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How to tour Europe in a Motorhome-the ULTIMATE guide

Want to tour Europe in a motorhome or campervan? Feeling a little overwhelmed and not sure where to start? Here’s everything you need, from what kit to pack, what paperwork you need to carry, how to prepare your van, European road trip itinerary ideas and tips for life on the road.

Don’t forget to grab your free Europe motorhoming checklist below.

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Touring Europe in a motorhome blog- our story

I remember the first time we took our motorhome to Europe. There were SO MANY rules and things to pack and what the heck are aires and how do I book one and what route should we take and do we need…

To say I was daunted was an understatement. Everywhere I looked for advice had totally contradicting information. I spent the first few days of our Europe road trip feeling exhausted and terrified that I’d forgotten something vitally important.

If you’re also feeling intimidated by the idea of travelling Europe in a motorhome, camper van or even a caravan, don’t panic. Since that first trip, I quit my job so we could explore Europe by motorhome as often as possible (let’s just not talk about 2020…)

We’ve travelled nearly 60,000 miles and visited 17 countries. We have made many MANY mistakes… but we’ve also learnt a lot about vanlife in Europe and what NOT to do. And I’m going to share that with you today.

I promise- it’s not as scary as it feels right now.

Today I’ll walk you through the various steps you need to take to plan your own motorhome road trip to Europe and, hopefully, you’ll feel much more confident by the end of it.

Don’t forget to grab your free printable Europe motorhome travel checklist , which will help you remember everything you need.

Unsure what you need for your Europe road trip? Worried you’re missing something important?

Grab your FREE Europe Road trip Checklist NOW- everything you need: essential kit, paperwork and useful gear to take.

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How to Tour Europe in a Motorhome, campervan or RV – where to start

Let’s start with the basics. Before you can head off to Europe in a motorhome, you need a motorhome or camper van! You can either buy one or hire one and there are pros/ cons to both.

TOP TIP: If you’re planning a 3 month or more trip to Europe, definitely buy a motorhome- it will be MUCH cheaper. Here’s our complete motorhome buyer’s guide to choosing the camper for you.

If you don’t already own a motorhome and are considering getting one, hiring a motorhome or campervan for at least a weekend, preferably a week, is the perfect way to know if motorhome life is for you, before you spend a lot of money on one.

Also, if you are looking to buy a motorhome for the first time , hiring one is a great way to learn what layouts work for you, what you like and dislike and what you’re looking for in your own vehicle.

Having said that, we bought our first motorhome with no experience and no planning and set off to tour around Europe after only 15 days… So do whatever feels right for you.

Want to rent a vehicle for your road trip?

These might help:

• Discover incredible deals for motorhome/ camper rentals
• Find the best deals for car rental

READ: 10 essential questions to ask before you rent a motorhome

Motorhoming in Europe- 25 Essential things to know

Watch this video for 25 things you need to know about touring with a motorhome or campervan in Europe:

We hope you found the video useful. If you did, we’d love it if you followed us on Youtube . New videos with tips for motorhoming and campervanning in the UK and Europe are released weekly.

Motorhome Touring in Europe- where to stay?

Once you’ve got a vehicle to tour around Europe in, the next thing to consider is how do you want your trip to Europe to be and where are you going to camp/ park overnight?

• Do you want to stay at a campsite with pitches for motorhomes, campervans and caravans which has loads of facilities and activities for the kids to do?
• Would you prefer to wild camp in your motorhome and stay at a new place each night, far from crowds and cities? 
• Do you want to use aires/ free overnight parking spots in Europe and stay 2/3 nights in a place before moving on?

Deciding the type of holiday you want to have will make planning your motorhome trip a lot easier. Here’s a bit more information about the types of motorhome parking available in Europe to help you decide.

Motorhome campsites in Europe

Campsites in Europe are very similar to ones in the UK; you arrive, are given or can select a pitch with or without electric (depending on what you booked) and that’s it. Often, you will need to provide ID when you arrive and some places even keep hold of your passport while you stay.

Campsites often have great facilities- like swimming pools or a beach on a lake, watersports, play area, restaurants, fresh bread delivery, shop etc. Dogs are normally always welcome, but there isn’t always a dog walk/ run where they are allowed off lead.

European motorhome travel in the school holidays- or not?

If you’re travelling in the school holidays, you’ll want to book up the campsite (if you’re using one) asap- the best ones get booked up months in advance.

If you’re NOT travelling during the school holidays, you might want to consider getting an ACSI camping card – you’ll save a lot of money on campsite charges.

Aires in Europe

For us, we prefer to travel around Europe in our motorhome and explore different places during our trips instead of staying in one area. We generally stay only one night in a place (unless we’re planning to ride the motorbikes, in which case we find somewhere for a few nights.) 

There are two types of motorhome overnight parking options instead of campsites. The first are approved Motorhome parking places, which are called Aires in France , Stellplatz in Germany and Sostas if you’re campervanning in Italy . They’re all pretty much exactly the same!

Motorhome Parking Tips for Aires

You cannot pre-book Aires- they operate on a first-come basis. We found people tended to move on about 10-11am and most were parked up by 4pm, so try and move within that window for the best chance of finding a space. When we toured Italy, we left a little earlier (around 9ish) and aimed to be parked for lunchtime-ish, which we think helped us get in where we wanted without problems.

We like aires, as we feel happier leaving our motorhome if we want to go off an explore, and don’t want to deal with the noise or expense of a European campsite. We tow motorbikes behind our motorhome and love being able to use them without worrying if the van is ok.

You can find more on how to use aires and find motorhome parking around Europe here.

Wild camping with a motorhome or campervan in Europe

The other option for overnight motorhome stopovers in Europe is wild camping, which is staying somewhere that’s not an ‘approved’ place overnight and then moving on the next morning.

Rules for wild camping with a Motorhome in Europe

There are many different rules and different stories about motorhome wild camping across Europe. Wild camping is technically illegal in many countries, such as Switzerland – but we’ve stayed off-grid in our motorhome hundreds of times without any trouble at all. Heck, it was a night wild camping in the Alps in Switzerland in our motorhome which made us decide to change our lives and go motorhome travelling (almost!) full-time!

Wild camping in France in a motorhome or campervan is tolerated, as long as you’re not near the coast or in a restricted area. Find out more about motorhome wild camping in France.

My advice is to research the rules for the country you’re visiting, and then check out Park4night. Don’t park if it says ‘No Overnight Parking’. Also, always trust your gut. If you’re not sure and not happy, move on to an approved Motorhome stop point, so you can get a good nights sleep without worrying about being woken up for parking illegally.

You can find everything you need to know about how to wild camp with a motorhome or campervan here.

How to find free/ cheap Motorhome Parking spots in Europe

So, HOW do we find these overnight stopovers in vans in Europe? There are three apps we use. They’re all great but work in slightly different ways.

Park4night is what we mainly use when motorhome touring in Europe- and it is BRILLIANT. It’s both an app and a website- we tend to use the app most while travelling. There is a small annual fee but it’s well worth paying for.

This is how we use it:

• Drive to somewhere we want to explore- or a place en-route if we’ve got a long route planned.
• As we get closer, open up the app on my iPad or laptop (read more about getting internet in a motorhome )
• Put in the area you are heading for into Park4night and filter your options.
• Look at photos and comments to remove any with bad reviews, or which are too small for your motorhome to fit into.
• Check to make sure the place is open! A lot of places close between Oct- Apr.
• Then I tend to go on gut feel. I might have two or three options at this point but if I’m honest I’ll know which one of those three I like the idea of most, and that’s the one we head for first. If we get there and it’s full/ closed/ turned into a building site (has happened twice to us!!) then we have other options we can fall back on and we can head to those next.

We use Park4night as it tends to have the most options for places to stay in Europe. However, there are some other good choices too.

Planning to take your motorhome to Europe?

GUIDE: Stop the overwhelm with our step-by-step guide. Contains eBook, checklists and more. Complete Europe Motorhome Travel Toolkit

CHECKLIST: Don’t forget to grab your FREE Europe motorhome travel checklist HERE

GEAR – If you need any motorhome gear for touring Europe, here’s what we recommend.

Camper contact

Camper Contact works in a very similar way to Park4night, however, the BIG thing it offers which we love is you can remove all parking spaces which aren’t suitable for longer motorhomes. We love this feature when we are towing a trailer behind our motorhome and want to make absolutely sure it’s suitable for a longer vehicle.

Camper contact is free on the website but the app requires payment, which is another reason we prefer Park4night.

Searchforsites

Search for sites is another motorhome parking app but is better for in the UK. Again, it’s a really useful site and well worth checking as occasionally there are different places on here than on the other two. Pretty much all the reviews on here seem to be in English, which can help when you want to read what people thought!

Between the three of these motorhome parking apps, we’ve travelled around Europe without any problems. Once, in Italy in August, our preferred Aire was full, so we had to move on elsewhere and a few times the place we’ve been heading for no longer exists!

If you find out of date information, please take the time to update the app so other motorhomers don’t do the same thing. They are all great resources and, without them, motorhome road trips in Europe wouldn’t be nearly so easy.

Other parking schemes in Europe

In Europe, there are several schemes similar to Britstops as a great source of free overnight parking stops for motorhomes. In France, France Passion is a similar set-up, and there are others around Europe.

You can find a list of all the motorhome overnight parking schemes and how to find them here.

Motorhome Route Planning for Europe trips

Once you’ve decided where you’re staying, you can start planning a motorhome route in Europe . Obviously, if you’re just travelling to one campsite and back again, then the route will be fairly straightforward.

However, if you’re planning to use aires or wild camping, then you can decide where you want to visit, what you want to see and if you’re going to be using toll roads or not.

One thing to note is that we rarely plan an actual road route until we’re driving. or just setting off for the day. I don’t plan the roads in advance- just the places we want to visit during our trip. Everything else I do as we travel. If we want to visit a specific aire or campsite, I’ll note that in our plan. You can grab our free road trip planner and use that to help you plan your route and things to do.

The other thing you’ll need to plan is how you’re going to get to Europe. If you’re in the UK, will you take the ferry or use Eurotunnel ? There are pros and cons of both but it’s worth deciding quickly so you can book in advance and hopefully save some money.

TOP TIP: If you want some ideas for where to visit, here are some of the best Europe road trip itineraries for motorhomes and campervans.

Tolls in Europe

Many people are concerned about tolls in Europe and like to plan their routes to avoid them. There are pros and cons to this. Tolls occur in nearly every European country which doesn’t insist on a vignette. If you’re motorhoming in Germany you can enjoy some free autobahns (same if you’re motorhoming in Holland .) 

When you plan a route in a country without a vignette, you have two options:

• The quick way (which uses tolls roads when necessary)
• The cheap way (which doesn’t!)

There is no right answer- it’s whatever’s best for you. If you only have a week for your motorhome holiday , many people will want to get to their destination asap, which means using toll roads.

If you have more time, you may want to save money and take the slower, but usually prettier, back roads. Do whatever’s right for you.

If you want to get an idea on how much a toll route might cost, use the website https://www.viamichelin.com/

This site will tell you the approximate driving costs for your trip, both in fuel consumption and tolls. The fuel setting is annoying as you can’t select for a motorhome/ camper, although you can select the appropriate mpg, but the toll charges & vignette costs (as long as your motorhome is under 3.5 tonnes and 3m tall,) are very accurate.

Motorhoming in Europe- paperwork you need to carry

So, you’ve got a vehicle, a plan for overnight stays and the beginnings of a route. Now it’s time for the paperwork you need to carry, both for your motorhome/ campervan and also for you.

Nobody likes this bit, because it’s pretty boring, but it’s also essential. We’ve been stopped twice, both times in France and both times near the ferry at Caen. The police seem to love waiting there and pouncing on Motorhomers and campervanners who might have forgotten something.

In France, fines for speeding or incorrect paperwork must be paid in cash on the spot, or else you’ll be escorted to the nearest police station- not the most welcoming start to your holiday! However, if you have all the following, there’s nothing they can do except wish you a ‘bonne journee’ and see you on your merry way.

READ MORE: Essential advice for motorhome touring in France

Complete list of paperwork needed to tour Europe in a motorhome

Here are your next steps for paperwork and staying organised (don’t forget you can download our FREE Europe motorhome travel checklist to keep organised)

Want to head to Europe with your motorhome?

Grab your FREE (printable) checklist and discover 25 things you NEED to take with you when you travel in Europe. Make your life easier today.

• Make sure your passport is in date (with 6 months left)
• Make sure your motorhome insurance covers Europe travel
• Read the rules for driving in Europe after BREXIT
• Get a green card (if required- check with your insurer)
• Motorhome logbook (the REAL one- not a copy)
• If the vehicle is company-owned, hired or leased, you need a letter from the company stating their permission for the vehicle to go to Europe.
• MOT (date of)
• Driving licence- yes, your UK driving licence is legal in Europe but you might need an International Driving Permit .
• MOTs & logbooks for any other vehicles you are taking (like our motorbikes)
• Trailer EU certification if necessary
• Animal health certificate for pets (read about how to take a pet to Europe after BREXIT )
• Personal Travel insurance
• Drone Insurance (read our review of the best travel drones here)
• Put together an EPIC road trip playlist
• Do your last minute vehicle checks
• Details of ferry/ train bookings
• For larger motorhomes visiting France, you might need blind spot warning stickers

Motorhome Insurance

You need motorhome insurance which covers travel in Europe (and other places like Morocco if you’re planning to venture further afield). You also might want to get Breakdown cover which includes recovery to Home- just in case the worst happens. Bring your original certificate with you, not a photocopy.

Health Insurance

The rules for health cover for UK residents in Europe have changed after BREXIT. You now MUST have travel insurance. Make sure you read the conditions carefully- many ‘cheap’ policies don’t cover you for more than a week or two at a time, so if you’re planning on going away for longer you’ll need to find an appropriate insurer. Ideally, get repatriation cover to the UK- just in case.

Europe Motorhome Travel- Essential items you need to carry

Unlike in the UK, there are some things you legally NEED to carry in your motorhome, campervan or car when you’re touring Europe. These essentials Europe travel accessories include:

• UK vehicle sticker or UK on your reg plate- with the British flag, not an EU circle
• First aid kit – did you know it is illegal to NOT stop at an accident in France and many other places in Europe?
• Warning Triangle
• Hi-vis jacket which must be easily reached without leaving the vehicle (or getting off a motorbike!) We recommend carrying one per person, including for toddlers.
• Spare light bulbs for vehicle
• Headlight deflectors as our UK headlamps are pointing the ‘wrong way’ for European roads-
• Radar detectors are forbidden EVERYWHERE in Europe.
• Motorhome speed stickers for some vans
• NO- you do not need a breathalyser.
• You might also need a red/ white striped reflective board if you have bicycles or a motorhome storage box.

Useful kit for travelling Europe in a Motorhome or camper

Assuming your van is already packed with these essential motorhome accessories , there are a couple of things which will make your life easier when touring Europe in a camper.

Motorhome Wi-Fi

Is wifi in a motorhome an essential? For us it is- we work from the road, so we need a reliable way to contact the outside world (and upload blog posts like this!) Our life just wouldn’t work if we didn’t have a decent Internet connection. 

For years, we had a wifi dongle in our motorhome and, quite seriously, it’s BRILLIANT. We’ve travelled all around Western Europe and it didn’t let us down once. Oh ok, it’s failed to get a signal just once and we were parked on the top of a mountain in the Swiss Alps at the time- I’m not sure I can blame it for that!!  

We use data SIMS with Vodafone, 3 and EE and we find EE and 3 to have the best coverage across Europe. You can buy Prepaid SIM cards of data from Amazon ( like this one ) or take out a monthly contract (which is what we did)

More recently, we’ve installed this internet system in our van and it has been equally good, although we haven’t been able to travel much to really test it out.

Data Roaming in Europe

If you are travelling outside your home country, you need to make sure that data roaming is enabled on your phone AND that you have a plan which allows you to use data in other countries cheaply.

You will also need to know how to avoid paying high charges for data roaming in Europe.

Also, be aware that the data limit you have at home will probably NOT be the same as your allowance abroad- so be cautious with how much you use. It’s hard to track data usage, but things like using maps, watching TV in your motorhome , streaming videos or putting photos on Facebook can all use up a LOT of data very quickly.

We highly recommend investing in a proper motorhome sat-nav before your start driving around Europe, especially if you have a larger motorhome, RV or campervan. You want something you can put your vehicle dimensions into and be able to avoid narrow roads, low bridges or weak crossings.

Here are some of the best motorhome and campervan sat-nav systems on the market- have a look and make sure you know how to use it before you set off.

Never, ever rely entirely on the sat-nav; keep an eye out for road signs and height restrictions as well. I also use my personal iPad or phone to find us an alternative route should we hit a traffic jam- both of those have ‘traffic’ setting enabled on them so we can see where the traffic is and how to get around it.

I often end up navigating our motorhome down tiny country lanes in the middle of nowhere- after all, it’s not a proper adventure unless there’s grass growing in the middle of the road!

Also, be careful where you mount your sat nav, especially if you’re using an ipad. Many countries now say it’s illegal to have the satnav mounted on the windscreen or blocking the driver’s view. We use this mount and mount our iPad on our dashboard, where it’s low enough to not cause any problems.

Campervanning in Europe – POWER!!!!

