Using a caravan over 8m in Europe
Hi , we have been caravanning for 30+ years and have enjoyed many holidays in Europe. We are now retired and we are considering upgrading our caravan which is just under 8m to one that is 8.16m. A fair number of sites across Europe state caravans over 8m on request all season. We will be touring Europe in the quieter months on May, June and September. We would be grateful if any club members who have vans over 8m could provide us with any reassurance that European sites will generally accept vans over 8m in low season, or otherwise? Many thanks Ian & Jackie Wright , West Yorkshire
Comments
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It's hard to give you general advice. Sites vary so much.
Some people with very large caravans (especially twin axles) are cautious when they go overseas - they book in advance and always get approval for that size of outfit.
Others go to sites like the one in this photo from Brittany - where you just tow into an empty unlocked campsite, choose where you want to pitch, and say hello to the lady in charge when she rolls up several hours later.
It really does depend on where you are going.
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My experience (my van is 8.25m) in Europe was similar to here, in that the site owners didn't want any travellers on their sites, hence the ruling for twin axles. Also, a few of the sites we came across, particularly in northern Italy, were simply not set up to take larger outfits, having smaller pitches. A simple call to the site office did the trick for us and we didn't encounter any problems at all.
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Hi thank you both for the replies. We will always book through the club in advance so I guess that gives us a better chance. I don’t mind if we are limited a bit to selected sites, I guess that’s the trade off for having the larger caravan. I just didn’t want to find that most will not accept us and we would then regret upgrading the caravan.
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I agree with earlier posts. French sites generally don't like twin axles as a a deterant to Travellers. May French pitches are quite small, but some have larger pitches fro big vans if booked in advance. I would suggest you contact potential sites directly, there are plenty to choose from and a web search will give plenty of ideas. This is probably a better bet than just relying on the relatively limited range of sites offered by the Club.
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Even with a small caravan we try to avoid sites with hedged squares - we feel cooped up like battery hens - and for a big caravan plus awning plus car there is often no room left to sit in the sun on that sort of site.
But there are lots of good campsites in France in parkland or open woodland where there is plenty of space for large caravans because pitches are not limited in size. But as Jamsdad has just said it means looking beyond the limited range of sites offered by the Club.
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Some of the older style Municipals aren't set up for large 'vans. Again, that's a generalisation but most older ones were set up for French caravanners that tended to have small outfits. So if it's a Municipal check before you go. We have found ones that do have large pitches but it doesn't matter to us as we've always had smaller outfits.
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Haven't a fair number of Municipals converted to Motorhome Aires?
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As you are travelling out of season there is no need to book and most sites will be quiet so you are unlikely to have a problem. If you do then just move on to the next site.
After dragging a largish van around Europe for a few years we decided that it was just impractical. Maybe you have reasons for needing a large van but it’s surprising how easy it is to downsize and quite liberating. If you stick with the large van then avoid popular areas of Italy such as the Cinque Terra where (from experience) they regard 7 meters as a large pitch. Ditto the Lakes for the most part.
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Our van is just under 8m, 7.95, but is a twin axle.
We do not go to France much, so have not had many problems with size or axles.
Our only bad experience was on a site at Besancon, where we had e mailed to check, but on arrival they wanted to charge us 3 times the ACSI rate.
We left and continued south a bit and found a lovely site in a small village only too glad to accommodate us.
Other than in France, a twin axle is not a problem. And even then it is only some sites.
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