Overnight stops on Spanish motorways

Over the years there has been much talk about motorists being robbed on Spanish motorways.  Many may be anecdotal but not all; my neighbour, when we lived in France, had her handbag stolen from the car when a 'good samaritan' was 'assisting'  them with a flat tyre.  You also read about gassing etc.  So I would never consider stopping overnight at a Spanish service station.   Never driven Santander - Barcelona  but many members have. There are a number of sites on your route and advice you will receive from members  will help as will a decent site book.  If you are travelling out of season it is not necessary to book (try ACSI).  Facilities signed signed on Spanish motorways will normally guide you to a nearby village; service area signs are what they say.

I would endorse the comments in the previous post. motorway aires are high risk in many countries. 

It may be best to book a site off the motorway near Santander and stop for a lunch only midway on your journey?

I commonly manage 5 hours non-stop in my camper van. Just spotted that you are towing a caravan but on motorways that should make no big difference so six hours should be doable in one day.

I have read many horror stories about people being robbed in aires overnight.

Our experience is that it has never happened to us and we have never met anyone who suffered such trauma. That may be because we have always used big aires and parked amongst the trucks.

OK. If you get a fridge next to you, and we did once, it can be noisy, but we were perfectly safe and you can be too.

Of the must be hundreds of thousands of motorhomes on Spanish roads and stopovers over the past few years I’d bet the actual occurrence of these incidents is extremely low. The reports tend to be anecdotal with little if any substantiated evidence. Oh, the internet has so much to answer for doesn’t it! Having said that there are places I’d be hesitant to drive through or park in this country of ours. 

I have been travelling throughout Spain for over a decade but would not consider overnighting on a service area as they can be quite noisy and don't feel very secure.

I would suggest your best bet would be to find an aire just off the motorway using Searchforsites as there is usually plenty of choice.  Here's an example.

I tend to choose our overnight stay when we pause our journey for lunch, that way, you can judge where you're likely to be when you want to break your journey at the end of the day.

I believe like many the incidence is low, it is the dd one hat makes the news and the vast majority of trouble free stops are simply not news. At the same time there can be no doubt that some thefts happen and overnight in a proper site is far more secure. 

Probably the best way to check what is there and exactly where it is would be Google Earth. 

Our first-ever 'Story' on Club Together, in 2012, was to relate how we were nearly robbed at a Spanish motorway service area. Have a Read!

https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/club-together/your-stories/chasncath/robbery-foiled/

Note that it happened on a section of motorway outside of the tolled section.

In all our years of travelling in Spain, we always managed to find a campsite for a night stop/

We were robbed at a motorway service area in Barcelona last year. It was a typical manoeuvre to distract our attention while someone pointed out a fictional problem with the caravan. In the meantime an accomplice grabbed my wife’s handbag out of the car and they made off. Fortunately, there was very little money in it but all her cards were gone and, worst of all, her mobile phone with all her contacts and photos for which she didn’t have a backup.