One of the joys of touring Europe in a Motorhome is the freedom that you can find on the continent which you just can’t get in the UK. Being able to stay off-grid in our van gives us that freedom. But, in order to do that, we need to manage our motorhome power requirements.

The solution to this is an inverter (and possibly a power pack, depending on how power-hungry you are!) We are VERY power hungry- we have two laptops, two iPads and 4 phones! ( Don’t ask!! Yes, I know there are only 2 of us!!)

We charge as much as we possibly can whilst we are driving the motorhome, including the laptops. We do this by running the invertor as we drive. The inverter is connected directly to the motorhome leisure battery and then we added a 2-plug extension lead, which allows us to charge our laptops on a drive, saving our precious battery power while we’re camped. 

We fitted and love this inverter but there are many other options out there if you need a different size/ power output.

I didn’t want a generator on our motorhome . I didn’t want to be THAT van with the generator going all evening, ruining everyone else’s peace and quiet. But, as my husband said, if we’re going to camp in the middle of nowhere for days at a time, we need an alternative power source ‘just in case’.

We’ve agreed that we will NEVER use it except in an emergency or for servicing, and we did a lot of research to find the best one for us in terms of noise levels and size. I have to say we’re really pleased with this one . It’s small enough to fit in a tiny cupboard under our seats and I can lift it with one hand.

We’ve used it several times of the past couple of years, including while touring Norway and Austria. We’re really impressed at how quiet it is and how well it works even after months of not being started! 

12v Hairdryer

Whilst we’re on the subject of power, both Jade (our daughter) and I have long hair. We love letting it air dry on hot summer days, but if we’re motorhoming in winter it’s essential for us to have a hairdryer.

RELATED: Planning winter motorhome living or a trip? Read this first…

Believe it or not, we actually carry TWO hairdryers onboard (much to my husband’s ‘delight’…)

One is a good, powerful but lowish wattage one we use when we have electric hookup, and the other is a 12v one , which plugs into a cigarette lighter socket in the cab. Honestly, it’s not the best hairdryer we’ve ever tried, but better than nothing on a cold winter’s day.

Alternatively, a rechargeable hairdryer .

Solar Panel

We do have a solar panel onboard our motorhome- we believe it’s an essential motorhome wild camping accessory. It keeps the battery topped up whilst we’re camping and allows us to stay off-grid for a little while longer- at least if it’s sunny!

One of our very first motorhome trips to Europe almost ended after 2 days due to…err… gas. Or rather, a lack of it and an inability to get any more! There are some important lessons we learned and things you need to know about how to find LPG (gas) in Europe .

To combat that ever happening again (we hope!!) , we fitted Gaslow refillable bottles . These went easily into our existing motorhome gas locker and we were able to fit them ourselves. We used them for the first time last week and we’re really happy with them. Filling took a little while to figure out- turns out you need to TWIST the nozzle clockwise, but so far, so good! We’ve now had these installed for a year and wouldn’t switch back- refillable gas is SO MUCH cheaper and easier while travelling Europe in a motorhome. 

Motorhome Touring in Europe – Other items which might be useful

ACSI is a scheme you can buy a membership to (like a motorhome club ), which then gives you massive discounts on campsites for motorhomes, campervans, RVs and Caravans- as long as you travel outside the peak seasons.

We LOVE our European toll pass. It’s sooooooo satisfying being able to sweep past all the huge queues at some of the tolls and go through the automated toll pass lane in France. It also works if you’re motorhome touring in Spain & Portugal. The best bit for us is not having to worry to find the change at each toll- it just sends you a bill at the end of the month which is paid automatically by Direct Debit so its one less thing we need to worry about!

We bought ours at Sanef Tolling, although they have now changed their name to Emovis-tag.

Tyres & Snow chains

If you are planning to go motorhome skiing or tour Europe in a motorhome in the Winter, think about your tyres and snow chains . It’s compulsory in most countries with Mountains (France, Germany etc) to have winter tyres fitted and to carry snow chains which will fit onto your tyres. This is usually enforced between 01 November and 15 April. This list by the AA gives a great guide for you.

Red and White reflective warning backboard for motorhomes/ campers

If you have anything extending past the back of your motorhome/ camper (like a bike rack or a tow bar), you MUST have a red and white striped backboard on the back. Make sure it’s the aluminium one, not the cheap version- the cheap version is not legal in Italy.

Travelling Europe in a Motorhome or campervan- Safety

Here are some important things to know about travelling in Europe

Emergencies

112 can be dialled anywhere in Europe in an emergency, accident or distress situation.

Security and theft

We have several things we do to protect our vehicle and our possessions whilst we’re travelling. We also have several things we do to safeguard ourselves if we’re back in the UK preparing for our next trip. Be sure to grab our FREE guide to motorhome security.   

We have been lucky to have never been the target of theft, but it does happen. Most thefts are opportunistic- if you leave something outside unattended there’s a chance it will be taken- just like in the UK. Also, if you park in busy, built-up areas, there is more chance of ‘unsavoury types’ spotting the van and taking their chances- just like in the UK.

We strongly believe that touring Europe in your motorhome is no more dangerous than touring in the UK, but common sense should be used. We’ve chosen to fit an additional motorhome door lock which can be locked from both the outside and the inside.

Try and get your Euros in advance as you’ll get a better rate than if you use the ferry/ tunnel. You can get money out of cash machines abroad- but, of course, there are charges for that.

Also, don’t forget that not every country in Europe uses Euros . Here are some popular ones which might catch you out!

• Bulgaria – Lev
• Croatia – Kuna
• Czech Republic – Kurona
• Denmark – Krone
• Hungary – Forint
• Norway- Krone ( See how expensive our trip to Norway was !)
• Poland – Zloty
• Romania – Leu
• Switzerland – Swiss Franc

There are others in the East as well- make sure you check in advance- but nearly everywhere has a cash machine so you can always get money out if you need to.

We think it’s sensible to carry a spare set of keys for the motorhome with us. We hope we will never need them, but a spare set is going to be completely useless sitting back in the UK. So we decided to bring them with us and keep them well out of the way.

Make sure you’re carrying enough Medication for you and any pets you have. We always carry a little more than necessary- just in case! Be prepared to explain your medication and prove what it is with a doctor’s note or something similar- just in case customs question you.

Mobile Phones

Using a phone whilst driving is illegal in many countries. It is also illegal in some countries (such as France) to use a headset with an earbud whilst driving. Your phone must be completely hands-free.

Driving in Europe- what to do in the event of a road traffic accident

You should have a European Claim Form provided by your insurer before you leave. In the event of an accident, all parties complete and sign the form at the scene and then send a copy to your insurer for assessment.

What to do at the scene:

• Stop your vehicle immediately but safely- out of the flow of traffic if possible.
• If a vehicle is blocking the road, use hazard lights and put the red warning triangle 30 metres from the scene to warn approaching traffic
• Name and address of all the people involved in the accident
• Vehicle registration numbers of all parties
• Insurance company details of all parties
• Take photos of damage using a camera, GoPro or phone

For more details, read our step-by-step guide on dealing with a road traffic accident in Europe

Motorhoming in Europe- Other Things to know

Sidelights must be switched on in the following countries at ALL times: Croatia , Denmark, Italy, Norway, Sweden & Switzerland

Daytime lights MUST be switched on for Motorbikes at ALL times in all conditions in ALL countries. Ours are wired so they automatically come on with the engine- saves us forgetting!

On-the-spot fines are common in all countries, although if you’re campervanning in Ireland the Police are not authorised to collect fines. Some places, like Croatia, give you 8 days to pay. Other places, such as if you go touring in Portugal , equip their police officers with an ATM to ensure fines are paid immediately!!

Be careful of low-emission zones and areas which require a congestion charge or something similar, such as Paris and London. These places are often clearly signed but it can be worth Googling requirements before you visit an area. Also, don’t forget you need a Vignette for Motorways/ toll roads in Switzerland and Austria. For a complete list of rules in each country, here’s the AA.

Touring Europe in a Motorhome – Final thoughts

Phew!!! There is a LOT of information in this post- and at first glance it can be overwhelming. None of it is ‘difficult’, but it will take up a bit of your time as you get it all organised. Here are some final tips to help you make the most of your big adventure!!

• Driving on the right is not as terrifying as it seems! Don’t forget- all the roads are set up for it- you don’t have to remember to go around the roundabout the wrong way- it naturally happens as that’s the way the road system works.
• Learn a little of the language. In France, Germany, Belgium and Holland, English is widely spoken, but they love it if you make an effort. After al, you are in their country and if you show a little respect to them they will really help you when you need it.
• Accept that you are a tourist- you will make mistakes and probably look like an idiot. But that’s part of the fun of travelling!
• Learn to ‘slow travel’- travelling by van is about the journey as much as the destination . This can be hard when you’re on a tight schedule, but try not to overbook your time so much that you can’t relax a little or explore random things that you find along the way- like an ice cave we randomly found in France…??!!
• Having said that, do a little research as you travel so you don’t miss some amazing places. We like to pick an area and then Google it to see what great adventures are waiting for us.

New to motorhome or camper travel in Europe? You might find these posts helpful:

See all our Europe motorhoming posts here

NEED GEAR? If you need any kit or essentials for motorhoming in Europe, here’s what we recommend and where to find it

I hope you have the BEST adventures- be sure to tag me in your posts and show me where you end up! Let me know what you think of the guide in the comments below- I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Want to save this list for later? Here’s the pin. Enjoyed this post? We’d love it if you shared it on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Thank you!

Kat never planned to buy a motorhome. She also never planned to quit her job as an air traffic controller, go touring around Europe in said motorhome, start one of the UK’s largest motorhome travel websites… or get a cocker spaniel.

Find out how she went from stuck in the rat race to being a digital nomad and inspiring thousands of people to have their own epic adventures here.

If you’d like to connect with Kat, send her an email or follow her adventures on social media.

Last update on 2024-04-09 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

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55 comments.

Lots of great info there. Thank you. 🙂

You’re very welcome! Hope it helps with your upcoming adventures!!

This is fatastic Kat and very timely. We are travelling in September to France & Switzerland in a hired van (before we buy our own yipeeee) so we were just starting to get our heads around all the planning. This is perfect as you have done all the work for us, so thank you so much for that. You are a star 🙂 x

Great information – thanks! When you were wild/free camping, did people have much camping stuff out in the off-season? As we’re going to be in a fifth wheel it’ll be a bit cramped if we can’t push a slide or two out!

People happily sit outside and enjoy a campfire and dinner, but don’t get awnings and things out when they’re wild camping. Those places are more designed to be a one night stop. I think you’ll be fine with the slides, though I admit we haven’t seen any fifth wheels on our travels- you’ll probably have loads of people wanting to come and have a look inside!! 🙂 I think as long as it looks like you’re not planning to stop for a week, you’ll be fine. Of course, if you end up somewhere really remote,you won’t have a problem as no one will see!!

Yes, we’re basically hoping that in the off-season it’ll be quiet enough to pop the slides out and the support legs down. We’re thinking that keeping the truck attached will make us a bit more ‘ready to go’ should the need arise on the aires – though as you say, if we’re somewhere remote and out the way we might stay a bit longer 🙂

Thank you for sharing this journey with us! We would love to pack up and head off in an RV but were hesitant with (coming up) teenage children – I can’t wait to follow your journey and see how you go 🙂

Hi Ange- thanks so much for reading and commenting. Honestly, if I had my time again I’d take my daughter out of school at 12/13 or maybe even a few years younger and travel with her- I think it’s such an amazing way for them to learn and grow. Hope you enjoying following our travels. 🙂

We are from Port Elizabeth, South Africa. My family (me, wife two kids 11, 9) will be hiring a camper for 20 days in December in Munich and plan to drive the black forest route and down to Rome via Switzerland and back to Munich. Do you have any experience of the cold in that time and how hired campers hold up? Will we find sites open that time of the year and do you know if there will be any exciting activities for the kids, with exception of viewing architecture and views? Any other advice?

Thanks for the awesome info!

What an exciting adventure you have planned! Funnily enough, we’re going to Munich in December too! 🙂 As you probably guessed, your experience is going to completely depend on the weather and how much snow has fallen so far. You will DEFINITELY need a camper with heating, so make sure your rental has that fitted (you’d be surprised how many don’t!) You will also need snow tyres/ snow chains- even if it hasn’t snowed. This should be provided- but please check. Also, do you know that most hire campers don’t come with bed linen/ towels and sometimes not even pots & pans? It depends entirely on your rental company of course, but it’s something to check.

If it’s a relatively modern camper with heating, you should be just fine in the cold. You are right that many campsites shut, but if you check out the sites I listed, you’ll be able to find the ones which stay open. Regarding activities for kids, it depends what kind of things they like. Our daughter is quite happy sitting in the van, listening to her music and watching the world go by. There will be plenty of walks- just be careful with the weather. Also, places like swimming pools, leisure centres and bowling alleys will all still be open, as will most theme parks- but please check in advance. You might find many roads in the mountains have been shut but there should always be an alternative route which is open. Hope that helps! Have a great time. 🙂

So just a report back. We didn’t see you In Germany but what an adventure we had. Munich, Black Forest, rhine falls, Lucerne, Italy all the way to Rome and back up to Venice, finishing in Rome. 3300km.

Your advice re the heating was spot on. I can recommend Indie Campers to your readers. They were amazing and friendly. The episode on the parking apps was a game changer. We used Park4night- amazing for piece-of-mind.

Come tour South Africa! It’s great here. It’ll blow your mind!

Keep on camping!

Peter, Susan and kids

AMAZING! Thank you so much for giving me an update- it’s so fun to hear it’s all gone well. So glad you had a great experience. We would LOVE to tour South Africa- what’s the best time to visit to see big cats (a dream of mine!) Take care x

No real best time, they are always around but June, July, August is great for Kruger Park (dry season) which is a must do. It’s a huge reserve which requires at least a week or two to properly see. There are many many sanctuaries though, where they have rescued cats and cubs (cheetahs and lions). Good opportunity to cuddle little hand-reared cubs. If you go camper vanning here, and you have the time, I would begin and end in Cape Town.

Our Neigbours also offer a lot in spectacular views and wildlife. Namibia ?? , Botswana ?? , Zimbabwe ??, Mozambique ?? , not to mention the kingdoms of Lesotho ?? (incorporating the beautiful Drakensburg mountains) and Swaziland ??

We live in Port Elizabeth which has amazing beaches and lovely world class private game reserves and is the gateway to the garden route which takes you back to Cape Town.

I’m presently researching camper hire beacause I haven’t even seen a lot of what I’ve just described to you. I imagine a full round trip would require between 6000 and 10000 km so not for the faint hearted. We drive on the lefthand side (previously a British colony). Van Hire options seem limited (bobocampers, and Maui seem the best) and strangely more expensive than Europe.

If we do take on the endeavor, I’ll let you know.

Great info, thanks for the effort. Lots of details still for us to consider and heating has now become an important one for me.

I assumed the dashboard heater was the only one available and would require you to be driving or idling. What kind of heating is generally available which I should insist upon? Like fuel pellets or gas?…or electric heater to use when plugged in?

Most motorhomes have gas heating and this is preferable if possible. If you have electric heating you won’t be able to use it unless you are plugged in at a campsite- and not all campsites with electric will be open at that time of year. The dashboard heating at the front won’t be enough to heat the back so the kids will freeze- and it will be COLD in December. Like, really cold. I assume the rental company has modern (ish) vans, so they should all have heating throughout. Make sure you have the appropriate attachments to be able to refill with gas in the various countries you are going to- each country in Europe seems to need a different attachment!!

last week i make a tour of europe and get guideline throgh this channel. that is best way. so here i will recommend to others also that before travel please read this article.

Thank you Bella- I’m so pleased to have helped you! How did you enjoy your tour??

Thanks for this Kat – we are traveling from Paris to Rome in October. Our family (2 adults and 2 children who will be 8 and nearly 7) are flying in from Australia and renting a van from Indie campers. We want to stay at the cheaper aires in both France and Italy but we will need power/water, as the van only has 50L of water in it, and we’ll have our iPads and phones to charge and no inverter as we are traveling from overseas, is this possible? Can you suggest in particular?

Hi Heather- that sounds fun! You’ll find many aires/ sostas have fresh water available. Also, you can always pull into one during the day to refill, then drive off again. If you’re careful, 50L might last a couple of days- you may want to buy bottled water to drink. You should be able to pick up a cheap 12v phone/ipad charger- maybe from a garage or hardware shop- this should allow you to charge phones etc as you drive- leaving you free to camp wherever you like! Hope that helps!

Hi, just a brilliant article for all all first timers. You covered everything that one needs to be aware of and I’m extremely grateful. Thank you. One thing though, what is the ‘approximate’ cost of taking this trip? I maybe missed this, so apologies if this was the case. Best of wishes and happy trails for 2019.

Hi Amanda- I’m glad you found the post useful. Costs are difficult to predict as they can include/ not include a variety of things. I broke down our costing for a 2-week trip here- https://wandering-bird.com/cost-tour-europe-motorhome/ which you might find useful. 🙂

Great blog… we plan to travel with 4 young kids for a year around Europe but scared we need a biig vehicle and don’t think it would take well to the roads in Europe

Do you have any experience with American style winnebagos over 8m in length and if we could still get around without too much trouble?

Hi Devon. I don’t have any personal experience with Winnebagos but we have seen a few whilst touring. You’ll need to be very careful where you stop. Length isn’t an issue (we’re over 9m with our trailer), but width might be a problem at aires and even on some campsites. Also take into account toll costs- if you are over 3m in height it increases the toll costs considerably. Good luck!

