# 1st timer tips through France, Switzerland & Italy PLS



## MREVO

Could any of you pls give me some suggestions as this will be my 1st trip in a MotorHome and I would like to make it as memorable as possible.

I will be taking my Wife and two daughters ( 5&7 ) so it’s more for the girls than me so need to keep them occupied throughout the trip so some general tips would be very helpful.

I will be taking 2-weeks out and travelling from Calais through the Swiss Alps around Luzern area then maybe onto the Passo Dello Stelvio in the Italian Alps then down to Lake Como in Italy and back. Not sure if it’s best to pre book a site around Luzern area for 3-days and then another site around lake Como for another 4-days or just wing it and use the free roadside sites, my only concern is keeping the Girls occupied if winging the trip and staying at the free sites as the Camp sites have activities on site ?

Ive looked through the Euro Camping site for camp sites but they do seem rather expensive from around £30 to £60 per night. If anyone could pls point me in the right direction I would be grateful ?

Many Thanks 

Many Thanks


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## BillCreer

Hi,

Not sure what you mean by "free sites". If you are talking of French Aires then there are no facilities or activities and the Swiss camp sites have never been known to be cheap.


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## geraldandannie

Are you going in peak time (July / August)?

Definitely book in advance. We couldn't get in to a Swizz site a few years ago - all full. Same in Northern Italy - it's very popular, and you might struggle to find a space. You do have to think about the girls, and perhaps use French aires with the promise of a 'proper' campsite after a couple of days.

Gerald


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## lifestyle

2 weeks does not appear to be a lot of time,especially with young childen.
Why dont you stay in France,and what you save on fuel will give you more to spend on campsites.

Les


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## Grizzly

I'm with the "book for Swiss campsites" party. The ones around Luzern (eg International Lido and Melano ) are full to capacity in summer. Even in spring we have been asked to site ourselves almost under a neighbour's awning !

Be aware that many French aires are beside roads, rivers, canals and so on and don't have any security to prevent young children from straying onto or into said roads, rivers etc or from being run down by vans arriving or departing You'll have to keep a constant eye on them and would, in my opinion, be able to relax more on a campsite where they can have more freedom. 

G


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## eddied

*Advice*

 Ciao, to be honest I think you are being too ambitious with 2 children of that age, in 2 weeks.
If I were you I would be concentrating on France and/or possibly as far as Belgium/Luxembourg, and looking at sites that have some play areas/pools; and are within easy reach of theme parks or similar.
You need more time (3 weeks) and to be travelling out of season, to get down to Italy. Especially if you are going to do the Stelvio bit. Get the children lots of crayons/colouring books/easy card games etc. to keep them occupied on the journey. Although I expect they probably have games consoles or something nowadays?
saluti,
eddied


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## MrsW

We have travelled over the years with our 5 children (now all grown up and with children of their own) and I would never consider a trip of that length in just 2 weeks. The kids will spend too long in the MH and be bored to tears with hours each day travelling. Try a smaller trip and have time to enjoy it and plan to do the futher parts when you have more time and the kids are a bit older.

Try small camp sites rather than aires with kids of that age and they will be safer - most aires are on the side of the road, and I would not sit comfortably with my grandchildren so close to danger.


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## mjpksp

Hello.

I can understand your enthusiasm but be careful not to bite too much off! The distances that you are talking about are huge and your daughters (and wife unless you sharing the driving) will be bored stupid! Make sure you've got a DVD player (with lots of DVDs) and they have their DS gizmos etc!

Last year we went to Switzerland and France over approx 18 days. I was taking part in the Ironman Triathlon in Switzerland so we spent 3 nights in Zurich followed by a week in Interlaken and then 5 nights in Paris (near Disney Land). When I say we, that was my wife and 2 daughters aged 9 and 5.

We basically had 1.5 days to get from Lancaster to Zurich so we used the overnight ferry from Hull-Rotterdam and then drove for 11 hours (taking it in turns) to get to Zurich. We could not book the Zurich site which was devoted to Ironman campers and it was heaving by the time we got there. The owner turned us away initially but then managed to find us a space! If I can I will attach a picture further down. It was so busy that one night when we opened the window the MH next door was that close that we couldn't push it all the way up and out in order to drop it down and shut it again (I had to take the hinges off!). So make sure you book in advance. 

We booked Lazy Rancho in Interlaken in advance and it was brilliant. Kids loved the site and there was loads to do (although much of the trip up the Jungfrau was wasted on them as they were on their DSs). I did my homework before we went and so I knew there was going to be stuff for them to do. We all went paragluiding for instance! Other posters on MHF were excellent for information. We were there for 7 nights and given half a chance I'd go back again this year. The journey to Switzerland would have been a nighmare if we hadn't had the DVD player, DSs, etc.

Although it didn't look far, the journey from Interlaken to Paris was long and again we were grateful to the electronic gizmos. It took the best part of a day.

We spent 5 nights at a site close to Disneyland (although if we did it again I would go and stay on the carpark). So that allowed us 3 days to do DL properly and 1 days rest.


I don't think I really appreciated the vastness of France until i got there. It's a good job everything is in km as they seem to tick by very quickly but it's sill boring looking at concrete/tarmac roads.

The distance that you are planning to travel means that you will have to be on the move a lot of the time and is that really what you want to do for a holiday? Also it could be expensive if you choose to use toll roads.


Not trying to put you off but just be careful if you want to feel like you've been on holiday afterwards.

Sorry cannot figure out how to attach photos.

Mark


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## markmallory

*Quick money saving route tips*

Drive across Northern France / Belguim via Lille for toll free motorways. Go via Luxembourg and fill up with Fuel. (Last week we paid 1.25 Euros a litre). Then head south and drive toll free motorways past Metz, Nancy, Epinal. You then have a cross country bit on the N66 to get to Mullhouse but it not too bad, not too many steep windy bits. Then to Basel. The Swiss motorway vignette at 40 Euros for the calendar year (2012 is valid Dec 2011 to Jan 2013 incl.) is good value.
Have a great trip
Mark


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