Best way to plan a long trip?

[soundsk]

Hi!

Finally a new year has arrived, and with it a "refill" on vacation days!
As we only got our Cali last October, and by then I was out of vacation days, we only got to do a few short weekend trips on the Cali.

It's time to start programming a long trip, and I was wondering if any of you know any useful websites for people with caravans? A site like viamichelin or something, where you could input a departure and destination locations, it traces out a route, and it shows the best spots and camping parks for caravaners to park and stay for a night or two.

I have a couple of sites I've gathered from searching this forum and google, but none is like what I've described above (don't even know if such a thing exists!)

If you don't know any websites like this, then please leave your approach to the subject - how do you usually plan a longer trip, how do you find the best parking and camping spots?

Cheers!

 

[jts46]

Have you tried ACSI ?

John

 

[soundsk]

Have you tried ACSI ?

Thanks, didn't know about that one. Added to the bookmarks! Useful if you set a mileage count for the day, see where you wind up, and look for campsites in the area.
Do you know if the app is worth the $$?

Cheers!

 

[Californiaman]

I'm not aware of a planning tool that is quite up to that. The definition of 'best' being very objective.

We often work out roughly where we want to be and the use Google to search for local campsites, taking note of the reviews. Campsite.co.UK is useful as are sites like wildcamping.co.UK etc. Google maps satellite view is great for looking up the local area to see what the location is like.

Part of the fun of a road trip for us is discovering things as you go...

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[soundsk]

I'm not aware of a planning tool that is quite up to that. The definition of 'best' being very objective.

Part of the fun of a road trip for us is discovering things as you go...

Perhaps I didn't make myself very clear, sorry about that.
You are right, discovering things as you go is part of the fun! That's mostly how we've been doing on our short weekend trips (staying inside Portugal) - we just think of a spot, look up a couple of things and head out, then just look for the best spots, or talk to the locals.

In the case of the long trip, if we had no planned destination, that's also how we'd play it. Head out and stop along the way wherever it may be, staying for as long or as little as we pleased.

What I'm actually referring to is a long trip with a destination - in this case from Viana do Castelo, Portugal, to Boulogne-Sur-Mer in Northern France - to visit my brother-in-law.

We've never done such a long road trip, and the aim here would be to complete it in the least amount of time, while still having some fun, and not just make it in one go looking at motorway tarmac for hours on end. Perhaps making one or two stops along the way, for a few hours to rest or spend one night, in interesting places where one can enjoy nice local cuisine, or a gorgeous view. This way we could make the and enjoy the trip, while maximizing the time we'd spend with my brother-in-law and the kids.

Don't know if I'm explaining myself very well, please excuse any mistakes in my English!

Cheers!

 

[KernowLad]

On our two five week Euro trips we've booked the first site then more or less winged it.
Worked fine both times; sat nav suggestions and the ACSI guides help a lot.

 

[briwy]

Have a look at Archies as well.

http://www.archiescampings.eu/

You can download POIs of lots of sites through out Europe which can be added onto most sat navs or Google maps. Worked well for us in the past.

 

[Californiaman]

I now understand. We would often come up with a convoluted route to take us to places of interest on the way, time allowing!

St Jean de luz is worth a visit although I have only stayed there on a hotel (on a motorbike trip)

The non toll routes are good from there north. My favourite aire is on the A10 at Lozay. Le Mans also has some nice aires. Bolougne has a good aire on the cliff top to the north of the town.

Make sure to try the Outback bar in Bolougne. The table top BBQ is a must

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[soundsk]

Thanks for the tips!
St. Jean de Luz, Lozay and Le Mans seem like good spots to make a pitstop!

This is going to sound like a really stupid question and I apologize in advance, but what the hell is an "aire"?

I've been looking at http://www.furgovw.org/mapa_furgoperfecto/ for places around the 900km mark (about halfway) - Biarritz and St. Jean de Luz are right around that.
Then maybe stop at Le Mans.

I still don't know if we'll be taking the surf boards or the bikes, if we take the surfboards I'll look for cool surf spots!

 

[Californiaman]

Aires are places where you can camp overnight for free. Some have facilities, some don't. The one at Lozay has some lovely gardens and carvings to wander around.

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[briwy]

I now understand. We would often come up with a convoluted route to take us to places of interest on the way, time allowing!

St Jean de luz is worth a visit although I have only stayed there on a hotel (on a motorbike trip)

The non toll routes are good from there north. My favourite aire is on the A10 at Lozay. Le Mans also has some nice aires. Bolougne has a good aire on the cliff top to the north of the town.

Make sure to try the Outback bar in Bolougne. The table top BBQ is a must

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

The road up from Biarritz up to Bordeaux has been upgraded to full autoroute now and is tolled nearly all the way. At least it's got rid of the lower speed limit and the sneaky speed cameras.

 

[KernowLad]

St Jean de Luz is mostly very nice; Inter Plages is our favourite site.
We stayed all around that area plus Provence, the Pyrenees, Northern Spain (including Galicia) in our Cali; it's almost all great!