Touring round Europe... Help (1 Viewer)

[Clarencraig]

Hi all I'm new to this site,
Please could u help as much as you can. Me and my partner are going to be touring round some of Europe in August for 3 weeks. We will be setting of from Calais and working our way down. We like to stop of at Paris for the day then work our way down to the south of France go past or into Lyon then down to marseille. Then work our way round, to Nice then to Turin or Milan. After that we want to work our way up threw Switzerland into south Germany once into Germany we plan to head to Stuttgart, cologne and then back home.
We are wanting to spend more time in south of France and the north of Italy. I'm really looking for help for places to see along this route without taking much of a detour. And even camp sites that we could stay in along the way that are good and reasonable priced. I know things will be more expensive the time that we are going.
If you think you could help with anything else it would be much appreciate thank you for reading and hope u can help. Clare

 

[Forestboy]

That's a hell of a lot to cram into 3 weeks

For campsites we use

Link Removed

http://alanrogers.com/

http://www.all-the-aires.com/

between the 3 you'll never need anything else
the first one you can load onto a laptop and it gives you a fantastic route planner as well

One tip don't plan too much just go with the flow :thumb::thumb:

 

[chaser]

As before , a lt in three weeks be better to look at less miles and longer stops in my opinion , but hey, you are driving, have fun

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[Wildman]

France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany in three weeks. you will not need any stops. could take you a week to get through Paris, hee hee. switzerland gobox required and Germany an UMWELT badge of most major towns.
Loads of aires in France no need to look for them really. We toured Northern France, Luxembugh and poked our nose in to Belgium and Germany for three weeks, driving on every day, 2000 miles by the time we got home. you may wish to revise your expectations.

 

[Bailey58]

France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany in three weeks. you will not need any stops. could take you a week to get through Paris, hee hee. switzerland gobox required and Germany an UMWELT badge of most major towns.
Loads of aires in France no need to look for them really. We toured Northern France, Luxembugh and poked our nose in to Belgium and Germany for three weeks, driving on every day, 2000 miles by the time we got home. you may wish to revise your expectations.

Yep, 3 months more like but I can't talk we're off at the end of May for our first serious look at Europe in a motorhome but a bit less ambitious. Just a thought but it's a vignette for Switzerland and a Gobox for Austria. Had a look at the Umwelt badge, never knew of that, and I wonder how close we can get to city centres and whether the Stellplatz are close to centres as in France?

 

[sdc77]

Remember a vignette will be required in switzerland.. order online for convenience in advance.. arrives in a couple of days.
We are following a similar route and used alan rogers a fair bit.
Expect italian sites to be expensive.. lake garda is a nice area
Tuscany is also lovely and a search of here will find numerous threads on that area. If you are pasding from italy to Switzerland remember you can get cheap fuel at livigno (and a cool single track tunnel)

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[callumwa]

As said it's a lot of driving in 3 weeks.

It can take you a day to get into Paris and then by the time you are in, it's time to get out. There is the campsite in the City at Bois de Boulougne though.

For Paris we tend to leave the van outside the City, somewhere that has a direct train line (40 mins or so) into the city centre, just buy a day pass and that way you can head in first thing in the morning, spend the whole day there and head back out of the city in the evening.

In July we will head over heading down from Dunkirk, then probably Belgium Luxembourg, Chamonix, visit friends near St Tropez, head over to Spain, catch the ferry from Gijon to St Nazaire, then back to Dunkirk.

The only thing fixed is the ferry tickets (which we can change anyway).

We have allowed 6 weeks for this tour which mileage wise will be not dissimilar to your intended route.

Don't worry too much about planning your route and stops in advance, we never do...
...there is always something to see and somewhere to stay, if you like a place stay a day or two extra..

Have Fun......

:thumb:

ps Welcome to Fun.......

 

[jennyp19]

You are going to do just what we did the first time we went over the water - with hindsight I wish we hadn't. Spent too much time travelling to enjoy where we were, & just seemed to be rushing everywhere, more of a time trial than a holiday - good luck!
There are plenty of Aires in the smaller towns to save money - after all, you will only be parking up overnight in paid for camp sites. The French tend to travel south at that time of year & motorways, especially down south get packed.

 

[rainbow chasers]

Don't plan - just do it! Go with the flow - best holiday you will ever have!:thumb:

You will have far more stress trying to keep to your itinerary - sleep wherever you end up, look around whatever town you pass that seems interesting - by all means have a few 'famous landmarks' to look at whilst you are over there - Notredame etc ......and if you go near Prague, go along to the church at Hutna Kora (iirc) A little macabre for some, but to see a church made of bone is a once in a lifetime thing.

Other than that - go with it. Get the tickets, and do it!......oh, and fill with fuel outside of Austria...quite expensive last time I was there. Salzburg is quite interesting too.

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[hilldweller]

Hi all I'm new to this site,
Please could u help as much as you can.

Certainly.

Don't do it.

That's not a holiday, it's an endurance rally at peak holiday time.

I suggest you search on here for The Italian Job and follow that. This will give you a hint of France and as much Switzerland and Italy as you like. You will actually have a holiday.

 

[Reallyretired]

Too much planning.

I never decide where to stay in advance though I will have an idea of a general direction. You're supposed to enjoy this, not getting all stressed out because you are behind schedule, or have to move on from somewhere you want to stop because you need to get somewhere on a certain day.
Your itinery is a bit (or a lot) excessive for three weeks, I would want a couple of months at least to do that. The south of France is crowded any where near the coast in August and best avoided. The good thing though is that Paris is relatively quiet, because they've all gone to the Med. Avoid driving in Paris at all if you don't want unplanned van body modifications, stay on the outskirts and let the train take the strain.

 

[yodeli]

Well ...as a few funsters have said it already .... don't do it..... not that way that is! France during holidays time is hell in the little villages ... just because people take their time , lots of open markets everywhere...and South means ..lazyness lol ...I know what I'm talking about being french and living in South of France! Unless you only take motorways but even so ... South of France? summer? OMG ! You'll be cooked before you reach your final destination to start with, and probably won't really have any pleasure or very little. Driving driving driving..Don't forget the 15th of August is a bank Holiday ... lots of shops might be shut and even more people in the streets or in their cars rushing to the seaside. Mind you may be it is the way you like it , if so then go for it!

In any case I wish you a very nice Holiday!

Amicalement

Frankie:Cool:

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