European Tour 2016 - Belgium - Germany - Austria - Slovenia - Croatia - Italy - Switzerland - France

[Gavinskii]

Before the moment passes, I thought I would share our Summer trip - my wife and I are in our late forties and our kids are doing their own thing these days - so we thought we would too!

Very losely our plans were to head down to Croatia with the aim of finding the exact pitch on Korcula (an Island off Dubrovnic) which fellow forumite "Slovenia" had left tantalising photos of in the early pages of the "View from your Cali thread".

Broadly speaking we had just over 2 weeks to make the tour and I didn't want to be constantly driving, I wanted to chill out too.

The adventure started on Friday 1st of July when we headed for the Channel Tunnel (having utilised our Tesco Clubcard vouchers ;-) ) to find huge delays, due to some derailment earlier that day. The terminal was swarming with folks, but there was a large Welsh contingent in their football regalia who were destined to not make the big match in Lille that night.

I was more concerned about not screwing up my first carefully planned night - a city centre hotel in Ghent and dinner by the river (I had been to Ghent several times before but never with my wife). Driving distance 150km and less than 2 hours).

A quick phonecall to the hotel to advise I wouldn't be checking in until 9pm (instead of 4pm), followed by a short walk into the heart of the City and a great first night was had (though not if you were Belgium as they got knocked out by Wales!).

 

[snowy55]

Looks good, keep it coming!

 

[Gavinskii]

Day 2 head South through Germany with the target of revisiting a campsite on the edge of the river Lahn at Limburg, with the medieval town a short walk (or cycle in our case) away. (400km & 4 hrs travel today). Following an explore of the cobbled streets and some pavement bars, we settled in at the campsite for the evening and ate in their excellent and fairly priced restaurant.

 

[Gavinskii]

Day 3 We headed South through Germany and stayed in a free Aire above the town of Marktoberdorf ( deep in Bavaria), a nice little town with a reasonable selection of restaurants. A pleasant meal out and walk back to our peaceful aire. (480km and 4.5hrs driving today)


Day 4. I had found out about Castle Neuschwanstein (which was the influence for Disney's Fantasia castle) and thought it would be fun to find it. Finding it was the easy bit, but even being out of the peak season, the place was rammed with visitors and coaches and I figured we could waste 6 hours queueing and walking about and we made the joint decision that it was a beautiful area, a fantastic looking structure, but we should press on as we had more exciting destinations earmarked....


...........namely Lake Bled!



Total distance 465km & 5hrs driving time

 

[Gavinskii]

We stayed at Camping Bled which was excellent, right on the edge of the lake. Great restaurant on site and a little shop + plenty for kids to do. We however used the cadac with some local produce for the 2 nights we stayed

http://www.sava-hotels-resorts.com/en/accomodations/sava-hoteli-bled/camping-bled/

 

[Gavinskii]

Day 6 and we left late morning and headed for Camping Korana, which got a great rating on TripAdvisor and didn't disappoint!
We figured it got the best rating and provided free travel to and from the mighty Plitvice Lakes
http://en.camping.info/croatia/central-croatia-slavonija/camping-korana-118

I didn't take any pictures of the campsite, but it was really good, with excellent and pristine shower and toilet blocks.

We were prepared to spend 2 days at the Lakes, however we saw so much on the first day, we didn't feel the need to go a second day.

My top tip is get to the lakes as early as you can, I have heard horror stories of how busy it can get. It was comfortably busy being slightly out of season, but not rammed.

 

[Gavinskii]

Day 7 when we were back at Camping Korana we received a text from my brother-in-law ( a fellow Cali owner) advising that he and his young family were heading out to Swiss Alps and if we could factor it in, it would be great to see us.... Dilemma time....heart set on following "Slovenia's" lead and making it to Korcula + having a night or 2 in a swanky hotel in Dubrovnik v the reality that we were trying to cram too much into our tour and if we incorporated the original plan, I would feel like I was perpetually driving

A very quick review of my Croatian travel guide made me realise that there were lots of potential locations much closer on the coast in Istria. So having a 10 minute high level research we opted for Pula as it sounded nice and I read that there were a few Roman remnants kicking about which certainly ticked a box with me. This would save a huge amount of driving too + allow us to make the rendezvous in Swiss Alps

