Night stops on route
We're off to Venice, Rome and Paris in May/June next year and I am looking for some advice on night stops on route. I haven't towed a caravan over there since the early 90s when I was stationed in Germany. Travelling to the south of France I night stopped in an Aire on the French motorway however I hear horror stories about using them now. We're arriving at Calais in the early hours of the morning and I had intended to drive a short way then stop in a Aire/Service Station on the French motorway. If I stop in a busyish Service Station is it safe? If I diverted slightly into Belgium and Germany is it safer? Someone said that would have the added benefit of not having to pay for French toll roads. Any advice from more experienced European caravanners?
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Arriving in Calais in the small hours of the morning I would stop for a few hours sleep in the Cite d'Europe parking area. There will be others there.
Overnights after that depend on how far you prefer to drive each day and of course which route you intend to take, but most people would head across Belgium and Germany. Take care. I hope it goes well.
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A lot depends on what you intend to do first, Paris then Venice then Rome? or are you intending to get to Rome quickly (hot) and then do Venice and Paris on the way back.
We used to stay overnight in the motorway aires many moons ago when we lived in Germany and travelled to Spain. It is not something that is recommended these days though.
There are thousands of campsites in France so finding one won't be a problem, you will not need to book ahead at that time of year. In fact we are going over in May for 7 weeks an apart from looking at sites and a possible route the only other thing we have done is book the ferry.
Do you have an Acsi membership? if not you might want to look into it, check out the Acsi discount scheme on line its well worth taking out as sites will only cost between 11€ and 19€ with the membership discount card, that is for 2 adults+car+caravan+awning+electric for 1 night on a pitch.
Any other questions come back on and ask there is always someone around to answer them.
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Your post seems to suggest an inclination to use motorway service areas. Our inclination would be the very opposite for many reasons other than the security aspect.
We don’t want to turn the journey into something to be endured and not having acccess to proper facilities would mean just that.
If you can give more idea of the proposed itinerary then as TG says there will be much more that people a can offer.
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On the other hand if you are pressed for time, i.e. you can only travel school holidays/work commitments etc., then its a good way to speed up the journey to the final destination.
In France when I stop its usually on toll sections of the road and never close to any city.
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Algarve? The gentleman said he was heading for Venice and Rome.
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perhaps it's the choice of time of the crossing that is the spoke in this...
arriving in the dark with no idea where to stop might not be the best start to a holiday? you might come up with a convenient site but will they accept arrivals at that time?
is it possible to change the crossing to arrive in the afternoon light?
then you can just go to the first site, fairly close to Calais, and progress from there...
we use plenty of town and village Aires, when 'trundling', but have no desire to stop on a noisy, smelly motorway service station....the two are completely different.
inrealise you won't have the town aire option (MHs only) so I would be checking out convenient sites.
in May/June you won't need to book, so you can use sites that fit in with your progress, rather than have booked sites dictate it.
good luck. enjoy.
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The OP list of destinations across two months did not suggest to me any issues with time or commitments. Faced with such issues we would plan our travel accordingly and it would still include the use of sites and not motorway rest areas.
As you say its a personal choice.
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As you're starting from Lincolnshire, why not night stop at the club site at Dover ( Black-horse Farm) and get an early ferry next morning? That way you don't have to worrry about hold ups en route to the ferry (esp M25). You can get a good distance in daylight the next day and have time to find a campsite early afternoon.
If you are heading south then the A26 towards Reims would be a good start. We can recommend the municipal site at Val de Vesle as a good night stop from motorway or D route.
Here's a link: Val de Vesle Camping
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To help people understand, my thinking I'm doing this in just over 2 weeks and plan to maximise my time at our main stops. We arrive in Calais in the early hours of Sat 25th May and are travelling to near Venice where we're booked in from Sun 26th May. I have the option to go to a proper site on Saturday night but want somewhere to get a few hours before the journey on Saturday. I think the journey from Venice to Rome is do-able in one day however the journey from Rome to Paris I want to break into 2 days. I think I'll manage to find a site roughly half way so that isn't an issue. In reality I really only want somewhere safe to have a few hours sleep on Saturday morning, facilities aren't an issue.