What’s up to all, because I am truly keen of reading this web site’s post to be updated daily. It consists of good information.

Where the best place to buy the motorhome?

Hi Shon- check out our post on advice to buy a motorhome- you’ll find that helpful.

Hi Kat , It’s me again ….picking your brains ! We are touring for a year but doing it in 4 and 3 month chunks , coming back for 3/4 weeks inbetween each chunk for Xmas and to see elderly parents and sons , grandkids , really struggling to find travel insurance for this type of tour , can you recommend a company that could accommodate us ?

Hi, Really enjoyed reading the advice. We are planning a trip late summer 2020. What is the protocol/experience with a Motorhome for large cities. Where do you park, is it safe to leave at a campsite all day, should you find a campsite near a train station. Is this easy to do, or am I complicating the planning? Thanks

Hi! So pleased you enjoyed the article. We recommend not trying to drive your motorhome into a city (we did that in Edinnburgh- it wasn’t pretty!) Instead, find a campsite (or aire if in Europe) which is near a bus or train station and go in that way. Campsites are generally safer than aires, but take your valuables with you, including passports. We’ve left our motorhome in both campsites and aires all day without any problem whatsoever. Have a great trip!

great blog thanks for sharing.

Thanks for all the info, really helpful. I am planning a trip through Europe August 2020 for my parents and I and we are planning on getting a campervan, we have one here in NZ so we are comfortable with the set up and all that. Just wondering what you think would be best for going into the bigger cities with a Camper, is it best to find a spot outside a city (Rome, Paris etc..) and then train/bus in to sightsee for the day of is it not too difficult to navigate and find parks in the city centres? I figure if we do this we would need to pay for a campgroud so the campervan would be secure while we are sightseeing…???

Hi Kelly! Absolutely- we try to avoid driving into cities at all costs. We went into Edinburgh with our motorhome and trailer… it was not pretty! Most cities in Europe have a campsite nearby or near a train/ bus station. In Europe you can probably find an Aire, where the van should be fairly safe (of course, nothing is guaranteed and read the reviews of the Aire first.) In the UK, you’ll probably need a paid campsite as there aren’t many aires sadly. I hope you have a wonderful time! Let me know how it goes!!

This is so helpful to someone inexperienced (like me). Can you please tell me if winter tyres and/or snow chains are necessary to travel through France and down through Spain leaving before Brexit and returning in March? I am so confused.

Hi Debra, I think I already answered this in an email to you, but if you need more help please feel free to ask. 🙂

Looking forward to planning a year out around Europe in 2020/2021 and have already learned so much from your extensive information, thank you. Now planning to buy a motor home and will be taking all your advice. This will be our travel Bible.

Thanks Erick- let me know how it goes!

This has been a long read but very helpful, informative read it all dont skim through it. Brilliant every thing you need to know this is my first time , going to France I am 74 so have no worries now. Thanks.

Fantastic Keith. You will love France! Let me know how it goes!!

Hey there! We’re about to embark on our first campervan trip in March driving from Tuscany through Italy and France to England. We were going to just use google maps, but do you think a sat nav would def be better? We live in Australia and have done lots of campervanning in Oz and NZ – but never in Europe / UK!

Hey- great question! I think it depends on the size of the campervan. If it’s a small van, no higher than 2m, then you should be fine with a normal car sat-nav or Google maps. If you want to avoid low bridges and tight roads, a proper sat nav is essential- especially in Italy where roads can be a bit… crazy!! Have an amazing trip!!

thanks so much for all this info, we’ve been on the road now for a few weeks and really enjoying it! Would you have any tips for insurers please? We’re currently on our basic insurance that allows us to go abroad for three months but we’re looking for an insurance to cover us for a year or more. We’ve tried Adrian Flux already, which didn’t work. Thanks 🙂

Loved reading this and was hoping to get some help as you guys are pros . In a few months its tge euros football finals and I’d like to do so e of it by campervan. Passing through countries I never would before and watching random games to . Any thoughts on how to plan my route.

I’m guessing get dates of games and do it that way but you might have a better idea,

Thank you any help would be great

this is amazing post thanks for haring information with us

You’re very welcome- glad you enjoyed it

Thanks for this. Great post- I learnt a lot

What’s your opinion on motorhomes that have a place to store a motorcycle vs pulling a trailer?

I think I’d love one… except that we’d lose our end lounge, which we love and also there’s no way we could fit ours bikes inside- they’re both 900’s and way too heavy for the van. But if you’re happy with a smaller, lighter bike and a garage, it’s a great option.

I have been reading several articles on this topic for a while now but the points on which you have built this post are totally awesome. Thanks for that.

Hi, loads of great information which is really helpful to anyone setting out on the great adventure. We started out in 2011 and spent nine years full-timing in our Dethleffs Alpa (rear lounge and a garage!). There’s a couple of things which I think might be helpful. You don’t mention the Efoy system when talking about generators and off-grid power requirements. The Efoy is a silent running 12v generator which is completely “green” and runs on methanol. It’s an expensive initial outlay (about £3,500) but it’s a life-saver and allows indefinite off-grid living. Second thing is, open a Euro bank account with Credit Agricole. It’s called “Britline” and has English speaking helpers. If you don’t want to do that, use a UK credit card which doesn’t charge for foreign transactions. We use Nationwide. Of course, everything’s changed now with Brexit and the “90 in, 90 out” rule which will greatly affect people like us who want to spend most of the year travelling in Europe. If you’re interested in my way of avoiding this restriction just let me know.

Your advices for tours in Europa are very good. We are from Germany and I think you have absolutely nothing forgotten in your guide.

Thank you- glad you enjoyed it. We love Germany 🙂

Great article, we are following a very similar path to yours (living on a narrow boat, I have finished work and my husband is still working for now). Have you any thoughts on the 90 days in 180 rules post Brexit? We “were” planning to leave and not come back for a very long time!

Giving up my job in London in April 2024 to re-start my life with my wife and our dog Dougal, i’m so depressed and need to escape. The work starts now clearing the house out for rental, saving as much money as possible and finding the right camper to buy, we might start off in the UK, travel up though Scotland and then hit Europe for the winter. Our parents are 70-80 and the thought of not being near them when they need us and been holding us back but I have to do it for my own sanity. Thanks for all the tips, I have a lot more reading to do!

Good luck to you! Let me know how it goes 🙂

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Touring Europe in a Motorhome: Everything You Need to Know

By: Author Lisa Hunchenko

Posted on Last updated: June 23, 2021

It is not easy to see the whole of Europe. It may not be as big as other continents, but it indeed has many places worth visiting.

So what is the best way to do it? A campervan! Buying used campers from Oaktree Motorhomes or dealers alike may be the perfect way to see the beauty of this continent.

It gives you the freedom to explore places wherever and whenever you want to without the need to worry about things like hotels or restaurants. 

In this article, you can find helpful information on how to travel in a motorhome in Europe.

You can read about standard rules at campsites, in which countries you are allowed to wild-camp, where to park your RV when sightseeing, and much more.

Read on and have the best camping experience possible!

Table of Contents

Camping in Europe

Rules for driving, parking your campervan, wild camping, motorhome travel tips.

Touring Europe in a campervan is the best way to see the many sights in a short time.

After all, you have a vehicle that can carry almost anything you'll need to live on your own. But there are still some things you need to do and know if you want to enjoy your trip.

First of all, if you want to camp at the campsites , you will need to book in advance as some of them get full early.

You can also camp on private land with the owner’s permission, but it’s best to check where you can do that in the country you are visiting.

It is possible to wild-camp in some areas, but always make sure that you don’t disturb the locals or damage nature.

If you see a sign saying that camping is forbidden, don’t go there.

When parking on the roadside, make sure that your vehicle doesn’t block the road.

Avoid parking near landmarks and historical buildings, and in front of shops and restaurants. Also, check if it is allowed to park in the area.

Parking areas need to be free of obstacles, so make sure that you choose an unobstructed space that isn't close to any dangerous objects that may cause damage to your motorhome.

Most of Europe’s roads are quite good, except for those that run through forests and some mountain areas.

Due to the nature of these roads, they are often not up to standard and always have unpaved parts that may require special skills when driving a motorhome.

The other problem with them is that they are narrow, making it hard to pass by larger vehicles.

You should always anticipate slower traffic ahead of you and make sure that you have enough room to pass by everyone safely.

When driving on highways, always stick to the speed limit so as not to endanger other drivers .

When using the right-hand side of the road, make sure you do it only when it is safe and legal.

Don’t cross into oncoming traffic just because you are used to driving on the left side of the road at home. 

When passing by slower vehicles or crossing intersections, make sure that they see you first and give them enough time for maneuvering.

And remember that pedestrians always have priority over cars and motorhomes at pedestrian crossings.

Another thing you should keep in mind is that every country has different rules when it comes to driving on single-track roads and gravel paths.

In some countries, access is prohibited, while in others, it is only allowed if you have a 4×4 vehicle . Always check with local authorities before hitting the road.

When driving around Europe, it is crucial to know where you can park your RV easily.

There are certain places where parking is forbidden or restricted and where you need special permission.

The best approach is to stay overnight at a campsite or a secure parking lot near tourist attractions or cities.

You can find spots on websites like Parkopedia, which lists thousands of parking lots all over the world.

This website is handy if you travel outside the big cities – it may not be easy to find a safe place to leave your motorhome overnight.

If you decide to go wild-camping, make sure that you don’t disturb people who live nearby and don’t damage nature in any way.

Before going off-road, visit local authorities and ask how far away from houses and tourist attractions you can park your campervan legally.

You may even ask locals about good places for overnight parking. After all, there is nothing better than friendly advice!

There are some European countries where you can stay overnight in a wild camping area.

By doing that, you can avoid paying for the campsite or the parking lot and see beautiful nature at night.

Although wild camping in the UK will differ from Poland, one thing remains essential in every country – you have to make sure that you don’t disturb nature and the wildlife and don’t leave any traces of your stay behind.

When choosing a place for wild camping, make sure that you don’t select an area used by locals to live.

It is best to avoid populated areas and locations near schools and kindergartens.

Unfortunately, many wild-camping sites are filled with the garbage left behind by irresponsible campers, so make sure not to add to that.

Pack all your trash into plastic bags and dispose of it properly.

Keep in mind that most of the wild-camping sites have no toilets or washing facilities.

If that’s the case, make sure that you have a portable toilet and a camping shower with you. When you are done, make sure that your space is spotless and leave no trace.

When it comes to cooking, you should always use a portable stove. It is best to avoid open fire, as it can be unsafe for you and cause damage to nature.

If necessary, always light a campfire away from trees and bushes, and make sure that you have a fire extinguisher with you.

You can find many of them on Amazon at an affordable price. This will help you protect your camping site and nature. Also, remember to never cut any plants in the wild.

If you camp with your motorhome for the first time, think of it as a great adventure! It may be scary at first, but it will get easier every time you do it.

Before hitting the road and traveling Europe in a campervan, make sure no significant events or festivals are going on in the area.

That way, you can enjoy your trip without worrying about crowded places and traffic jams. Make sure that you are safe and enjoy every moment of your trip!

This story is brought to you in partnership with Oaktree Motorhomes.

Planning a trip? Go Backpacking recommends:

• G Adventures for small group tours.
• Hostelworld for booking hostels.

Europe Motorhome Tour – 6 Countries in 3 Months

Are you planning a motorhome trip to Europe, but don’t know where to start?

We’ve got the perfect Europe motorhome tour and itinerary for you! Whether you’re in a motorhome, campervan or even a car with a tent, our flexible three month European itinerary will take you on an incredible road trip around the continent.

From dramatic mountains, the Adriatic and Mediterranean seas, crystal clear lakes, lively and cultured cities and some spectacular driving roads, this journey will share breathtaking landscapes, exciting adventures and iconic sights as you tour Europe.

What you get with this tour and flexible itinerary;

• 44 detailed pages covering 87 days , including what to do and see, and where to go along the route + packing tips , trip notes , Schengen info and checklists .
• A 6300km route between campsites and attractions.
• 31 recommended campsites and aires suitable for motorhomes.
• 200+ attractions and points of interest along the route.
• Ready to use interactive Google Map with route, campsites and attractions detailed .
• Twelve insider tips that you won’t find in guide books.
• Five scenic driving roads plotted into your interactive map.

Europe Motorhome Tour & Itinerary

No time to research? Don’t worry, we’ve got that sorted!

Grab our three month flexible itinerary, packed with campsites, attractions and insider tips.

Go on tour knowing your route and stops are planned, with driving routes and campsites marked out for you on your interactive map.

Make the most of your holiday and let us do the planning for you.

+immediate download + read on any device + free lifetime updates

Price £24.99

Where Are You Going?

Germany – austria – slovenia – croatia – italy – france.

This itinerary starts in medieval Trier and heads south through beautiful Germany, taking in the Black Forest and Bavaria, before crossing the border into Austria and the Alps.

Taking in a couple of high Alpine passes, you’ll meander into Slovenia for stunning rivers and lakes, perfect for water sports or just messing about on the water.

Slovenia gives way to gorgeous Croatia, where you can grab some beach time and visit the picture perfect islands which are dotted along the stunning coastline.

Cross the Adriatic from Dubrovnik to Bari in Italy, and wend your way north visiting Rome and a couple of iconic Italian landmarks before reaching Tuscany, possibly one of the most breathtaking places in Europe, and its’ cultured and historic cities.

Next up is France, where you’ll visit lakes, gorges, rivers and beau villages before heading home.

Along the route, you’ll find suggestions for how to spend your time – whether you’re a history and culture vulture or an adventure seeker, you’ll find plenty to keep you busy with our itinerary.

You May Also Like…

Why Buy Our Itineraries?

• We have years of experience camping, caravanning and motorhoming in the UK and Europe. We’ve also lived in our motorhome full-time for three years…meaning we’ve visited LOTS of places and have gathered lots of information and insider knowledge.
• As well as visiting all the places we write about, our itineraries are extensively researched to ensure they are accurate and provide up to date information.
• Our itineraries come in PDF format that can be viewed on any device, just download and get reading.
• All the links in our itineraries are clickable, meaning you can check up on a particular campsite or view the map directly from your phone or tablet.
• We offer free lifetime updates. No catch, completely free, forever. Whenever we update an itinerary, you will be offered the chance to download the new version free of charge.
• Our site and payment gateway is 100% secure. You can pay safely and risk free with a debit or credit card or use Paypal.
• If you are not satisfied with your itinerary, we offer an uncomplicated, no questions asked refund within 7 days.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens when i check out.

• You will be taken directly to our secure payment gateway, where you are asked to enter your email and payment details. 
• If you want to receive automatic updates, tick the box and you will receive an opt-in email.
• Once this information is entered and your payment is accepted, a download button will appear on your screen. 
• Click this if you are using the same device on which you will view and use the itinerary. If that’s not the case, don’t worry, you’ll also be receiving an email within a few moments of purchase with a download link.
• You have three attempts to download your itinerary. If you need more attempts, please  email us .

What happens when I download the itinerary?

When you download the itinerary, it will appear on your screen in a web browser, such as Chrome or Safari. Select the share button and save to your phone, tablet, laptop or computer.

Can I print the itinerary?

Yes, but it will use quite a lot of ink as our itineraries also include images.

What if I’m not happy with my purchase?

We want you to be 100% satisfied, but if you’re not, drop us an email and we’ll sort a refund for you.

The Definitive Guide to Europe by Campervan

Imagine the feeling waking up each day, grabbing your morning coffee and looking out across the lake/mountain/beach you parked next to the night before.

You take a look at the map, plot a course and make your way to the next destination. In your own time, on your own schedule, in your own home on wheels. This is life when traveling Europe by campervan.

It is a steep learning curve once you decide to campervan in Europe for the first time, particularly if you are not from Europe. 

We are here to fast track you past the initial planning stages and help you plan your trip by campervan around Europe. In this Guide to Europe by Campervan we have listed all of our best campervan travel tips.  

There is A LOT of information here so don’t forget to save or share the article to refer to later.

• 1 How To Plan Your Europe By Campervan Itinerary
• 2 To Buy Or Rent a Campervan In Europe?
• 3 The Best Campervan Layouts
• 4 Get To Know Your Campervan
• 5 LPG Gas Bottles
• 6 Best Campervan Gadgets
• 7 Essentials Apps for Campervan Life
• 8 Connectivity Tips
• 9 Navigation Tips for Campervanning in Europe
• 10 Toll Roads
• 11 Using Ferries in Europe
• 12 Campervan Camping In Europe Guide
• 13 Campervan Security
• 14 Campervan Meals
• 15 Tracking your Europe Road Trip Costs
• 16 Important Documents to Carry
• 17 Ready To Plan Your Trip?
• 18 Final Travel Europe By Campervan Advice

How To Plan Your Europe By Campervan Itinerary

We explored Europe by campervan for 5 months on a family gap year and it was an incredible experience. The region is well set up for touring by campervan.

The ease of travel between countries and the cultural and natural diversity of Europe make it the perfect road trip destination.

The natural thing to do first when planning to campervan around Europe is plan the itinerary.

There are millions of different campervan routes in Europe and it can be hard to whittle it down to a manageable list. 

