In Pictures: Family Camping Laredo in Cantabria, Spain (Days 6-8)

From the mountains of Asturia to the sea sands of Cantabria, we move into the second week of our second family camping road trip one cool pre-Covid 19 summer. Here’s a review in pictures of Camping Laredo, where we landed our modern gypsy family caravan. For more info on the campground, text follows at the end of the pictures below. Enjoy!

Day 6-7: Sunless summer in northern Spain This is the way we like it!!!! After having fried for months on the Andalusian frying pan, we truly enjoy the clouds and sporadic rain. Camping Laredo had just that to offer. Clouds, but warm. The first thing our kids did was of course to check if there is a swimming pool. After the KK committee had confirmed it, the Stay was approved a d we started setting up.

NOTE: In case you’re wondering. . . NO, we have not received any form of compensation or freebies or anything at all for reviewing or mentioning this or any others on our blog.  We do it for the fun of it and it is helpful to you and others.

What we like about this campground? 

In between two beaches–that’s the one thing that we liked about Camping Laredo on the coast of Cantabria in northern Spain. It is about a 900-meter (12-minute) walk to the beach of the Bay of Biscay in the Cantabrian sea, even though the unpredictability of weather in northern Spain can dampen any beach day. It is also about the same distance to Regaton Beach on the river (or more like the mouth of the river) surrounded by a natural park.

What we don’t like about this camping site? 

What about what we did not like about Camping Laredo? If there is one thing that we need to put into this category, it’s . . . the cinder blocks/hollow blocks/breeze blocks–you know, those concrete rectangular blocks used for building construction. Here, some sections of the camping ground, like where our pitch was, used these blocks as a wall making it look grungy, like a walled off property in a city.

PRICE

How much per night? €42.83 euros (including tax) for a family of 4 (2 kids–1 under 5), 3-person tent with electricity at the beginning of the high summer season (first week of July).

Breakdown per night: €13.86 for a pitch/parcel (tent and car included), €5.77 for each adult, €4.77 for each child between 3 and 12 years old. €4.00 for electricity.

PLAY area & Swimming Pool

Playgrounds are always a nice family friendly addition that our children appreciate. . . what child wouldn’t?!?

Here, there’s a playground with a few play structures, like a standard house-like, climbing structure with a slide with a bridge to another rope-based climbing thing. There’s also a separate climbing structure with monkey bars and two swings.

It’s basic but sufficient for kids’ to enjoy some time in. The playground is also enclosed with a fence which is especially important to prevent kids from simply running directly into the road.

Pools? One decent-sized swimming pool for both adults and children. The pool is surrounded by sunbathing chairs on manicured grass lawns. The pool is enclosed by a stone fence, a wire fence facing the camp and a tall and thick privacy bush.

Need to wear swim with a hair/head cover a “gorro” (the ones we are wearing in the photos =, if you don’t know what that is exactly. It may be a Spanish law thingy to wear one.

PITCH

How’s the pitch? The campground is big. And management seemed to have maximized the use of the area by having smaller pitches right next to each other. Still it was big enough for us to park our car inn front of the tent to add an element of privacy.

Pitches had a mixture of grass and some kind of natural ground cover or crawlers, which was kind of cool and different. . . and likely able to cover the ground better than grass inn spite of over-use.

There was NO problem sinking tent pegs.

SHADE

Sufficient shade from a mix of relatively young and full-grown trees in between plots/pitches and all over the camping site.

This is especially helpful when camping in the summer.

Privacy hedges 

NO privacy bushes in between pitches/plots. In fact, you can be a soft-conversation distance away from your next door neighbors. You may be lucky enough to have a pitch with a concrete-block fence behind you to add some sort of buffer from your neighbors.

ACCESSibility

You would be able to easily see the entrance to this camping site from the main road. There’s a modern-looking metal structure with the name “Camping Laredo” cut through it and some less-obvious flags on the other side.

