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Campervan trip in Hokkaido Japan

S

StevenZhang

VIP Member
Messages
135
Location
Tunbridge Wells
Vehicle
T6.1 Ocean 199
Last summer I rent a camper van in Hokkaido Japan and had a 10 days trip. I have to say Hokkaido is a paradise for camping trip.
Except lots of fantastic campsites, you also can find hundreds of free parking and overnights service areas beside highways, main roads, natural parks, even town center. They are all totally free, but very clean, s
afe, convenient and quiet, most of them have Japanese restaurants, high standard toilets and small shops. If you need shower, you must can find some hot spring center close to you just need a little money. What a good memory!
So, my question is, in the UK or Europe, are there any other choices for camping park and overnight except the campsites? Of course the basic convenience equipments are needed and safe.
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Last summer I rent a camper van in Hokkaido Japan and had a 10 days trip. I have to say Hokkaido is a paradise for camping trip.
Except lots of fantastic campsites, you also can find hundreds of free parking and overnights service areas beside highways, main roads, natural parks, even town center. They are all totally free, but very clean, s
afe, convenient and quiet, most of them have Japanese restaurants, high standard toilets and small shops. If you need shower, you must can find some hot spring center close to you just need a little money. What a good memory!
So, my question is, in the UK or Europe, are there any other choices for camping park and overnight except the campsites? Of course the basic convenience equipments are needed and safe.
In the UK - basically No
There are places people stay but they are not designed or setup for overnight camping. But there are some alternatives and I'm sure someone will be along to explain .

On the Continent - a different matter. There are the Aires in France on the motorways and also in villages and towns and normally with toilets, not so often showers. Other countries not so common.

In Scandinavia, Norway in particular, lots of Motorhome/Campervan stops on quaysides, towns or places of interest. Most free but the pay ones ( very cheap ) definitely include showers and electricity.
 
My experiences:

UK the most cost effective way to camp is probably certified sites via the clubs, they cost £10ish a night and are basic but small numbers of campers (5-6 vans normally the limit).

Scotland in theory you can get away with camping in stop off spots, but you need to be very mindful of not damaging the landscape. Around Loch Lomand you can get a parking permit for less than £5 but literally there are no facilities and getting on the internet around here via mobile is nigh on impossible so we never managed to book a permit. Scotland has a right to roam law for wild camping but this does actually not include vehicles, effectively you need to be 100m from the road and camping with everything contained in one backpack. That said plenty of camping spots are available.

Denmark, wild camping is considered illegal, you have to find a site. We found plenty of places we could have camped but it was clearly signed that it was now allowed. Shame really as they nearly all had toilets and were quiet. The sites we stayed at were beautiful though and we adore Denmark, but you will be restricted to proper campsites.

Sweden has a right to roam law of sorts, so you can pretty much camp anywhere off the road, there are parking spots every so often, we were amazed at the option, literally every mile or so in some places.

Belgium - had aires similar to France, never really found anywhere to wild camp but I am sure we just didn't look properly.

Germany - basic camping aires were quite expensive, charging for everything from toilet, showers, water etc.
Many of the motorway aires were dirty and smelly and I wouldnt want to camp there.

Nederlands - nice campsites, quite similar pricing as UK sites but quieter.
 
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