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our European trip route 2008
Itinerary
We decided to avoid the long drive to Dover and chose the Harwich - Hook
of Holland crossing having obtained a good price booking through the
Caravan Club. We used daytime crossings leaving Harwich at 9am after
staying overnight at a small campsite near Colchester but found the six
hour travelling time a bit tedious without a cabin. The modern ferries
don't have the recliner seat lounges unless you pay extra. After a
pleasant Sunday afternoon drive to Zeist near Utrecht, we travelled
through central Germany staying at stellplatz which we found to be
excellent. We headed for the Weser river valley on the German fairytale
route (one of fifty signposted tourist routes) then across to the Harz
mountains which we enjoyed and through the Thuringia forest region to the
Czech border near Cheb.
We stayed at a pleasant lakeside campsite for
three days from where we visited the fascinating spa towns of Mariensky
Lazne and Frantiskovy Lazne. We looked at the bubbling wells at Soos
(unique in mainland Europe) and then headed east via minor roads to the
large spa at Karlovy Vary. We continued east with a diversion to the
castle at Karlstejn, very touristy, and on to Prague staying at a campsite
on the west side near a Metro station. After a full day in the city centre
(we aren't city lovers) we headed to the Cesky Raj "Bohemian
Paradise" region with its rock cities and castles then south to the
cathedral town of Kutna Hora with an intriguing ossuary. We continued
south to another lakeside campsite near Trebic. From there we visited
Slavonice, an amazing town of decorated buildings and the more famous
similar town of Telc before heading to Cesky Krumlov which we found very
interesting, and Lake Lipno.
Crossing into Austria we drove south to Linz on the Danube then turned
east following the river, staying at a mix of campsites and stellplatz,
visiting the German WW2 camp at Mauthausen which we hadn't heard of
previously, then to the pretty Wachau region of the Danube between Melk
and Krems staying just across from Durnstein, a popular stop-off for the
many large river cruise boats. After spending an enjoyable morning at the
large garden festival at Tulln we skirted south of Vienna to the large
lake of Neusiedlersee, mostly surrounded by high reedbeds. A short drive
took us into Hungary and after stopping at Sopron to buy a vignette, and a
shopping trip at a large Tesco store, we found a small campsite near
Esterhazy Castle. From there we headed to Pannonhalma, a huge abbey on a
hill (a Unesco World heritage site), then north via Tata to Esztergom,
once more on the Danube with a large basilica and castle, also a road
bridge to Slovakia which we visited for ten minutes having taken a wrong
turn across the bridge! Luckily there are no border crossing delays these
days.
After looking at the Danube Bend from a
nature park we approached the Budapest area where the roads suddenly
became much busier. Needing a shopping top-up we followed supermarket signs
on the main road but with no indication of distance drove miles eventually
finding a large Cora hypermarket which at least provided some relief from
the 80C afternoon heat. We turned back to Szentendre another popular
tourist town and found a campsite. The next day we drove into Budapest and
after some unintended diversions in horrendous traffic found a small
campsite near the Duna Plaza shopping mall (with M&S etc which we
didn't visit). We spent a day in the city travelling in on the metro but
due to various factors mostly the confusing language and signs, missed some of the
main tourist attractions and didn't enjoy the city as much as Prague.
Ending up in Margit szigt island we took the waterbus back to the
campsite. That evening a French motorhome arrived at 10pm and we
discovered that they had parked for the day in the city centre and had
everything stolen from inside the van except the clothes they were
wearing! We decided to head back west and after a very slow journey out of
the city drove on the good motorway to Lake Balaton the largest lake in
Europe at 40 miles long. We stopped at Tihany for lunch then drove on to a
campsite near Kesthely. The next morning we called in at the smart spa
town of Heviz with its (slightly radioactive) lake full of people floating
around on rubber and foam rings and returned to Austria.
We stayed at a campsite/stellplatz at Bad
Waltersdorf with several spa resorts in the area before taking the
autobahn bypassing Graz and driving across an easy mountain pass to
Fisching near Judenburg then across the Obertauern pass with many bikers
to Altenmarkt im Pongau and a stellplatz on a farm. Continuing west we
took the autobahn towards Germany bypassing Salzburg and turning
north at the border to visit a few interesting small towns and the large
lake of Chiemsee. We then turned south again for a circuit through the
Bavarian Alps staying at a delightful small lake of Spitzingsee then via
Oberammergau and the impressive Schloss Linderhof to Füssen a very popular
motorhome stopover. From there our route took us west through Bad Waldsee
and near the source of the Danube to Rottweil.
After a couple of days in the Black
Forest we crossed the Rhine on a small free car ferry (3.5T limit) at
Greffern into France for one day and a food top-up in a large Auchan
hypermarket west of Haguenau, before continuing north and back into Germany
through the wooded Pfälzerwald region to the Mosel then on to the Dutch border
and an easy drive, apart from the Rotterdam ring road, to the ferry and
Harwich
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