Italy or Greece. ?? (1 Viewer)

[MitchandJenny]

We are pondering about wether to go to Italy or Greece this spring for 3 /4 months.... We mostly wild camp ( Leaving only footprints ) and only go into a campsite when we need to get our washing done, which is seldom because we are naturists whenever possible... The question is, which country is easiest to wild camp in ?? We tend to stick to the coast only 'darting inland' to see specific attractions.... We usually start out about the beginning of April and come home when the French start their holidays... We would be most grateful for your input and look forward to some replies... Many thanks, Mitch and Jenny... ( PS. Please don't give us any grief about being freeloading tossers....) Mitch.

 

[Jaws]

It is easier to wild camp in Greece than Italy.. But both countries are worth spending time in..

We try and do northern Italy at least once a year ( tried the south ONCE.. never again ! ) but this coming year after we visit Italy we will be going on to Croatia nd then Greece :thumb:

 

[phase3begins]

Jaws,
What problems with Southern Italy?
Paul

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[Addie]

We spent 10 weeks in Greece in 2011, wild camping all but 2 nights (Athens and wash day!).

We arrived early September until December and had no problems wild camping. What I would say is my perception is that wild camping might be more difficult when Greece is more geared up to accept tourists. All the hotels, beach bars were closed down when we were there but I suspect you have a higher risk of being moved on when the tourists arrive.

Our travels in Greece: http://www.europebycamper.com/search/label/Greece
PeeJay's (MHF) excellent Wild Camping locations: http://goo.gl/maps/Tehqr

Some customers of ours are wilding in Greece at the moment:
http://anewad.blogspot.co.uk/

We loved it.

 

[hilldweller]

Both is surely the answer. Italy is on the way to Greece.

 

[chaser]

Jaws,
What problems with Southern Italy?
Paul

Ditto

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[DBK]

It is easier to wild camp in Greece than Italy.. But both countries are worth spending time in..

We try and do northern Italy at least once a year ( tried the south ONCE.. never again ! ) but this coming year after we visit Italy we will be going on to Croatia nd then Greece :thumb:

I assume you mean driving south overland all the way rather than use a ferry from Italy to get to Greece. What are the pros and cons, if any other than the extra distance assuming the Italy ferry isn't from Brindisi?

 

[MitchandJenny]

Hi Addie.. Really liked your blogs of Greece, also great information. Thanks.. Still undecided.. Mitch.. (You may be right Brian)

 

[Jaws]

Jaws,
What problems with Southern Italy?
Paul

Ditto

Basically too many thieves**, many poor sites that over charge, finding anywhere SAFE to wild, plod seem to get more in your face the further south you travel ( lads up north are really excellent and always helpful ) and also the further south you go the more crowded everywhere becomes

**Only went down to about level with Rome
Stopped in a few places
Spoke to three couples who had been robbed of something or other .. Two in one place and the third elsewhere.. We turned around and headed back up to where the folk are friendly and you rarely hear of any sort of issues

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[hilldweller]

**Only went down to about level with Rome

Hardly qualifies as southern Italy. We've been down to Sorrento and only the ants bothered us.

In my view southern Mafia Italy is south of Sorrento.

Rome, it's a Big City with history but Sorrento is a beautiful tourist trap. Everything there to make you want to stay and spend. Then cross the mountains and visit the holiday hot spots on the Adriatic. Like Misano/Riccioni.

 

[MR. FUSION]

I went down to Monte Cassino in Oct/nov 2012, going down on the west coast/centre & coming back on the east coast. I wilded quite a lot in a variety of places including carparks, bits of waste ground but often got moved on by the police or owners due to various reasons, but no major hassle. A LOT of the camping sites were closed for the winter even on the major resorts. The aires I stayed at were....interesting , like the one near Milan, which was in the middle of a quite rough area, but no problems , but I did not leave the van in that one. The facilities (water & waste) for that aire were actually on the opposite side of the town to the parking oh: Still at least they bothered:thumb:

I stayed at a campsite near Rome and would suggest you do the same :thumb: if you are leaving the van (and at any other major city) .

I think the main problem you will have is the roads, many of them I went on except the toll roads seem currently to be in very poor condition. the further you go off the main roads the worse they are. The toll roads are not that expensive compared to the damage you may do to your van if you get onto the wrong road IMHO. and/or want to get a move on.

Italians seem generally to be very poor drivers, and totally incapable of driving in a straight line mainly because most of them are having animated conversations on their mobiles I was often aggresively tailgated by lorry drivers particularly. This was often because I was sticking to the speed limit (there are a lot of speed cameras -whether they are all working is debatable) . But dont forget European speeding laws have changed recently and you may well get a (UK locally enforcable?) ticket now if you get caught?

The most perplexing experiences were following a lorry driver backing up about 1KM down a one way system causing chaos, and the total and utter chaos outside a school where cars where parked everywhere including horizontally on a zebra crossing. I saw several near misses of children and other pedestrians as drivers just sped off or were backing up without looking properly at all.

I enjoyed my trip but it was hard work at times:thumb: My luck was in as my only damage was to my rear upper light cluster and that was my fault for backing into a branch in a car park.

 

[hilldweller]

I think the main problem you will have is the roads

We were forced onto the main non-mway road south from Venice to Riccioni because the mway was closed.

Might be the worst road we've been on since Morocco.

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[MitchandJenny]

Many thanks to all of you that replied, very helpful, Ta.. I think we may go down the west coast to just short of Rome and then cut across the Appennines to the East coast and tip toe back up and then go across to Croatia.. I have heard that there is no wild camping there, but I do want to show it to Jenny... Then dependant on how long that has taken ( we move very slowly !! ) we will either carry on down to Greece, or come back and do the faithful old Spanish coast again.. We will have to see.. Hope you are all enjoying planning your trips...
PS.. How hard a climb is it to cross the Appennines ???? All the best.. Mitch...