How easy is it to travel through Europe in a Motorhome.

[Tcodd]

Hi
Hi to you all.Just wondered if I could get some advice from the people that know.
Me and my wife are looking at getting a m/h.Then when time is ok with covid.
Traveling around Europe for about 3 months.
We have two big dogs.which we will take.
Just wondered how easy it is.my main concern is finding places to stay in walking distance to towns beaches.Is it worth towing small car.we are both very new to this.so any advise would be great.
Many thanks Tim

 

[LesW]

I can't argue with that but when it comes purely down to costs, it's cheaper for us to holiday in the UK.

Yes, that's fair comment, although the longer one stays in Europe, the 'cheaper' it becomes.

We spent nine weeks touring in 2019, and cost us about £2000 all in, including the Euro tunnel costs.

 

[Ian Bosman]

Welcome Tim & Mrs Tim! We too are new to motorhomes [still looking for one!], so people with more knowledge will be along shortly to advise! Elaine and I have toured France sa campers, trailer tenters, folding caravan owners, and latterly as Touring Caravan owners. French Municipal Sites [originally owned by the Municipal/Local Authority, but many have now been privatised] offer sensible stay prices [often with free/reduced rates for the Municipal Swimming Pool], and are invariably situated within the proverbial spitting distance of the Town Centre. We love Amboise, Chauvigny, Montoire sur le Loire and Montmorillon and lots more! Post COVID, you will have a great time! Who knows? We may have actually found a motorhome ourselves and be following you down the road!

Steve & Elaine

Having read the French take up on vaccines I would avoid the country as I avoid the covid plague

 

[deleted79651]

Having read the French take up on vaccines I would avoid the country as I avoid the covid plague

I did say 'Post COVID' ... I do some daft things, but buying a first motorhome and then running the COVID gauntlet ain't one of them!

Steve

 

[steve69]

Hi
Hi to you all.Just wondered if I could get some advice from the people that know.
Me and my wife are looking at getting a m/h.Then when time is ok with covid.
Traveling around Europe for about 3 months.
We have two big dogs.which we will take.
Just wondered how easy it is.my main concern is finding places to stay in walking distance to towns beaches.Is it worth towing small car.we are both very new to this.so any advise would be great.
Many thanks Tim

Pick your 3 months carefully. Avoid July, August, September like the plague because everyone else in Europe will be doing exactly the same thing. In my experience, March, April & May is the quietest time to go (still can be busy though).

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[RubyOptics]

Tcodd My strong advice is to "try before you buy" so to speak. What I mean by that is that when you have had a look around at the various types of vans, the multitude of different layouts etc etc etc, and when you have found something that you think might work for you, rent one as similar as you can possibly find to that model for a week. We did exactly that and in fact there's a video of it in my signature. The van we eventually bought was completely different in size, layout, engine, age....nearly everything. The rental showed us that what we thought we wanted didn't actually work for us and what we wanted to do. We still had a great holiday, so the rental money wasn't at all wasted, and it saved us a fortune in buying a van that wouldn't have fitted our requirements.

 

[138go]

Pick your 3 months carefully. Avoid July, August, September like the plague because everyone else in Europe will be doing exactly the same thing. In my experience, March, April & May is the quietest time to go (still can be busy though).

We like going at the end of August, spending September and October in Spain. It’s lovely to have all that late summer sunshine. September isn’t that busy where we go.

 

[Chocy boy]

As of yesterday I could get the van from storage to home for a clean. 6, miles best trip that I have had In 5 months

 

[Bucket]

A picture paints a thousand words.

Welcome to a maps.me of available places in europe.

About 60 per cent are free in europe and if you have 2 hands you can count the uk ones.

Different world over there

View attachment 475528

If that is Maps.me I didn't know it existed (and I'm a long-term user), please advise how to access?

 

[suavecarve]

If that is Maps.me I didn't know it existed (and I'm a long-term user), please advise how to access?

PMd

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[RubyOptics]

suavecarve Would you be able to share that info with me as well? Or maybe start a thread with the information to prevent you from sending a thousand PM's to other interested parties?!

