Motorhomes and getting around (1 Viewer)

[mrb1978]

Hi, I am looking to swap my caravan to a motorhome so we can tour around Europe a bit more easily now the children are getting a bit older.
Over the last 25 years I have moved up from tents to VW campers and now to caravans so days out have always been easy, but with a motorhome is it just a case of using public transport or your bike and planning sites that are better connected to public services?
I had thought about towing a small car but then I might as well tow the caravan.
I’m pretty much decided but can’t get my head around not being able to jump in a car and be off for the day.

 

[DilltheDog]

You could take a scooter?

I think it’s just one of the many compromises you have to work out when getting a motorhome, or caravan, or camper. They all have pluses and minuses.

 

[Richard n Ann]

You need to swing your leg over a nice 900
Lightweight, fun, cool, easy to park and easy to tow

 

[gus-lopez]

 

[DandJ]

Will you have children with you or is it just you/you and other half ?

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[Howard B]

We use electric bikes, buses or walk.

 

[mrb1978]

Will you have children with you or is it just you/you and other half ?

The children will be with us.

 

[mrb1978]

Cheers!

 

[mrb1978]

You could take a scooter?

I think it’s just one of the many compromises you have to work out when getting a motorhome, or caravan, or camper. They all have pluses and minuses.

They do, the downside of caravans is getting it to where it’s going. It’s not the actual towing bit, that’s pretty easy, it’s the stopping bits in between that have to have carefully planning along with the routes.

 

[Brella]

Electric bikes, walk or buses. Sometimes trains. But we try not to stay in one place too long this way we see more.

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[HugoBNB]

We use public transport, walking or Uber. In any combination. For bigger towns and cities we have found staying further out on a bus or train route works very well. If we stay later into the evening in a city, we usually Uber back.

 

[mikebeaches]

Perhaps worth mentioning that visiting places in a motorhome / campervan is generally easier on the continent than in the UK.

There are typically more places to park a larger vehicle - especially in France and Spain - than Blighty.

Worth considering how large you want to go with the motorhome, albeit you will have the children on board - the more compact it is then the easier to use as everyday transport.

We'd carry a small tent, so if we were staying somewhere for a few days, the kids would sleep in that.

 

[Lenny HB]

As you are talking about Europe it's no problem. Most Aires/Stellaplatz/CP's are in walking distance of where you want to be.
The only place that is difficult is the UK.

 

[royandsharont]

We have never needed to hire a car in past 12 years, used train, bus, manual cycles or walked. Downsized to 6.4 PVC to give us more ease of driving it around sightseeing and so far have not been disappointed, but easier in EU than U.K. in all regards. Probably plan well in advance re shopping on way and location of campsites.

 

[meanders]

The only place I hire a car is in Cornwall. I have family down there, some of whom have very little parking. Also heaving it about on some of the lanes can be challenging especially knowing the banks are usually granite which is a tad harder than the bodywork on the van. Even then use buses where we can. No point in wear I g the bus pass if you don't use it. We have no buses within a mile (over fields) of home so it makes a change to use them.

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[Podney]

With children I’d stick to a caravan.

 

[mrb1978]

With children I’d stick to a caravan.

Why would you recommend that?

 

[Podney]

Why would you recommend that?

There is a massive difference between the freedom and flexibility you get by being able to use your car,compared with the hassle of trying to access places with a Moho,which really can be a pia.

 

[Captain Yoghurtpot]

With children I’d stick to a caravan.

Or back to a vw type campervan with a drive away awning for kids to sleep in ( depending on age) or no awning and good tent for the kids, ( again age is relevant) OR, a good quality stand alone screen house like the pro 4.
That's the way I am aiming for FROM a 6mtr motorhome after 6 years and previously caravans and trailer tents.
Campervan use will be a cross hybrid mix of camping, caravanning and motorhoming and it will also be my daily vehicle.
Solely UK use, on sites always with ehu and facilities, and the ability to get under most height barriers and get in most car parking spaces, and out and about fairly easily.
Think it will work for us, but not everyone.
Good Luck in whatever you do.

 

[Nanniemate]

I'm happy to take the van out for the day but try not to stay too long in one place
Do have favourite places that I revisit

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[cyberyacht]

With children, a caravan is better IMHO. The style of journey/holiday that suits motorhomes is unlikely to suit children who tend more to pools/bucket and spades.

 

[DandJ]

I asked re the children as I took your opening post to mean that they were still with you on trips...others, suggesting a motorbike, obviously presumed you were solo/couple....I'm afraid I'm anbother who would suggest sticking with the car and caravan while the kids are still with you. We are only 6 mths into camper ownership but know from our (similar) experience to you with camping then caravans back when our kids were small...that a campervan would be harder work with kids than a car/caravan. The simplicity of unhitching and having a seperate home and transport is not to be sniffed at...IMHO. I appreciate you can't get to as many interesting places with a car and caravan but our kids would have sat like Kevin and Perry in the back of a camper if we'd visited the places we do now rather than be sited on a decent campsite for a week, then moving to something similar elsewhere....as we did when they were kids. The travelling aspect was't much of a holiday to them

 

[Capitanjohn]

We had a Piaggio zip 50 cc, 80 kilos, and two small electric bikes in our garage, used them for 15 years no problem. I absolutley loved the scooter.

 

[SVMC15]

Get a motorhome!!!

Traveling with kids and dog in a motorhome has been very easy and enjoyable for the last 12 years. Being stuck in the same place for a week or more would drive me mad.

In Europe we have always been somewhere that is in walking distance to where we want to be except when we have stayed at a site which is either a longer walk or bus/train.

Being able to move on and change plans at a drop of a hat is one of the best things about a motorhome, last year travelling back up through Germany we saw a sign for Charlottenhole, my daughter is called Charlotte so we decided to see what it was! It was an interesting cave and we found a nice stellplatz the other side of the carpark. We have found some totally random and beautiful places over the years.

Just this Monday after the masses had left Cornwall we stayed over night on Davidstow airfield and the following day spent it in Tintagel and on the coast path.

 

[TDub49]

Hi, I am looking to swap my caravan to a motorhome so we can tour around Europe a bit more easily now the children are getting a bit older.
Over the last 25 years I have moved up from tents to VW campers and now to caravans so days out have always been easy, but with a motorhome is it just a case of using public transport or your bike and planning sites that are better connected to public services?
I had thought about towing a small car but then I might as well tow the caravan.
I’m pretty much decided but can’t get my head around not being able to jump in a car and be off for the day.

We get by on a combo of walking, bikes and public transport because like you I don't see the point in towing unless it is a caravan. We certainly look at transport connections when planning. Recent examples: campsite at Villanova, buses from campsite into centre of Barcelona and to Villanova itself. Campsite outside San Sebastian, two minute walk to bus to town centre. Works well in Europe but this country's pathetic approach to public transport make it much more hit and miss when touring the good old UK.

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[Aspenshaw]

For what you say it looks like a caravan would suit. We're motorhomers of caravaners of old.

We no longer go abroad. Nor do we 'wild camp'. Caravan sites are OK, 5 caravan/motorhome are good. We rarely go into towns or cities but now we have free bus passes, it is is possible and very good god rural bus services. Often the rural buses are buses with busy with motorhomers chattering abound. When we go out in the motorhome and not the bus, we spend most to our time on days out in the countryside drinking tea and eating cake. And using our toilet rather than looking for public toilets.