Where to go in Europe? Recommendations please.

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hugsjugs
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Where to go in Europe? Recommendations please.

Post by hugsjugs » Fri Mar 31, 2017 9:45 pm

My wife has just got 4 weeks leave approved and we're going to spend a month in Europe in our Bongo. Blank canvas-we can do anything. Where would you recommend going?
We want to do some free camping as well as staying on sites. Any recommendations?
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Re: Where to go in Europe? Recommendations please.

Post by Glenda » Sat Apr 01, 2017 10:47 am

Which month? what activities?
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Muzorewa
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Re: Where to go in Europe? Recommendations please.

Post by Muzorewa » Sat Apr 01, 2017 11:52 am

That's a very broad brush. It depends roughly where you fancy and what kind of things you want to do or look at while you're there. When we went in 2014 we had a pretty good plan as to where to go and what we wanted to see. Do you speak any of the languages - if you go into the wilderness you can't expect them to speak English. We could speak a bit of French, a lot of Spanish and make ourselves understood in Portuguese.

There are some good schemes running where you can stay safely on a farm or vineyard etc overnight and the owner may tempt you to buy some of their produce, no obligation, but if you plan it as we did to stay on a vineyard in Châteauneauf-du-Pâpe for free, they weren't going to have a challenge selling us some of their wine, we even went back the following year for more. We did the same on a Cava vineyard in Spain and have been reordering their wine online ever since. You need to buy the guidebooks for the countries you're going to, but it's really worthwhile. See France Passion, españa discovery and Portugal tradicional for the ones we used.

Then you have the Aires & service points which are superb, somewhere to stay overnight mostly for free, somewhere to get fresh water and empty your chemical toilet etc, and depending on where you go not necessarily busy, one of the ones we used in Portugal in August was empty other than us.

Then keep this website handy on your phone for Wild-camping spots, We used this a lot for when our progress didn't go to plan or when Aires we'd hoped to use were full or too busy for our liking. It's a sad VW site but don't let that put you off!

Have a browse through THIS to give you a feel for what you can do in three weeks - so four will be very much more relaxed.

Overall - before you go make sure your Bongo and especially the cooling system is up to scratch - we had new rad, stat, pump, fan-switch and some of the major hoses renewed as a precaution, you're not going to get parts over there or a garage that knows how to bleed the system :wink:

Oh, take a camera. And a map :D I think you're local to us - pop in any time for a brew and a chat :wink:
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Re: Where to go in Europe? Recommendations please.

Post by mikeonb4c » Sat Apr 01, 2017 2:11 pm

I don't think you need other replies after that superbly comprehensive one from Muz the Maestro himself. =D>
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Re: Where to go in Europe? Recommendations please.

Post by Glenda » Sun Apr 02, 2017 5:39 pm

mikeonb4c wrote:I don't think you need other replies after that superbly comprehensive one from Muz the Maestro himself. =D>
Europe is a very big place though and includes; Germany, Denmark, Holland, Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Greece and the Islands, a bit of Turkey though not as good as it's Asian side and the beauty of Iceland. So it depends on time of year and what hugsjugs objectives are. (maybe ther is a clue in the username).

Would also recommend Muz the Maestro's reports. They are brilliant and he certainly crams a lot in (I've seen the photos of those boxes of wine!)
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Re: Where to go in Europe? Recommendations please.

Post by mikeonb4c » Sun Apr 02, 2017 8:29 pm

Glenda wrote:
mikeonb4c wrote:I don't think you need other replies after that superbly comprehensive one from Muz the Maestro himself. =D>
Europe is a very big place though and includes; Germany, Denmark, Holland, Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Greece and the Islands, a bit of Turkey though not as good as it's Asian side and the beauty of Iceland. So it depends on time of year and what hugsjugs objectives are. (maybe ther is a clue in the username).

Would also recommend Muz the Maestro's reports. They are brilliant and he certainly crams a lot in (I've seen the photos of those boxes of wine!)
I think it's the detail and persuasiveness i was alluding to really. I know for me as a beginner I'd need that kind of detail in order to have any confidence. Muz is great on that. If similar detail could be got for other safe but beautiful parts of the continent, I'd definitely fancy some of those on your list. Slovenia especially appeals. 8)
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Re: Where to go in Europe? Recommendations please.

Post by helen&tony » Mon Apr 03, 2017 3:48 am

Hi
Glenda...
Europe also contains part of Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan , Georgia, ....
Plenty of scope for travel...Moscow would be great...meet up with some Russian Bongos
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Re: Where to go in Europe? Recommendations please.

