Motorhome campsites on Spain's Mediterranean coast: where we stayed in 2026
Every campsite and park-up we stayed at, or tried and failed to get into, between Gibraltar and Barcelona in August 2026. Peak season, a big van, a family, and mostly no bookings.
The short answer
For a quiet pool stop in the south, Mariposa Libre near Málaga is our favourite. For a proper family resort, Playa Montroig and Playa Bara on the Costa Dorada were the best campsites of the whole trip. La Marina near Alicante was full, even after days of phoning.
In August you can still turn up without a booking if you only want one or two nights. If one particular campsite is the point of your trip, book it.
Our main Spain guide covers the ferry, aires, tolls and driving. This one is narrower: the campsites themselves. In summer 2026, after a few weeks in Portugal, we drove the Mediterranean coast from Gibraltar to Barcelona in our 8.6-metre Dethleffs, with a van that was losing power on hills and family and friends flying in and out at Alicante and Valencia. Here is every site we stayed at or tried, what we paid, and what each one is like with a big van and teenagers.
Peak season without a booking
How we actually found pitches in August
We travel without fixed bookings most of the time, and in August 2026 that mostly still worked. The trick is to ask for one or two nights, not a week. People leave early and plans change, so even busy sites usually have a stray night or two. At Camping Playa de Mazarrón we asked for two nights and got one. If we had wanted a week, we would not have got it.
It is not foolproof. We phoned La Marina for several days and turned up anyway, and it was still full. The same week, another site recommended near Mazarrón had nothing at all for one night, the first time in weeks we had been turned away outright. For finding alternatives we use recommendations from followers on Facebook and Instagram, Search for Sites and Park4Night. Lyndsay also found that Google Maps shows a few places that are not on the apps.
If you are winging it in peak season, keep three or four sites within half an hour of each other, and go early in the day. On our worst day near Alicante we tried a water-park campsite, a five-star resort and several small camper parks before settling at a site we had pencilled in for the next night. It worked out, but it was a long, hot day.
Gibraltar and Málaga
Where we came back into Spain from Portugal
- Marina park-up by Gibraltar
Motorhomes park in a row at the marina just outside Gibraltar, and we pulled in at dusk after a stressful drive. We paid €17 for the night, which we think was the larger-vehicle rate; smaller vans looked to be €15. There is a service point, a launderette with toilets, and a bar and restaurant right there. Gibraltar is about a ten-minute walk away, across the runway, and you no longer need a passport to walk in. Locals cycling past confirmed it before we left ours in the van. Lunch was a full English at The Clipper on Main Street.
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A tiny Dutch-run campsite that we first found in 2023 and came back to when Steve was under the weather and the kids were fighting something off. It takes about a dozen vans, and four pitches sit right next to the pool. Grab one of those if you can. There is shade around the edges under the trees but not much in the middle, and it was 35 to 36°C while we were there. Three nights came to €139: €22 a night for the van and two adults, €3 per extra adult and €3 a day for electricity. There is a newer shower and toilet block with a washer and dryer, an honesty fridge for drinks and ice creams, and animals the kids can feed with your fruit scraps. We meant to stay one night and stayed three.
The full story of this leg, including the breakdown saga, is in our Gibraltar post. We also stopped at Mariposa Libre on the way back from Morocco in 2023, which you can read about in our UK to Morocco guide.
Mazarrón to Alicante
The busiest stretch, and the hardest to get into
This is where peak season bit hardest. The big names were full or expensive, and what we wanted from a campsite had changed since our last visit ten years ago. A pool is now the minimum; a water park would have been a bonus.
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Five or six followers recommended it, and we can see why. It is a big site with three toilet blocks (the one nearest us was double-decker), a pool with a bar, an air-conditioned supermarket with fresh bread, a large restaurant, a play area, a tennis court and the beach right out the back. Lyndsay called the sea the most glorious she had swum in for a long time: clear, warm, fish below. The catch for us was the shade canopy over every pitch. Many are low, so our height ruled out most pitches and we could only get one night. Lyndsay also felt the canopies stopped the air moving and made it sticky underneath, and we had five or six neighbours very close. We asked the kids before giving our view, and everyone said one night was right. A cracking site, just not our sort of pitch.
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The next site on our list was fully booked, so we both searched Search for Sites and picked the same place about 20 minutes up the road. It was €75 for the night: €45 for the van and two people with water and electricity, then €10 for each extra person, and children over 12 count as adults. Not cheap. But the pitches were bigger than at Mazarrón, shaded by proper trees, Starlink still worked, and we parked as close to the pool as we could. It is mostly static caravans whose owners come out in winter, so it was quiet in August. There is a bar and a tennis court but no restaurant, and one block has outdoor showers, with cubicles in another block down the hill. The pool was so warm it felt more like a hot tub.
