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On this put up, I share our sincere expertise doing a one-way RV rental in Europe. We weren’t requested to write down this put up by the corporate we rented from, nor are we being paid to take action.
When folks consider visiting Europe, RVing in all probability isn’t the very first thing that involves thoughts.
Hopping trains or buses or different public transport? Undoubtedly.
Motorhomes? Not a lot.
And whereas RVing is simply as well-liked for Europeans as it’s for Americas—if no more!—you don’t usually hear of People “motorhoming” overseas. Nevertheless, we simply accomplished our second prolonged RV rental in Europe and it was the most effective experiences!
On this weblog, I need to share a few of what we’ve realized about renting an RV in Europe.
Why Lease an RV in Europe?
Why would I need to drive an RV on tiny European roads?
This was one in every of my first ideas when Alyssa introduced up the concept of RVing in Europe. Additionally, whereas I’ve obtained you right here I’ll allow you to in on a not-so-little secret: no one truly says RVing in Europe. It’s also known as motorhoming or hiring a campervan, however by no means RVing. Nevertheless, for those who’re from the States then you definately’re in all probability used to the time period RVing. Similar idea, completely different use of phrases.
Shifting on. 🚐
So, why hire an RV in Europe? The norm when visiting main cities in Europe is to remain in an Airbnb or resort. This makes whole sense for those who’re solely visiting for a couple of days. Nevertheless, for those who’re planning an prolonged journey overseas (two weeks or extra) and need to spend a while meandering by means of smaller villages and backroads, renting an RV is a superb choice.
For us, we want to remain in walkable Airbnbs in main cities after which hire an RV for visiting the countryside. 2019 was the primary time we’d rented an RV in Europe and the expertise hooked us a lot in order that we went again once more and for twice as lengthy.
Why we’ve liked touring by motorhome overseas:
1. How else would we discover hidden gems?
One of many first days of our Italian RV journey, we had been driving over a mountain go and stumbled upon probably the most epic gondola. We had no concept it was there. If left to our personal planning, we’d by no means have seen it. Touring by RV provides us an opportunity to randomly come upon gems like this (you’ll be able to see our reactions under within the video).
2. We want sleeping in the identical mattress each night time—particularly with youngsters!
Motorhome leases are small, however they’ve all of the conveniences of a house (besides air-con) and even with the tiny European roads, we will drive virtually wherever and at all times have the whole lot we’d like. Touring with youngsters who nonetheless take naps on daily basis, having a mattress with us always is priceless. Plus we at all times have snacks + a toilet + a kitchen + a bathe for when somebody inevitably will get coated in mud and dust.
We stayed in Airbnbs whereas in Europe and used public transport as nicely, which is one of the best ways to see European cities for positive. However for those who’re trying to actually discover a rustic outdoors of simply the vacationer stops, you’ll desire a automobile. We want the motorhome as a result of it lets us see extra locations and nonetheless have the consolation of sleeping in the identical mattress each night time.
3. Whats up million greenback views that price $0 😍
The most effective a part of renting an RV in Europe is the gorgeous locations it takes you—like tenting on the sting of a mountain within the Pyrenees watching the dawn.
We’ve camped on mountainsides, on seashores, in nationwide parks, and in a few of the most stunning elements of southern Europe due to our motorhome rental. In distant locations particularly, you don’t have the choice of inns or Airbnbs, making campsites just like the one above accessible just for RVers.
4. You get to really go to a rustic.
Hear me out.
After spending two months in Tuscany this yr, we spent two nights at a resort in Florence earlier than flying to London. Strolling round Florence we noticed stunning historic buildings, ate scrumptious pizza, and savored one remaining gelato. However we additionally a) didn’t discuss to any precise Italian folks, b) didn’t want to talk any Italian as a result of everybody spoke English flawlessly, and c) had been surrounded by vacationers the entire time.
Florence is one in every of our favourite cities on the earth—however after exploring extra of the nation of Italy, being within the metropolis didn’t actually really feel like Italy anymore. It was extra business and catered to People like us.
To essentially expertise a rustic—see the folks, expertise the tradition, eat the meals—you’ll have to get out of the cities one way or the other. For us, a motorhome is one of the best ways to do this.
What It’s Like Driving an RV in Europe
Nearly all of autos in Europe are guide transmissions. And my first day of driving ANY guide automobile was our RV rental in Europe (circa 2019).
I’d practiced for all of ten minutes earlier than departing to Italy and determined I’d gotten the hold of it (in all probability not my finest concept). To say I used to be nervous was an understatement. My actual phrases whereas driving within the Italian Dolomites had been “I’m going to crap my pants”.
However, after that extremely aggravating first day, I obtained the hold of driving a stick. Sure, the roads are small — nevertheless, extra stress truly got here from my lack of expertise driving a guide than the roads themselves.
Flash ahead to at this time, I’ve pushed a motorhome in Switzerland, France, Andorra, Italy, and Spain. Listed here are my two cents.
Are the roads considerably smaller than what I’m used to within the US? Sure.
Do they generally appear to be I’m driving on a golf cart path? Sure.
However it’s actually not been that dangerous. For one, the motorhomes and vans are a lot smaller in Europe. Second, you one way or the other modify to the roads. Just like the film Santa Clause the place Tim Allen contorts a chimney to enter a home and ship presents.
Okay, so the RV doesn’t get smaller however you do change into accustomed to smaller roads.
Plus, solely as soon as did we run right into a highway that was actually too slender for us to navigate.
We had been heading to a campground in Italy and the highway out of the blue obtained slender proper in entrance of us. I needed to again up 100 yards and make an 846-point u-turn whereas my spouse strategically moved the world’s largest assortment of garbage bins—all of which had been chained to the fence and solely moved a couple of inches in both course.
