[Closed] 6 week European Road trip with kids

Switzerland, Valais, we stayed around Sion/Sierre. Lovely part of the World.

Although Switzerland is mental expensive...especially eating out (I earn Swiss Francs and even I sometimes go a little dizzy with some bills).

Also, Switzerland, quite a few campsites don't like normal BBQ's and only want gas ones...Just bear it in mind.

There's a few places where they have summer sledges down runs in the mountains. I think campsites seem to be a bit more rustic in the French speaking part...German speaking part is VERY organised.

Also, I was down near Finale Ligure, Italy a couple of weekends ago, that's a nice part of the World. Lots of MTB there, but the beach wasn't bad either and some nice old towns to visit...good food too.

We've done a lot of Europe in a campervan, some highlights:

Slovenski Raj national park in Slovakia - utterly beautiful, and the hiking trails are amazing fun; it's like North Shore for hiking 🙂

My usual plug for Camping de Retourtour in Lamastre, which is in the Ardeche in France. Great campsite, great restaurant next door, on a river in a proper nice little French town.

Lake Iseo in Italy; the Italian lake where the Italians go, without the Lake Garda/Magiore prices.

Camping in the Lauterbrunnen valley, loads of amazing walking and views

Having a vehicle in Italy is a liability unless you are sitting in it or it's in a locked compound with watch towers and savage dogs. I managed to walk about 75m from our vehicle on a camp site and turned around to see some break the door lock (which was really annoying as the one on the other side was already broken).

Italy is also miserably hot in Summer. So my suggestions are the Northern Spanish coast between Zarautz and Comillas, and Germany/Austria. The German and French Alps offer the same chocolate box panoramas as Switzerland but with no Swiss and payment in Euros at familiar prices.

If you're staying in Lauterbrunnen then the First Flyer in Grindelwald should be a hit with the kids...
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Chamonix has to be on the list, there is an adventure park with a summer luge. The longest summer luge is in Austria somewhere...

Chatel has the Fantasticable...
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Regularly do similar in the campervan with mini-stoners.

This year we;re taking in Legoland Billund (Denmark)

Can also recommend a few other things:

http://www.fraispertuis-city.fr/en
http://www.thermalbad-wallis.ch/en/
and the ride https://www.outdooractive.com/en/mountain-bike/wallis/bls-sudrampe/13425976/
http://www.gps-tracks.com/l%C3%B6tschberg-s%C3%BCdrampe-bls-mountainbike-tour-B04452.html
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/route-guideride-report-france-tarn-cevennes-big-post-pic-heavy

Ive been recommended this too and dying to go
http://www.puydufou.com/en/spectacles

not with kids but two campsite that stand out in france.

camping piscine bourg d'oisans. outdoor pool with a view of alpe d'huez.

narbonne plage: camp at the back of the beach with a view of the med.

awesome.

Why not use bikes? When junior was 7 we took the night train to Paris then rode (junior on the back of a tandem) to Berlin via Belgium and Holland. The original plan was to continue but the weather was better further south so we took trains to lake Constance and explored the area before riding back to the Vosges and getting on a train back home.

Did a 3 week trip last summer Staying in Southern Germany The Dolomites Lake Garda and Lake Constance and Luxembourg on the way back would recommend them all . Lake garda was very expensive but the biking was brilliant. Would do it in a shot but its the Uk this year
[url= https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8429/29535737241_bc03dc713d_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8429/29535737241_bc03dc713d_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/LZYnEZ ]Untitled[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/nzrich/ ]Richard Munro[/url], on Flickr

Thanks for all the tips so far, I've had a look and some cracking ideas cheers

Stoner, we are staying near la rochelle this year so may head to that puydufou.

Educator, wife and daughter don't ride so that's a no no 😀

We've done loads of camping in Europe. For family Garda Lake is a really good destination. The campsites at the south east side of the lake are bigger and geared up for families with lots of kids entertainiment and sports facilities. Also like the camp sites at Lago Maggiorre. The campsites in Austria are the best in terms of quality. I can recommend a couple in Zillertal or in Fieberbrunn which is right next to the cable car station also the area around Villach is popular with campers and there are loads of outdoor activities to do in the area. A lot of the campsites in the rest of Italy are a bit basic but we found a lovely one in Levanto on the Ligurian coast where you can either hike over the mountains or take a train to Cinque Terra. Personally we've never had any problems in Italy with the driving or thieves and it does get pretty hot there but personally I love the heat. South of France also has some nice campsites and if you choose carefully you can get some reasonable prices. We've stayed in a nice one right on the coast of the Med in Saint Raphael. There is also Croatia which is similar in feel to Italy but I get the impression that the tourists are being ripped off as the prices are the same or more than in Italy but the cost of living there is obviously much lower for the locals.

One thing to bare in mind that wherever you go if you want to guarantee a campsite you need to book now if you are going to travel in August. Having said that we have never bothered and what we generally do is decide on a destination and on the way there look through the ADAC camping book (German AA) which gives detailed reviews of all campsites in the area and call them until we find one that is free. No campsites will take bookings after May and often you have to rock up at 12 o'clock and see if there are any vacancies.