Hola campers! Get your patatas bravas ready and pull on your holiday pants! As promised in last weeks post, here’s a quick guide on camping en Espana and I bet you 20€ and raise you a Maxibon, it’s not what you expect.

Put it this way.

When Mr Husband bought his beloved VW camper van – with the wanderlust dream that as a family we’d merrily go camping around France & Spain – I must admit, I imagined something out of Carry On Camping – just with terrible dubbing.

I never thought it’d involve Spanish beach bars set within an actual swimming pool, freshly baked pastries every morning and shopping trips to Barcelona!

He’s been a life-long fan of the Catalan capital – and he ain’t wrong because every single time, we end up in BCN.

And I for one, am not complaining!

We usually stay in the one campsite in Spain for about two weeks after travelling and stopping through France – so it needs to be a good one if we’re pitching for that long!

Mr Husband will extensively research places beforehand, especially because I was not quite the camping convert, let’s say, in the early days. So if it was shit, Mr Husband knew I’d be a case of “ciao adiós, I’m done!”

Making sure our main base camp was the dogs cojones has so far been a real success. So, we’re here to share our top three places that we’d happily go back to in a heartbeat…

1. CALA LLEVADO

Situated on the Costa Brava, this 4* campsite is nestled in the heart of a picturesque Mediterranean mix of pine forests and coastal lanes. An eco friendly site, there’s a naturist beach as well as hillside glamping pods, a large pool area, on site supermarket and restaurant and bar.  

You can choose to pitch (as we did) or pick from chalets, cottages and pods to stay in. Being set in a mountainous region, the campsite is quite hilly, so be prepared to get those calves toned-up when going to do the washing-up! It’s like a mini workout!

There is a kids pool to splash in as well as a larger pool – all with lifeguard supervision. Note that the main pool is deep, so our daughter (who was five at the time and just learning to swim, couldn’t touch the bottom at all!)

While it did mean that she learnt to swim a lot quicker (!) it does tag teaming to make sure she was always with either one of us when she went in. 

There is a lovely 3km walk through the coastal lanes to the historic town of Tossa de Mar. We all successfully walked it; of course there was much complaining from the little people at first but it was all forgotten about once we bought a VAT load of frozen yummy yoghurt when we arrived, albeit a sweaty mess, in Tossa!

It was a VERY hot day. The route is not that shady in most areas, so go prepared with sun hats and lots of water and maybe avoid the midday heat, too. We didn’t! (FAAARRKKK!)

Also, wear good walking shoes. Flip flops and flimsy sandals aren’t ideal. (I now know, ha!)

Whether you’re a Game of Thrones fan or not (I am!) a short drive to the city of Girona is definitely worth the visit. The historic old quarter is spellbindingly beautiful. You feel like you’ve gone back in time and a tour around the cathedral is a must.

2. PARK PLAYA BARÀ

Located on the Costa Dorada, this holiday park was founded in the 70s and is still run and owned by the same manager. It is so family friendly and we love the place so much so, that we’ve stayed there twice already. 

With an amazing pool layout – including a baby pool, a slide pool, a chill out pool with bar IN THE POOL! and also another large pool that leads onto the restaurant and bar area – there’s something for every age and ability. 

The entertainment is spot-on too, with kids clubs and activities scheduled all day long, then come evening, family shows and mini discos are the highlight!

Which is fine with us as we tend to leave any sense of routine back in the UK and found that although the kids do end up going to bed at 11pm they didn’t stir until 8am at least, so it worked out well for us.

Many people ask me about the facilities when we go camping, meaning “What are the toilets and showers like?” I get it. I am not a public toilet pooer – in fact, as a kid, I made myself extremely constipated because I couldn’t face plopping in the school loos!

However, I assure you, the toilets and showers at Playa Bara are set in an open block (stink-free!) with beautiful flowers and plants surrounding you. It’s like crappin’ in a tropical Kew Gardens! Attendants are always there cleaning and tidying.

Rest assured, it’s better than basic.

There’s easy access to the beach from the campsite where there’s a parade of shops selling ice cream and beach bars spotted all over to serve your thirst!

There’s also a pretty coastal walk to Roda De Bara beach where you’ll also find a pretty little town to explore with hippy chic shops that sell all the wanderlust wardrobe you could possibly want for and lots of lovely tapas restaurants and gift shops, too.

The historic town of Tarragona is also a must-see. There’s a ton of ruins to delve into from what the Romans left behind.

We visited the amphitheatre and also witnessed a very sombre minutes silence in the Placa De La Font the day after the terrorist tragedy in nearby Barcelona and Cambrils.

3. SANGULÍ

Voted for the second year in a row for the ANWB Camping Awards, Sangulí is recognised as one of the best campsites in Europe.

Mainly because it is MASSIVE and it’s been given a new lease of life with extensive restoration and a huge make-over which now means you get the choice of several separate pools, three on site supermarkets, restaurants, bakeries plus a choice of four types of accommodation (themed mini-villages) if pitching or campervaning isn’t your bag.

The blue flag beach is just meters away with a beach bar (where we made friends with none other that Mr Johnny Vegas who was also staying at the site) plus the town of Cambrils is a bike ride away so we hired bikes for the day (from the campsite) and hit the cycle path!

Cafe culture, tapas and sangria is on repeat while the kids play on the beach; we’re at that stage now where the kids eat anything and we’re not dragging buggies through the sand and sterilising pacifiers, so admittedly this kind of adventure-and-the-open-road-holiday does suit our family needs. 

As well as regular trips to Barca to shop/eat/mooch/beach, we also make sure to visit the beautiful town of Sitges – which I actually think I now prefer to BCN!

Squeeze in a trip if you can and give her my love!

As always, with any of these campsites, and also with my French recommendations from last week, do not hesitate to ask me any questions.

Just drop me a comment below if you think you may have caught the camping bug!

See you next week, folks.

Are you liking my regular Sunday blog posts? Thank you to those who have told me that it’s often something they look forward to reading every Sunday with their morning cuppa.

Love ya. Bye!