Europe Road Trip 2020
Summer 2020 we decided to take our holidays on the road. We rented a Bürstner Ixeo time 726g Summer Edition from a friend on mine and despite COVID19 global pandemic situation we decided to travel via Europe.
TL / DR
My family (my wife, 2 kids 10, and 7 years old, and me) traveled 3 400 km around 7 countries over 14 days. We spent 50 hours in the car, 6 nights were spent overnight with our friends in their houses and 7 nights in camps. In this article I sum up the route, visited attractions and camps where we stayed, and share the budget details in a hopes to help fellow travelers as well as keep track of the trip.
The Planning
Based on the type of car that we had, we decided to stay mostly in camps. 2 of us would sleep in a tent and 2 in the car, as 2 people, or one adult and 2 kids under 10, can sleep there conveniently. The car could also carry water and had a small fridge using 12/220V, but had no cooking equipment.
When the decision was made, I roughly planned out the route and started looking for interesting sights. Here are the information sources I used:
- Map of Unesco sites - I checked the main attractions along the route
- Lonely Planet - I looked for interesting places where to go and stay
- Our intuition - as we had no fixed bookings , we were open to discovering local areas which interested us. This is how we ended up in the Mercury mine in Idrija or in Cinque Terre.
The Route
As the plan met reality, we end up with the following route:
Camps
We stayed a total of 7 night in camps, and at some of them for more than one night. The rest of our nights we spent with our friends. We originally planned to overnight at least one night outside of any camp on any place recommended by the app Park4Night but we did not use this option. Open this public Google map to see all places on the map. Here is where we stayed:
- Camping Sobec - a pricey but highly recommended camp which is focused on families. Surrounded by mountains, its scenery is fascinating. I can imagine spending a week there with family.
- Belvedere camping - a budget option focused on young people. Too crowded with no privacy.
- Belvedere Pineta Camping Village - the biggest letdown on our road. While the camp is amazing, large with all the required facilities, the sea is stinky, shallow, and I would not let my kids to go into the water.
- Camping Alberto D’Oro - an amazing small camping site in Levanto, Italy. Alternatively, there are two other camping sites and at least Pian di Piche made a good impression on us, but unfortunately was full.
- Camping Serenella - a nice but mainstream camp. Next time I would prefer Camping Arco, which is full of climbers and has nice facilities for kids, and is a more personal place where to stay.
I usually called ahead to check if the camp was free the day before or the same day in the morning. Some camps we just visited directly and asked for a free place. Our success rate was more than 60%.
Attractions
The list of attractions is influenced by the fact that we traveled with 2 kids. Below is the list with a short review. Open this public Google map to see the places on the map.
- Triglav National Park - a highly recommended to visit. The park is huge, not crowded, the water is crystal clear, and the food is amazing. What else could you with for :-)
- Vintgar Gorge (Triglav park) - a 1,6 km long gorge with a hiking tour suitable for kids, which follows the wide Radovna river
- Vršič Pass (Triglav park) - a nice curved road leading up to the pass with a lot of places where to stop and rest
- Lake Bled (Triglav park) - a picturesque lake surrounded by mountains. Nearby is a Lake Bohinj, which we did not visit, but plan to next time.
- Mercury mine in Idrija - the 2nd largest and now closed mercury mine in the world. I recommend visiting not only the mine, but the factory as well. Due to Minamata convention, mercury mining is prohibited within the EU. Idrija is a part of a UNESCO world heritage site.
- Piran - a medieval city with nice architecture. I recommend visiting the church, from which you can see the whole city.
- Cinque Terre - Italian coast-line, part of a UNESCO world heritage site. An amazing place where I would like to return. We stayed in Levanto and enjoyed local people, nice meals, and beautiful architecture. Took a train and traveled via Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza and Manarola and enjoyed crystal clear water and picturesque cities.
- Lake Garda - the largest lake in Italy. The place is surrounded by many climbing and via ferrata routes.
- Neuschwanstein Castle - a Castle in Germany which is relatively new, build in 1869. I recommend you park on Colomanstrasse, cross the field and follows the Pöllat river up to the castle. You will avoid tourists and experience beautiful nature as well.
- Wendelstein - we took a cable car up to the top and a trip around the mountain, which is well marked and took us around 1 hour with the kids.
- Thiersee - on the way back we stopped to swim in this nice lake in the middle of the mountains.
- Eisriesenwelt - the largest ice cave in the world. It is accessible via cable car which takes around 30 minutes to climb the steep pathway. As a reward you will have amazing mountain scenery. Nice and rough experience, recommended.
Budget
I decided to keep track of all our spending so we could easily compare it with other vacation options. Here are the costs broken down into major categories:
As such, you can use these total costs for comparison with your own expenses. These costs cover everything described in this article.
My personal conclusions are:
- we almost doubled the original estimated budget,
- a last-minute package trip to an average Italian see resort with accommodation and half-pension would have been cheaper, but we would have been limited to one place,
- if the budget could allow, I would like do a similar road trip but using a camper car and spending most of the nights outside of the camps.
Closing Notes
What Would I Keep?
The freedom to decide where to go, where to stay and plan the trip as we feel it. Mapping out the main point of interests before leaving and then adjusting the plan on the road.
What Would I Change?
Next time I would love to use a camper car where we could all sleep as well as cook.
I welcome your recommendations on where go in Europe and how to travel, especially with a family.
