World Tour of Europe 2018

corm500

Hi all

Meself, the wife and our 6yr old are planning on taking next summer off and caravanning around Europe with our 4 berth touring caravan. We plan to go from the second half of June till the end of August, about 2 and a half months in total.

Planning is at the embryonic stage but we want to travel to the south of France, Italian Lakes, Florence, Venice, Slovenia,Croatia, Austria,Switzerland and Germany.

Has anyone done this route that can give me any tips? Sites to stay on, things to avoid, Cost saving tips etc.

Should we be booking sites at this stage as we will be travelling mostly at peak season? Anyone have anywhere not on that list that they would recommend?

Many thanks in advance for any advice.

coylemj

It can hardly be described as a 'world tour' (per thread title) if it's confined to Europe.

corm500

coylemj wrote: »

It can hardly be described as a 'world tour' (per thread title) if it's confined to Europe.

It was my attempt at a lighthearted thread title. Kind of like click bait for boards.:D

munchkin_utd

theres a camper and caravaning sub forum which might be a good place to look for tips.
Not all tips for camper vans would be the same for a caravan, and vice versa

One thing strikes me immediately would be that tolls for a caravan would be a dread, so if you're not in a rush, and with a caravan you can only do 100 anyhow so not getting full benefit of the motorway, you could do certain sections on normal national roads
For instance Munich-Verona is 37Euro in tolls (most on the mountainy high maintenance middle bit) which can be avoided completely by going off the motorway .
Its also worth remembering that motorways can have differing tolls depending on how old they are, if a motorway is new then the costs have to be paid off, if its old they are just looking to pay for maintenance (and a profit!)
www.viamichelin.com is great for getting toll costs.

Theres also the issue with fuel cost. On a motorway its inevitably insanely dear, and you can save heaps by just going a few 100m off the motorway to a local station. Some countries are stupidly dear, like say the Netherlands, so fill to the brim before touring round there. France is a little cheaper than Ireland, Germany about the same, Italy a little dearer, and Luxembourg and Austria are way cheaper than anywhere else !

finbarrk

If it was me I would avoid bringing the caravan!

corm500

finbarrk wrote: »

If it was me I would avoid bringing the caravan!

Is that from a cost point of view or the hassle of negotiating the roads at that time of year?

redcup342

corm500 wrote: »

Is that from a cost point of view or the hassle of negotiating the roads at that time of year?

It's not really Caravan Friendly in Germany anyway, You can't use any of the 4000+ Stelleplatz that the Campervans can use (super cheap camping/parking in the City Centers)

Also driving in the mountainous areas is really slow and you have to be careful you don't burn out your brakes (need to engine brake)

I'd stay stick to France, touring around dragging a campervan will be slow (and everyone else on the single carriage road will get P1ssed off with you