We suggest you start with this list of questions to help you narrow your planning efforts:

• How much time do I have
• Where will we start and end the road trip
• How much driving am I prepared to do each week
• What time of year will I be in Europe (the weather is an important consideration)
• Do I want to travel slow or do I want to tick off as many places as I can.

Next we suggest you pull out your Europe bucket list, a spreadsheet, a map of Europe, Google Maps and your Weather App and start planning.

Expert Tip:   When looking at distances on Google maps, add half the time again to get a realistic idea of the time it will take to drive in a campervan. Travel by campervan is slower than by car and you will most likely stop a number of times on the way. In our experience a 3 hour trip on Google Maps typically becomes a 4-5 hour driving day.

We love using Lonely Planet Guide Books when we first start planning a new trip.

They give a good overview of a country or region, the key sights, and best time to go. They are a helpful way to come up with your Europe bucket list in order to start planning.

Click here for the latest prices for Lonely Planet Europe .

As you start to form your high level itinerary, my best piece of advice is don’t lock it all in!

The beauty of travelling Europe in a campervan is that you can also make it up as you go along. Prioritise the countries and sights you want to see and adjust your Europe itinerary as you go.

Europe Itinerary Planner

If you would like more guidance to plan your Europe itinerary, we recommend this Europe Motorhoming Travel Toolkit by motorhome experts, Wandering Bird.

The toolkit includes a Europe travel ebook, printables, video tutorials and guides to route planning, camping, motorhome security and much, much more.

It is an invaluable resource full of tips and ideas and so helpful for first time motorhome Europe travellers.

>> Click here to check the price and find out more

To Buy Or Rent a Campervan In Europe?

Buy or rent? This is one of the most difficult decisions and unfortunately there is no right answer to this question. It really depends on your situation.

So to help you choose here we guide you through a couple of key questions to help you make this important decision.

In short, renting is the simplest and easiest option and the best choice for short trips (less than 8 weeks).

There are many European motorhome rental agencies, but we recommend   Motorhome Republic . They have a huge network of vans across Europe and offer discounts for longer bookings.

Click here for a no obligation quote from Motorhome Republic.

Renting an RV in Europe makes sense for short trips, but will cost more if you are travelling around Europe for a longer period.

Considerations for renting or buying a motorhome in Europe

Here are some things to consider when weighing up whether to buy or rent an RV in Europe.

Length of trip in the campervan

The longer your trip the more sensible it is buy. On our calculations it was worth buying a camper van if the trip was longer than 2.5 months.

Less time than that and it was probably easier to hire a campervan in Europe.

The time of year

Off season rentals are typically much cheaper as loads of campervans are returned at the end of summer.

If you are brave enough to start your trip in winter and are prepared to negotiate, you should be able to get a much better price on a Europe RV rental for the off season.

Van repairs

Are you prepared to take responsibility for fixing the van, should things go wrong? When renting a campervan in Europe, if anything goes wrong, the rental company will resolve the issue.

If you buy the van you are going to have to work it out yourself.

We met a couple in Montenegro who had been holed up in the campsite for a month waiting for a part for their van to be shipped from the UK.

Thankfully we had no major issues with our van over the 5 months.

But it is a big consideration. For this reason, before purchasing a van we strongly recommend you have it checked out by a mechanically minded person.

Your country of origin makes a difference

As a non-European it is a little more complicated to purchase and insure a van in Europe.

It makes a private sale with an individual buyer very complicated unless you have friends or relatives in Europe who are prepared to purchase insurance on your behalf.

But the good news is that it is possible to purchase a campervan as a non-resident through a number of smaller European campervan companies.

If you are interested in buying a European camper van, contact us and we can put you in contact with our preferred company, a small family run business.

Expert Tip: If you need to transfer funds when purchasing a van in Europe we use and recommend Wise. Much better rates than most banks and quick and easy to set up. We saved hundreds of dollars transferring funds for our van purchase using Wise. Click here to find out more.

Look at campervan buy back schemes

If you don’t want the hassle of selling the campervan privately at the end of your trip, there are companies who will offer a guaranteed buy back. This will cost you more than purchasing and selling privately, but it is cheaper than renting.

You are assured of selling the van and it simplifies the process at the end of your trip. It is a good compromise between renting and buying privately. We opted for this option and we very happy with our decision.

If you would like to get a quote for buying a camper van in Europe through a buy back scheme, contact us and we can put you in contact with our preferred supplier.

So in summary, buying a van requires a large financial outlay but will most likely save you more over the long term.

But if you don’t want the hassle, motorhome hire for European travel is easy and worry free.

Get a campervan rental quote today and start planning your road trip!

The Best Campervan Layouts

Before you choose to purchase or rent a van, you should spend some time thinking about the best campervan layout to suit your needs.

There are literally thousands of different van configurations. It is hard to know what will work if you haven’t been RVing in Europe before.

Questions to help you find the best van layout

To simplify your van search, use these questions to prioritise what is important before you start looking.

How new do you want the van to be? What modern features does it need to have?

Are you prepared to accept an older van with older furnishings, no air conditioning, fewer mod cons. Older vans are generally much cheaper to buy or rent.

Or are these things important to you? For example, if you are considering Europe campervan routes in the south through Summer, air conditioning will make your trip much more comfortable.

Van size is a big consideration and will depend on how many people are traveling, but also the style of trip you want to take.

Do you want to go offroad on your camper van Europe trip? Do you want to free camp in out of the way places? Do you want to be able to drive the van into major cities? A smaller van is better for these types of European road trips.

Do you have kids? Do you want them to have a separate sleeping area and/or their own beds?

What size van are you comfortable driving? There are pros and cons to both. A small van is easier to drive and park and is easier to take to out of the way places.

But a larger van usually has a toilet and kitchen onboard, provides more comfort inside when traveling to colder countries and allows you to take more stuff.

It is worth noting that European camper vans on average tend to be smaller than what you find in Northern America, but are perfectly suited to RV through Europe.

Right or Left Hand Drive

Do you want a right or left hand drive? If you are going to spend most of your time on the continent, it makes more sense to buy a left hand drive vehicle.

Many vans for sale in the UK are right hand drive, so always check when enquiring if it is a left hand or right hand drive.

Bed Configuration

Are you prepared to convert a table into a bed each night or do you want permanently set up beds when you RV Europe?

If you are on a long term road trip, converting a bed each day can become pretty tiresome, but it means you can take a smaller van.

We took this compromise on our US month long road trip , but didn’t want to for a longer Europe tour.

If you have kids and they are still in car seats or booster seats this needs to be factored in to your decision.

Expert Tips: If you are traveling with kids, we talk more about bed configuration when traveling Europe by campervan with kids here .

Do you want to carry bikes or other large sporting equipment like kayaks or paddle boards that will need to be stored in or on the van?

Kitchen Appliances

Can you cook everything in your campervan kitchen on a gas cook top? Can you live without an oven and grill in the van?

Camper Van Amenities

Do you want to be able to free camp for days at a time off the grid with sufficient power and amenities to do so?

A van with a fridge that runs on gas, lights that run on a dual battery and a toilet onboard will help you achieve this.

Heating and Cooling

Will you be traveling through hot climates on your campervan Europe trip?

If you don’t have air conditioning you will need a van with plenty of opening windows (preferably with insect screens).

Will you be travelling Europe in the winter? If so you will need a campervan heater.

Related: The best campervan accessories for van life

Get To Know Your Campervan

Once you have chosen your van, it is really important to familiarise yourself with the vehicle before you set off campervanning around Europe.

We cannot stress the importance of this enough: get to know your new home before you go too far from where you rent or buy it.

Travelling Van Pre-Travel Checklist

• Check the campervan is mechanically okay. Ask when was it last serviced. Check the tyres.
• Do all the windows and blinds open and close correctly?
• Do all doors open, close and lock properly?
• If there is an alarm, does it work and how does it function?
• Confirm the appliances (fridge, heater, 12V outlets, AC outlets, air con if you are so lucky) are working and you know how to use them.
• Have the company/seller show you how to fill the LPG tank. Have they provided the necessary attachments for the countries you are visiting?
• Check you know how to open and close the campervan awnings.
• Check if the awning comes with tie down ropes. If it doesn’t we recommend you buy them to secure the awning. Click here to see the tie downs we recommend .

Know the van dimensions

It is also really important to know the height, length and width of your van!

Unlike rving in the US , there were MANY occasions heading down a country road or under a small bridge we would notice a road sign indicating the maximum width or height.

We would have to stop and find another way around because we wouldn’t fit in our large motorhome. It is VERY important to know this!

Campervan Parking

Navigating into campsites and getting out of carparks is often tricky and we saw a few other drivers hitting light posts and fence posts in their attempts to reverse their RVs!

Our van didn’t have parking sensors or a reversing camera and it was impossible to see what was behind you.

We suggest that if you are traveling with other people, one of you always get out and direct the driver into or out of the spot as you campervan through Europe.  

Agree on a method for helping the driver with reverse parking. We found that hand signals worked better than voice commands.

Supermarket carparks are a good place to find large spots to park when in visiting towns in Europe.

They had more space and we could take up a few spots. Much less stressful than trying to park on a busy street!

Managing Waste Water

Larger campervans come equipped with grey water tanks. This collects all the used water – from the kitchen and bathroom sinks.

The older the van, the more likely it is this tank is going to have a unique and not so great odour.

If you rent or buy an older van our recommendation is to empty the grey water tank before setting off on long driving days.

When we didn’t empty the grey water tank we would be driving along with our sleeves held over our noses! The smell of grey water wafting through the van is terrible and was much worse in hotter weather.

We tried everything to improve the situation. From special tank cleaner to dishwashing liquid to putting ice cubes into the tank. Nothing got rid of the smell. The best solution was to have an empty grey water tank whilst driving.

If your van has a toilet we suggest you use toilet chemicals. Carry spare bottles of toilet chemicals as they were not always easy to find in smaller towns.

Thetford Aqua-Kem is a popular holding tank chemical and the one we used on our trip around Europe. Click here to check the latest prices .

LPG Gas Bottles

If your campervan has a refillable LPG bottle, monitor the gas level and don’t let it get too low. In some countries such as Portugal and Austria it was difficult to find LPG so we tried to keep it above half full.

Having said that, we used the gas for cooking, heating and cooling the fridge when off the grid and it really didn’t use much gas at all. We probably could have only filled it once or twice in 5 months.

Note also that there are four of different types of LPG gas bottle fittings used across Europe. Our campervan came with all of them and we could screw on the one we needed when we refilled.

The website mylpg.eu/adapters explains which fitting type is used in each country and also has a listing of LPG filling stations.

Also, if you were like us and had no idea how to use an LPG pump, have a look on YouTube for some guidance!

Best Campervan Gadgets

There is additional equipment and motorhome accessories you will use all the time and we recommend you purchase for travelling in Europe by campervan.

1. 12V USB Port Adaptor

You will need to buy a 12V USB port adaptor to charge your phones and tablets. Make sure you get a good quality one with a high current output to enable fast charging of your phone.

It will need to be dual USB like this one so you can power the GPS at the same time as charging a phone.

2. Voltage Inverter

If you have electronic devices such as a laptop or camera battery charger that are powered by AC voltage then see if you can find a 12V charger for them.

Alternatively, we recommend buying a voltage inverter which allows you to run an AC device from a 12V port.

When choosing an inverter you need to check that the inverter output is the correct AC voltage and is rated at a significantly higher power than the device you are powering.

For example, I needed to run my laptop power supply which was 220V at 180W so I bought a 500W Car Power Inverter. Click to check the latest prices on the Inverter.

If you are coming from the US you need a 12v to 110v inverter for US voltage electronics like this one .

We also recommend you purchase bicycles when touring Europe in a campervan.

Campsites are often located a little out of town and the bikes give you more flexibility to get out and explore the local area without having to drive the van everywhere.

You can easily purchase them secondhand on ebay like we did, or look for a good deal on a new bike that you can sell at the end of your trip.

The large supermarket chains like Carrefour and Aldi often had new bikes for sale and Decathlon is a cheap sportstore found in Europe with affordable bikes.

Many campervans have a bike rack on the rear to carry bikes. If not, ask your rental agency or seller if one can be added.

An adaptor, inverter and bikes are our top three campervan products for motorhome travel to Europe.

For more of our favorite travel accessories see our list of 14 Travel Essentials here .

Read next: Best gifts for Motorhome owners

Essentials Apps for Campervan Life

It is easy to stay connected on a campervan trip around Europe. We travel with a laptop, a tablet, 2 kindles and 4 mobile phones.

The kids have a mobile device and headphones each because it was the cheapest way for them to have access to music and audio books.

We talk more about this in our article on road trip activities for kids. Click here to read it .

To satisfy everyone’s need for music, we purchased a Spotify family membership for access to music online.

Spotify is a great app. Everyone had their own playlists and could access unlimited new music throughout the trip.

It is also possible to save playlists to listen to when offline.

Download Spotify for free. Click for: Apple Store free download (iOS) Google Store free download (Android)

Another option for access to tunes is Amazon Music . They also offer a family membership plan and have the option to play music when offline, similar to Spotify.

Click here for a 30 day free unlimited trial of Amazon Music.

2. Borrowbox

We also signed up with our local public library to borrow ebooks and audio books for free. This was one of the best decisions we made for RV travel in Europe.

It has saved us hundreds of dollars and also helped entertain the kids on long drives.

Check with your local public library whether they are set up. Our library used the Borrowbox app.

The kids would listen to audiobooks on their phones as we were driving and we could download ebooks to the tablet.

Download BorrowBox for free. Click for Apple Store free download (iOS) Google Store free download (Android)

The only limitation with the Borrowbox app is that often new releases were not available, and popular books were constantly on loan.

So the other option is to sign up for an Audible account . Audible gives you access to a huge range of new release audiobooks, podcasts and originals as part of a monthly membership.  Click here to sign up for a free trial on Audible.

A podcast app is another way to download content for both kids an adults. We use Castbox.

Book exchanges seem to be a thing of the past and we very rarely found somewhere to exchange English books, especially kids books, so the kindles were essential.

We traveled with two kindles which were shared between all 4 of us.

Our family bought us an Amazon voucher as a farewell gift. We made very good use of this during the year when we couldn’t find books to borrow from the library.

Click here to see the latest Kindle and price

If you plan to work or homeschool while travelling Europe by motorhome, a laptop is essential.

We love our Microsoft Surface Pro as it is lightweight, a fully functioning laptop that can also be converted to a tablet for use by the kids.

It was well used not only for work but also for watching movies, planning our Europe trip along the way and for the kids to do login to online learning sites for homeschooling.

Click here to see the latest prices for the Surface Pro

Connectivity Tips

Wifi vs mobile data.

One of our top campervan tips is not to rely on camp ground WiFi when you travel Europe in a campervan.

I was very surprised in Europe to find WiFi connectivity generally pretty poor. We found camp grounds almost always promised WiFi but in reality it was slow and unreliable and sometimes expensive.

Like most people these days, internet connections are an important part of travel.

Plus as we didn’t book any of our trip in advance we were planning most nights once the kids were in bed. 

To reduce frustration levels with WiFi we recommend you purchase local prepaid data plans.

In 2017 the EU introduced a new law forcing mobile data roaming costs to be the same across Europe as in the country where you purchased the SIM.

This means you can get a SIM in your first country and know it will work practically everywhere at the same rate.

While there are still huge variations in the plans on offer, it is much easier than before when it often made sense to get a new prepaid SIM in each country.

The Prepaid Data SIM Card Wiki is an amazing source of information that we used to determine the best deal.

Read Next: Best Road Trip Gifts for Travel Lovers

If you are using free WiFi it is important to protect your data by using a VPN when travelling Europe in a van.

A VPN (virtual private network) allows you to use public and open WiFi connections without the risk of your data being compromised.

We use NordVPN all around the world when we travel. Just switch it on when you connect to WiFi and know your information is safe.

Click here to see the latest deals with NordVPN.

Navigation Tips for Campervanning in Europe

We highly recommend that you have a number of different navigation tools on hand to help plan your journeys.

There was never one tool that met all of our needs and we used all of these methods most days.

1. Road Atlas

For high-level planning, our first point of call was our Philip's Big Road Atlas Europe .

This may seem a little old school, but we regularly referred to this map to give us a good overview of distances for itinerary planning.

Our son also loved highlighting our Europe road trip in the atlas to track our journey and it is a great memento of the trip.

>> Click here to check the price for the Philip's Europe Road Atlas .

Traveling with kids?   Read our tips for road trip activities for kids here

A dedicated GPS/Sat Nav with up-to-date maps is essential for a few reasons:

• It doesn’t rely on mobile connectivity
• It keeps your mobile free for other purposes when driving
• The GPS shows you the speed limit when you are driving and just how sharp that upcoming bend is.

There are many different types of GPS, but you are best to look at sat navs for motorhomes with European road maps included.

We had an entry level TomTom GPS and found it simple and reliable to use plus we liked the Australian voice option who would tell us “mate, if those back seat drivers don’t keep it down, ditch them at the next servo”.

However it didn’t have settings specifically for large vehicles which would have been helpful considering the number of small roads and villages we navigated.

>> Click here to check the price for TomTom GPS for motorhomes

3. Google Maps

The only problem with a GPS is that sometimes it might suggest tiny roads or routes through village centres that our 7m/3.5 tonne van could not pass through.

Unfortunately there was no option to filter out roads not suitable for oversized campervans.

So we would also use the Google Maps app on our phone to see what route it suggested because it tended to be better at avoiding small roads.