Once you pull into the entrance, there’s plenty of space to park and for camping vans to maneuver easily. Once in, go straight until you go past the restaurant on the left with some outdoor dining areas on the side towards the reception a little on the right and in front of you.

SANITARY FACILITIES

Basic, small, airy and clean bathroom ad washing areas.

Modernized shower and bathroom stalls that’s a little too tight to have 2 people walk together. One has to yield. NO problem with drainage and hot water.

Plenty of toilet paper. YAY. HOORAY! Believe me in some camping sites we had been in, YOU had to remember to bring your own toilet paper.

We did NOT see a FAMILY WC/bathroom–which is a unique feature at some camping sites.

DINE or DRINKS

There’s a big bar/restaurant with outdoor seating area across from the reception and main parking lot close to the entrance.

WI-FI

Yes. No problem.

others

Camping Laredo made an effort to have several activities for children (see previous photo), especially if you stay in the peak summer season beginning in July.

We did NOT see fridge, freezer or microwave or a kitchen. It is not usual for camping sites to have these extra benefits. Maybe we just did NOT ask. The place was quite big anyway.

TIPs for Camping La Viorna

To be able to use the swimming pools, make sure to bring swimming caps/headgear (you know, those little things you put over your head to make sure your hair does NOT get into the pool, and if you have it on too tight, your eyes start to squint like a drunken runaway monkey. . .) Yup, you need it here.

In fact, it would do you good to bring them with you when camping in Spain (maybe even France too) to save you money, just in case the camping site that you ended up in has a pool. They can be a stickler about. But, hey, it’s the law, apparently.

what to do near CAMPING La Viorna

So, what to see or do nearby?

BEACH–is only 900 meters (11-minute walk) away towards the Bay of Biscay in the Cantabrian sea. There are suppossed to be 2 beaches (playas): Playa Salvé and/or Playa Laredo. Effectively they are the same. Together they are about 3 kilometers from the mouth of the river to the port.

There’s also Playa Regaton (beach) on the river located on the other side of the bay (or more like the mouth of the river) surrounded by a natural park. It is also about the same distance to the camping site as the bayside beaches.

TIP: This is NOT Andalucia. So, the water can be cold for us “southerners”.

Horse Rides–Yup, it costs a bit of money (like €12 euros to ride a horse for an hour; €8 euros for 30 minutes). For the little ones and your children, ponies (actually full-grown cute little horse–see picture) are €8 euros for one hour and €4 euros for 30 minutes.

There are a few different stalls that have this entertainment near the campground. And you can get discounts for multiple hours and multiple people at the same time.

TIP: Make sure to ask and come to an agreement first where you can take the horse. And for only half an hour, don’t expect to go to the beach.

Our kids LOVED it! Our 3-year old son had “DORA!” while his older brother was on a bigger horse that did not want to go too far from the stable.

Explore the Port side–for some interesting and picturesque sights. Check out El Tunel (tunnel) Laredo (Playa Soledad–Beach of Solitude). Get on a boat sightseeing tours (paseos en barco). Go up the Atalaya Laredo for some panoramic viewpoint. Check out the Battery of Santo Tomas and the Mountain of Atalaya.

Next Stop

Onwards, northwards. . . to The Gugenheim Museum in Bilbao and. . . of course, more family camping ; )

Last Stop

In Pictures: Potes and Monastery of Saint Toribio in Cantabria (Day 6): An unplanned stop at a historic mountain monastery and pilgrimage site that holds a piece of the cross of Christ (Monasterio de Santo Toribio de Liebana) and a strategic ancient Roman town (Potes) where two rivers and four valleys meet that is also known for its deliciously potent grape brandy, Orujo.

In Pictures: Gray Day at the Peaks of Europe (Los Picos de Europa). . . with Kids (Day 5) in the mountains of Cantabria and Asturia in northern Spain. They say, these mountain peaks were the first sign of Europe that people travelling on ships from America would see

In Pictures: Review of Family Camping La Viorna near Los Picos de Europa, Spain (Days 4-6)

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