Sat nav and route planning

[Samantha1239]

Hello

I am completely new to this and really some help and advice please.

My husband and two children ( aged 2 and 4) are planning on taking 3 months out to travel from Calais through the West Coast of France , across the south of France to the French Riviera, through Northern Italy and then Switzerland or Austria, Southern Germany and then back to Calais. We would leave May and return at the end of July. This year 2025. We have a caravan. Not a motorhome.

1. Which caravan specific sat nav would you recommend? We currently use Waze in our car but we are worried about the compatibility for caravan suitable routes and the requirement to always have phone reception.

2. We have spotted a few campsites that say motorhomes are allowed but don't specifically outline caravans. Is this a given?

3. I am really struggling with the journey planning.

Ideally I would like to stay in each place for 2 to 3 days. And go from campsite to campsite which have facilities for the kids ?

Is there a route planner? That I can literally enter the places we would like to visit and then drive times etc etc are all worked out ?

Or what is the best way to go about it?

I want to prebook all campsites because of the age of the kids.


Thankyou

 

[WESTY66]

You could try the Via Michelin app, I believe it can calculate fuel costs (approx of course) tolls for any motorways you might use.
Just check as you mention Switzerland I think you will have to get a vignette for the car AND the caravan, just check Austria is just for the car (you will obviously need all your original docs for the car)
Hope you have a great trip

 

[Reallyretired]

I recommend copilot caravan. It's not free but allows you to input your dimensions, and because the maps are downloaded to your device there is no need for an Internet connection in use.
You need a fair bit of storage on your phone or tablet you are running it on as Western Europe maps are around 1.5Gb and a bit more if you need Eastern as well.

 

[Reallyretired]

Most sites take caravans, it's only aires and stellplatz that are motorhomes only and you can't usually book those.

 

[LostInSpace]

Which caravan specific sat nav would you recommend

Probably better to find a caravan sspecific website. We all gave up tugging decades ago.

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[royandsharont]

Did you revisit the last thread you posted re help, lots of advice on there re campsites you were asking for?

I personally use a Tom Tom stand alone device because I am familiar with it and I can input dimensions but wouldn’t trust them to get it right. The map details are the problem not the device company you choose.

I check the route on a map and then if there are roads I want to avoid, or go along, I tell the device to include those by adding waypoints.

I have used Microsoft autoroute many times when planning where to go and it gives you a general route and driving times/distances. I tend to use google maps more for that aspect these days as I feel I am a more seasoned traveller after 12 years

Out of season I doubt you would never need to pre book but in peak times and in popular places you definitely would. Have you considered joining ACSI for off peak discounts and their App gives you lots of information about facilities and the area, which I find helps you decide what’s good for you.

Hope you get sorted

 

[pat100]

I use a combination of park4night, phone/tablet satnav, mapping app and Google street view. I can copy and paste decimal coordinates conveniently between them. So, I can plan a route. Get an idea of the size/layout of stopping places. Inspect it to see if it’s single track and what those hairpins are like. And what the site entrance looks like from the road. Then tell the satnav to take me to that entrance. And it helps me find LPG stations. And supermarkets with plenty of parking space

 

[cyberyacht]

An itinerary like that sounds like a recipe for a couple of very grumpy kids. A lot of driving time, not to mention, if doing it with a caravan, the hassle of setting up and striking camp every few days. That sort of itinerary lends itself more to a motorhome if moving every 2 or 3 days. Ideally you want to keep the journey legs at 200 miles or less. For Campsites, try the ACSI handbook or, for the net, SearchForSites.co.uk

 

[Tiger Bear]

Further to what cyberyacht wrote, I have recently purchased a Garmin Camper, which has ACSI data on it. I have also downloaded SearchForSites, and so far have found it to be a useful tool.

 

[Gellyneck]

Further to what cyberyacht wrote, I have recently purchased a Garmin Camper, which has ACSI data on it. I have also downloaded SearchForSites, and so far have found it to be a useful tool.

and you can install Garmin BaseCamp on a pc or iMac and preplan prior to loading to sat nav.

As you say you can load custom poi's from various sources.