 

[suavecarve]

suavecarve Would you be able to share that info with me as well? Or maybe start a thread with the information to prevent you from sending a thousand PM's to other interested parties?!

pm me

 

[138go]

Hi
Hi to you all.Just wondered if I could get some advice from the people that know.
Me and my wife are looking at getting a m/h.Then when time is ok with covid.
Traveling around Europe for about 3 months.
We have two big dogs.which we will take.
Just wondered how easy it is.my main concern is finding places to stay in walking distance to towns beaches.Is it worth towing small car.we are both very new to this.so any advise would be great.
Many thanks Tim

Just had a thought about your dogs, some big dogs are banned in Europe. It's worth checking.

 

[Tcodd]

They are German shepherd s.Just checked.Think they are ok.
Was worried then.
Thanks for the Tip.woulded have thought about that.

 

[Wack]

France is absolutely superb for motorhomes! Completely the opposite to the UK. Nearly every town or village has a campsite / aire Pick somewhere nice, pitch up, crack a cork or two, get your sun loungers out and relax! Perfect.

2019 we went to Normandy in a Mustang , the reason I now have a motorhome and not a Mustang is exactly that

Every evening wherever we went on the coast the motorhomes were parked up with people just chilling

2020 stuffed , 2021 stuffed , 2022 hopefully

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[Vipar]

Greetings peeps welcome from Bexley

You are about to change your life for a better one

 

[Paddington]

Probably been mentioned already but don't be tempted to stay overnight on a motorway stop. Find a site or an aire well before you need an overnight stop

I find this interesting......as a solo female I often overnight en route to my destination by staying in motorway aires....ok I chose the ones with a 24 hour shop...But I've never had a problem or been scared and I am by nature a very cautious person.

 

[markhub]

We had personal experience of an attempt to break in during the night. Thwarted oy by the ratchet strap I place between the door handles. Since then I've read & heard of many similar situations. Glad to know you've stayed safe though

 

[Raymond Bonello]

Hi
Hi to you all.Just wondered if I could get some advice from the people that know.
Me and my wife are looking at getting a m/h.Then when time is ok with covid.
Traveling around Europe for about 3 months.
We have two big dogs.which we will take.
Just wondered how easy it is.my main concern is finding places to stay in walking distance to towns beaches.Is it worth towing small car.we are both very new to this.so any advise would be great.
Many thanks Tim

Hello. Every time you go in and out you have to make an appointment with a vet to issue certificates for your pets. This is of paramount importance as you can be stopped on entering a country and asked for certificates. I once had in mind to tow a car but decided not to as it was a great hassle, although this is still on the drawing board. Enjoy your holidays after Covid 19 is cleared up. Ray

 

[Gary217]

We've travelled many weeks at a time Europe for the past 10 years since taking early retirement and our dog has a travelled with us, and she has clocked up 11 different countries with us (ok...I'm including Wales and Scotland in that total) and only once in all that time did we find a site that didn't take dogs, but there was an ok one just down the road.
To echo what others have said, it is easy. Plenty of campsites/aires, fantastic places to go, usually much easier to drive than here, certainly much easier to park a MoHo than here, sites often cheaper than here, sites usually more relaxed and less regimented than here and friendly people. Dogs are liked a lot across Europe and she always gets attention and is very often welcomed with a bowl of water at cafes/restaurants. Vets are easy to find, just ask at a tourist info, and under the old system getting the 'return to UK' paperwork done was easy as all the vets knew about it (mind you...they charged for it) but I have no idea how well the changed regimes under the "B" word has affected this so need to research this.
We really missed our 3 planned trips last year and this year is looking dubious - so much so that we're thinking of flogging the van as we only keep it for European trips as doing in the UK is a lot different and not something we particularly enjoy, although lots do.

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[Molly A]

Still reckon a 6 week trip to Spain will be ½ the price of staying in the UK. Even without taking into account all the savings on food & booze.

Yup, and you won't have crap British weather to contend with, and you will have decent roads to drive on.

 

[Mike Rivers]

A question I’ve pondered many times. We usually pick sites based in part on their location and access to villages/towns/restaurants etc. I personally wouldn’t tow a car since once we’ve pitched we’re happy to splodge out and read or go for walks. In the event we wanted to visit somewhere special we would hire a car. I also feel it’s a more relaxing drive knowing all you have to worry about is just the vehicle you’re driving and not have the extra worry of your tow setup.