered around the site in the cold open air rather than in the new facility. There is a locked gate with a pass-code leading straight onto the promenade and beach for cycling or walking to (or past) the nearby marina, which is surrounded by cafes, Irish pubs, etc where you can happily pay more than double the usual rate for a coffee!
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Country: Spain
Town: Conil de la Frontera
Camping: Rosaleda
Open All Year
This was yet another long-stay site like many another strewn along the Costas. However, in this case the ACSI price for passers-by was only 21 Euros including 4 kWh of electricity plus a very modest cost for more. The WiFi was good at first, until it stopped working altogether after Christmas. The facilities are old but functional, with a good laundry and book swap, though the washing up sinks have to share a single hot tap (bring your own bowl)! Locks on the toilet and shower doorknobs were loose and ill-fitting, leading to one of us being locked in for a while. There was only one place to fill a motorhome with water and that was at the very top of the site next to the car wash. The steep hillside and unlevelled terraces meant that everybody needed ramps, airbags or jacks. Pitches are generally too small and often overhung by trees – so much so that we had to change the allocated pitch and find our own, as many others were doing. The expensive a la carte restaurant actually closed over Christmas. There was very good cycling with separate cycle paths starting just outside the gate: left for Conil, Cape Trafalgar and beyond to Canos de Meca, as well as riding the other way past Conil lighthouse to Chiclana. Conil de la Frontera itself is nice town with the impressive Cathedral Santa Catalina (Saint Catherine of the Wheel), part of a 1567 Franciscan monastery whose cloisters now house the town hall.
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JANUARY 2026
Country: Spain
Town: Caceres
Camping: Caceres
Open All Year
A very warm welcome from the young man in the reception with its blazing log fire. He was full of information, with a leaflet giving the restaurant menu, bus timetable and map of Caceres centre, and keen to give us a quiet place in this 129-pich campsite. What a good price of 21 Euros with ACSI - and the fourth night free! This includes reliable WiFi and 16-amp electricity to keep us warm. Each pitch has an outside tap, hookup and light, as well as a washbasin, hot shower, toilet and toilet rolls all in your own adjacent private hut. Even a table and two chairs are provided to sit outside. Unbelievable but true! The restaurant offered a ‘Camper Menu’ – a choice from each of three courses plus bread and a drink for 20 Euros. We also tried their take-away pizza. Beautiful Azure-winged Magpies live in the trees and on the ground around our motorhome! Resident in and unique to southern Spain and Portugal, they have distant relatives only in the far east of Asia. There is a regular bus into Caceres or, as we did, you can ride the excellent new cycle path into town once you have crossed the dual carriageway outside the campsite. Although part of the 10650 km (6,656 mile) European Atlantic Coast cycle route (EuroVelo1), the route is not signposted at all. Sadly we found it hard to find the way into the impressive medieval centre of Caceres, which is UNESCO listed and founded on extensive earlier Roman occupation.
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Country: Portugal
Town: Castelo de Vide
Camping: Quinta do Pomarinho
Open All Year
It was a mistake staying at Quinta do Pomarinho at the time we did, in a wet and cold January, waiting for the weather to improve. We came to cycle but found only a busy main road leading uphill to the nearby town of Castelo de Vide. We may as well have been in England for all the notice the speeding cars and trucks took of us. In the town, the steep cobble roads meant that we had to take the bikes for a walk, rather than them taking us for a ride. Much better cycling would have been from Camping Asseiceira in the same area, where we had stayed in previous years, but sadly it was closed until the end of January.
Practical points. The facility block, with unglazed windows and open doors, was so cold that showering was no pleasure. Most pitches need a very long lead to the few electrical hook-ups. There is no outside water tap for connecting a hose to fill a motorhome or caravan tank, so campers had to fetch water from a tap at a laundry sink using plastic watering cans, which were at least provided for that purpose! Toilet cassette emptying was out in the open air into a non-flushing orifice with a weak water supply for rinsing out the cassette. Grey water could only be disposed of by pouring it down the same orifice, carrying it by whatever means the camper had available. One small old domestic washing machine was provided, but there was no dryer, so we were advised to put up lines up between trees (it rained throughout our stay). There were no lights at night, adding to the challenge of walking on uneven rocky ground, tripping over tree roots. The access to the site was up a steep narrow lane, hoping no-one was coming the other way. There are no nearby shops, cafes or restaurant, so you really need the use of a car. In short the site is only suitable for the long- term caravanners who predominated, or for very keen walkers. Finally, payment was by cash only, with no receipt given.