- Small site near La Marina
A small campsite we first visited with the boys ten years ago, now run by a German couple who bought it three years ago. It has a small pool (new since our last visit), washing machines and a covered bar area. The pitch was €14 a night on 6 amps or €16 on 10 amps, but electricity is billed by the kilowatt hour at 60 cents. We had run the air con the night before and charged our batteries overnight, so the bill came to €46 for one night. Not outrageous, but not what we expected. Monthly winter rates drop to around €11 or €12 a night, with electricity still on top.
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The campsite with the water park, four minutes’ drive from that small site. We took the kids ten years ago and wanted to finish this leg with a day there. We phoned for several days and were told it was fully booked, then drove over first thing on the off chance of a cancellation. Still full, and in peak season they do not take day visitors either. They told us day access opens from September, which is worth knowing if you are passing later in the year.
- Five-star site near Guardamar
Six minutes down the road. The pool complex reminded Lyndsay of the all-inclusive hotels in Egypt, and there was one pitch free for one night at €120. The other option needed a two-night minimum and had a low rope across the access that we could not get under, and there was a building site alongside. Four or five years ago, with younger boys, it would have been perfect. With teenagers it was a lot of money for something that was not quite right.
- Camper park near Alicante airport
Where we ended up after a long day of failing elsewhere, and it turned out to be a good call. It is close to Alicante airport, which mattered for our crew changeover, and it has a small pool that the owner, José, looks after. We paid €37 a night; there is a per-person charge on top of the pitch, so bringing adult children adds up. Laundry was €4 to wash and €3 to dry, and everything came out properly dry. The 10-amp setting kept tripping, so we ran on 6 amps. Some pitches are a long way from both the beach and the pool, so say which matters to you at reception.
We wrote up Mazarrón and the visit to friends in the hills in our mountain post, and the day of failing to get into La Marina in our La Marina post.
Peñíscola to Barcelona
A basic night, then two big ones
After picking Lyndsay up from Valencia airport we headed north. This stretch gave us our cheapest night on the coast and the two best campsites of the trip, back to back.
- Camping Eden, Peñíscola
Lovely atmosphere, good pitches and the pool looked fantastic. But €120 a night made no sense for a stay of under 24 hours when we wanted to spend the evening in town, not on the pitch.
- Small camper park, Peñíscola
Bare bones: two showers and two toilets, nothing more. But we were there to walk into Peñíscola, climb to the old town and eat on a terrace under the lighthouse while a storm rolled in over the sea, and for that it was ideal. We paid €14.50. The owner charged us the smaller-van rate, which was €2 less than our length should have cost, and he was lovely about it.
- Playa Montroig Camping Resort
Our big splurge, and it earns its five stars. Reception gave us three maps showing the free pitches in each area. Premium seafront pitches were €350 for two nights and most others €230–250, quoted for the van and two people, so ours came to €327.92 (£277) once the extra adults were added. A beach pitch would have been €50 a night more and a long walk from the big pool, so we chose the central area by the pool. One area was too tight with trees for us; the one we picked had room for Starlink and a 16-amp supply. The pool complex is exceptional, with lifeguards and wristband entry, and the main toilet block is the nicest we have seen on any campsite. The supermarket does fresh bread and pastries every morning at fair prices. There is also a kids’ club, an amphitheatre with morning exercise classes and Zumba, mini golf, a cardio-heavy gym, a diving centre, restaurants and bars, and the beach is a seven or eight-minute walk. Electric scooters are banned on site.
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Lyndsay’s childhood campsite, at Roda de Barà. It was packed, but the team held three premium pitches for us and a staff member drove us round them in a golf buggy so we could pick the one that worked for the van and Starlink. Two nights for five of us came to £176. The pool complex has a waterslide and a pool bar open from 10am to 4pm; go at about half past two, when the Spanish families head off for a siesta. Evening shows start in the amphitheatre at about 10pm and are now in Spanish. The beach is about 100 metres through the back gate, the shop still smells of fresh bread and croissants, and the laundry is cash only from a coin machine, so bring euros. There is an older toilet block and a newer one on the other side of the site.
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Not a campsite, but the obvious next stop, less than an hour from Playa Bara. We used this car park ten years ago; it stopped taking motorhomes overnight in 2019 and has since reopened to them. We booked our space and paid €40 for 24 hours. It is spacious, a short walk from the metro, and about €5 by taxi to the Gothic Quarter.
