Europe with motorhome and tent?

[Phil Spectrum]

Part of my autumn Europe adventure will involve traveling with 2 friends between Amsterdam and Munich over a long week mid September.
Betty has enough seatbelts but not beds.
The plan is for them to tent camp.

How easy is it to find places for a C class motorhome with a tent pitch adjacent?
My first EU trip... And ideas welcome.

 

[Guigsy]

Part of my autumn Europe adventure will involve traveling with 2 friends between Amsterdam and Munich over a long week mid September.
Betty has enough seatbelts but not beds.
The plan is for them to tent camp.

How easy is it to find places for a C class motorhome with a tent pitch adjacent?
My first EU trip... And ideas welcome.

Campsites in Europe aren't quite the same as the UK. There are tent camping sites, but they aren't as common and they tend to be remote. Most sites you'd park a motorhome at will be motorhomes only. You don't even see many caravans, it's just us Brits and the Dutch that like towing stuff.

Amsterdam was one of the few places I've stayed that had tent camping.

 

[Lenny HB]

If staying on sites abroad you rent the pitch and you can put what you like on it none of these stupid rules you get on UK sites. You just just pay for the pitch + vehicle + number of people.
So providing the pitch is a reasonable size you will only need one pitch.
Tent camping not normally permitted on Aires but quite a few have grass areas behind the parking so a small pup tent behind your van for a night no one will worry about.

 

[Guigsy]

If staying on sites abroad you rent the pitch and you can put what you like on it none of these stupid rules you get on UK sites. You just just pay for the pitch + vehicle + number of people.
So providing the pitch is a reasonable size you will only need one pitch.
Tent camping not normally permitted on Aires but quite a few have grass areas behind the parking so a small pup tent behind your van for a night no one will worry about.

Ok. So it's more of a case that tenting just isn't done. But you can in you want to.... Those Brits are weird...

 

[lorger]

For years we always took a tent with us as our daughter would bring a friend, they would sleep in the tent on our pitch and never had any issues

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[scotzsue]

Our grandkids sleep in a drive away awning, it's only a big tent when all is said and done.

 

[Grianan]

We have rented in campsites all over France - no issues at all. We’ve also slept in caravan awning … I’m wondering about feasibility of sleeping in pop up awning?

 

[Phil Spectrum]

It will be a separate 3 man tent....hoping to find a few pitches between Netherlands and Munich...
Sounds promising so far, but not easy?

How would I go about finding sites, or could I just turn up and assume I can get away with it?
Thanks all

 

[Grianan]

It will be a separate 3 man tent....hoping to find a few pitches between Netherlands and Munich...
Sounds promising so far, but not easy?

How would I go about finding sites, or could I just turn up and assume I can get away with it?
Thanks all

It is easy. Just more costly than an aire. Look at Park4Night but look for campsites (black tent) not aires. We used to just turn up and only had an issue once.

If you know where you want to stay then pre-book, especially Munich. This year I pre booked a night in campsite/aire in Ypres and campsite in Bruges as I knew they would be busy. We stayed on 2 other sites Epernay and Beaune and just turned up.

What I would say is it may be harder to guarantee adjacent pitches.

 

[mikebeaches]

Campsites in Europe aren't quite the same as the UK. There are tent camping sites, but they aren't as common and they tend to be remote. Most sites you'd park a motorhome at will be motorhomes only. You don't even see many caravans, it's just us Brits and the Dutch that like towing stuff.

Amsterdam was one of the few places I've stayed that had tent camping.

I'm slightly puzzled by some of the above. Having camped, caravanned and motorhomed on the continent for almost 60 years, I'm not really sure where your concerns come from?

Yes it's true aires and stellplatz are primarily designed for self-contained motorhomes and campervans; and mostly unsuitable for caravans or tents.

But there remain thousands of traditional campsites suitable for both motorhomes and tents to choose from. Just saying...

Phil Spectrum could do worse than having a look at the ACSI-inspected Eurocamping listings - 9,400+ campsites in 30 countries:

https://www.eurocampings.co.uk/

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[Brains]

If you use campsite, then camping should not be an issue.
Most campsites still have areas for tents, or it the pitch has some grass, then you can usually pitch the tent alongside the van.

Agree that Stellplatz are not suitable for anything other than motorhomes and camper vans

 

[Phil Spectrum]

I'm slightly puzzled by some of the above. Having camped, caravanned and motorhomed on the continent for almost 60 years, I'm not really sure where your concerns come from?

Yes it's true aires and stellplatz are primarily designed for self-contained motorhomes and campervans; and mostly unsuitable for caravans or tents.

But there remain thousands of traditional campsites suitable for both motorhomes and tents to choose from. Just saying...

Phil Spectrum could do worse than having a look at the ACSI-inspected Eurocamping listings - 9,400+ campsites in 30 countries:

https://www.eurocampings.co.uk/

Thanks. Does subscription to this app avoid needing to buy the annual ACSI book and card, or do I need that too?

 

[mikebeaches]

Thanks. Does subscription to this app avoid needing to buy the annual ACSI book and card, or do I need that too?

I'm not sure about that? Think it will be a case of researching on that website, unless anybody else can advise differently. You don't need a card to stay at any of the 9,400 sites, just turn up and pay as you go.

ACSI is a Dutch camping and caravanning organisation and publisher. It has various different offerings and schemes. One of them is the ACSI discount scheme (Camping Card), where there are circa 3,000 (out of the 9,400) sites where you can stay outside peak season for a fixed price, which is less than the normal going rate. It is popular with Funsters, us included. At the moment, for that scheme, you need to buy a guidebook (comes as 2 actually) which includes a 'membership' card if you like, and which needs to be shown on arrival to obtain the discount rate. You can, having bought the guides, then pay a few Euro more for the Camping Card (discount) app.

Here's the Camping Card discount scheme link for circa 3,000 participating sites: https://www.campingcard.co.uk/

But to access the whole lot - all 9,400 inspected sites, I'm not sure if you have to purchase a guidebook before you can get hold of an app? But the app isn't a pre-requirement to stay. Just turn up, especially in September.

And just to complicate things further, many of ACSI's schemes are going to be completely digital next year, so no need to buy guidebooks in future.

Good luck with your plans and have a great trip!

 

[bobandjanie]

With campsites you should be OK if your talking a small two man tent and motorhome, where we are tonight it's just a free parking spot off park 4 night no services just picnic benches and a river us and two campervans and a girl in a hammock. Bob.

 

[Reallyretired]

Stayed with my stepson and his wife and daughter in France earlier in the year. Separate adjacent pitches as his 8 man tent is enormous. Some sites eg Carcassonne and Charmes have a separate bit for tents.
I think all campsites allow tents, all we've been on anyway.

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[philann]

In 40+ years of tent/trailer tent/caravan/ motorhome camping all over Europe I have yet to see a campsite that doesn’t take all of the above. Generally you can just turn up and pay for a pitch and no one seems to care what you put on it as long as it all fits in.

 

[Guigsy]

In 40+ years of tent/trailer tent/caravan/ motorhome camping all over Europe I have yet to see a campsite that doesn’t take all of the above. Generally you can just turn up and pay for a pitch and no one seems to care what you put on it as long as it all fits in.

I travelled Europe for 6 months. I rarely saw a tent. Amsterdam and Konigsee were about the only places saw people under canvas. We visited sites that were close to cities and tourist attractions. I guess it depends on where you go.

 

[Riverbankannie]

If you intend arriving in Munich for Octoberfest (I think it is in September), then you might need to book tickets for the festival too as well as the camping.