This campsite was yet another cause for us to wonder if any licensing or inspection is required in Portugal. Several other inland sites publicise the benefit of ‘being among nature’, using it as an excuse for simple facilities, rough tracks, lack of terracing on sloping ground and proper level pitches. It’s up to the campers to make their own level beds to sleep in! In the same area, both Campscape Beira Marvao Alentejo and Camping Puro Alentejo are even more nature-based, whilst the ultimate is Quinta do Maral which is a naturist camp, albeit with no pictures to prove it!
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Country: Portugal
Town: Abrantes
Camping: Parque Tejo
Open All Year Jan 2026: 8.38 Euros !
Not in UKcampsite.co.uk or ACSI
A small municipal site on the south side of the mighty River Tejo, and a bargain at less than 10 Euros including electricity and free WiFi! From the town, cross the bridge, turn sharp left and look out for a poorly signed entrance. Our satnav was misleading so we asked directions at a large café on the riverbank. The site has hard standing pitches, each with water and electricity. The concrete facility block with open windows was unheated and freezing cold, apart from a cosy kitchen with a hotplate and two microwaves. The laundry had a modern washing machine but no drier, just clothes lines (and it was pouring down!) The site lies on the Camino de Tejo long distance walk/cycle route to Fatima, and bikes can be hired at Reception. A shorter walk is over the bridge and eastwards along the north bank for a mile or so to the Aquapolis bar, for coffee or drinks on the terrace.
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Country: Portugal
Town: Foz do Arelho
Camping: Orbitur Foz do Arelho
Open All Year Jan 2026: 21 Euros
Reviewed for UKcampsite.co.uk and ACSI
Little seems to have changed since the last review posted here 15 years ago! If this is a typical Orbitur site, they are best avoided. The large site is mostly old permanent caravans, small grassy pitches and bungalows. There is only one area suitable for motorhomes in a wet winter, and we drove round the site twice to find it (and only then because a helpful camper pointed us up a narrow cobbled path to access an empty parking lot with 6-amp hookups). The only toilet/shower block open was near Reception, a long downhill walk from our pitch. Cafe and pool were closed, with WiFi only available at Reception.
On the plus side, the price of 21 Euros was less than the published ACSI Card rate and the laundry had modern washing and drying machines, though it was a long way to carry the load. We cycled into the town but found very little open and nothing of interest.
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Country: Portugal
Town: Nazaré
Camping: Orbitur Valado
Open All Year Jan 2026: 23.05 Euros
Reviewed for UKcampsite.co.uk (not in ACSI)
Another disappointing Orbitur site. Hardly needed the advice to avoid the soft sandy or grassy pitches in this wet weather. The better pitches were already taken, or were too short, so we joined a tightly packed row of motorhomes along a strip of tarmac, with no space or privacy, next to a noisy main road. (The marked parking for motorhomes at the Lidl in town had been better - at least it was level.)
The dated and draughty WC/showers were below a cafe, a small shop and a common room, all of them open. However, washing up sinks were some distance away across the site, outside another toilet block, though those toilets were locked up. The motorhome service point had fresh water and a dump, and the free WiFi worked well. Modern laundry machines available outside Reception. There was no easy route for cycling into town, other than the busy main road. It is not an ACSI Card site.
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Country: Portugal
Town: Porto Covo
Camping: Costa do Vizir
Open All Year Jan 2026: 27.00 Euros
ACSI Awards: 2024 Best Bathrooms in Portugal and 2025 Best Site in Portugal
Hard to believe that this large site (or ‘beach village’ but with no sign of a beach) was the ACSI winner of ‘2024 Best Bathrooms in Portugal’ and ‘2025 Best Site in Portugal’. The site itself is hard to access, a long drive from the A2 motorway, through endless road works and along a narrow coastal lane. There is a nice pool and children’s playground (no use in winter) and a small shop but no common room, and the bar/restaurant is closed in January. You can walk about a mile into Porto Covo, a tiny village by a rocky Atlantic cove, but it has very few shops or eateries open in winter. A narrow long-distance footpath runs along the coast but there is no provision for cycling. The site-wide free WiFi was not working when we arrived (‘due to the rain’) but it did function later the next day.
But let’s look at the luxury toilets! The one and only toilet/shower block (unheated, in a cold wet January) is a long walk from many pitches and is badly signed. Each gender has a long row of toilets with no hooks, each has an open wastepaper basket with no lid and they are so small that knees almost touch the door. Directly facing the toilets is a long row of shower cubicles with a fixed overhead spray of water. Separately two parallel long rows of hand-basins have people standing close together, back to back, seeing each other in each other’s mirror. Overall there is no privacy and not even one self-contained cubicle with its own WC and/or washbasin. There is a separate disabled/children’s shower for each gender, squeezed into a tiny cabinet with no screen or curtain and nowhere to hang clothes inside or outside the cubicle. Totally unsuitable for the disabled, or a parent and child, or anyone else.
