Recommendations for 2 week European Motorhome trip (winter)
Discussion
We are planning to rent a motorhome for 2 weeks over Xmas / new year to travel around Europe as a test run before making a final decision on whether we are putting in an order for a new van (Adria Matrix is front runner).
Can folks recommend destinations that are great winter visits in a motorhome. We’ll be starting / finishing from Calais, otherwise zero constraints on route/stop offs.
We’re not huge skiers so if we head to the alps we’d not ski for more than a day or two (family is skied out from many years doing this). We’re also not particularly bothered about chasing sun/warmth in southern Spain/Portugal.
Quite open to either heading up into Sweden / Norway via Denmark, or going south to Italy to take in Florence, Rome etc if folks think these are good winter destinations?
We used to have a touring caravan so not entirely green to this type of holiday, however it will be our first motorhome trip.
Daughters ages are 14 and 20 so everyone is quite independent once we arrive somewhere.
Thanks in advance!
Can folks recommend destinations that are great winter visits in a motorhome. We’ll be starting / finishing from Calais, otherwise zero constraints on route/stop offs.
We’re not huge skiers so if we head to the alps we’d not ski for more than a day or two (family is skied out from many years doing this). We’re also not particularly bothered about chasing sun/warmth in southern Spain/Portugal.
Quite open to either heading up into Sweden / Norway via Denmark, or going south to Italy to take in Florence, Rome etc if folks think these are good winter destinations?
We used to have a touring caravan so not entirely green to this type of holiday, however it will be our first motorhome trip.
Daughters ages are 14 and 20 so everyone is quite independent once we arrive somewhere.
Thanks in advance!
Are you prepared for Scandinavian weather and road conditions? You would need winter tyres, decent heating, prepared to dig out of snow etc. And for every snowy day I bet there would be a multiple of days that are wet and grey....
Personally, having been to Portugal, Spain and southern Italy for work I would head south for a dose of warmth. You cannot go wrong with a 'lap' of Spain and Portugal in my view - from beaches to high snowy mountains.
Personally, having been to Portugal, Spain and southern Italy for work I would head south for a dose of warmth. You cannot go wrong with a 'lap' of Spain and Portugal in my view - from beaches to high snowy mountains.
Some countries in Europe require winter tyres to be fitted, which I assume isn't an option. So that would rule Sweden out, and may cause problems getting to Italy and the eastern parts of Europe.
https://www.uniroyal-tyres.com/car/service-knowled...
Also anywhere cold you will burn through a lot of gas, I assume the hire motorhome won't have refillable bottles.
France many of the campsites close over that period unless a ski resort (see above problems with that), but you could use Aires, Camping carparks tend to stay open and have water on unlike some of the municipal aires. https://www.campingcarpark.com/en_GB/
Spain or Portugal are probably the best bet, but the campsites get booked up with people from allover Europe heading for winter sun, so worth booking ahead. Inland tends to be less busy, but really depends whether you want to be constantly on the move, in which case Aires will be fine or whether you just want to head somewhere and stay.
There is an interesting 'France passion' type scheme in Portugal that I plan to use when we next head that way, can't remember what it is called, but will update this if I can find it, but that would be on the move fairly frequently rather than staying in one place.
https://www.uniroyal-tyres.com/car/service-knowled...
Also anywhere cold you will burn through a lot of gas, I assume the hire motorhome won't have refillable bottles.
France many of the campsites close over that period unless a ski resort (see above problems with that), but you could use Aires, Camping carparks tend to stay open and have water on unlike some of the municipal aires. https://www.campingcarpark.com/en_GB/
Spain or Portugal are probably the best bet, but the campsites get booked up with people from allover Europe heading for winter sun, so worth booking ahead. Inland tends to be less busy, but really depends whether you want to be constantly on the move, in which case Aires will be fine or whether you just want to head somewhere and stay.
There is an interesting 'France passion' type scheme in Portugal that I plan to use when we next head that way, can't remember what it is called, but will update this if I can find it, but that would be on the move fairly frequently rather than staying in one place.
Found it
https://portugaleasycamp.com/en/
Not quite the same as France Passion as you pay for produce, but thought it looked really interesting and a great alternative to aires or campsites.
https://portugaleasycamp.com/en/
Not quite the same as France Passion as you pay for produce, but thought it looked really interesting and a great alternative to aires or campsites.
Edited by Russ T Bolt on Thursday 2nd November 10:56
Russ T Bolt said:
Found it
https://portugaleasycamp.com/en/
Not quite the same as France Passion as you pay for produce, but thought it looked really interesting and a great alternative to aires or campsites.
That could be useful. We're off to NW Spain and Portugal on our next sortie.https://portugaleasycamp.com/en/
Not quite the same as France Passion as you pay for produce, but thought it looked really interesting and a great alternative to aires or campsites.
Edited by Russ T Bolt on Thursday 2nd November 10:56
Thanks!
chappj said:
We are planning to rent a motorhome for 2 weeks over Xmas / new year to travel around Europe as a test run before making a final decision on whether we are putting in an order for a new van (Adria Matrix is front runner).