We strongly recommend when you have WiFi you download Google Maps for use in offline mode to avoid being reliant on mobile data.

The other great thing we used Google Maps for (if you have an internet connection) is to use satellite view or street view to check just how wide a road is.

If you can see lines in the middle of the road you are good to go. If not, you may need to think twice in a large van.

4. Other Tools

We also occasionally used an app (or website) called Via Michelin which was able to give estimates for toll costs and more realistic travel times compared to Google maps.

Also ensure you research different country rules in relation to things such as driving laws, low emission zones, how tolls are charged and child restraint requirements.

The rules differ a lot between countries. We had to change our plans in and around London due to restrictions on older vehicles entering greater London.

Our Philip’s Big Road Atlas Europe had an excellent country section in the front that summarised the basic rules and regulations for each country.

Toll roads are common in Europe (except Germany and the Netherlands) and they can be very expensive to travel on in a motorhome.

We recommend you do your research on the cost of toll roads in each country, how much time they will save you on the journey and how they have to be paid. It differs country by country.

The Via Michelin site was useful for estimating tolls on different routes.

France was super expensive because our campervan was over 3m tall and classified as a bus.

We spent 30 Euros ($35 USD) on one 5 hour drive down the west coast of France. Italy and Spain were much more reasonably priced and had fewer tolls.

How to pay Tolls in Europe

In most cases you can pay the toll using cash or a credit card at a toll booth.

One exception is Portugal which has no toll booths, just toll points with cameras that scan your number plate.

In Portugal you must register a credit card against your number plate at the Welcome Points just over the border on their main motorways.

Then your card is automatically charged when you pass a toll point. More information on the process can be found here.

Another variation is the vignette. This is a prepaid motorway toll in the form of a sticker which you typically purchase from petrol stations near the border and display on your windscreen.

Vignettes are required in Switzerland, Austria & Slovenia and some other Eastern European countries.  They come with varying length validity. Being caught out will result in a hefty fine.

If you want to avoid tolls, you can set your GPS/Sat Nav and Google Maps to do this.

As a rule of thumb, if we weren’t in a hurry we would avoid toll roads. If we were traveling a long distance we generally took the toll roads to maintain the sanity of both parents and kids.

Using Ferries in Europe

It is possible to move between countries by ferry in your campervan instead of by road.

There are a number of transport ferries that operate between Spain, Italy, France, Montenegro, Greece and even Africa.

This is worth considering if you want to get to South Eastern Europe quickly to save time or if you want to extend your trip touring Europe in a motorhome into Africa.

We share our experience taking two transport ferries to get from Spain to Montenegro here .

Campervan Camping In Europe Guide

When camping through Europe you have three main options for camp sites:

• Paid campgrounds 
• Cheap Aires
• Free or wild camping

Paid Camping across Europe

If you plan to use camp grounds in Europe my best recommendation is to purchase an ACSI camping card .

ACSI is a non-peak season discount program containing over 3000 campsites around Europe.

We saved hundreds of dollars camping through Europe in the low and shoulder seasons over the 5 months with our ACSI card.

You need to order this before you arrive in Europe (unless you have a friend who is local) and make sure you allow plenty of time to receive the membership card and guides.

We bought them directly from ACSI and had them sent to a UK address. They took about 6 weeks to arrive.

It was worth paying a little extra for access to their mobile app as it was a good way to search for campsites in the general direction we were heading in.

We also suggest you don’t rely too much on camp site reviews. Also, don’t believe bigger is always better.

Often in the larger campgrounds the actual sites were small and expensive. Look for smaller, locally run campsites, or look for free campsites.

Cheap Camping in Europe

One of the best ways to save money when touring in Europe by campervan is to stay at Aires. Aires are simple sites set up specifically for people travelling Europe in a motorhome. 

Three great resources to find these sites are:

• searchforsites.co.uk
• campercontact.com
• park4night.com

Europe has an extensive network of Aires and they are perfect for RV camping in Europe.

They cannot be booked in advance and typically have a waste dump point, fresh water and toilets. Sometimes they have electricity hookups and showers.

The sites fill up quickly in summer so make sure you arrive by early afternoon to have a chance at a spot.

We occasionally used these but found them not to be ideal for stops of more than one night with the kids. 

We also strongly recommend checking out memberships such as France Passion .

They offer free overnight camping in wineries and farms for members. A similar system was operating in Portugal too. 

Free Camping in Europe

We found the park4night app to be an excellent resource for finding free or wild camping sites in Europe.

Download park4night. Click for Apple Store download (iOS) Google Store download (Android)

This app lists free (and fee based) camping sites all over Europe.

The sites and ratings are all user-generated. The sites range from supermarket car parks to gorgeous spots along the coastline.

It is available offline if you pay the small monthly fee and we recommend paying for this option.

TBH we thought we would free camp way more than we did. It is a great money saver and was much easier in some countries and places than others.

I wish we had found this guide to wild camping before our trip, as it gives a great overview of what you can and can’t do, plus recommends hundreds of good stops based on personal experience.

But in reality we had a 7 metre, 3.5 tonne, 2 wheel drive van that couldn’t sneak down little dirt tracks.

We found we stressed more when stopping in a carpark with the kids as they couldn’t go off and explore.

If I am honest, sometimes the effort to search for a free camp was beyond me at the end of a long day driving with the kids.

But, there are many people who travel all over Europe and rarely pay for a campsite. It is definitely worth doing.

Note that free camping is illegal in some countries (such as Croatia) and in others they make it hard to find a place to stop (such as Italy).

Some countries allow it in the off season but not through summer. Take a look, give it a go and see what works for you.

If you want to know more about wild camping in Europe, this wild camping guide is a fantastic resource.

It outlines how to stay legal, how to choose the best places to camp and much, much more. Click here to find out more.

Booking Camp sites

Our best tip when you are planning your road trip by campervan in Europe is not to book too much. Resist the temptation to book anything in advance!

We had a very high level view of the countries we wanted to visit and in what order, but did not book anything before we started. We decided every couple of days where we would go next.

This approach gives you so much freedom to be flexible, to stay longer at places you like, to take up recommendations you receive along the way, or choose a place based on how everyone is feeling at the time.

We found that if we arrived at a campground by mid-afternoon we always found a site.

However, the summer school holiday periods do require a little planning.

Camp sites get very busy over the school breaks, especially those on the coast or on lakes.

While most campsites have a percentage of their sites that cannot be booked, in order to claim one you will need to arrive very early during the summer.

We dealt with this challenge by heading inland to the mountains during summer where we had no trouble finding accommodation.

So look at visiting less popular places away from the coast during these busy times or be prepared to arrive very early at your destination and cross your fingers.

Campervan Security

It is important to plan how to keep your campervan and valuables secure.

Thankfully we were never broken into during our trip but it is worth taking measures to have peace of mind that your stuff is going to stay with you.

Our van was pretty old so we figured it was unlikely to be stolen (there were much better ones around!), but we were more worried about a break in.

Being an older van there was no alarm, no deadlocks and windows that were pretty easy to pull open.

Related: Best Anti Theft Backpacks for Travel

In cities we always stayed either in camp sites or in secure parking stations. We always pulled the blinds down when leaving the van in a car park or on the street.

Often one of us would stay with the campervan when doing grocery shopping if the area didn’t have a good vibe.

We didn’t come across many other travellers who had experienced a break in so there is no need to be overly concerned.

I just really didn’t want the hassle of losing our most important things, so were happy to take precautions.

Pacsafe Portable Safe

One of the things that gave us the most peace of mind was our Pacsafe Portable Safe.

It is a theft proof bag that can be used to store valuables in your van. We used the Pacsafe Travelsafe Portable Safe to lock our passports, documents and devices in when we weren’t in the campervan.

The bag was secured under one of the seats to lock it to the van. If we were free camping we would also secure it at night.

This bag has been one of our best travel purchases. We take it on every trip and use it everywhere we stay.

>> Click here to check the price and size options for the Pacsafe Portable safe .

Campervan Meals

In a past life eating out and experiencing the local food was a key part of any trip.

However, when you are feeding 4 people every day for 5 months in Europe, eating out quickly becomes a huge expense!

So if you are keen to save money, plan to cook most meals in the van.

To try and stay on budget we rarely ate out, but we still found ways to experience the local food.

Browsing the aisles at the supermarket for local treats and buying smaller snacks/treats when we were out sightseeing became our cheaper way of experiencing the local food.

Expert Tip:   Make sure you have enough food on hand to get through Sundays! Supermarkets are usually closed on Sunday, even in large towns

We recommend purchasing a camping recipe cookbook.

In the book we purchased every recipe could be cooked on a gas top. This ultimate RV cookbook was a great resource and we used it every day during our trip.

>> Click here to check the price for the camp cookbook .

Other essential kitchen items were:

• A stove top coffee maker for great coffee every day. We love our little Bialetti Moka Pot and it comes with us whenever we travel by camper van. Click here to check the price.
• A gas stove toast maker. 
• Unbreakable wine glasses. Tumblers work just fine too, but these just add a little extra!

Read more: The best campervan accessories

Grocery Shopping

It is a good idea to do your grocery shop on route between destinations.

Campgrounds are often not close to the shops and it is annoying to pack the van up to go to the supermarket once you arrive and set up camp.

Look for large supermarket chains to spend less, buy in bulk and shop less frequently.

Discount Supermarkets

Lidl and Aldi were by far the cheapest supermarkets in Europe.

We would look them up in Google maps while driving and make a detour to shop there on the way to our next camp site.

They may not have the best range of products but they saved us HUGE amounts of money. 

We can highly recommend that you buy beer, wine and spirits at the discount supermarkets.

We found many drinkable wines in the 2-4 euro price bracket and even found a decent bottle of gin at Aldi for 7 euros.

Admittedly our standards are lower when on a campervan road trip, but we still want to enjoy a glass of wine or beer at the end of the day!

Tracking your Europe Road Trip Costs

We recommend you set a budget and track your spending. I know if sounds boring, but it is not much fun if you plan to travel for 6 months and run out of cash in 3.

Costs can easily get out of hand, especially if you are doing a lot of activities, staying at camp sites and eating out.

We researched costs a lot before starting our trip. It is pretty difficult to find this information for a family of 4 and we just had to go with our gut a bit.

Expert Tip:   If you have the space, stock up on long life pantry items in cheaper countries to save money.

We set a budget by country, tracked it each day and reviewed it on a monthly basis.

Having a budget helped us make adjustments to our trip when we needed to in order to stay on track.

Budgeting Apps

There are a number of mobile apps out there to track your travel spending once you are on the road.

The one we love and use is Trabee Pocket . It allows you to easily track all your spending by country and category in the local and home currency on the go.

Download Trabee Pocket. Click for Apple Store download (iOS) Google Store download (Android)

You can also export your costs to other applications such as excel where you can track your overall travel budget. We highly recommend this app.

Transferring Money

If you decide to purchase a van in Europe and need to transfer funds internationally, we use and recommend Wise.

Wise offer competitive exchange rates without the huge fees charged by the banks and make international money transfers so simple.

Set up is quick and money can be transferred quickly and easily. Click here find out more about Wise.

Important Documents to Carry

Ensure you have a printed copy of the insurance papers and rental agreement/proof of ownership handy. Old school I know, but trust me, it is required!

We made the mistake of only having a soft copy of our camper insurance papers available on our mobile phone.

On crossing the border from Montenegro to Bosnia, we had to deal with a very irate Bosnian border officer who insisted that only a paper copy would do.

We were in the middle of nowhere and were forced to purchase additional van insurance at the border. Let’s just say it wasn’t a good day.

Also take originals of everyone’s birth certificates and marriage certificate.

You never know if and when you may need them and it is almost impossible to get them once you are touring Europe and moving regularly.

Ready To Plan Your Trip?

We have shared a bunch of information here for you to get started.

But if you are ready to get into the detail of trip planning, we highly recommend you take a look at the Europe Motorhoming Travel Toolkit by motorhome experts, Wandering Bird.

They have been exploring Europe fulltime for the best part of 3 years and share all their best tips and experience with you in one handy toolkit that offers outstanding value.

So what’s inside? The toolkit includes:

• Detailed Europe motorhome travel ebook
• Printable checklists
• Video tutorials
• In depth guide to off-grid camping in Europe
• Motorhome security guide, log book and MORE!

If you have started planning your first motorhome trip to Europe, this toolkit is hands down the best purchase you can make for stress free trip planning.

Final Travel Europe By Campervan Advice

Last but not least try and get off the beaten path on your tour of Europe.

While Western Europe offers many beautiful destinations, some of our favourite places were small towns in Eastern Europe. These countries are also significantly cheaper to travel in.

The beauty of traveling Europe in a motorhome is that you aren’t constrained by train or bus lines or hotels. You can travel anywhere!

This style of travel presents you with a great deal of freedom that you can’t achieve when traveling any other way.

Our Europe campervan trip was one of the highlights of our family gap year . 

We heartily recommend it as a family friendly way to travel and cannot wait to plan another trip.

If you are planning to RV through Europe and you have questions, please let us know in the comments below or contact us – we are happy to help.

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Have we missed anything in our Motorhome in Europe guide? Leave your best tips for touring Europe in a campervan!

Read more about travel to Europe

• Europe by campervan with kids
• The best campervan accessories to buy
• Family Cycling Trip along the Danube River
• How to travel the world with kids
• Montenegro in pictures
• Triglav National Park, Slovenia

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Rachel Rodda

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19 thoughts on “the definitive guide to europe by campervan”.

Thanks for this detailed guide. We won’t be setting out for a couple of years when we retire. I am curious why you recommend bringing marriage license? Did you need to present it? Same question for birth certificate. Is a passport not enough? Thanks

Hi Cheryl, we took them as a backup precaution for two reasons – one was if we lost our passports. With copies of our birth certificates (and marriage certificate as I had changed my name), it would help fast track the process of getting new passports. When you are on the road it is quite slow to get things posted to you from your home country (and hard if you have packed everything away in storage at home). The second reason was to prove we were the parents of our children. In some countries (especially in Africa) they wanted to sight the kids birth certificates on land borders to prove we were their parents. It was also helpful if only one of us was traveling with the kids. I believe it is done to help prevent child trafficking. I hope this helps!

Rachel: THANK YOU so much for the comprehensive info! This one post answered 99% of my What About questions.

Hi Jodi, That’s great – there is a lot to learn when planning a Europe campervan trip. I’m glad we could help you out.

Hi I loved reading up on your advice . I am planning a 6 to 12 month trip around Europe. Just my wife and myself. Age 55 to 60 . We are pretty seasonal van travelers around Aus . Seeing your comments about the road access in off road camps answered my question regarding the size of van . I will be taking 2 x bikes . Is it worth getting an electric bike for my wife ? She hates hills . Also is there opportunities to tour across country a little by bikes . Maybe stay is B and Bs . One more thing did you see many travelers who carried a small boat and motor? I fond this a terrific part of my trips around Aus. Hope you can put a bit of light on these subjects. Cheers Jim Central coast NSW

Thanks for your message. We saw plenty of people with electric bikes in Europe – they are popular, so worth considering. There are plenty of opportunities to tour by bike in France, Germany and Austria. You can read about our bike tour along the Danube in this article https://www.adventureandsunshine.com/4-day-family-cycling-trip-danube-austria/ We didn’t see many campervans towing boats – but I am sure it is possible. It really depends where you want to travel. The challenge with Europe compared to Australia and the US is the size of many roads is small and narrow, which makes it especially challenging with long or wide vans, particularly in towns and mountain areas. Good luck planning your trip!

Hi Rachel Just want to say thank you for your answer. Much appreciated. We already made a budget (was around 200AUD$ per day) which then seems realistic since we are traveling without kids. Kind regards Christian

Hi Rachel, thanks for a great guide. We are looking at Rving in europe for 3 months (maybe longer) from Dec 20/21 winter with 2 kids who will be 8. We want to do some skiing in Austria and Italy and also want to take advantage of school holidays and low work commitments during those months in AUS. Hence the time of year. When i was a kid my parents took us on a 12 month trip through europe in an RV, mainly free camping with no heating when off grid and we survived, but that was the 70’s and we spent the winter mainly in southern europe. Im interested in what months you travelled and whether you think winter in and around the alps in a heated RV is a good idea. We could go a bit later and still ski through to easter, but im thinking that even if we do push the trip ending out to April, we may as well still go in Dec or Jan because work is slow and kids are on holdiays. Your thoughts?

Hi Tony, we traveled over the summer months from May through September, so I can’t give specific advice for RVing in winter. However, our van had a great heater and we were always warm when inside the van. My biggest concerns would be where to put all the ski gear (and where to dry it) and the fact you may need to spend a lot of time inside the van together. If you were skiing for just a short period that would probably be fine if you could find a campsite open where you could hang and dry your gear. Heading to southern europe over Dec/Jan is a great idea – it will still be cool, so not beach weather, but will be much quieter. Note however that many smaller areas all but close down over winter so consider where you want to go and check how much will be open over that time.

