A motorhome holiday is a great way to see as much of the world as possible. Flights and hotels will allow you to land in one city with all the other tourists, visit the same places, usually limited by airlines, see the same things, and be hoarded back home again like cattle. But you’re stuck in that city, confined to as far as you can walk, and when you’re trying to relax, that’s very limiting.
On the other hand, motorhomes are the very essence of freedom. If you want to see it, you can drive to it. No lugging around a backpack around a small country, or various, no sharing valuable legroom with a stranger, just time and freedom to do what you want to do.
But where do you go? And what time do you take where you go? That’s the fun part. The planning is as much a part of the holiday as living it, we say, but there are always things that fall through the cracks. Take a look at our guide to be sure you remember everything on your travel schedule.
Consider the guests involved
It’s important to start with who is going on this road trip with you. Are there any kids, or elderly family members to consider? Is this a girl’s trip with all your friends or a solo journey where you only have to keep yourself happy?
This is important because it will inform the rest of your plans within your schedule. You might have to add in pit stops for restless kids that are going to get fed up after an hour of driving, or reconsider tourist attractions that aren’t wheelchair friendly or take a lot of climbing for the elderly passenger. You might want to set firm dates and times for a girl’s trip to make sure that, quite literally, no one is left behind, or you can go on your own and go where the road takes you.
Consider your route
It only makes sense to make and follow a route that has various stops along the way. You can drive from one end of the country to the other, or go in a loop along the coast, like you would if you were to hire a motorhome in Scotland and roam the North Coast 500.
A motorhome route from the UK into Europe is an exciting possibility, because there are lots of ways you can go about it. Starting from the Channel in France, you can head north, through Belgium, to Denmark, with a stop in the Netherlands, and go on to Norway, Sweden and Finland and absorb all the Nordic culture there. Alternatively, you can go south and head to Spain and Portugal, or simply drive to Italy and explore the coast there. Driving from Florence to the Amalfi Coast would only take six hours, and you can stop at Pisa, Rome, and Naples along the way.
Consider a theme
This is where the analysis of your guests really comes into play. This idea of adding a theme to your holiday is important because it gets you all on the same page. Sure, you can take in everything that your countries of choice have to offer, but there is likely to be someone who doesn’t think this is their idea of a holiday, and that’s when friends come back from trips as enemies.
Even if you don’t stick to it, talk about a theme. Going with food, you can visit breweries and factories, promise to try the national dish where you go, etc. If you’re looking for a beach holiday, you can create lists of the best looking beaches and plan wild camping on those destinations. If you’re expecting to hit clubs every night, that should be talked about and arranged, because it means you’d have to park your motorhome in the city, which takes planning.
But themes don’t need to be so deep either. You can plan your trip around historical eras like the Romans, or art you want to see, or good hiking spots, etc.
Include where you are parking
And that’s another point to consider: where are you parking? Parking a motorhome, especially overnight, takes planning. One sure fire “Yes” answer to whether or not you can park is camping venues. Parking on the side of the road is more of a grey area as you have no “right” to park up anywhere, so police or locals can complain and you’ll be moved on, but there is no law, at least in the UK that says you explicitly can’t. This can be remedied easily, where a simple question to the landowner might allow you to wild camp where you want. Some European countries, particularly northern European countries, have the Right to Roam, where wild camping is encouraged so you can park on unenclosed lands.