Can folks recommend destinations that are great winter visits in a motorhome. We’ll be starting / finishing from Calais, otherwise zero constraints on route/stop offs.
We’re not huge skiers so if we head to the alps we’d not ski for more than a day or two (family is skied out from many years doing this). We’re also not particularly bothered about chasing sun/warmth in southern Spain/Portugal.
Quite open to either heading up into Sweden / Norway via Denmark, or going south to Italy to take in Florence, Rome etc if folks think these are good winter destinations?
We used to have a touring caravan so not entirely green to this type of holiday, however it will be our first motorhome trip.
Daughters ages are 14 and 20 so everyone is quite independent once we arrive somewhere.
Thanks in advance!
Good luck to you. However, the thought of putting the miles in that you're considering in that kind of timescale would terrify me.Can folks recommend destinations that are great winter visits in a motorhome. We’ll be starting / finishing from Calais, otherwise zero constraints on route/stop offs.
We’re not huge skiers so if we head to the alps we’d not ski for more than a day or two (family is skied out from many years doing this). We’re also not particularly bothered about chasing sun/warmth in southern Spain/Portugal.
Quite open to either heading up into Sweden / Norway via Denmark, or going south to Italy to take in Florence, Rome etc if folks think these are good winter destinations?
We used to have a touring caravan so not entirely green to this type of holiday, however it will be our first motorhome trip.
Daughters ages are 14 and 20 so everyone is quite independent once we arrive somewhere.
Thanks in advance!
OK, I'm lucky, I can (and do) slope off for three months at a time, so my view is coloured by that - but it does sound very tiring!
Steve Kimberley said:
Good luck to you. However, the thought of putting the miles in that you're considering in that kind of timescale would terrify me.
OK, I'm lucky, I can (and do) slope off for three months at a time, so my view is coloured by that - but it does sound very tiring!
Yup - having done Bilbao to Caen in a day in a motorhome - never, ever again! The Portuguese border is a solid 2 days driving each way from Calais. It seems like a lot of time in the van in only 2 weeks to me.OK, I'm lucky, I can (and do) slope off for three months at a time, so my view is coloured by that - but it does sound very tiring!
TBH I'd look at the weather report just before leaving and plan it then. If northern Europe looks s
te then it's worth slogging all the way to southern Spain or Italy, but there are plenty of interesting bits further north that would be lovely if it's not raining. FWIW if you do fancy skiing Samoens and Chatel have decent campsites that are low but easy to get up the hill.
ETA I'd happily explore west coast France midwinter, and our first ever MH trip we pottered south to Collioure on the Spanish border then meandered back. It was Easter, but not hugely different weatherwise.
te then it's worth slogging all the way to southern Spain or Italy, but there are plenty of interesting bits further north that would be lovely if it's not raining. FWIW if you do fancy skiing Samoens and Chatel have decent campsites that are low but easy to get up the hill.ETA I'd happily explore west coast France midwinter, and our first ever MH trip we pottered south to Collioure on the Spanish border then meandered back. It was Easter, but not hugely different weatherwise.
Edited by Bill on Friday 24th November 17:59
If you're heading north (or even staying at UK latitude) in the winter, bear in mind that the vast majority of rental motorhomes are the cheapest crap they can possibly get away with, and will be in no way winterised so you will struggle with frozen water tanks, and get through an enormous amount of gas keeping the thing warm.
agent006 said:
If you're heading north (or even staying at UK latitude) in the winter, bear in mind that the vast majority of rental motorhomes are the cheapest crap they can possibly get away with, and will be in no way winterised so you will struggle with frozen water tanks, and get through an enormous amount of gas keeping the thing warm.
This has unfortunately been our experience from trying to rent a decent motorhome for the new year. Most simply won’t spend the money to winterise properly, whilst others with availability seem to be pushing the older vehicles in their fleet. Tbh, we’ve given up trying to rent a motorhome for now.Our new plan is just to buy one in Jan/Feb/March’24 from dealer stock ready for an Easter getaway. We’ve narrowed it down to an Adria Matrix. Just need to decide whether base vehicle should be Fiat or MB?
chappj said:
Our new plan is just to buy one in Jan/Feb/March’24 from dealer stock ready for an Easter getaway. We’ve narrowed it down to an Adria Matrix. Just need to decide whether base vehicle should be Fiat or MB?
I suggest the earlier you buy, the more selection and cheaper it will be.I just bought one in October - we went from a selection of maybe 10 vans we would consider in the whole of Scotland over a couple of months (just perusing online), to 10 per week coming up for sale. Our new campervan had been put up for sale in September and the owner reduced the price by 10% to sell it before his new motorhome arrive.
The uplift in prices and competition by Easter seems huge - everyone starts planning a holiday and wants a slice of #vanlife and is happy to throw money at things.
Edited by POIDH on Monday 27th November 11:39
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