Hi Rachel Sounds like a really good trip. My girlfriend and i are thinking about taking a campervan Europe tour for +6 months…so we are ofcause interested in your trip. Is your budget to find here on this site? If not, can you share it? if yes, some level of details would be nice so that we can adjust it to our needs.

really nice site you have here. Thanks 🙂 Kind regards Christian and are spec

Hi Christian, we haven’t shared our costs on the blog, yet. Costs will vary enormously from person to person dependent on a lot of factors. Number of people, countries you visit, the size of van, whether you free camp or pay for campgrounds and how many paid activities you do. We traveled for 20 weeks with 2 adults and 2 school aged children. We mostly paid for campgrounds. Our average cost per day was $250 AUD. That includes the van, petrol and gas, laundry, campsites, food, sightseeing and activities, visas, public transport, equipment we bought for the van etc. Hopefully that is helpful! It is possible to travel much cheaper than that for 2 people who free camp more often and are able to buy and sell the van independently.

I know that Full time traveling is really hard for those who never tried any dare in normal life but peoples like you are real-life heroes. who never step back from any problem and fight with this. and your adventure always gives you great memories…. I like to read it and would like to read more n more about your van life…. Keep it up…. love all of you…

Great guide. We are at the beginning of considering a camping trip in Europe so glad to find your guide. Thanks for sharing

What great tips. We plan to travel Europe by camper van in summer next year and are just going through the shall we buy or rent scenarios. Previously rented for a month in NZ #FarawayFiles

It is a tough decision and depends on a lot of factors, with time being the biggest one. It is a fab place to visit by camper though! We would love to explore NZ by camper – one day!

What great tips Rachel. I think my favourites are – use a physical map and know the dimensions of your vehicle. We learned about those (again!) the hard way in Sicily and we only had a medium sized car. Google maps is certainly not your friend in some situations. Thanks for joining #FarawayFiles

Agreed, Katy. In a world full of online content, the physical map was still well used. I can’t recall how many times we cursed our Sat Nav or google maps! In a camper you definitely need to do a little research before you set off.

Great info here! I hope to one day go on a RV trip closer to home (across Canada, at least for my first taste of RV travel!), and even though that isn’t Europe, I think the pointers you’ve shared here are relevant! I had no clue that guaranteed buy-back ‘programs’ existed!

Thanks Bryna. The buy back schemes are a great compromise between buying and renting. Not sure of any companies in Canada who offer it. Let me know if you find one – we would love to do an RV trip across Canada!

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How to tour europe in a motorhome: a comprehensive guide.

Touring Europe in a motorhome offers a unique and intimate way to experience the rich tapestry of cultures, languages, and landscapes that this continent has to offer. As an avid traveler myself, I have relished the opportunity to wake up to the sound of a new language or birdsong different from the day before, all from the comfort of what quickly becomes a home on wheels. It involves a delightful blend of spontaneity and the snug familiarity of carrying your accommodations with you.

Embarking on such an adventure requires thoughtful preparation,

Choosing the Right Motorhome

When planning

Planning Your European Motorhome Adventure

Preparing for the trip.

When I embark on a motorhome tour through Europe, meticulous preparation sets the stage for a smooth adventure. From securing the necessary documents to packing essentials and ensuring adequate insurance cover, each detail is critical to ensuring my journey is as enjoyable as it is memorable.

Getting the Appropriate Paperwork

Before hitting the road, I make sure to have all my paperwork in order. A valid passport is indispensable, as it’s my primary form of identification when crossing borders, especially within the Schengen Area . Here’s a checklist I use to stay organized:

• Passport : Valid for at least six months beyond my trip’s end date.
• Visas : If applicable, depending on my destination countries and the duration of my stay.
• European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) : This card provides access to medically necessary, state-provided healthcare during a temporary stay in any of the 27 EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland, under the same conditions and at the same cost as people insured in that country.
• Animal Health Certificate : A must-have if I am traveling with pets; it’s valid for four months, or until the

Motorhome Travel Tips and Regulations

Navigating Europe by motorhome involves understanding a set of rules and adopting specific security measures to ensure a safe and enjoyable journey. Below, I’ll detail the key requirements related to road laws and safety protocols you should be aware of.

Understanding European Road Laws

In my travels across Europe, I’ve learned that each country has its own set of driving laws , so it’s vital to familiarize yourself with specific regulations before entering new territories. For instance, in many European countries, it’s mandatory to carry a warning triangle and reflective jackets.

When it comes to toll roads , these are common, and each country has its own system. For example, some require you to pay at toll booths, while others use a vignette system – a sticker placed on your windshield as proof of payment for using the highways. This system is prevalent in countries like Switzerland and Austria. Failure to adhere to this can result in hefty fines.

Safety and Security Measures

I ensure my motorhome’s security by investing in good quality locks and an alarm system. Safety also extends to being prepared for roadside checks or emergencies. Always have your vehicle’s documents, your driving license, and passport readily accessible. An up-to-date first aid kit is indispensable for treating minor injuries, and it’s also a legal requirement in many places.

From security measures standpoint, parking in well-lit, designated camping areas reduces the risk of theft or vandalism. Make sure you’re aware of your surroundings and follow any local advice for secure overnight stays

Navigating Through Europe

When I tour Europe in my motorhome, I find that understanding the nuances of crossing borders, utilizing ferries and the Eurotunnel, and being aware of driving license and regulations is essential for a smooth journey.

Crossing Borders

In my travels, I’ve experienced that within the Schengen Area, border crossings are generally hassle-free due to the absence of stringent border controls. However, it’s imperative to have your passport and motorhome’s paperwork in order as regulations can change. Since Brexit, the rules for entering and leaving the UK have altered, so always check the latest requirements.

• Schengen Area : Simplified border controls
• Brexit : Check new UK entry/exit protocols

Using Ferries and Eurotunnel

Utilizing ferries and the Eurotunnel has been a significant part of my European tours, providing access to countries separated by water. I ensure that my motorhome’s tyres are well-maintained and check the specific requirements of these services, as safety regulations are strict.

• Ferries : An option for reaching islands and crossing straits.
• Eurotunnel : Connects the UK with France; different from ferries as you stay with your vehicle during transit.

Driving License and Regulations

I always make sure my driving license is valid throughout Europe and check if an International Driving Permit is necessary. Additionally, I stay informed about diverse traffic laws, which can vary by country. For instance, some countries have specific mandates for motorhome tyres and equipment, while others may implement tolls on highways.

• Driving License : Validity across Europe, potential need for International Permit
• Traffic Laws : Vary by country; some have specific requirements for tyres and equipment

Life on the Road

Embarking on a

Budgeting Your Motorhome Tour

When planning a tour of Europe in a motorhome, a meticulous budget is vital. It’s imperative for me to account for all potential expenses and find ways to save without compromising the quality of my trip.

Calculating Travel and Living Costs

Fuel: I start by estimating how many miles I’ll be traveling and the fuel efficiency of my motorhome. Given current diesel prices, I consider fuel to be a significant part of my budget. For example, if I’m covering 10,000 miles and my motorhome runs at 22mpg, with diesel at 1.80p per litre, my total fuel cost reaches approximately £4200. I must also budget for LPG if my motorhome requires it for heating or cooking.

Groceries and Dining: To estimate my food costs, I need a daily budget for groceries if I’m cooking in the motorhome, plus some extra for dining out. I’ll opt for local markets to save on food expenses.

Campsite Fees: The cost of staying at campsites varies, so

Experiencing the Charm of European Regions

Touring Europe in a motorhome allows me to soak in the rich tapestry of diverse regions, each offering unique landscapes, culinary delights, and cultural treasures. From the stunning Alpine vistas to the warm Mediterranean shores, the journey is as vibrant as the destinations themselves.

Central Europe: Germany, Austria, Czech Republic

Central Europe holds a special place in my heart, where the historical and the modern coalesce. Germany’s Bavaria region treats me to a theatrical display of fairytale castles set against the backdrop of the Alps. I never miss traveling along the Rhine River , which

Frequently Asked Questions

In this section, I address some of the most common queries travelers have when planning a motorhome tour across Europe. From budgeting tips to pet considerations, I’ve outlined the essential insights to ensure a smooth adventure.

What are the top destinations in Europe to explore with a motorhome?

I find that the versatility of a motorhome allows me to experience Europe’s diverse landscapes with ease. The majestic alps, the scenic coastal roads of the Mediterranean, and the pastoral charm of the countryside are just a few highlights. Notable areas such as the Norwegian fjords and the vineyards of France are particularly motorhome-friendly.

How much should I budget for a motorhome tour across Europe?

My budgeting typically accounts for campsite fees, fuel, food, entertainment, and unexpected expenses. Costs can vary greatly, but daily expenses can range between €50 to €150. This fluctuation largely depends on the countries visited and the level of luxury desired.

Which routes are recommended for a motorhome adventure through Europe?

Several routes stand out for their breathtaking views and cultural

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We offer escorted Motorhome Tours in Europe travelling in the comfort of your own Motorhome. Hand picked tours to beautiful destinations and seeing famous sites along the way. Our tours are fully escorted, include all campsites, excursions and group meals. Socialise, relax and enjoy your adventure as we have done all the work beforehand!

Why Travel with us

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Exciting excursions tailored for each tour destination.

Comprehensive itinerary for your tour included.  

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Our testimonials.

Hi, I'm David. I am with Giles and Linda on the tour of Germany and Poland. If I were to describe how being with Giles and Linda is, it would be like meeting other motorhomers at a rally, and deciding to go off on tour together as you get on so well. Linda is the organisational brains behind it all, and Giles is the Front man mellifluously smoothing the way (yes that is a word, look it up!). So, should you go on one of these tours. Most definitely! You won't regret it.

David McClean

Thank you Linda and Giles, touring with you has been great fun, we learnt so much and its obvious how passionate you are about your guests having a great time.

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We can't think of better people to tour in a motorhome with. Your experience and knowledge serve you and all future clients well, a great fun couple to be around!

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Very passionate about all things motorhome related and with years of experience behind them we have always respected and tapped into this to make the most of our motorhome.

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We would highly recommend joining Linda and Giles on a tour with their years of motorhome experience in Europe, a great fun couple full of energy for life…

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Get motorhome ready for the summer…

Apr 1, 2024

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Our fabulous Christmas Rally to Bonterra Resort in Benicassim. We were 23 motorhomes on this rally for 30 nights over Christmas and New Years Eve. See our street parties, craft mornings, camera workshops, coach trips, guided walks and bike rides. The fabulous New...

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The Ultimate Guide to Touring Europe in a Motorhome

Planning to tour Europe in a motorhome? Before you hop into that idea, you may need to familiarize yourself with the benefits of recreational vehicles or RVing. Why would you want to choose a motorhome over other traditional options? Do you want the total freedom it provides? Or does its unique accommodation satisfy you?

In addition, you need to assess how motorhome-friendly European tours are. Yes, using your campervan in Europe is quite different than your usual weekend RVing. It requires better planning and a world of essentials. If you’re really into this kind of trip, you better keep your eyes on the road to  stay safe . Here’s an article to guide you in your RVing in Europe to take your smooth-sailing ride after you step on the gas.

What To Consider Before Starting The European Tour

Motorhome features.

First and foremost, you need to pick a motorhome. You may consider your needs first based on the number of passengers and the length of the trip. For these concerns, you may think about the type and quality of beds of the camper vans that’d accommodate you.

In most cases, beds turn into living rooms in an RV. There are standalone beds too. In choosing the bed type, you may dwell on the idea of determining whether or not you like the convertible or not. In addition, there are motorhomes with bunks, ideal for kids and teens.

Yet, most adults hate this feature. So, it’d be better to ask the passengers which type would they prefer. Other things to look at are the seating, kitchen and available appliances, and bathroom. If you haven’t chosen yet, you may go to stores offering RVs for hire, such as  wilderness.co.nz/motorhome-hire-nz  and others for a lot of camper vans to choose from.

Camping Costs

Like any RV tour, you’d always consider the expenses in gas, food, and other essentials. Generally, gas prices in Europe are higher than in most countries. If you want to cuts costs in this aspect, you may choose a smaller camper van. Ideally, couples could opt for compact vans for this purpose.

Apart from this, you would need to have a budget for your cooking needs. In many camper vans, propane tanks are used. The food and similar expenses differ in each European country. Food prices in Southern Europe are typically lower than in the North.

Roads and Routes

To save money, most campers in Europe take back roads. Usually, highways have road tolls that add up to expenses. Apart from the savings, backroads offer better landscapes where campers could stay in.

Regarding your stay, may it be on your own or with a partner, the easiest way you could get into Europe for RVing purposes is through short-term visa-free stays for 90 days. European Visa-exempt program allows this option for foreigners, but only for visits in the following countries identified as members of the Schengen Area:

• Czech Republic
• Netherlands

With this option, you may plan to take a Schengen country for a 90-day trip and move to a non-Schengen country for the next 30 days. Then, you may go back to a Schengen-covered country for another 90 days. Having this in mind, you could have a planned route before your much-awaited RVing.

However, by 2023, travelers would need to apply for European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) to comply with the continent’s new travel guidelines. With this protocol, travelers need a valid passport and an approved ETIAS visa waiver to gain entry.

Seasons for a European Motorhome Trip

Generally, any season offers the best RVing experience for campers. Yet, many camping enthusiasts suggest the following months, as they’re known to have the lowest camping population and ideal temperature.

April to May:  During these months, campground prices are generally cheaper. In addition, most residents are inside their homes, so there are fewer people camping, especially in Continental Europe.

November to March:  This stretch is ideal for Southern Europe. Most campers head South because of the freezing temperature in the North during the winter season. Yet, the campgrounds are open and fabulous in these months.

June to August:  This may have the most pleasant temperature and campgrounds. Yet, it’s also the most populated as to the number of campers.

Final Thoughts

Suppose you’re already familiar with  motorhome  trips and the necessities for your ultimate European tour. Now, you may start to pick which places you’d go first. Ideally, most campers choose Croatia because of its picturesque scenery and rich culture. In addition, it’s smaller compared to other countries, making it preferable to beginners.

Another good destination is the United Kingdom. This country has a lot of camper-friendly roads and villages. Other places to choose from are Tuscany, Italy; Bavaria, Germany; and the Czech Republic. Before you continue, keep in mind that European countries have different laws for RVing and driving. You may need to be familiar with these rules before setting off for your European journey.

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The Big European Odyssey: planning a motorhome tour of Europe

Marcus Leach and his family are embarking on a Big European Odyssey, as they travel around Europe in a motorhome - in the first part of a new series, we find out how they started planning the trip

By Practical Motorhome Published: March 16, 2022

Marcus Leach and his family are embarking on a motorhome tour of Europe, with the plan being to visit 25 countries across three continents. In the first part of a new series, he explains how they started planning the trip…

There was a time, not so long ago, when European travel was relatively straight forward. We could cross the channel with the minimum of fuss and set off to wherever our hearts desired in our motorhome . That was then and this is now.

Thanks to the double whammy of Covid and Brexit, European travel is not as straightforward as it once was, as we have discovered first-hand during recent months planning our Big European Odyssey. When, as a family, we decided to set off on a year-long adventure in our motorhome each of us began to name countries and places that we wanted to visit, quickly realising two things; the first is that a year might not be enough time to do everything, and the second is that even with close attention to detail with our route planning, there would need to be sacrifices along the way.

This is largely down to the rules that cover travel within Europe and the Schengen Zone, which, in a nutshell, mean we don’t have the freedom of movement that we once did. Instead, now we can only spend ninety days out of every one hundred and eighty in the Schengen Area.

At this point it’s worth quickly clarifying that the Schengen Area is made up of twenty-six European countries that have abolished their internal borders ‘for the free and unrestricted movement of people, in harmony with common rules for controlling external borders and fighting criminality by strengthening the common judicial system and police cooperation’.

For most people heading off on their holidays ninety days is more than enough time and therefore they don’t need to worry about the 90/180 rule. However, for a growing number of people, ourselves included, it is a key consideration when planning longer, multi country trips. The first point to remember is that it is a rolling period, meaning anytime you wish to enter the Schengen, you just have to count backwards the last 180 days and see if you have been present in the Schengen for more than 90 days throughout that period.

If that sounds complicated and difficult to keep track of, don’t worry, there is a really handy free to use calculator that tells you exactly how many days you have been in and out, and therefor how many days you have left to use. As we have planned a trip that spans three continents and takes in close to thirty countries this calculator has been a godsend.

Whilst meaning our trip planning has not been as straightforward as it once might have been, the 90/180 day rule has actually helped broaden our horizons, forcing us to plan a route that takes in countries that we might not have otherwise considered, the likes of Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Macedonia to name but a few. All places that, having researched what there is to see and do there, we are, as a family, very much looking forward to visiting once we get on the road.

Ultimately travel is, we believe, about expanding our horizons and seeking out new experiences and so it’s with a great deal of excitement that we are preparing to set off on this crazy adventure at the start of May. We will be sharing a lot more on the practicalities of planning such a trip, as well as the journey itself, both in the magazine and here on the website, but for now there’s packing to be done and a new motorhome to collect.

Are you thinking of planning a long road trip in Europe? If so here are our top tips to ensure your motorhome tour goes as smoothly as possible…….

• Use the Schengen Area calculator – it’s not worth the risk of over staying the ninety day period for the sake of a few quick calculations, and it’s free and easy to use.
• Be open minded to exploring new destinations – do your own research and travel with open minds, there’s an amazing world to be seen so long as we are prepared to expand our horizons a little.
• Make sure you have the right paperwork – countries outside of the Schengen Area often require different documents, plan ahead to avoid any difficulties at border crossings.

In addition to following the Big European Odyssey through Practical Motorhome you can keep an eye on Marcus and Kim’s motorhome tour of Europe through their own social media channels @marcusleachglobal and @our.roaming.odyssey on Instagram, @MarcusGLeach on Twitter and @OurRoamingOdyssey on YouTube.