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,,,then I would pause on Motorway service if just for a power kip...
however, according to Googlemaps, Calais to Venice is 13.5 hrs in a car on toll roads....you will towing a caravan....add at least two hours....
youve mentioned keeping toll costs down....Divert away and add more time....
we are now in the realms of possibly 17 hrs.....
and you need a kip before you start on Saturday....you don't say how long you've already driven prior to catching the ferry at Dover...
i drove our MH back from the Côte d'Azure last spring to Calais and we had two stops in three long days...
Venice is a mighty long haul, by Sunday night you'll need a good holiday...
good luck, drive safely....
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Sounds a pretty rigorous holiday to me.
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Graymee
Having towed over much of that I am seriously wondering whether it is possible on your time scale. Where about's near Venice are you actually going? If its the other side of the Lagoon, perhaps near Lido De Jesolo the last section is fairly slow once off the motorway. Likewise Venice to Rome is quite a slog.You could have a look at my site report index for Europe which might provide a few ideas for stop overs, just scroll down the country you want. http://www.davidklyne.co.uk/european_campsite_index_new_2_index.html
David
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Graymee, what you are thinking of doing is what we used to do at 30 years of age. We would drive from north Germany to Spain with just a 1 night stop on a motorway aire. There is no way we would think of doing that kind of trip nowadays.
I suspect you are ex forces and as such you will have been used to driving for hours (like my OH) however as I said, what he did then he wouldn't do now. It's a very long way to Venice and without motorways your progress will be slow. Also end of May when you are travelling will be a holiday period for some of the Europeans so roads will be busier than normal.
Please do be careful, Rome, Venice and Paris are not going anywhere as far as I know so why not just do 1 or 2 of them this time.
Rome is a place we haven't been but when we do, we will almost certainly fly there to do it.
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If it’s what you want to do just go for it and enjoy. None of know what tomorrow will bring so you have to take the opportunity when they arise.
Couple off years ago I went to Pavia in Italy. Drove straight there from the tunnel, stopped twice in services for a couple of hours shuteye, also had two fuel, food and comfort breaks. Stopped at a couple of places on the way back.
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Stopping in service areas etc is safe enough as long as nobody tries to rob you!
If you use the site autoroutes.fr you can compare routes via France, Germany. Switzerland and Austria the distances and tolls. Ensure you change the car box to car and caravan. E.g.the route via France, Switzerland is 1289Km (775`) and tolls are 80e note they don`t include the Swiss Vignettes for some reason 40CHF or around £26 you need one for both car and caravan, purchased at border crossing in Basle. You have to go some to better 40mph overall, if your car/caravan weight exceeds 3.5T the speed limit technically limits you to around 50MPH, in France all roads excluding autoroutes are now 50MPH. We took five weeks to travel down to Sorrento via Rome back via the Adriatic Coast, Venice is a far better bet than Rome the last time we were there we stopped in Venice for six days, Rome in two days was more than enough. Traffic was very bad around the Rome ring road in the morning.
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Hi Graymee, can you clarify whether there are two of you sharing the driving fairly equally? If that's the case it makes a difference.
But if you are undertaking this journey towing a caravan without a co-driver then some of the daily distances are sounding a bit risky to me. Take care please.
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So much for me thinking it was over two months! You are looking at possibly 6 days out of 14 travelling so, on the basis of now wanting the journey to be something to be endured, I would be looking at other options.
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nice cruise to Venice/Rome/Adriatic?
or fly to Venice, hire a car, see Rome (and not die
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We drove to Rome.
We have a good friend who had an apartment in Umbria and we spent a week driving there (without caravan in 2 seater Merc SLK), a week in his apartment with two days in Rome, and then a week coming back - all staying in cheap hotels. It was a brilliant road trip especially going over the Alps in snow with the roof off! We've also taken the caravan to Venice - again using 3 weeks (time constraints). Really wouldn't consider trying to get to Rome with just 2 weeks available with the caravan. It is possible, but why? It'll be there next year, and the year after that...
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I suspect you are ex forces and as such you will have been used to driving for hours (like my OH) however as I said, what he did then he wouldn't do now.
Much my thoughts Tammy. When I was 50 I went with 5 friends to Prague in a Ford Galaxy or similar for a 5 night stay. We stopped at Calais and got an early start the next day. Probably 12 hours with short break but two drivers and foot to the metal.
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The last marathon drive I did was eight years ago doing a solo run down to my apartment just south of Alicante. That was solo without a relief driver and cracking on a bit. Quite tiring and now that I'm well the wrong side of seventy, I'm more inclined to take it easy these days.
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