Campervan Travel in Europe, Part 1

Interesting places to visit en route, South of Spain - Poland

We've driven from the south of Spain to Poland many times, and each time we stopped and passed through lovely places, such as Rocio in Catalonia, Valencia in Spain, Grenoble or Lyon in France, Geneva in Switzerland, Stuttgart in Germany, and other beautiful cities and regions. I regret not taking more photos and notes from previous trips.

In this post, I will tell you about the last route we took, the places we stopped, and in Part 2, the locations we visited on the way back, so you may get inspired to travel to the same places.

From Benalmadena to Tychy - about 3,200km to go

1. Guadix

Driving north from Benalmádena, we wanted to stop in the cave town of Guadix in the Province of Granada. For more information about this place Click Here

PS From the highway in this area, you can enjoy the fantastic mountain panorama of the Sierra Nevada, the highest mountain range in Andalusia.

2. The Province of Jaen

Continuing north we arrived late in the evening to Quesada in the province of Jaenwhere we spent the night in a free campervan car park - Click Here for a details Click Here.

Sunset view over the hills Parque Natural de las Sierras de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas (long name :)...), which was a destination in Jaen, was amazing!

Passing through white towns with castles on the hills, rivers, rivers, waterfalls, traversing mountain passes, all this painted in our minds wonderful memories of the province of Jaen.
Read more about Jaen Click Here.

3. Cuenca

From Jaen, we followed the route further north to Cuenca in the province of Castilla la Mancha. However, before turning onto the right route, we drove towards a place we had never heard of before, the Parque Natural Lagunas de Ruidera. We stayed overnight at Camping Los Batanes, and in the morning we drove along the shores of the interconnected lakes. There are campsites around them, where you can have a wonderful time swimming or doing water sports. You can also go around the whole thing on a prepared cycle path. We really enjoyed our time there!

After another hour of driving, we arrived in Cuenca. We drove through the serpentine Parque Natural de La Serrania de Cuenca, along the CM-2106 road. I have to admit that my eyes couldn't get enough of the bizarre rock formations and nature.

More about Cuenca Click Here and odwiedzonym parku La Ciudad Encantada de Cuenca Click Here.

4. Autonomous Community of Spain - Aragon

Further on, descending the serpentine route CM-2106 at a late hour, we stopped at the source of the Cuervo River - Rio Cuervo, another beautiful place....

I can't count the number of wild animals that ran in front of our car. It was almost dark, and we were the only car in the area. We were running out of fuel, and internet. We were starting to feel a little nervous, but luckily, the road was downhill, and we made it to the free parking for campers in Molina de Aragón. The morning coffee we drank with a pleasant view of the castle.

We had planned to visit Zaragoza, the capital of the Aragonese autonomy, but the heat was too much, especially for the dog.

It's worth bearing in mind - walking around Iberian cities with your pet can be quite a challenge. Our wolfhound made it clear to us in Cuenca that she didn't approve of our idea of walking around towns on a hot day. A good solution is to buy shoes for the dog to protect his paws from burning...

So we set off for the Pyrenees...

5. Pyrenees

Torla – Read More... is a charming little town in the province of Huesca... Well I could stay there for longer ... I even imagined myself tending geraniums in little windows somewhere along one of the alleys ... 🙂

We stayed for two days at the Camping Rio Ara... lovely place... We were hoping to hike in the park Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park, but unfortunately, we were not allowed to enter by car. The option was to take a special bus from Torla, which takes tourists to the trails. Another one was, if you are traveling with a dog, you can walk a long distance from the nearest parking to the park entrance... We were limited on time, but I'm sure we would have a wonderful time exploring it...

We crossed over to the French side of the 3,070 km long, through the tunnel Túnel de Bielsa – Aragnouet. VIDEO of the drive through the French valley CLICK HERE:

We wanted to see the highest peaks of the Pyrenees, Maladeta and Pico Aneto, but we wanted to find a hike that was enjoyable and not too difficult for our 5-year-old child. On the way, we stopped in Vignec, a charming Pyrenean town.

Then we drove to Loudenvielle, a charming town in the Pyrenees mountains. We left our campervan in the dedicated campervan car park and set off on a hike into the mountains. The views were incredible!

We hiked for a few hours, enjoying the fresh air and the sunshine. As we were hiking, we could see a storm brewing in the distance. We decided to head back to our campervan before the storm hit.

We made it back to our campervan just in time. The storm hit with full force, and the rain came down in buckets :)

6. Alps

We decided to head to Chamonix-Mont Blanc, a popular destination for mountaineers and skiers. We started our day with a small trek in the morning, followed by an ascent of the Aiguille du Midi, which is once the highest cable car in the Alps. Read more

We were tempted to go through the tunnel under Mont Blanc to Italy and do a little sightseeing there, but we saw that it would be a long drive, and we wouldn't have time to stop in every place we wanted. I typed in the direction on the navigation, and with a stop for the night at the German motorway, we arrived at our destination...

autobanie dojechaliśmy do Tychów.

The trip took us 7 days, we traveled about 3640 km...

Campervan Travel in Europe, Part 2