The toilet/shower block also has an area of washing-up sinks and a modern laundry, with the large commercial washers and driers, operated with a bank card, that are the norm in Portugal, though there is nowhere to hang washing if the sun should shine. The pairs of double doors into the various parts of the block are made of clear plate glass, with just a tiny No Smoking sticker on one side. And if you avoid walking into that hazard, you can instead trip over the small marble step at each entry. There is a toilet dump point next to the Ladies (a long walk with your cassette), but if you prefer the motorhome service point it is located down an unsigned narrow cul-de-sac (accessible only one motorhome at a time) that you will only find if you ask at Reception (there is little signage of any kind around the site and you can forget the useless site map).
One of the two receptionists was extremely helpful, translating a recorded message in Portuguese on my phone and making a call for me. Unfortunately, she was not the one who dealt with me on arrival! The totally confusing site map indicated two sizes of pitch in Zone A at 30 or 31 Euros (the smaller ones being better, with hardstanding and water), or two types in Zone B at 29 or 32 Euros (soft ground, no water). When I referred to the ACSI Card rate of 27 Euros, I was told that each price had a 10% ACSI discount and I was to go and choose a pitch and report back. After settling in Zone A at 30 Euros less 10% (= 27 Euros) I returned to check in, armed with my 2026 ACSI card. I was asked for over 60 Euros for 2 nights; I protested; I was told I had a larger pitch; so I invited the receptionist to come and look for herself. The other receptionist then came to my rescue and charged 54 Euros, but I got no apology. I would have left at this point, but it was late afternoon and pouring with rain.
To summarise, this site is not at all suited to the needs of motorhomers and caravanners. The owners should continue building new bungalows for a different clientele, seeking an upmarket pool and restaurant rather than a place to empty a chemical toilet.
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Country: Portugal
Town: Alcacer do Sal
Camping: Municipal, Alcacer do Sal
Open All Year Jan 2026: Euros 12.60 (Low Season, Seniors rate)
Reviewed for UKcampsite.co.uk (not in ACSI)
A small basic municipal site, just 3 miles off the A2 motorway, past a fuel station and 3 supermarkets (Lidl, Aldi and Intermarche). The campsite is next to the municipal sports stadium and swimming baths (closed in winter), and less than a mile's walk into the heart of Alcacer do Sal. Here we visited the Archaeological Crypt below the castle, the best museum we know in Portugal (entry 1.7 Euros for Seniors, complete with a film in English). Also had a splendid and very affordable lunch at a new restaurant in the centre, the 'Rota 027'. Town map and leaflets from campsite Reception.
The campsite pitches have 10-amp hookups, the free WiFi kept working through stormy weather, and the service point with dump and fresh water is easily accessible on entering or leaving. There is a heated common room next to Reception, with TV, a computer, books and coffee/snack vending machines. Also a nicely fenced little playground for children, and friendly staff who speak English.
Sadly, the site is let down by the dismal old facilities building in the centre. Outdoor washing-up sinks have only solar-heated water, tepid in winter. The toilets have neither seats nor paper, though at least the water is hot at the basins and uninviting showers. But given the low season price of 12.60 Euros a night (that includes 10% discount for Seniors) we can hardly complain! Hopefully improvements are planned, and outdoor barbecue shelters are currently being built near the covered picnic tables.
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FEBRUARY 2026
Country: Spain
Town: Plasencia
Camping: La Chopera
Open All Year Feb 2026: 19 Euros
Reviewed for ACSI (not in ukcampsite.co.uk)
Unknown to us, a 120-km/hour tornado had hit the town of Plasencia on the afternoon of Friday 30 January 2026. On Monday 2 February I rang Camping La Chopera to check if they were open, with a hardstanding pitch for our 7-metre motorhome, following wet weather throughout Spain and Portugal. The receptionist simply said ‘Yes, no problem’, with no mention of the recent tornado.
We arrived at the quiet site on Wednesday 4 February and squeezed between awkward trees onto one of the very few firm pitches, the rest being grass and mud. The receptionist fixed a 5-amp electrical hookup. The facilities were seriously neglected, with dirty toilets, tepid showers and outside cold-water washing-up sinks. The laundry had an old-fashioned washing machine for 4 Euros that I didn’t use, since there was no drier. The restaurant was closed. At least the free WiFi worked. We decided to leave next day.