 

[Gavinskii]

We set off at a leisurely time knowing that we didn't have far to travel, just the last few miles in Slovenia, before the border. Whilst travelling along the motorway, I got pulled by the Police.....they wanted to see my insurance and registration documents - I apologised as I didn't have them. I was summonsed to his Police van and advised that I had broken the law and was not displaying a vignette.... He told me that I would face a fine of between €400-€800 I apologised and explained that I had not seen any signs when I entered Slovenia from Austria. He asked me if I had any cards or cash on me. I opted for card and he settled on a €150 fine + €15 for the vignette I had erroneously not bought .....not great, but could have been worse. We shook hands and I asked him if I needed a vignette for Croatia (where I would be in 30 mins) and he said no, you just need them for Austria, Slovenia and Switzerland - it then dawned on me that I had happily also travelled through Austria without said vignette (and had not been caught )

I put this incident down to experience and the fact that I was really enjoying my hols to date.

Anyway a few hours later having seen plenty of signs which made me feel pleased that my Cali was well maintained



As we drove into Pula, I almost lost some bodily fluid when driving through the traffic I thought I must have taken a wrong turn and was in Rome!



Seeing this Amphitheatre in such great condition almost blew my mind (especially as my research on Pula had been so minimal). Any irritation over the earlier run in with the Police was now well and truly buried

Further research on route had helped us identify a campsite which was highly rated and only a few Km outside of the old town, on a bus route and with free wifi!!
http://www.arenacamps.com/arenacamps_camping/stoja_camping

The arrangements here are chose yourself a pitch (very large) some sheltered and some exposed and the tariff depends on how close you are to the sea.
Very quickly we found our perfect pitch right on the edge of the Adriatic




Driving time 4 Hours & 275Km

 

[sapto]

Thank you @Gavinskii for your great report and pictures!

 

[zeratul]

We are currently doing the exact same tour as you also from belgium but not returning via switserland but via south of france to west france and back. Currently near sibenik.
Looking forward to hear about south croatian campsites and italian as we will be heading there in the next days/week.
It has been an amazing trip so far!

 

[MattBW]

Fantastic pics! What a great trip!

 

[LowMan]

What an ace trip @Gavinskii. Loved reading this, and great accompanying photos. Inspirational stuff

 

[Gavinskii]

We ended up staying 6 nights in Pula and got swept up in the "Pula International Film Festival" which on 2 nights saw us back in the Amphitheatre for an 11.30pm screening which we enjoyed after some nice meals out in the town.
Here are a couple of pics to whet your appetite

 

[Gavinskii]

To make our rendezvous with the family in Switzerland we had to drag ourselves away from this fantastic City and a cursory look at the map made me think that making our way to an Aire just outside a town on the southern edge of Lake Garda should nice.

When we arrived we parked the Cali up and took an easy 1km walk back into town for a cold drink and ice cream. By good fortune, we felt we hit gold again by finding Peschiera del Gardo

 

[Gavinskii]

After driving for 4 hours and 410km The Aire was the perfect choice being so close to town. We arrived around 4.30pm and were back on the road again destined for Switzerland by 11am the following morning.

The drive took us on a nice route and we came within a few miles of Venice, but that destination will have to wait for a future out of season visit!

So the final leg of the trip was going to be a real contrast and we were preparing ourselves for the much cooler weather....

Our destination was https://www.camping-glaciers.ch/en/ and the campsite certainly lived up to it's name, being within a very short distance from some spectacular glaciers.
We covered the 380km in 4 hours arriving mid afternoon and I was very surprised at an altitude of 1600m that the Cali temp gauge was indicating 27c!
I guessed when the sun went behind the mountains that the temperature would plunge, so was glad that I had packed the Comfortz Cali Topper.
Following a great meal cooked on the Cadac, a very convivial evening was had celebrating my birthday with brother and sister in law.
I awoke for a call of nature and was surprised how cold it felt outside, a quick flick of the ignition indicated it was just 2.5c

 

[larrylamb]

Great trip, we recently visited the Swiss Alps too, absolutely stunning scenery.