Towards all odds, we escaped unscathed (and promptly walked one block over and dove into the Mediterranean).
A serious cause I don’t stress an excessive amount of over driving in Europe is that we use an app known as Park4Night. It not solely lists out free campsites however peak and size restrictions. Earlier than longer drive days or visiting a brand new city, I’ll analysis to search out one of the best locations to park or drive our motorhome. If there’s going to be some type of restriction on parking or roads, we usually study it upfront. Park4Night is $30 for an annual membership and 100% paid for itself throughout our monthlong journey.
Why We Determined to Do a One-Approach RV Rental
There are fairly a couple of choices for firms who do RV leases in Europe . We’ve opted for a one-way RV rental on each of our journeys to present us the pliability to cowl extra floor versus having to loop again to the identical drop-off level.
Our first RV journey in Europe was a little bit over two weeks from Venice to Rome.
The second rental was from Paris to Barcelona and we rented for 30 days. With the one-way rental, we had been in a position to discover six completely different nations throughout this journey!
What RV Rental Firm We Used
Each occasions we did an RV rental in Europe we used the identical firm, Anyplace Campers.
They’re one of many few RV rental firms that do one-way RV leases in Europe and embody sheets. They’ve 4.9 stars on Google evaluations and most of their RVs are lower than one yr previous.
We had an incredible expertise (that I’ll speak about extra under) on our first journey, so we opted to hire from them once more on our final RV journey.
Just a few highlights for why we’ve loved utilizing Anyplace Campers:
- They do one-way leases.
- Easy reserving course of. The Anyplace Campers employees we spoke to had been skilled and simple to speak with, even with time variations and language boundaries.
- The RVs come totally stocked with what we wanted, together with linens, espresso maker, towels, bikes, grill, roadside help package, and so forth.
- The floorplan of the motorhomes may match our household of 4 simply.
- Automobile seats! I didn’t need to haul a automobile seat by means of airports and practice stations as a result of our rental included them.
- They’ve taken care of us when small service points have popped up.
As a bonus, Anyplace Campers has lately added automated motorhomes to their fleet! Yay for People like me who can possibly drive a guide, however really feel 100% extra assured with out having to recollect how the clutch works.
What Does It Price to Lease an RV in Europe?
In 2019 we rented a motorhome in Italy for 16 days and paid roughly $162 USD per day. In 2022 our RV rental was 30 days and we paid $158/day. Anyplace Campers contains all the add-ons and there are not any additional charges for mileage. We traveled in September and October for each leases, which is shoulder season for RVing. Leases will likely be dearer throughout peak summer season months.
Exterior of anticipated journey prices, campground charges are very affordable (particularly within the low season) and at the very least in France, Spain, and Italy we discovered loads of free tenting choices. Our most costly campsite price $45/night time in Andorra, however most campgrounds charged $30 max per night time for a household of 4.
One of many greatest sudden bills we bumped into in France was the toll roads. We cut up our time between the quicker toll roads and the winding nation roads and nonetheless spent nicely over $300 in tolls over the course of a month. In case you aren’t on a good timeframe, avoiding these will prevent a lot of cash. Plus, you’ll see some superb French villages you’d probably miss on the freeway. (The largest offender was a $60 toll tunnel connecting France and Italy within the Alps…nevertheless it was that or a three-hour mountain terrain detour by means of Switzerland!)
What International locations in Europe Can You Do a One-Approach Rental?
Anyplace Campers particularly covers 35 nations they usually function year-round.
(However you’ll be able to see a extra complete listing of which nations provide RVing right here.)
What if the RV breaks down?
Whereas there are undoubtedly cheaper alternate options to Anyplace Campers, a significant consideration for us was assist for service points. RVs break. We full-time RVed for years and that’s one fixed we’ve at all times skilled. RVs break.
We needed peace of thoughts to know we might have assist if we broke down someplace in Europe.
On our first two-week journey by means of Italy, we had a problem with our AdBlue sensor. Though we’d added extra AdBlue within the diesel engine, it wasn’t registering. We had a message on our dashboard that mentioned in 50KM we might not have the ability to activate the engine. We went forwards and backwards with Anyplace Campers to assist us discover a service station that might assist however to no avail.
In the end, Anyplace Campers allowed us to go away the RV parked at a campground a couple of hours from our drop-off level the place they got here to retrieve it (fortunately, this was on our final day of the journey and we had been in a position to carpool in our pal’s RV rental).
Right here’s a video that reveals our expertise trying to find a service station whereas speaking with Anyplace Campers.
On our most up-to-date journey, our pals skilled a problem with their RV brakes. Anyplace Campers made an appointment for them they usually had been out and in in a few hours.
A serious cause we’ve loved renting with Anyplace Campers is their responsiveness to those issues once they pop up. Along with being obtainable for assist, they supplied us with three emergency numbers in case of a breakdown (fortunately by no means wanted them). In case you’re going to spend the money and time to ebook a world highway journey, it’s good to know the corporate you’re renting from will deal with you.
Renting an RV In Europe
If we hadn’t began RVing in America, we in all probability by no means would’ve realized about RVing in Europe. However now it’s our de facto mode of journey after we go overseas. We’ve obtained 4 extra nations we’re hoping to RV throughout throughout 2023 (throughout three continents!).
There are quite a lot of questions on the subject of renting a motorhome overseas and hopefully this weblog put up answered a couple of of them. For extra data on RVing in Europe, see under 🙂
Writer’s Notice: In case you’re thinking about an RV rental in Europe and attain out to Anyplace Campers, allow them to know we despatched you and we’ll get a couple of {dollars} in direction of our subsequent RV journey overseas.
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