Heavy rain poured all night until our day began before dawn, with a policeman (Guardia Civil) banging on the door, flood water half-way up his wellingtons, shouting at us in Spanish to evacuate. Our French neighbours were paddling around in the rising water, uncertain whether to go or stay in their motorhome. No sign of campsite staff, though the whole camp was awash, and no advice from anyone as to whether it was possible to drive out to the entrance gate, or essential to leave on foot, or safer to stay. We quickly uncoupled the electricity and moved enough to retrieve our underwater levelling blocks. The doormat had floated away!
As soon as it was light enough, we took a chance, driving our 3.5 ton motorhome slowly and carefully, just from memory of a rough track, through the water (about half a metre deep and rising), somehow missing trees and corners of bungalow roofs. At the entrance several police cars, an ambulance and the fire brigade were gathered in a state of confusion, almost blocking our exit. As they waved us up the hill to the road, we left them all to it, with a sense of great relief.
There is no way that this site should have been open in winter, especially following the recent storms – indeed, it should be condemned for allowing campers to enter.
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Country: Spain
Town: Tordesillas
Camping: El Astral
Open All Year Feb 2026: 28.20 Euros
Reviewed for ukcampsite.co.uk (not in ACSI Card scheme)
A very convenient year-round campsite, less than 2 miles from the A62 transit route to/from Spain and Portugal. It may be necessary to book a pitch at more popular times of year, as the site was fairly busy in February. The Motorhome & Caravan Club call here on their tours.
It’s also an easy 10-minute walk over the Rio Duero bridge into Tordesillas and we stayed an extra day to explore the medieval town. I started at the Tourist Info, where a helpful English-speaking assistant provided a useful leaflet/map with highlights and entry times. She directed me first into the adjacent Treaty House museum (free of charge), including a short film in English that explained the historical importance of Tordesillas. Other museums, churches and monumental buildings are all within walking distance, with bars and restaurants round the main square, and I had them all to myself!
The campsite does not give ACSI Card Discount but the low season rate was under 30 Euros, including 6-amp electricity and free reliable WiFi. The hedged pitches were firm but muddy after recent storms. The small shop and restaurant were open, though the a la carte menu did not appeal. We did appreciate the modern facilities block, which was unusually warm, with good hot showers and an excellent self-contained bathroom for the disabled.
I can certainly recommend El Astral for a stop-over or a short stay.
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Country: Spain
Town: Burgos
Camping: Fuentes Blancas
Open All Year Feb 2026: 27 Euros
Reviewed for ukcampsite.co.uk and ACSI
The all-year municipal site is set in woodlands on the edge of Burgos, which can be visited by bus or bicycle along easy paths. There's a small shop and a busy cafe/bar at the entrance, as well as a restaurant where we had a generous Weekend Menu lunch by a log fire. English-speaking staff were helpful and advised parking with front wheels on the drive, as the soft grass pitches were waterlogged. Just one toilet/shower block open but it was clean and (best of all) well heated, with good hot showers. ACSI discount card applied off-season.
Free WiFi only operated around the cafe and restaurant area.
The nearest 6-amp 2-pin hook-up was held together with Duck Tape and didn't work but a longer lead reached the next one, which looked newer. Re-investment is needed to provide hard-standing pitches and a safe electrical system throughout the campsite.
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Country: France
Town: Urrugne
Camping: Larrouleta
Open All Year Feb 2026
Reviewed for ukcampsite.co.uk and ACSI
A large and popular transit camp five miles before the Spanish border, easily accessible from the French toll motorway (exit 2, St Jean de Luz). The advertised ACSI Card rate of 23 Euros (on a large sign at the entrance) is misleading, as it's the price of a small standard pitch with 5 amps. Our so-called comfort pitch with 10 amps was 27 Euros, while a super pitch (larger, hedged, own tap, more amps) was 31 Euros - and all of those were empty! Note that WiFi cost extra.
The unisex Sanitaires were the worst on our 3-month trip, unheated and cold, with no soap and no toilet paper, and urinals on view right at the entrance. The layout could easily have been separated into two halves, and soap and paper should certainly be de rigueur these days. Toilet paper was on sale at the site shop, except that (like the restaurant) it was closed until the end of February!
On the plus side there was a good laundry with washers and driers, a big common room and a new indoor heated swimming pool that was free to use. However, it would make more sense to improve the facilities which all campers would appreciate, while making a charge for the few who want to swim. There were also tennis courts and a fishing lake but not relevant to us, as it poured with rain during our 5-day stay.