If you’re looking for somewhere to head to for your summer travels, be sure to take a look at our guide to the best motorhome parks in the UK , where we reveal our top selections from across the country.

If you’ve enjoyed reading this article, why not get the latest news, reviews and features delivered direct to your door or inbox every month. Take advantage of our brilliant Practical Motorhome magazine SUBSCRIBERS’ OFFER and SIGN UP TO OUR NEWSLETTER for regular weekly updates on all things motorhome related.

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YOUR ROAD  TO  EUROPE

Make Memories

Your guided motorhome tours are a different, exciting and relaxed way to travel Europe. Visit famous, historic places but above all discover amazing spots beside the road. Celebrate with locals and deeply immerse yourself into their culture and everyday life. Take this opportunity to view Europe from a new perspective from your driver's seat high above the road. Choose your guided motorhome tour and experience a tailor-made adventure. It's just outside your windows.

Destinations

Our handpicked destinations are a thrilling mix of world-famous sights and fabulous gems off the beaten track. They all radiate a special charm and magic. Fasten your seatbelt and v isit magic places in Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland,Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary & Romania.

Assisting around the clock

Providing detailed information

Guiding daily excursions

Explaining local customs

Exploring hidden places

Organising spontaneous events

Being a good travel companion

For your hassle-free, personal road movie

When you decide for one of our guided motorhome tours your adventure starts immediately. Make your travel arrangements, we take care of everything else. From the time you arrive in Germany until the end of the tour, we will be there for you. And should you have special wishes we usually have an ace upon our sleeves. Here's what we do for you:

Our Services

Professional guiding

Tour planning

Route planning

Lodging reservations

Vehicle reservation

Ticket reservations

Finding local events

Equipping your motorhome

Absolutely priceless memories and cannot recommend Claus and Ruth highly enough! We had the most wonderful time exploring Europe by motorhome. We would go on adventures with them again in a heartbeat. What great memories of fun and happy times and won derful places.

Debby, Australia

Our Explorers Say

The Holiday Road Network

The top 20 motorhome routes.

Here you will find the 20 most beautiful and most travelled routes and their best sights. No matter whether you want to be on the road for just a weekend or several weeks.

Would you like some more inspiration? You will find many more routes in the country selection.

Brittany Road Trip by Motorhome

Discover one of the best-organised areas for travelling by campervan or motorhome in France. Let yourself be surprised by a varied landscape and numerous charming seaside villages where you can enjoy the culinary specialities of the region.

Harry Potter Filming Locations Scotland

Explore the iconic filming locations in Scotland on this motorhome tour. From various lochs and locations in the Scottish Highlands to the famous Glenfinnan Viaduct and many places in Edinburgh, you will always feel the Magic of Harry Potter.

Harry Potter Filming Locations England and London

Following the story from one of the most notable and popular series of books and films enjoyed across many generations, this tour will take you through many of the iconic filming locations within England that paved the way to creating the magical world of Harry Potter. 

Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way Route

One of the most striking coastlines to travel, Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way stretches over 2,500 kilometres from the tip of County Donegal down to County Cork. Discover breathtaking landscapes and cultural highlights by motorhome and stay at the most beautiful campsites.

German Alpine Road

The German Alpine Road runs for 484 kilometers from Lindau on Lake Constance to Schönau am Königssee. The oldest holiday route in Germany offers driving pleasure, grandiose views and connects the most famous sights of Bavaria with each other: This makes it one of the most popular travel destinations in Germany.

The Peak District Circular Route

Located at the heart of England the Peak District countryside runs across the borders of 4 counties: Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Staffordshire, and Cheshire.

Romantic Road

A triad of nature, culture and hospitality has been the hallmark of the Romantic Road since 1950. It is the best known and most popular German holiday route and runs from the river Main to the Alps.

Lake District Highlights

A beautiful National Park in the northern region of Cumbria, England. A popular holiday destiniation that draws visitors with its scenic lakes, tarns and dramatic fells. 

Camino del Cid

Exciting battles, medieval knights, epic songs and much more. On this route you will explore the same path travelled by the legendary Cid, mythical character of the Reconquest, only you will probably be comfortable in your motorhome, enjoying the music and not getting lost with the help of a navigation system. Explore the old Islamic kingdoms, the cultural and natural heritage in the ancient no man's land, conquer Valencia and defend the south from a beautiful campsite overlooking the sea.

Cotswolds & Surrounding Area

At almost 800 M 2 the breath-taking Cotswold countryside runs across the borders of 5 counties: Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire and Worcestershire.

Route of Rhine Romanticism

The Rhine Valley, one of the most beautiful landscapes in Europe, has over 2,000 years of history and countless legendary stories.

Loire Valley Castles

Embark on an enchanting journey to the castles of the Loire Valley in your motorhome. From shining Orléans to charming Nantes, each stop is a chapter in the history of French monarchy. Discover the majestic cathedral of Orléans, explore the Renaissance in Amboise, be enchanted by the narrow streets of Tours and marvel at the splendour of the castles of Huismes, Saumur and Angers.

Marguerite Route

Whether it's the wild North Sea or the peaceful Baltic Sea, with 7,300 km of coastline and almost 500 certified, dreamy campsites, Denmark offers the best conditions for a successful holiday.

Grand Tour of Switzerland

Switzerland offers an enormous variety of experiences and a breathtaking landscape: Admire the mirroring of the unique Alpine panorama in turquoise lakes.

Moselle Slate Road

The Moselle Slate Road leads through a varied and charming landscape. Through vineyards on the lovely Moselle, across the volcanic landscape with the connected volcano park to the heights of the Eifel.

German Fairy Tale Route

„Take me with you to your bed," says the spooky frog. The fact that it is kissed is probably the greatest mistake in Grimm's fairy tale history.

German Wine Route

Gentle wine country, lush orchards, the Palatinate Forest with quiet valleys and murmuring brooks and a Mediterranean climate - that is the German Wine Route.

Green Road/Route Verte

The Green Route encompasses three regions in two countries and offers travellers thematic offers that are attractive without borders: the winegrowing in Alsace and Baden, the culinary "stars" and "étoiles" of the region on both sides of the Rhine and the scenic beauties and differences.

German Half-Timbered House Road

The German Half-Timbered House Road - one of the most important holiday and cultural routes. This was established in 1990 when the establishment of the first regional route “Von Hann. Münden to Alsfeld ”was launched.

Austrian Romantic Road

14 enchanting towns and villages have joined together to form the Austrian Romantic Road. Away from the motorway between Salzburg and Vienna, castles, palaces, museums, monasteries, mountains and lakes are waiting to be discovered.

German Volcano Route

Mighty volcanoes and magical maars - experience the fascination of geological history in the Vulkaneifel.

UNESCO World Heritage Routes Germany

Only the best among the outstanding testimonies to human and natural history are allowed to bear the title of UNESCO World Heritage. And you will find many of the best in Germany.

Baden Wine Route

There are many ways to cross "Germany's most beautiful corner of pleasure" - but hardly any more enjoyable than by car, motorhome, bicycle or on foot along the Baden Wine Route.

Routes by Countries

United Kingdom

Switzerland

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Escorted Motorhome Tour STUNNING NORWAY

Touring Information

Start : Hirtshals, Denmark

Tour days : 22

Non-Driving days : 10

Average daily milage : 98 miles

Max. daily mileage : 206 miles

Total mileage : 1,180 miles

Calais- Hirtshals : 792 miles

Pets allowed

Minimum number of units: 6 motorhomes

• Boat trip through the Nærøyfjord, the narrowest Fjord in Norway and UNESCO World Heritage
• Fjords and National Parks, like Jostedalsbreen National Park, with Europe’s largest glacier, or Lysefjord with Preikestolen (Pulpit rock)
• UNESCO World Heritage Sites as Bryggen in Bergen, Geiranger Fjord and the Urnes Stave church

The Escorted Motorhome Tour

Norway is home to some of Europe’s most spectacularly beautiful landscapes. From its dramatic coastline and dazzling natural wonders, to its cosmopolitan cities and traditional towns, it is a country of contrasts. Visit with us this country of outstanding natural beauty and see crystal clear fjords, including the Geiranger Fjord and the Nærøyfjord, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites, dramatic waterfalls, majestic mountains, and spectacular glaciers. Drive along the historic Trollstigen road, Norway’s most visited tourist road with its 11 hairpin bends up a steep mountainside and be rewarded with breathtaking viewpoints. Enjoy a boat trip on one of the Fjords or a train ride on the Flam railway, often described as the world’s most incredible train journey. We also visit the cities of Bergen, Stavanger and, of course, the Capital Oslo where you can experience their vibrant cultural life.

Day 1: Hirtshals (DK)

The group will meet in Hirtshals, Denmark, where we will have a group meal, giving the group time to get to know each other.

Day 2: Hirtshals (DK) – Byglandsfjord

Today we will take the ferry to Kristiansand and drive to our scenic campsite directly on the fjord.

Day 3: Byglandsfjord

After the long journey to Norway, relax on the fjord, or visit the nearby mineral park or the visiting centre with tame moose.

Day 4: Byglandsfjord – Lindesnes

Today we make our way back to the coast either via Kristiansand or inland passing some smaller fjords and waterfalls. In Lindesnes go for a walk to the most southernly lighthouse in Norway.

Day 5: Lindesnes – Stavanger

Enjoy the scenic drive along the beach coastline.

Day 6: Stavanger

Today you will have time to visit the city or go on a boat trip into the Lysefjord, where you can see the massive Pulpit Rock from the water. If you feel adventurous, take the famous hike up to the Rock.

Day 7: Stavanger – Røldal

We will be driving along fjords and lakes to our campsite in Røldal, close to the stave church.

Day 8: Røldal – Bergen

On our way to Bergen you will have the opportunity to see famous waterfalls, like the 400m long Låtefossen. We will also pass the Hardangerfjord.

Day 9: Bergen

From our lakeside campsite it is only a short ride on public transport to the city centre of Bergen, with its many attractions, like Bryggen the UNESCO listed old wharf. Alternatively, just relax at the lake.

Day 10: Bergen – Flåm

We take the stunning drive from Bergen to Flåm and in the afternoon, you can enjoy a trip on t he Flåm Railway, which is described as one of the most beautiful train journeys in the world.

Day 11: Flåm

Today we go on a boat trip through the Nærøyfjord, the narrowest Fjord in Norway and part of the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Day 12: Flåm – Jostedalsbreen National Park

On route we can drive through the Lærdalstunnel, the world’s longest road tunnel.

Day 13: Jostedalsbreen Park

Our campsite is close to the easily accessible Nigard glacier, Europe’s largest glacier.

Day 14: Jostedalsbreen Park – Lake Lovatnet

Another scenic drive along fjords and mountains.

Day 15: Lake Lovatnet

Take the cable car to the top of Mt. Hoven (1011m) with amazing views over the Innvikfjord.

Day 16: Lovatnet Lake – Geirangerfjord

Day 17: geirangerfjord.

We will spend the day at the iconic Geirangerfjord, which is considered one of the most beautiful fjords in the world and is UNESCO World Heritage listed.

Day 18: Geirangerfjord – Romsdalen Valley

Our route today takes us along one of the most famous Norwegian Tourist Routes, Trollstigen – a dramatic and exciting experience and we will pass Trollveggen (“The Troll Wall”), Europe’s highest vertical mountain wall.

Day 19: Romsdalen Valley – Lillehammer region

Today there are churches and museums to visit.

Day 20: Lillehammer region – Oslo

We suggest visiting Lillehammer to see the ski jumping arena and Olympic Museum.

Day 21: Oslo

Time to enjoy the bustling capital with its museums, buildings, historic sites, restaurants, and shops.

Day 22: Departure and end of tour

Touring season 2024.

Sunday 2nd June – Sunday 23rd June 2024

Calais pick-up is not available for this tour. Consider combining it with our “Discover Denmark” tour

What is included:

All services are for a motorhome with 2 people

• Ferry Crossing Hirtshals (Denmark) to Kristiansand (Norway)
• Welcome meal
• All campsites with electricity
• Assistance of multi-lingual motorhome guides during the whole tour
• Travel pack containing maps, a detailed road book with directions to the campsites, suggestions for sightseeing and general advice on motorhoming in Europe
• Secured Payment Certificate

Price for tour only: 4,090 EURO

Price incl. ferry Hirtshals – Kristiansand for motorhomes up to 6m. Surcharge for motorhomes over 6m +35 EURO/metre .

Earlybird discount (for bookings made by 31.12.2023): 150 EURO

In addition to the Earlybird discount, we offer to all customers booking more than one tour during one touring year a 60 EURO discount on the second tour booked!

All prices are for 2 people travelling in their own motorhome (motorhome rental optional)

– Other prices upon request –

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Any Questions on the Motorhome Tour?

Please let us know!

We are glad to give you any further information. Just send us a short message and we will get back to you:

Privacy Overview

Tour Features

The tour price includes:, rental motorhomes.

• New or almost new 20-22 ft. (Upgrades up to 24 ft) class B+/C diesel motorhomes with stick shifts
• Fully equipped with bedding, camping chairs, dishes etc.
• Vehicle insurance with €1,500 deductible
• Unlimited mileage
• Full propane tank
• Airport to hotel on arrival day
• Hotel to rental company
• Transfers to all activities included in our itineraries
• Rental company to hotel
• Hotel to airport on departure day
• Welcome dinner
• 2 breakfast buffets (Tour 4 - Greece: 3 breakfast buffets)
• Various other meals in fine restaurants as described in the itinerary
• Choice of one beverage (soft drink, beer or wine) with included meals
• Farewell dinner

Campground Fees

• Fees for the best available campgrounds
• Including electrical hook-up 

Ferries and Toll Bridges

• Tour 2 - Scandinavia: Comfortable ferries, toll for the long suspension bridges
• Tour 3 - UK & Ireland: Comfortable ferries to and from France to England and to and from Ireland
• Tour 4 - Greece: Cruise the Adriatic Sea to and from Greece on comfortable ferris (overnight including inside cabin) and to and from Mykonos Island
• 2 nights first class hotel (Tour 4 - Greece: 3 nights)

Experienced Wagonmaster & Tailgunner

• We are there for you at all times en route, during sightseeing and on the campgrounds

Daily Briefings

• Every afternoon we meet for a briefing at which we provide you with detailed information on the next day

Toll Roads (except cash tolls)

• All street tolls that we can pay in advance via vignette, online RV registration or transponders are included
• Cash tolls are not included (approx. €50-150 on some tours, mostly in Italy, Greece, France, Spain, Balkans)

Sightseeing Tours

• Selected sightseeing tours as listed in the itineraries
• Our sightseeing tours always include an experienced local guide
• Entrance fees to the sights
• Personal receiver and head-set to use on guided tour
• For big cities like Paris, Barcelona, Athens, Stockholm or London we have our own charter bus which picks us up at the campground

Navigation Aids

• Detailed trip-logs with itinerary and driving directions, personally prepared (except Tour 7 & 8 which are fully GPS guided)
• Pre-programmed GPS for use during the tour

• Discount Codes

Nick Cave announces 2024 European solo tour

He'll be joined on stage by Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood

Nick Cave has announced a European solo live tour for this summer – you can find all the details below.

• READ MORE:  Nick Cave: “There’s no metric that says virtuousness makes good art”

The Bad Seeds frontman is due to hit the road in June for a run of headline dates, where he’ll be “performing songs from his extensive catalogue”. Cave will be accompanied on stage by Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood.

He’ll begin the forthcoming stint with three shows at the Onassis Stegi venue in Athens, Greece on June 1, 2 and 3 before an appearance at the Belgrade River Fest in Serbia on June 18.

Two further performances are scheduled for Musiikkitalo in Helsinki, Finland (June 25) and the Harpa concert hall in Reykjavík, Iceland (July 1).

Tickets go on sale at 10am local time this Friday (April 12) – you’ll be able to buy yours here . See the full itinerary on the tour poster below.

Nick Cave announces solo shows in Greece, Serbia, Finland and Iceland this summer. Tickets on sale Friday 12 April, 10am local time. https://t.co/SwBpP6ORya pic.twitter.com/47uKhSH7fu — Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (@nickcave) April 8, 2024

Greenwood previously had a stint as a touring member in Cave’s solo band, as well as at his joint shows with Warren Ellis . Last week, it was revealed that the Radiohead member has contributed to the Bad Seeds’ 18th album ‘Wild God’ (out August 30) in a new trailer.

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Cave recently told fans that the upcoming 10-track record is “full of secrets” . He has also explained that  the collection isn’t “set through a lens of loss” unlike its predecessors ‘Skeleton Tree’  (2016) and  ‘Ghosteen’  (2019). Those two albums dealt with the grief Cave experienced following  the death of his 15-year-old son, Arthur, in 2015 .

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds are set to embark on a European, UK and Ireland tour  later this year in support of ‘Wild God’. When announcing the dates, Cave said: “The record just feels like it was made for the stage.”  Find any remaining tickets (UK/Ireland) here .

In other news, Cave has criticised ‘woke culture’ for its “lack of mercy” and “lack of forgiveness” .

Meanwhile,  Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have composed and recorded the score for the new Amy Winehouse biopic,  Back To Black . The former has  contributed an original song to the film’s official soundtrack too , ‘Song For Amy’.

