I'll probably spend the winter down in southern Portugal/Spain where temperatures are around 15 degrees in average during the winter. I've also installed an old heating that works with Diesel and electricity. But yes, summer life is easy and I'm looking forward to experience my first winter in the van.

BTW: I bought the van in February and already worked and slept in the van while it was freezing cold: https://ruby-on-wheels.github.io/blog/the-first-ride/ it was ok.

Inland Portugal can be freezing cold in the Winter, we got -2 C several days in a row last year (I know, -2 C is balmy elsewhere but try it without central heating). You should be okay if you stick to the coast as the sea breezes keep the temperatures in the 10-15 C most of the time.

If you've got a good sleeping bag, -2 C isn't that bad. I've spent the night with those temperatures in the high country of New Zealand. I know people that have spent the night in -15 C temperatures.

That may be OK for sleeping but it is very hard to work. I spent a couple of Winters coding without heating with indoor temperatures around 12 Celsius and it was very hard. I wore mittens, bubble hat, a blanket and even an electric foot warmer and still had to stop working and walk a bit every now and then to warm up.

Yeah, I had to live through that as well when I was at university. Fingerless gloves were essential. Below 15 C, it actually gets hard to type.

What's a bubble hat, if I may ask?

Sorry, bobble hat. It is a wool hat with a wool "ball" at the top. Search google images for wool bobble hat.

He'll go down to the Algarve like all the other young surfers and retirees do in the winter. Loads of sun, dry, and air temps 16 to 20 degrees. It's generally gorgeous, like an extended autumn.

From what I've seen, winter is surfing season and they're on the Portuguese west coast, especially in Nazare. This is why: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=nazare+surfing&tbm=isch

> Nazare

You must be joking ;-)

I've spent 4 winters in the Algarve. While they don't get the classic beach breaks of SW France (Hossegor, Seignosse, Capbreton), there are some excellent spots down there (the point breaks at Arifana and Zavial in particular). Also, when massive winter swells come on the west coast (i.e. too big to surf), drive 30 minutes to the south coast and enjoy glassy perfection.

Locals have no problem dropping in on you, however; not as civil as the French are in that respect, but can't blame them, spots can get crowded.

He is in a van. I guess he can just drive south.

>How is he going to feel after another 150 days? Camping in winter can be fun, but it's not warm. At all.

Depends on the country. There are places where winter is like 30 degrees. And you can always have a portable heater -- in a small van it will heat it up completely.

Driving from Berlin? Most of southern Europe can be very cold (even Portugal and Spain) in winter. Maybe some parts of Turkey will stay warmer but not sure about that. Or maybe southern Greece.

And the problem is that weather is not independent. If it's very cold in Portugal for a few weeks it's usually also cold in much of the rest of Southern Europe.

It's trivial to get with the van to Morocco, Turkey. And with a rather inexpensive ferry ride, you can go anywhere in Africa / Middle East.

In places like Malaga, Crete, Cyprus, etc it's the average low temperature is like 10-13 degrees (52-55 f). Hardly very cold if you've ever experienced NY, Chicago, Canada, Norther Europe levels of cold. And of course it's very easy to heat a small van.

Yes but I'm not sure if that's where the author would like to go. 4G coverage will likely be weaker (making it harder to code on the go) and with fewer camper vans you'll not meet as many people. Security can also be a concern, as can be political influences (esp in Turkey at the moment).

True, 4G coverage can be a factor. Political influences is easier to bypass (just chose a stable country).

There's always the two Spanish cities in Africa (Ceuta and Melilla), which are still part of Schengen. Temperatures stay above 10ºC even in January.

This is true, but if you can drive to southern Spain you can get an inexpensive ferry to Morocco. From there you can go as far south as you could want.