European Winter Sun?

[severnside gull]

Looking to take a break somewhere in Europe in January/February for .five or six weeks.
We are restricted by having to take two small dogs with us and dont really want to fly but we have a campervan and many hotels are okay with pets.
We cant do winter sports as my wife is disabled but a bit of (relative) warmth will do her good.

So where to go?

Usually we choose France or Spain because I can get by linguistically but I'm tempted by southern Italy....or Greece...... or even Bulgaria


Anyone got any experience or ideas?

 

[Doc Lynam]

How about getting in touch with the celtic roots and going to Scandinavia to see the Northern lights. Bit of a curve ball but thought i would throw it out there.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Most over-wintering Brits go to Spain. Greece etc is potentially very cold in the winter, whereas Southern Spain / Portugal tends to be much more temperate. Spain is a very good option also, because there are camp sites that remain open all winter for this very purpose, and charge a lower rate for longer term use.

You could try getting the ferry to Morocco from Spain.

 

[Cadiz Seagull]

You can't guarantee winter sun on mainland Europe. Spain can be really warm and sunny but can also be wet and cold, and you can't get any further south than Spain on the mainland.

The Canaries are your best bet, but even there you can't be 100% certain. Or cape Verde, or is that part of Africa? But then I just read that you don't want to fly, so Cape Verde is probably a non starter. But you can get ferries to the Canaries from Cádiz or from the costa del concrete

 

[severnside gull]

Thanks.
Anywhere in Africa is outside the pet passport scheme unfortunately so means 6 months quarantine while the Canaries is a 30 hour ferry each way so not really doable. Take the point about no guarantees on weather though. - might be better to sit it out in UK until May or thereabouts (end of the footy season ) and do the normal France/Spain trip rather than try somewhere new and find it spoiled by lousy weather. On the other hand we have never tried Portugal........................