Sangulí, just up the road from Playa Montroig, was also highly recommended to us. We have not stayed there, but between them this stretch of coast has some serious options. The full stories are in our Peñíscola and Playa Montroig post and our Playa Bara post.
Playa Montroig is not cheap compared with an aire or a small campsite. But on a longer trip where most nights are free stops, cheap camper parks and car parks, a couple of nights somewhere like this is a treat we do not regret. Lyndsay’s tip: sites with Eurocamp units tend to have entertainment teams, more than one pool, bars and restaurants. She also found it takes a couple of days to settle into a site this big, so two nights felt short.
What a big van needs from a pitch
Lessons from an 8.6-metre van on busy sites
Look up as well as along. Length was rarely the problem on this coast. Height was. The shade canopies at Mazarrón ruled out most pitches, and a low rope blocked the only two-night pitch near Guardamar. Mention your height at reception as well as your length.
Walk or ride the pitch before you drive it. Coastal sites are full of mature trees, which are lovely for shade and bad for access. At Playa Bara a parked car blocked our turn and we had to do a three-point turn within inches of a tree. Where the site offers it, take the tour: the golf buggy at Playa Bara and the area maps at Playa Montroig let us rule out tight pitches before we committed.
Trees also block satellite internet. We work from the van, so every pitch choice on this trip was partly about clear sky for Starlink. If that matters to you, ask for an open pitch.
Check the electricity, not just the pitch price. Supplies ranged from 6 amps (our 10-amp setting kept tripping near Alicante) to 16 amps at Playa Montroig. One small site billed by the kilowatt hour, which nearly tripled our bill after a night of charging batteries. If you run air con, ask how power is charged before you plug in.
Pick your pitch away from the service point. Grey water smells eggy and sulphury at the best of times, and in Spanish summer heat it is far worse. And in that heat, pack up the night before rather than in the morning sun.
Choose for the family you have now. Several of these sites would have been perfect when the boys were small: splash pools, slides and kids’ clubs. With teenagers we now pick the pitch closest to the big pool and are happy further from the play area. Our motorhoming with kids guide covers that shift in more detail, and our touring costs guide shows how a few expensive nights fit into a whole trip budget.
Campsite questions we get asked
Can you get a campsite on Spain's Mediterranean coast in August without booking?
Usually, if you only want one or two nights. In August 2026 we toured the coast from Gibraltar to Barcelona mostly without bookings. Asking for one or two nights at a time, we nearly always found somewhere, but La Marina near Alicante was full even after days of phoning, and another recommended site near Mazarrón had nothing at all. Keep three or four alternatives nearby, and book ahead if one particular site is the reason for the trip.
How much do campsites on the Spanish Mediterranean coast cost in peak season?
In August 2026 we paid anything from 14.50 euros for a basic camper park in Peñíscola to 75 euros a night for five of us near Mazarrón, and the five-star sites we looked at near Guardamar and in Peñíscola wanted 120 euros a night. Two nights at Playa Montroig cost us 327.92 euros, and two nights at Playa Bara cost 176 pounds for five of us. Check how electricity is billed: one small site charged 60 cents per kilowatt hour, which turned a 16-euro pitch into a 46-euro night.
Which campsites on the Costa Dorada are best for families?
Of the ones we stayed at, Playa Montroig Camping Resort and Playa Bara. Montroig is a full five-star resort with a huge pool complex, a kids' club, an amphitheatre, a superb supermarket and the beach a few minutes' walk away. Playa Bara has a pool complex with a waterslide and pool bar, evening shows and a sandy beach about 100 metres from the back gate. Both were busy in August, and both were worth it.
Is Camping Playa de Mazarrón good for a big motorhome?
It is a very good campsite, but check the pitch before you commit. Every pitch has a shade canopy and many are low, so with our tall 8.6-metre van we could only get one pitch for one night. The site itself has three toilet blocks, a pool with a bar, a supermarket, a restaurant and a superb beach right out the back.
Can you visit La Marina campsite as a day visitor?
Not in peak season. When we tried in August 2026 the campsite was fully booked and they told us they do not take day visitors at that time of year. They said day access opens from September.
Where can you stay in a motorhome near Gibraltar?
We used the marina park-up just outside Gibraltar on the Spanish side. It cost us 17 euros for the night in August 2026, has a service point, a launderette with toilets and a bar and restaurant, and Gibraltar is about a ten-minute walk away. You no longer need a passport to walk across.
Written by Steve and Lyndsay Radford. Every campsite named here is one we stayed at or tried in person in August 2026, and every price is what we were quoted or paid at the time, in peak season. Prices change, so check before you go. Roaming Radfords is a trading name of Yowzer Limited.