Vanlife in the Pyrenees

This was the first time we’ve been to the Pyrenees. We had no idea what to expect and it did not disappoint! Think of vanlife heaven. Free parkups everywhere, free services to fill up and empty water and so on, and beautiful scenery everywhere you go. Spanning across multiple countries and regions as well, we often had to remind ourselves of the language that is spoken wherever we were! At one point we were hopping from France to Spain daily!

Here are a few stats for a stat nerd like me:

Start point: Ripoll, Catalyuna, Spain
End point: Jaca, Aragon, Spain
Total kilometers: 561
Total days: 17
Nights at campsites: 2 (45 Euros total)
Nights at free spots: 15 (all free)
Money spent on parking in the day: 0 Euros
Wild swims: 6
Times asked to move on: once

Things to do

If you love adventure and being active, there are so many things to do. From Via Ferrata’s to wild swimming to crazy mountain hikes, it’s adventure paradise. An awesome thing to note as well is that even though it can be super hot in August, you can head further up into the mountains for a cooler climate! This was perfect for us as we don’t do well in the heat and we had our doggo, Bruce, with us too.

We stumbled upon 6 different wild swimming spots and they were all so cold but so refreshing! All the rivers have water that comes from the mountains so it’s literally like swimming in fresh mineral water! And so nice after a run or to cool down from the heat of the day. It is a wild swimming paradise.

How much we spent

Wowzer is the Pyrenees cheap compared to the Alps!!! I could not believe it when two coffees came to 3.60 euros.. for TWO! Unless you’re in super remote mountain towns, veggies and food are generally very cheap. And because it was absolutely shocking for vegan options in cafes and restaurants, we didn’t actually eat out once. But looking at prices of food at restaurants it seemed pretty reasonable.

You’ll have seen from the stats above that we spent £0 on overnight stays at designated motorhome areas. They were all free, which I still can’t believe, and what’s even better is that all the services were free too. So really all we spent was money on food, one tank of petrol (we filled up in Andorra which was £1.08 per litre), LPG, and 39 euros each on the Via Ferrata. So roughly it was about 500 euros for 17 days in paradise.

Driving a campervan or motorhome through the Pyrenees

Ok so we had a few sketchy mountain pass drives, lots and lots of switchbacks and a few roads that were very narrow, very high up, and we saw a lot of fallen rocks on the roads. Our van is 2.6m high and 6m long and we were ok pretty much everywhere we drove. Any taller or longer we probably wouldn’t have taken some of the mountain routes but we seem to be just the right size for it! But I’ll admit I won’t miss the smell of burning brakes from doing long stints downhill.

Would we go back?

Yes! 100%. There is so much to do and we haven’t even touched the surface. And to think that most of the places we went to are skiing resorts in the winter, there are things to do all year round! I’d say if you’re looking for somewhere more affordable than the Alps but with the same amount of beauty, the Pyrenees is the place to go.