Post by Muzorewa » Mon Apr 03, 2017 6:32 am

My post is based on our experience of course, and the following year we went through Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany & Switzerland on the way to southern France - no point going the direct route :lol:

I have to say that I have no desire to venture into the former eastern bloc, I'm sure others relish it but personally it's not for me, perhaps I'm missing something but western Europe is where it's at for me although next year I've got a tour-with-a-difference on the drawing board and it does go through the middle of the Czech Republic, but that's only for convenience as it's the direct way from the far SE corner of Germany to Vienna.

Don't forget Norway, Sweden and Finland either, all the midnight sun or northern lights depending on what time of year you go :wink:
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Re: Where to go in Europe? Recommendations please.

Post by mikeonb4c » Mon Apr 03, 2017 8:30 am

Take your point about Eastern Europe Muz. The driving and landscapes of Slovenia may appeal but i don't think there's a Chateau Neuf de Slovenia to be found. :lol:
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Re: Where to go in Europe? Recommendations please.

Post by Glenda » Mon Apr 03, 2017 4:50 pm

Ha ha. :lol: Good replies. My point really is that the thread starter needs to give some more information on what they want to do.
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Re: Where to go in Europe? Recommendations please.

Post by Muzorewa » Fri Apr 07, 2017 9:02 am

Yes. What would be handy to know to give a more specific response would be:

1. Rough idea of area
2. What kinds of places to visit or activities to do
3. Any preference over EuroTunnel or ferry (do you have LPG in which case tunnel is a no-go)
4. Rough total mileage anticipated (need to budget for fuel)
5. Rough mileage to do per day
6. Any preferences on toll-roads / dipply-dopply roads - toll-roads are good for killing big distances between places of interest
7. Any ferry budget - EuroTunnel can be £79.00 each way but Plymouth to Santander could be £540.00 each way with a cabin which you'd need. But do you want to drive across France, twice...
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Re: Where to go in Europe? Recommendations please.

Post by hugsjugs » Wed Jul 26, 2017 8:26 pm

Hi Everyone

Sorry it's taken a while to reply to this post. I posted it in March but thought when I posted my post had failed. I didn't realise it had made it on-I wasn't being rude.

Thank you for all your replies I will check out the links you've recommended. I know 'Europe' was broad but we literally had a blank canvas and anything was up for grabs.

Since posting last we have come up with a broad plan. We are starting at the Hook of Holland then driving through Germany to the Czech Republic briefly then onto Hungary, Slovenia, Switzerland, Northen Italy briefly before going up the eastern border of France into Belgium, Luxembourg and Netherlands again. We decided this gave us enough variety without being ridiculous on the driving front. We have been identifying 1 or 2 places to stop off for a couple of nights in each country to break up the driving. We'd rather explore a few places rather than try and rack up lots of different places (as an American would :lol: ). We're looking to avoid cities that we could reasonably visit by plane from the UK and perhaps explore places that are best seen with a vehicle. We like walking but are looking for a mix of sight seeing and countryside. We love beer, so will try a few along the way (but not when required to drive obviously).

I like the idea of a bit of wild camping but haven't done it before but I understand that in France and Germany particularly you have the Aires and there are plenty of places to stop. If you guys can recommend any towns to visit, things to do or sites to stay I would value your advice

PS: As a previous poster mentioned I won't veer into Eastern Europe. Partly due to distance and partly due to being an LGBT traveller. I know some countries are more tolerant than others :!: We may get the train to Bratislava if we can find a campsite the right side of Vienna.
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Re: Where to go in Europe? Recommendations please.

Post by the1andonly » Wed Jul 26, 2017 10:33 pm

personally I think you are missing a trick
the real europe is Wales Scotland IOM and maybe Brittany.
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Re: Where to go in Europe? Recommendations please.

Post by Bob » Wed Jul 26, 2017 11:50 pm

the1andonly wrote:personally I think you are missing a trick
the real europe is Wales Scotland IOM and maybe Brittany.
Nice one. =D>
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Re: Where to go in Europe? Recommendations please.

Post by hugsjugs » Thu Jul 27, 2017 1:11 pm

We do plenty of trips to those too :D Except Brittany, that might be another trip.
the1andonly wrote:personally I think you are missing a trick
the real europe is Wales Scotland IOM and maybe Brittany.
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