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On this publish, I share our trustworthy expertise doing a one-way RV rental in Europe. We weren’t requested to jot down this publish by the corporate we rented from, nor are we being paid to take action.
When folks consider visiting Europe, RVing most likely 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 common for Europeans as it’s for Americas—if no more!—you don’t usually hear of People “motorhoming” overseas. Nonetheless, we simply accomplished our second prolonged RV rental in Europe and it was among the best experiences!
On this weblog, I need to share a few of what we’ve realized about renting an RV in Europe.
Why Hire an RV in Europe?
Why would I need to drive an RV on tiny European roads?
This was one among my first ideas when Alyssa introduced up the thought of RVing in Europe. Additionally, whereas I’ve bought you right here I’ll allow you to in on a not-so-little secret: no person really says RVing in Europe. It’s also known as motorhoming or hiring a campervan, however by no means RVing. Nonetheless, should you’re from the States you then’re most likely used to the time period RVing. Identical idea, completely different use of phrases.
Transferring on. 🚐
So, why hire an RV in Europe? The norm when visiting main cities in Europe is to remain in an Airbnb or lodge. This makes whole sense should you’re solely visiting for a couple of days. Nonetheless, should you’re planning an prolonged journey overseas (two weeks or extra) and need to spend a while meandering by way of smaller villages and backroads, renting an RV is a superb choice.
For us, we favor 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 beloved touring by motorhome overseas:
1. How else would we discover hidden gems?
One of many first days of our Italian RV journey, we have been driving over a mountain cross and stumbled upon essentially 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 across gems like this (you possibly can see our reactions under within the video).
2. We favor 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 are able to drive virtually anyplace and at all times have every thing we’d like. Touring with youngsters who nonetheless take naps daily, 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 lined in mud and grime.
We stayed in Airbnbs whereas in Europe and used public transport as properly, which is the easiest way to see European cities for positive. However should you’re trying to actually discover a rustic exterior of simply the vacationer stops, you’ll desire a car. We favor 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. Howdy million greenback views that value $0 😍
The perfect 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 number of the most lovely components 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 truly go to a rustic.
Hear me out.
After spending two months in Tuscany this yr, we spent two nights at a lodge in Florence earlier than flying to London. Strolling round Florence we noticed lovely historic buildings, ate scrumptious pizza, and savored one remaining gelato. However we additionally a) didn’t speak to any precise Italian folks, b) didn’t want to talk any Italian as a result of everybody spoke English flawlessly, and c) have been surrounded by vacationers the entire time.
Florence is one among 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 by some means. For us, a motorhome is the easiest way to try this.
What It’s Like Driving an RV in Europe
Nearly all of automobiles in Europe are handbook transmissions. And my first day of driving ANY handbook car 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 grasp of it (most likely not my greatest concept). To say I used to be nervous was an understatement. My actual phrases whereas driving within the Italian Dolomites have been “I’m going to crap my pants”.
However, after that extremely irritating first day, I bought the grasp of driving a stick. Sure, the roads are small — nonetheless, extra stress really got here from my lack of expertise driving a handbook 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.
But it surely’s actually not been that unhealthy. For one, the motorhomes and vans are a lot smaller in Europe. Second, you by some means modify to the roads. Much 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 street that was actually too slim for us to navigate.
We have been heading to a campground in Italy and the street all of the sudden bought slim 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 have been chained to the fence and solely moved a couple of inches in both path.
Towards all odds, we escaped unscathed (and promptly walked one block over and dove into the Mediterranean).
A serious motive 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 top and size restrictions. Earlier than longer drive days or visiting a brand new city, I’ll analysis to seek out one of the best locations to park or drive our motorhome. If there’s going to be some form of restriction on parking or roads, we sometimes find out about 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-Means RV Rental
There are fairly a couple of choices for corporations 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 somewhat 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 have been in a position to discover six completely different nations throughout this journey!
What RV Rental Firm We Used
Each instances we did an RV rental in Europe we used the identical firm, Anyplace Campers.
They’re one of many few RV rental corporations that do one-way RV leases in Europe and embody sheets. They’ve 4.9 stars on Google critiques and most of their RVs are lower than one yr outdated.
We had an important 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.
A number of highlights for why we’ve loved utilizing Anyplace Campers:
- They do one-way leases.
- Easy reserving course of. The Anyplace Campers workers we spoke to have been skilled and straightforward to speak with, even with time variations and language limitations.
- The RVs come absolutely stocked with what we wanted, together with linens, espresso maker, towels, bikes, grill, roadside help equipment, and so on.
- The floorplan of the motorhomes might match our household of 4 simply.
- Automotive seats! I didn’t must haul a automobile seat by way 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 not too long ago added computerized motorhomes to their fleet! Yay for People like me who can perhaps drive a handbook, however really feel 100% extra assured with out having to recollect how the clutch works.
What Does It Value to Hire 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 aren’t any further charges for mileage. We traveled in September and October for each leases, which is shoulder season for RVing. Leases can 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 least in France, Spain, and Italy we discovered loads of free tenting choices. Our costliest campsite value $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 sooner toll roads and the winding nation roads and nonetheless spent properly over $300 in tolls over the course of a month. For those who aren’t on a decent timeframe, avoiding these will prevent a lot of cash. Plus, you’ll see some wonderful French villages you’d doubtless miss on the freeway. (The largest offender was a $60 toll tunnel connecting France and Italy within the Alps…however it was that or a three-hour mountain terrain detour by way of Switzerland!)
What International locations in Europe Can You Do a One-Means Rental?
Anyplace Campers particularly covers 35 nations they usually function year-round.
(However you possibly can see a extra complete checklist of which nations supply RVing right here.)
What if the RV breaks down?
Whereas there are undoubtedly cheaper options to Anyplace Campers, a serious 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’d have assist if we broke down someplace in Europe.
On our first two-week journey by way of Italy, we had a difficulty with our AdBlue sensor. Although 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’d not be capable to activate the engine. We went backwards and forwards with Anyplace Campers to assist us discover a service station that would 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 have been in a position to carpool in our pal’s RV rental).
Right here’s a video that reveals our expertise looking for a service station whereas speaking with Anyplace Campers.
On our most up-to-date journey, our associates skilled a difficulty with their RV brakes. Anyplace Campers made an appointment for them they usually have been out and in in a few hours.
A serious motive we’ve loved renting with Anyplace Campers is their responsiveness to those issues once they pop up. Along with being obtainable for assist, they offered us with three emergency numbers in case of a breakdown (fortunately by no means wanted them). For those who’re going to spend the money and time to e-book a global street 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 most likely by no means would’ve realized about RVing in Europe. However now it’s our de facto mode of journey once we go overseas. We’ve bought 4 extra nations we’re hoping to RV throughout throughout 2023 (throughout three continents!).
There are lots of questions in terms of renting a motorhome overseas and hopefully this weblog publish answered a couple of of them. For extra data on RVing in Europe, see under 🙂
Creator’s Observe: For those who’re focused on 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 the direction of our subsequent RV journey overseas.
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