Italy on the fly
Sue and I are thinking of heading to Italy earlyish next year, maybe around May to avoid UK school holidays. I'm thinking of not booking in advance as I didn't think I need to outside busy periods. I'd appreciate the thoughts of any experienced European travellers on this.
Has anyone got any recommendations on a campsite guide that I could buy? I have caravanned in Italy but that was mid 90's when I was based in germany.
What is the general feeling? Am I being naive?
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No go for it, I last went in September 2016 and stayed in Pavia. Obviously if you stay in any of the popular resorts checking availability might be an idea but probably not necessary. Might also be worth checking bank holidays of countries you are passing through
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Agree, go for it. We are usually away May &June, just be aware the Germans have a holiday at the end of May for 2 weeks so the Lakes are busy then but most other places are usually ok. We tend to phone ahead at bank holidays just in case.
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We have travelled quite a bit in Italy and apart from our first time, over 25 years ago, have not booked since. It would be a good idea to find out when the German school holidays are as that can certainly affect pitch availability particularly in places like Lake Garda. Having said that a lot of sites have a turnover of guests so pitches do become available.
David
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We were there last May 18th to 25th as part of 6 week tour. Didn't book any sites at all. Travelled down to LakeGarda from Innsbruck site was fairly busy but got on OK. Then travelled up to Lake Maggiore which was quieter. Return journey Switzerland France Luxomberg go for it we had fantastic time Try this link for school holidays. To be honest we just risked it as so many sites round Garda we used ACSI Camping card books and App
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Agree with all the above comments re not booking and ACSI. However with the late Easter next year (19 Apr) Bavaria and Hessen have their Whit holiday 11 - 21 June so this period will be very busy in the Lakes especially the Garda area. So going in May you should be fine. Just Google 'School Holidays in Germany 2019' and you will get all the dates. We have done what you plan several times with no problems. There is another post going at the moment re suggested routes to Garda.
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I would confirm the comment about being careful of your timing as the sites do get full of German tourists at the end of May. We were at Riva del Garda two years ago when the sites were ram jammed full. If intending to stay at this period at popular locations, carefully consider booking in advance.
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As others have said it is a bit of a 'shall we shan't we' with Italy if you are going at the same time as our fellow vanners from nearby Germany.
On our first visit to Bella Italia at Peschiera we were turned away and that was in mid May, and have had this happen twice since, but got on the next day and was allowed to stay on the football pitch area complete with hook up.
One of the reasons that I don't mind this is that, outside of the peak July/August period, you cant book so as people move on, and its a big site so always seems that someone is leaving, then the pitches become available.
The advice re checking school holidays is sound-we did this on the last visit,timed our arrival for the weekend that the Bavrian school holidays ended and so avoided the worst of it but it was still busy.
Last year we were staying on the Med the last week in May and tried to extend our stay but were met with a response along the lines of "don't you know the Germans are coming" and boy did they come-in their droves with the access road being full when we left the site at 8 am on the Sunday morning.
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In Germany in May you have Father’s Day and Himmelfahrt on 10th May and Mothersday on May 13th so I imagine that will be a really busy weekend. To be sure of getting a pitch I will book campingplatz Prumtal for that period. Something I wouldn’t normally do.
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Graymee,
We were in Italy last year for 3 weeks (the last week of April and the first two in May) and didn't book anywhere. Our trip took us to Sienna, Florence and Rome. There were ample pitches available at all of the sites we used. (The site near Sienna was more busy on our return than it had been the first week but there were still numerous pitches available.)
We used the ACSI Camping Card guidebooks to find most of the sites which meant that we had good discounts. We also took the Caravan Club Camping Europe book which covered Italy.
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