When we enter the world of campervans and motorhomes, we realize how in favor this community is of organizing their trips into routes: the northern route, the Mediterranean route, the Pyrenees route, the inland route, etc. We have a great variety of routes already set up that we can use when we want to discover new corners and new stories of our country. In this case, we will talk about one of the oldest routes adapted to modern times: the Ruta de la Plata in Motorhome.
If you didn't know it, stay on this article because you will love to know the prehistoric origins of this route, the specific passport for this route with which you can get discounts and benefits and all the points of interest between the that you can choose to personalize your trip as you like.
What is the origin of the silver route?
The Silver Route was a Roman road that linked Mérida (Extremadura), the capital of Hispania Lusitania of the Romans; with Astorga (Castile and León), where It was the headquarters of the Romans. In other words, a fast track that linked the north with the south and that later on would be extended south to Cádiz, passing through Seville; and north to Gijón.
It all started after the Roman invasion of 218 BC. C. , these established roads as part of their economic and military strategy. This route was intended to be used mainly for commercial purposes and to transport minerals such as gold and silver, among many others. However, contrary to what it may seem, the name does not come from silver, but is a linguistic evolution of the original Arabic name Al Balat or Al B'lata, which means paved road.
Later, at the time of the reconquest, this road was used to invade the south by the Christians. But it was also used by pilgrims devoted to the Camino de Santiago and by shepherds in times of transhumance.
Which communities does the silver route pass through?
In general terms, this path originally runs through the Autonomous Communities of Andalusia, Extremadura, Castilla y León and Asturias. Although it has become so popular with pilgrims from the south that many consider that, in the religious sphere, this route has Galicia as its fourth Autonomous Community, instead of Asturias.
In this case we are going to focus on the original. So the Ruta de la Plata, which passes through the 4 Autonomous Communities that we mentioned at the beginning, has historical stops in these cities:
- Seville
- Zafra
- Merida
- Caceres
- Plasencia
- Salamanca
- Zamora
- Astorga
- Leon
- Oviedo
- Gijon
These eleven points constitute the historical stops of the Ruta de la Plata so, if you want to stick to the original proposal on your motorhome route, you will need at least 22 days to visit all the points counting with, more or less, one day to travel and another day to visit. Although as we will tell you later, you will surely need more days.
*At this point it should be noted that of these cities the only one that does not have any type of motorhome area with services is Plasencia.
Don't forget your passport for the Vía de la Plata Route by motorhome
This route is one of the most important vestiges of our Iberian history. In fact, a few years ago the Cooperation Network of Cities on the Silver Route was founded, an association that unites several of the cities through which this route passes. Currently, a total of 35 municipalities have joined. This association provides travelers with all the tourist, historical, cultural and economic resources of this route.
One of the resources that they make available to us, is the Vía de la Plata Route passport managed by the tourist initiative Rutadelaplata. com. It consists of a one-person booklet with which to obtain discounts or free services/activities among all the participating establishments.
You can find, for example, discounts in rural houses, museums, interpretation centers, restaurants, bookstores, bicycle rentals, etc.
This passport can be obtained from the aforementioned website or in some of the tourist offices of the municipalities of the Cooperation Network of Cities on the Silver Route
2, 3 and 4 week route options
There are many options to do the Ruta de la Plata in a motorhome and configure it according to our availability. What many travelers do is organize the motorhome route in different stages and each year they visit a different Autonomous Community. Other travelers make the entire route by motorhome from north to south, choosing only some of the main cities where to stop, visit and spend the night. For example, these three alternatives that we leave you below to do the motorhome route from north to south in 2, 3 or 4 weeks.
2-week motorhome silver route
If you have 14 days to do the Ruta de la Plata by motorhome, we recommend you to do the 5 main stops which are Seville, Mérida, Cáceres, Salamanca and Zamora.
- 2 days - SEVILLE:As always when we travel by Motorhome we have the Park4Night application to have a place near the city center where we can leave the motorhome parked while we visit the city. In Seville there is no free place to park. But there are several very safe and ideal payment options to visit this beautiful city. The most central one is this Sevilla Motorhome Area which costs €14 every 24 hours. As it is a central car park, keep in mind that it can be full in high season. In that case, you can find this other paying car park that also has a very good score, further from the center but with a direct bus stop 100 meters away .
