Travelling/ Traveling Around Europe in a Campervan

Best way to explore Europe on a vacation or holiday?

Campervan, tent or motorhome.. with out a doubt and certainly true if you are family travelers. We've been doing extended  camper road trips in Europe for 6 years so know all the secrets to luxury budget travel on the continent and the British Isles.

This photo was taken at our Danube river campsite in high season August...right on the river and as you can see, no crowds and within short walking distance to a UNESCO World Heritage Site. All on less than twenty dollars a day in high season!

Sure you can do this by river cruise and spend a young fortune, stuck with crowds...those boats pulled up and moored right next to our campsite. Mozart, our daughter,  played and we relaxed in our river side lounge chairs in this large park-like campsite in Melk, wondering why they would pay so much as we watched them like lemmings loaded up on tourist buses when they got off the boats..on some one else's time table instead of their own.

We could do the same cruise so much cheaper and even bring our bikes along by doing it as a day cruise. We could also make sure that we could avoid the crowds in high season, partly by avoiding days and times when cruise crowds go.

Our camper van supposedly sleeps 6, but we find it very comfortable full time lodging for the 3 of us. It is camper size with a cab over the top which is a great size for Europe. Our daughter Mozart slept with us most of the time in the cab over area above the drivers seat where we have the biggest bed.

We also have 2 bunk beds in the back and Mozart sleeps on one now and we store things like her digital piano and winter clothes on the lower one. Between these two areas is a kitchen area with a table and couches that sit four people. That breaks down to a bed as well, but it is always easier to have a bed you can just jump into when tired,  so we never used it....until I broke my arm and could not climb up to the top bunk. It was handy then and works good, but we're happy to be back to not using it as a bed.

Comfortable outdoor furniture is a must if you are going to motorhome around Europe for any length of time. Our second hand camper came with some cheap chairs, but we bought new stuff in Verona and have thoroughly enjoyed them.



Here are more tips  about the benefits of doing a European road trip:

Camping Europe in a Motorhome

Camping Europe - Best Books

Camping London

Camping Around the World With Kids

Tent Camping in Europe

What Camping in Europe  looks like

Road Trip Europe

RV in Europe: Camping European Style

Comments

[Greg]

Europe is a great place to be discovered in a camper van, well at least I fully enjoy it.
with thousands of camping sites and camper parking spots scattered all around Europe and having all you need in your camper van, well it's the easiest way to move around. You go where you want and when you want. It's that simple, isn't it...

[Kori]

I am planning on visiting Europe this summer and traveling by motorhome. I know I will have a wonderful time.

[Brian Paquette]

Hello!,

My girlfriend and i want to do exactly what you are doing! i have a few questions. Where did you buy and register your campervan? Im assuming UK? Also what insurance did you end up getting for your campervan? Did you have an address to register all of this or did you use a friend/family address?

Do you have to return to the country of the insurance once per year to renew your insurance? I was told that you need to go back each year to renew and get any additional paper work done such as the MOT in the UK.

If you can share this information it would alleviate TONS of stress for myself as for the last few weeks i’ve been tirelessly research this exact information and it’s hard to find. Your experience could change my life.

Thank you for anything you can help with! 🙂

[Jeanne @soultravelers3]

Hi Brian,

We've been traveling, so sorry for the late reply. Check out this post about where we got our camper in Amsterdam - http://www.soultravelers3.com/2006/08/our-new-camper.html

There are more than a few ways to do this so just keep researching and talking to people .

When we are not using our RV and it is in storage, we don't have to go back each year.

We only need the insurance etc when we are using the camper.

I've known Americans/Canadians who have done this long term in various ways from UK, Germany and Amsterdam and some even ship a US RV to Europe and do it that way.

Good luck!