 

[Gavinskii]

We had 3 very enjoyable nights at Camping Des Glaciers concluding our tour.
This left me with quite a big drive back home via Eurotunnel. It was 8 hours driving to Calais covering a distance of 850km. Unfortunately we were then delayed for around 2-3 hours as security was really tight (with minimal staff operating on just 2 booths on the French side) following the Bastille Day atrocities in Nice.
A 90 min drive on the UK side and I was home by 10.30pm and back into work the following day.


Great memories and looking forward to working out when and where to tour in the Cali next Summer.

Despite the number of Countries visited and the mileage travelled, I really felt like I had a great holiday due to the bite sized bits of driving (except final slog home).

The Cali is truly a wonderful vehicle and I don't miss our old Hymer motorhome at all.

 

[Steve_bcs]

Amazing pics & links thanks for sharing

 

[Esandar#1]

Day 2 head South through Germany with the target of revisiting a campsite on the edge of the river Lahn at Limburg, with the medieval town a short walk (or cycle in our case) away. (400km & 4 hrs travel today). Following an explore of the cobbled streets and some pavement bars, we settled in at the campsite for the evening and ate in their excellent and fairly priced restaurant.

View attachment 15690 View attachment 15691 View attachment 15692 View attachment 15693 View attachment 15694

Hi Gavinskii,
This is a great road trip report. Thanks for posting it.

I intend to post similar after our summer trip. I wonder, can you remember the name of the campsite you refer to above, as it sounded good and convenient for exploring Limburg - and then getting some food back at site. This will be the return leg of our trip so by then I think opting for having someone cook (rather than DIY) might be very appealing! Loved your section on Pula too, but think we will take in Venice as the further point of our trip this year (if all goes to plan!) I'm spending far too long researching stuff, but the more you dig around the more little gems you uncover!
Cheers
Ian

 

[Bramco]

Just to add to the thread - here's a synopsis of our recent trip. And many thanks to everyone who has contributed here and other threads and given us ideas. It's a long post as we were about 5 weeks on the road. I feel I should add some photos which I'll try to do later, I did post some on the views from/of your van. Can't wait to go back again.

Our first stop was between Liege and Aachen - a site just north of the E40 - Camping Natuurlijk Limburg. Nice site, although maybe a bit far from the motorway if you are in rush through. There's a bar/restaurant and the facilities were pretty clean.

Then after a stopoff near Frankfurt for lunch with an old colleague we made for Rothenburg ob der Taube. Mediaeval walled city, very picturesque (although about 40% was rebuilt after the war). Stayed at Camping Tauberromantik the bigger of 2 sites just outside the city. We actually stayed 3 nights as we found some great walks, first up a tributary to the Taube to Bettenfeld and then down the Taube. Rothenburg is very pretty and oddly full of Japanese and Chinese tourists. Site was great and very clean - it's an uphill walk into town but downhill back after a meal.

We then continued on following the Route Romantique down towards Augsburg and round Munich to the Chiemsee. Used the site closest to Chiemzug on the east side of the lake. Although we had a nice afternoon and evening - great bar on the lake just as you enter Chiemzug - the site was awful. A strip between the lake and the road with two rows of pitches. Only 2 showers for about 150 pitches - not clean. Avoid like the plague.

Next stop was the Konigssee and Campingplatz & Pension Muhlleiten, great family run campsite, very new facilities, spotless. You can walk to the lake from there and there's a very good Gasthaus opposite. One of the best meals we had in Germany and Austria. It's a good site to use as a base to visit Hitler's Eagle's Nest which we did the next day. Amazing scenery - it looked in the morning as if it would rain all day but by 1pm the weather was fine, so it's maybe worth having a couple of days if you intend to go up to the top, then you can choose the best day.

From the Konigsee we went round Salzburg and then past Fuschl (amazing statue of bulls in a fountain outside the Red Bull headquarters) and on to the Grundlsee. Another great family run site at the top end of the lake - Camping Gossl. Very clean and some Gasthofs close by and some great walks.