- 1 day - TRIP
- 1 day - MÉRIDA: To visit Mérida we will only need 1 intensive day. And to park our motorhome and spend the night, we have two paid places. The most central one is thisMotorhome Area which costs €12 per night but without services, it is just a car park. Then there is this private area that costs €10 a night, with all the services but it is far from the city.
- 1 day - TRIP
- 1 day - CÁCERES: Cáceres, being a relatively small city, does not take more than 1 day to see it. In addition, the city has this motorhome area with free services, located in the center of the city so it is more than perfect to visit at a good price .
- 1 day - TRIP
- 2 days - SALAMANCA: Salamanca is the university city par excellence and as such offers great tourist wonders both day and night. For this reason, most travelers recommend spending at least 1 night in Salamanca and enjoying the nightlife. As for motorhome parking, Salamanca has two locations. The best rated is this private area which costs €14 per night and has all the services you can imagine for a parking area and much more . There is also this free car park with bad references due to the noise that is heard at night, but if that is not an impediment for you, it could be the option more economical.
- 1 day - TRIP
- 2 days - ZAMORA: This is another incredible city that needs more than 1 day to be visited calmly. The city has two free car parks, both with good reviews. The first and the one with the best score is this car park which is a 15-minute walk from the city center. The second, which also has a good average score, is located in front of the river and can get quite crowded at night, not only with motorhomes or vans, but also with cars of young people from the city that celebrates
In total for the trip we have planned 12 days, but as any experienced motorhome driver will tell you: it is better that you leave a couple of days without anything planned because traveling in a four-wheeled house there can be many unforeseen events. For this reason, our recommendation is that you always leave a couple of days without planning so that you can spend one more night in a city that you particularly like, take care of any unforeseen event on the road or, simply, to go more calmly so that you can enjoy and rest on your vacation.
3-week motorhome silver route
In a 21-day Silver Route by motorhome, in addition to the stops mentioned above, we recommend you add:
- 2 days - OVIEDO: This is a fantastic city in which we will need more than 1 day to visit it and enjoy all its richness. Luckily we have 2 free parking areas. And although these are located on the outskirts of the city, the truth is that they have a good combination of public transport that will take us directly to the city center. On one side is the closest parking area which has 1 bus line to get to the center. The next parking area ,is not remote, but is in another town but very close to a bus stop that will also take us to the center of Oviedo.
- 1 day - TRIP
- 2 days - GIJÓN: You should also dedicate 2 days to this city to enjoy it and get to know it properly. In this case, there is only 1 free parking area far from the center of the city but very close to a bus stop that takes you directly to the center .
In this case, we save two more days since a longer route can give rise to more unforeseen events because if we do this 3-week route, the ideal thing is to reserve 4 days to be able to be flexible and improvise when your adventurous spirit asks you to.
4-week motorhome silver route
Finally, if you are lucky enough to have 28 days and want to dedicate them to the silver route, we recommend adding these three stops to the two previous routes.
- 1 day - ZAFRA: This small but picturesque town in the south of Spain has an incredible free motorhome area which also has very good reviews and located near the center of town.
- 1 day - TRIP
- 1 day - ASTORGA: Although this city has an unparalleled wealth of heritage, the truth is that in a single day you can visit everything. But the best thing is that there is a good area for motorhomes. In this case it is free, with all the services and with night surveillance.
- 1 day - TRIP
- 1 day - LEÓN: The same thing happens in León as with Astorga, and that is that despite being a city very rich in historical heritage, in 1 day you can get to see it well. In this case we have 3 free motorhome parking options to choose from. They all have very good reviews so you might want to pick the closest one which is this area of AC about a 10 minute walk into the center of town. The other two are a 15-minute walk from the center but this parking area is, of the two, the best valueda However, the latter, also has a pretty good score.
For this journey we reserve only 1 day for unforeseen events that, together with the other four, would already be 5 days of margin for a 1-month trip in which a thousand things can happen.