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Storm Kathleen: Scotland hit by high winds, heavy rain and travel disruption

Flood and wind warnings remain in place, with Sepa warning of ‘real danger to life’ on coastal roads and paths

High winds and heavy rain from Storm Kathleen persisted through Sunday, battering parts of Scotland and Ireland and disrupting travel.

The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) had 18 regional flood alerts and 37 flood warnings in place in Scotland. They have been in force since Saturday.

The Met Office has also issued a yellow wind warning from 9am on Sunday covering parts of the west and northern Highlands, the Isle of Skye and the Hebrides. It will remain in force until 11:59pm.

Winds as high as 73mph were recorded in Drumalbin, South Lanarkshire.

A previous warning stretched from the Scottish Borders to just south of Stirling. It spanned the west coast, throughout much of central Scotland, and ended just short of the east coast.

Janine Hensman, Sepa’s flood duty manager, said: “Across Sunday, we’ll continue to see high tides, storm surges and large waves across coastal areas. This combination is particularly dangerous – especially around high tides. There is real danger to life from wave overtopping, particularly around causeways, coastal roads and paths.

“While the risk is greatest around high tide times, our message is clear: Take extra care if you are near the coast at any point and stay well clear of waves and water. Be careful when travelling around exposed coastal areas and don’t walk or drive through flood water, as there may be hidden hazards.”

She added: “Whilst Storm Kathleen will ease on Sunday evening, another weather system is on the way. Significant flooding from rivers and surface water is possible in southern, central and north-eastern areas on Tuesday, with coastal flooding continuing due to high spring tides.

“Flood alerts and warnings are in place, so stay up to date though our website. We will continue to work with the Met Office to monitor the situation 24/7 and review regional flood alerts and local flood warnings as required.”

The Met Office has warned of potential power cuts, damage to buildings, poor mobile phone coverage and danger to life because of large waves and debris from beaches being thrown on to seafronts. About 34,000 people were left without electricity on Saturday, with a few thousand customers remaining without power overnight, but by Sunday afternoon almost all had had their supply restored.

CalMac, Scotland’s largest ferry operator, cancelled a number of its services and many other ferries were operating on reduced timetables, while others faced potential disruption.

ScotRail also faced a number of disruptions throughout the day, including to its Helensburgh Central and Dumbarton Central services.

However, the services, according to ScotRail, were “starting to return to normal”.

On Saturday, more than 140 flights throughout the UK were cancelled as a result of the storm.

In Ireland, a girl was swept out to sea from the east pier of Dún Laoghaire harbour in County Dublin on Saturday evening. Rescuers were able to pull her out of the water within eight and a half minutes, with a lifeboat volunteer revealing that pockets of air trapped under her coat helped keep her afloat before the rescue.

Andrew Sykes, a volunteer helm with the RNLI, told PA Media that the stormy conditions made the rescue operation difficult.

“With the high winds and storm we were experiencing, with large waves and surge coming off the pier, to get alongside her was extremely difficult,” he said. “She would be pushed one way and we would be pushed another,”

The girl was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Titanic Belfast was forced to close after strong winds damaged part of its roof on Saturday. However, the yellow wind warning covering Donegal, Mayo and west Galway was lifted at 4pm on Sunday.

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Dozens of flights cancelled as Storm Kathleen hits west of UK

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UK at risk of summer water shortages and hosepipe bans, scientists warn

UK weather: rain disrupts Easter weekend events amid flood warnings

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Most viewed.

The Masters 2024: Matthieu Pavon in the spotlight ahead of realising Augusta dream

By Mathieu Wood

Golf reaches a wider audience when The Masters arrives, placing players at the front of the sports agenda. Even with his remarkable rise to prominence in recent months, Matthieu Pavon knows this is no ordinary week.

Having won his maiden DP World Tour title in Madrid in his 185th appearance last October, Pavon went on to secure dual membership status with the PGA TOUR, birdieing the final four holes at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai to cap a fine finish to the campaign.

He has since become the first French winner on the PGA TOUR since 1907 with his victory at the Farmers Insurance Open in January. “No words”, he said with a beaming smile in his immediate post-round interview after birdieing the final hole to win at Torrey Pines, California.

Pavon is now a member of the world’s golfing elite. After reaching a career-high in the Official World Golf Ranking, the French star has the keys to fulfil all his goals as he looks ahead to his first appearance at Augusta National.

“It [The Masters] is the week I have dreamt about for so many years,” he told the DP World Tour.

“It is the Major that I want to win the most. It is also the history of the Green Jacket, and it looks pretty on some of the winners’ shoulders!"

🏆 DP World Tour win 🪪 PGA TOUR dual membership 🏆 PGA TOUR win All in three months. The journey was long. Bravo @matthieupavon 👏 https://t.co/AOcNz8Zsjy — DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 28, 2024

A week on from his first practice round at the famed Georgia venue, in the company of Major winner Shane Lowry , the excitement for World Number 25 Pavon is clear to see. And so it should be.

It's a long way from when he was struggling to make an impression as an amateur, and then when he first set out as a professional in 2013.

“I am at the spot that I dreamt about for so many years," he added.

"Yes, of course, it took me 10-11 years to get there but it is all about the journey and the process. It doesn’t matter to me if it comes to me in four or 11. It was just a matter of time.

"I feel really prepared after those 11 long years to get to this spot and now I am ready to stay there."

I am at the spot that I dreamt about for so many years

In what can be a solitary sport, travelling the world away from family, Pavon is thrilled at the prospect of sharing his long-awaited Masters debut with those who mean the most to him.

His mother, Beatrice, is a golf instructor while his father, Michel, won France’s top-tier division in football with Bordeaux during a 15-year playing career before moving into coaching. Both are on site in Georgia along to support their son, along with Matthieu's brothers.

"My mum and dad went to the Masters in 2009, 15 years ago," he said. "It will be nice to share some time with them.

"I know that they really liked it and they dreamt that I could get there and play one day. I am bringing all my family.

"There is a fellow Frenchman who is coming too, Adrien Saddier (fellow DP World Tour member). He wanted to come and see the practice rounds so he will be with me until Wednesday. I think it is going to be a lot of fun."

During his parents' visit to Augusta National, his mum buried a coin on the grounds as a good luck charm with the hope her son would one day play at the famed Georgia venue.

While, Pavon has no intention of specifically looking for the coin, he does intend to do something similar for his two-year-old son.

"I think it's part of the story, and it's only better that that coin maybe stays here forever," he said.

"The only thing we're going to do now is probably I'm going to get a coin myself, bury it somewhere for maybe wishing that my son one day will come as a player over here."

"I don't know if he wants to play golf. It doesn't matter. But maybe I wish that. It would be fun if in the next 20, 30 years my son gets here as a player. That would be an awesome story."

“He writes the history of male French golf!” The French announce call for @MatthieuPavon ’s first TOUR win is electric. @CanalPlusGolf | @AdrienToubiana pic.twitter.com/wY3KqvpYHz — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 28, 2024

L'Équipe – the French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sport – dedicated a section of its weekend supplement on Saturday to Pavon, just days ahead of the first men's Major of the season.

The last golfer to be on the front cover of the L'Équipe magazine was Céline Boutier last September, two months on from her maiden Major Championship victory on home soil at The Evian Championship.

While he is not a Major winner yet, Pavon will be hoping to generate more headlines this week after his history-making exploits so far this year.

Just like Boutier, Pavon's career has reached new heights in recent times after years of perseverance and playing out of the spotlight. No longer.

He will be a headline draw on home soil later this year when the FedEx Open de France heads to Le Golf National. Before that, he is set to represent his country in a home Olympic Games this summer at the 2018 Ryder Cup venue.

Pavon has made four previous Major starts in his career, with his best a tie for 25th in the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.

So, what has the 31-year-old learned from his past experience of playing in what are the biggest weeks in golf?

"These tournaments are special," he replied. "They are supposed to be the toughest all year.

"It’s really about how you manage yourself. How mentally you can be prepared to to that event and also how good your attitude can be.

"The key in mind is to be super positive and patient during weeks like this."

Recognising history, with Fuzzy Zoeller the last rookie to win the Masters in 1979, Pavon is aware of the challenge he faces, having enjoyed some pre-tournament practice at Augusta National early last week.

"The more you play it, the better you get over there," added Pavon, who cites Tiger Woods' memorable chip-in during the final round in 2005 as his first Masters memory.

"It is really tricky around the greens. There are lots of elevations. The greens are fast, so there are spots you can’t be and some others that you better find.

"It is all about course management and being very precise with your iron play."

Now, the notion that Augusta National is a course that suits drawers of the golf ball is often remarked.

As a result, for a player who typically works the ball from left-to-right instead, Pavon has been honing in on ensuring he is best equipped to summon both shapes on call with the support of his coach Jamie Gough, who works with several leading golfers, including fellow Masters participant Ryan Fox.

"I am a fader of the ball, but I think Jack Nicklaus was too and he won a couple of Masters! he said with a smile.

"It’s all about getting a couple reps playing some draw shots. I have worked on it over the years with my coach Jamie and I know how to draw the ball but practicing a few extra draw shots on the range could help for sure.

"Jamie is pretty big to me. We have changed my swing over the years. I wanted to get rid of the left side of the golf course, so we had to make a few technical changes.

"Jamie is super nice, he always finds some super simple exercises that you can repeat every day and makes me better all the time and this is what we did together."

All his hard work has led him to this. Amid all the pre-event attention, Pavon is intent on ensuring he doesn't get caught up in the excitement and focuses on the values that have enabled him to take recent big steps forward in his career development.

"I am trying to treat this tournament the same way I prepare for every other. I think that is key," he said.

"If you put too much expectation or too much pressure on yourself on those big tournaments that is when you get caught a little bit uneven."

The Masters 2024: Ryo Hisatsune relishing Augusta sights and sounds as Major debut nears

By Corey Yoshimura Regardless of nationality, economic status, or where you currently live in the world today, odds are when classic anthems such as Queen’s Bohemiem Rhapsody, Michael Jackson’s We Are the World, or the Beatles’ Hey Jude comes on the radio, you’ll naturally stop and hum along with the

DP World Tour Partners

The Roots Are Bringing Arrested Development And Digable Planets On The Road For A Tour This Summer

The Roots announced a new summer Hip-Hop Is The Love Of My Life Tour across North America and Europe, where they’ll be joined by Arrested Development and Digable Planets as support on select dates.

Shortly after hosting Philly’s Roots Picnic in June, the three groups will reunite in Los Angeles for a show at the Hollywood Bowl .

For those looking to attend one of the shows, tickets for all dates appear to be on sale now. Additional information about The Roots’ 2024 shows can be found through their official website .

Continue scrolling for a complete list of dates.

The Roots 2024 Hip-Hop Is The Love Of My Life Tour Dates

05/11 — Saratoga, CA @ Mountain Winery Concert Series 05/12 — San Diego, CA @ Wonderfront Music & Arts Festival 06/01 — Philadelphia, PA @ Roots Picnic 06/02 — Philadelphia, PA @ Roots Picnic 06/23 — Baltimore, MD @ Reggae Rise Up Maryland 06/29 — Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl ^* 07/20 — Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom 07/21 — Seattle, WA @ Woodland Park Zoo 08/01 — London, England @ Crystal Palace Bowl 08/02 — Margate, England @ Dreamland 08/05 — Berlin, Germany @ Uber Eats Music Hall 08/16 — Houston, TX @ 713 Music Hall ^* 08/17 — Irving, TX @ The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory ^* 08/23 — TBA ^* 08/24 — Highland Park, IL @ Ravinia Festival ^* 08/25 — Sterling Heights, MI @ Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill ^* 08/29 — Atlanta, GA @ Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park ^* 08/31 — Vienna, VA @ Filene Center at Wolf Trap ^* 09/01 — Boston, MA @ MGM Music Hall at Fenway ^*

^ with Arrested Development * with Digable Planets

What to know about Schengen zone, Europe’s ‘border-free’ travel system

Schengen countries allow international travelers to move freely across borders without additional passport checks.

Europe’s “border-free” Schengen zone has added travel protections for two more countries, making it easier for more people to explore the southeastern region of the continent.

Romania and Bulgaria partially joined the Schengen area on Sunday, which means visitors who arrive by air or sea from other countries in the zone can cross their borders without an ID check. Land borders will remain subject to ID checks because of opposition led by Austria, which has long cited irregular migration as a concern when it comes to welcoming the two Eastern European states into the Schengen agreement. The move comes more than a decade after Romania and Bulgaria joined the European Union.

The European Commission had previously recommended that Bulgaria and Romania be admitted to join the Schengen zone, starting in 2011 and most recently in 2023. A combination of internal problems in the two countries and opposition from other countries citing irregular migration concerns — especially after the so-called “migrant crisis” of 2015 — meant they were caught in “Schengen purgatory” until now, according to Leon Züllig, a researcher and Schengen expert at Germany’s Justus Liebig University Giessen.

Where to go

Our favorite destinations: These 12 destinations are at the top of our wish list for where to go this year, without crowds. In 2023, we explored an Alaskan bear paradise, Brooklyn’s famous pizzerias and a hidden gem in Italy, among other highlights ..

Travel like a local: Residents share their favorite places in our top city guides: New Orleans , Rome , Tokyo and Mexico City .

National parks: This comprehensive guide has details on all 63 U.S. national parks. For a deep dive into five of the most well-known, you can listen to the Field Trip podcast . Then explore tips from locals for visiting Yosemite , Glacier and Everglades .

Tales from the road: Dolly Parton has opened a new resort at her theme park complex in Tennessee, while “Fixer Upper” stars Chip and Joanna Gaines have a new hotel in Waco . Road-trippers may be just as excited to see the cartoon beaver at Buc-ee’s , and bargain-hunters should consider a stop at the Unclaimed Baggage store in Scottsboro, Ala.

• What to know about Schengen zone, Europe’s ‘border-free’ travel system April 3, 2024 What to know about Schengen zone, Europe’s ‘border-free’ travel system April 3, 2024
• At Europe’s sauna marathon, schvitzing is a sport February 27, 2024 At Europe’s sauna marathon, schvitzing is a sport February 27, 2024
• 18 courses, no murder: A floating restaurant right out of ‘The Menu’ September 30, 2023 18 courses, no murder: A floating restaurant right out of ‘The Menu’ September 30, 2023

Take a tour of Europe at Staunton Music Festival's SpringFest concert

STAUNTON — Take a tour of Europe while never leaving Staunton at SpringFest: Baroque Journeys, a Staunton Music Festival weekend concert April 12-14.

Now in its third year, SpringFest offers a three-day celebration of Baroque music, spanning Europe from West to East and culminating with Handel's Italian oratorio  La Resurrezione . All concerts feature period instrument performers. Programs include music for voices, orchestra, and chamber ensembles and feature historical keyboards.

Through this music, and this particular program with its place based music, audiences will be transported to Europe and back in time, too. A new way to travel, if you will. These are masterpieces that have stood the test of time. Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" on Saturday night is known to classical music lovers as a crowd pleaser.

Because Staunton Music Festival plays all music composed prior to 1850 on instruments of that era, via “historic performance,” audiences will actually hear it the way that audiences would have heard it back then, when the composer wrote it. That’s unusual, and it happens here in Staunton.

As opposed to the larger summer festival, SpringFest is all early music — all Baroque. The summer festival's music spans more than 600 years into the present day. Every concert this weekend will be performed on period instruments, by artists trained in historic performance. To learn more, visit: https://www.stauntonmusicfestival.org/period-instruments

Carsten Schmidt, Staunton Music Festival's artistic director, will take audiences on a tour of the continent over the course of the weekend's performances. The weekend will culminate with Handel's Italian oratorio La Resurrezione .  

Hamburg to Leipzig

• SpringFest 2024 opens its Baroque Journeys in Germany with works by Telemann and J. S. Bach, including concertos and vocal music.
• 7:30 pm Friday, April 12
• Trinity Episcopal Church
• This free program features solo and chamber music by Couperin, Marais, Lambert, and Rameau.
• Noon on Saturday, April 13
• Free admission
• Revel in the sumptuous richness of the Italian Baroque, featuring period instrument performances of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons."
• 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 13

London Playhouse

• Blackfriars Playhouse provides the setting for a short concert of instrumental and vocal music from 17th-century England.
• 10:30 a.m. Sunday, April 14
• Blackfriars Playhouse

SpringFest Lunch & Lecture

• Lecture: Jon Gibson delivers an extended talk on Handel's oratorio La Resurrezione just before the finale concert.
• 1 p.m. Sunday April 14
• Trinity Church's McCracken Hall

Rome: Handel's Resurrezione

• The SpringFest finale features a single, brilliant work: Handel's Italian oratorio on the resurrection, penned in Rome in 1708.
• 4 p.m. Sunday, April 14

To view the schedule online, visit:  https://www.stauntonmusicfestival.org/springfest

Festival artists

Canadian-American sopranos Molly Netter and Megan Chartrand, bass Peter Walker, violinists Martin Davids (Chicago) and Nicholas DiEugenio (Chapel Hill, N.C.), Jason Fisher and Sarah Darling (Boston), Baroque bassoonist Stephanie Corwin and oboist Geoffrey Burgess (Philadelphia), and more. To find out more about the artists performing, see artists online . 

Tickets: (540) 800-6012 or [email protected]. Event is included in SpringFest Pass and Annual Pass. To learn more about SpringFest and Staunton Music Festival, visit https://www.stauntonmusicfestival.org

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