Then a lunch in Graz and the next stop was in Leibnitz just north of the border with Croatia, another great site with brand new facilities, big pitches and by the looks of it free use of the open air swimming pool which also looked brand new, they were just getting it ready when we were there. There's a good walk up to the castle, wine tasting etc. and also into the village. This would be a great site if you are planning a quick stopover on the way to or from Slovenia.

Next stop was Ljubljana – we had to meet my son and partner for a surprise birthday trip. Stayed 3 days at the Resort, Hotel and Camping, pitches OK but quite small – the facilities though were dire. It's the only site really if you intend to 'do' Ljubljana but don't stay long and Ljubljana being small you can do in a couple of days.

We all went to Lake Bled but stayed in a pension, so can't comment on the campsite there but it seemed OK and we met others who said it was OK. Lake Bled is definitely worth the visit.

After we'd dropped the kids off we stopped a night at Postonja – camping Pivka Jama. Another great site in the woods, facilities very clean but it's miles from anywhere. Funnily enough on the whole trip we hardly saw any French campers but this site was full of them – must have been 70% French!! Anyway in the morning we went to the Predjama Castle – amazing..

Next stop was Rovinj and Camping Val Saline. A brand new campsite with spotless facilities. Take a look at their website – they really are that modern. Nice beach with loads of recliners, beach umbrellas etc. and a great restaurant and bar. We stayed 5 nights we liked it so much. We thought Rovinj was the nicest town on the coast. The others are interesting.

Then the furthest south we got Stupice – just south of Pula. Camping Stupice which had the least flat pitches of all the trip and was huuuge. Found a nice flat spot though near some new facilities – again even the old facilities were pretty clean. Great walk around the peninsular in the Kamenjak national park. Stupice was walking distance with a couple of bars.

Then following advice we stopped at Camping Vrhpolje. Lovely site and we had a great wine tasting session with the owners. Facilities spotless again – but the bells... The church bells are ridiculously loud and start at 6am. So we walked to Vipava which is a nice little town and then moved on.

Next stop was in Italy at Camping Sarathei on Lake Santa Croce just north of Vittorio Veneto. Full of kite and windsurfers. Again facilities were very clean, there's a great restaurant on site and a little village in walking distance. Stopped a few days here and did some walks.

Next stop was Cortina over the Giau Pass – stunning scenery!! Stopped at Camping Rochetta. Great little site alongside the stream which runs through Cortina and a nice walk into Cortina. Very clean again with a little bar and there's a pizza place across the road at the other campsite.

We were planning to do the Tre Cime walk but when we got up to the road leading up there it was closed. It was a bank holiday weekend and of course in Italy that means cycle races. But we still managed a nice walk part way up and then back round by the lake. Next on the agenda was the GrossGlockner – again stunning scenery – we hadn't realised it was a national park as well as the pass so it took longer than we'd anticipated – thought we'd make Innsbruck for the night.

Didn't make it that far and should probably have stopped in Zell but spent a night at a forgettable site on the road through to Innsbruck.

From there onto the Moselle – we spent our first married night 39 years ago at the wonderfully named Cochem... We had one night at Camping Burgen which was fine. Burgen has a great looking bar and restaurant in one of the back streets of the main drag along the river. We couldn't get in but it was very busy. We'd actually in future stay further up the Moselle where the railway has split off from the river. The trains can be quite noisy. It's amazing to see the barges sailing by a few metres from your pitch. Site was fine and very clean.

Last couple of nights were on the Rhine south of Bonn, Rheincamping Siebengebirgsblick, flat site but the facilities were pretty dire – 3 portacabins and then just south of Calais Camping Saint-Louis which is a great site either after you've come through the tunnel or like us you're on your way home.

Nearly 5 weeks, 3200 miles or thereabouts late May to early June and we only had a couple of days of rain all that time. On most campsites we were the only Brits and very rarely saw any British vehicles.

 

[sapto]

Wow @Bramco! What a great review! Thanks for sharing! Look forward to see some pictures!

 

[petethebeat]

Great tips, thanks for sharing!