An Iberian Adventure … powered by coffee, curiosity, and questionable navigation.
What do you get when you cross the Bay of Biscay on a ferry, with a TentBox on your roof, and chase the Iberian sun with no fixed itinerary? A road trip full of scenic detours, campsite capers, and tapas-fuelled triumphs. From siestas under olive trees to sunsets over cliffside cafés, this is one sun-soaked saga you won’t want to miss.
As anyone who has read any of my other blog posts will know, I love a road trip! On this adventure, I changed things up a bit and travelled with a companion, my son Dan. And I can honestly say it was a totally different experience to my usual solo trips. Turns out my enthusiasm for all things TentBox is contagious … and despite Dan being over 6ft tall, there was still plenty of room for 2 of us in the tent!
On this trip, we toured the Iberian Peninsula, getting the ferry from Portsmouth to Santander then following the coastline.
Our itinerary was quite loose but there was so much we wanted to see and do! Portugal and Spain both have a beautiful coastline and a very rich tapestry of culture and history, and don’t get me started on the incredible food and of course wine!
As we soon discovered, it was going to be impossible to do all of the things I had lined up for our trip. So this is Part 1 of a 2 part series of adventures to be continued in 2026, because why not?!
Itinerary
As you will see from the itinerary below we did pack quite a lot in. Our time was further limited as I had a job interview part way through the trip and had to spend some time preparing for and attending that.
We also did a little detour in the middle of our trip to visit our lovely friend Siggy who lives in town called La Romana, close to Alicante. As well as all the incredible places below, we made the most of the coastline visiting many beautiful beaches. It was super warm, so we took the opportunity to cool off in the sea as often as we could!
- Day 1 – Boarding the Santona in Portsmouth
- Day 2 – The Bay of Biscay
- Day 3 – San Vicente de la Barquera, Gijon, Foz
- Day 4 – Lugo, Santiago de Compostela, Braga
- Day 5 – Porto, Praia de Mira
- Day 6 – Lisbon, Lagoa
- Day 7 – Faro, Huelva
- Day 8 – Matalascanas, Gibraltar
- Day 9 – Grenada, Sierra Nevada
- Day 10 – Salamanca
- Day 11 – La Romana
- Day 12 – Valencia
- Day 13 – Barcelona
- Day 14 – Zaragoza
- Day 15 – San Sebastian
- Day 16 – Bilbao
- Day 17 /18 – ferry home!
