Spain

Famous for tapas, la siesta, Barcelona, flamenco, paella, Valencia, Picasso, conquistadores, Madrid, wine, Dali, sangria, Spanish Civil War, football, bullfighting and more.

Portugal

Famous for port wine, football, Porto custard tarts (Pastéis de nata), tiles, Lisbon, golf courses, Lagos, surfing, piri piri chicken, cork, beaches and more.

Area Autocaravans (Parking area for motorhomes and campervans)

Providing official, economical, overnight parking for motorhomes in Spain is something that is still developing.

The huge network of Aire de Service or Stellplatze seen in France and Germany is not yet developed as historically people just stopped wherever they felt safe. Although motorhoming in Spain and Portugal has long been popular, the numbers of people motorhoming now has put pressure on many long established but unofficial overnight parks and the Spanish government has moved to bring some order to this.

Their rules around self-containment differ from the situation in New Zealand where self-containment refers mainly to the plumbing of the motorhome.

In Spain it’s all-encompassing in that you must be able to live within the vehicle without stepping outside for any reason. By doing this, you are ‘parked’ and not camping, a difference that is defined in Spanish law. If you go outside to cook, or put your table and chairs or awning out, you’re camping. There are many places where you can park overnight but not “camp”. This automatically rules out the use of caravans, cars and small vans at these overnight stops.

The historical absence of free but official Aire de Service like France means that many commercial overnight parking places are springing up in Spain to fill the gap and for a charge varying between €5 and €15 you can use basic facilities and usually service your tanks and toilet. These commercial aires are a good option and an economical alternative to campsites.

An indispensable book for motorhoming in Spain and Portugal is called, 'All the Aires - Spain and Portugal'.
Published by Vicarious Books 
ISBN: 9781910664124

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Parking and service facilities

Notice board explaining the rules for a free stop in Spain.

Usage rules (click image to enlarge).

Portugal is similar to Spain in that a network of official and economical overnight stops for motorhomes is rapidly developing although some areas in Portugal, such as the Algarve, completely prohibit overnight parking outside official camp sites or commercial aires.

However, this rule is seldom enforced outside the peak holiday period of late July/August. Historically it’s been possible to stay overnight almost anywhere in Portugal but things are tightening up.

Again the aires guide from Vicarious Books will find plenty of safe overnight stops where you’re unlikely to be disturbed.

This a free aire at Faro in Portugal. It was part of a large public car park which filled with the cars of local workers the next morning. The local police regularly cruised around which was reassuring, but it is prudent not to get your table and chairs out here. (Parking – not camping.)

A power box on a commercial aire in Spain. Many power hook-ups in Europe use the same 15A circular blue plug and sockets we see in New Zealand

Some sockets use the European two-pin socket outlets found in domestic and light commercial use as shown below. A close-up of one of these sockets is shown on the right. Adapters to convert from these sockets to the standard 15A circular plug which will be on your hook-up lead are readily available in camping shops in the UK and it’s definitely worthwhile taking one.

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