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In this publish, I share our trustworthy expertise doing a one-way RV rental in Europe. We weren’t requested to write down this publish by the corporate we rented from, nor are we being paid to take action.
When individuals consider visiting Europe, RVing in all probability isn’t the very first thing that involves thoughts.
Hopping trains or buses or different public transport? Definitely.
Motorhomes? Not a lot.
And whereas RVing is simply as in style for Europeans as it’s for Americas—if no more!—you don’t typically hear of Americans “motorhoming” overseas. However, we simply accomplished our second prolonged RV journey throughout Europe and it was among the best experiences!
In this weblog, I need to share a few of what we’ve discovered about renting an RV in Europe.
What I’ll cowl on this weblog:
- Why Rent an RV in Europe?
- What It’s Like Driving an RV in Europe
- Why We Decided to Do a One-Way RV Rental
- What Does it Cost to Rent an RV in Europe?
- In what Countries Can You Do a One-Way Rental?
- What Happens If the RV Breaks Down?
Why Rent an RV in Europe?
Why would I need to drive an RV on tiny European roads?
This was considered one of my first ideas when Alyssa introduced up the thought of RVing in Europe. Also, whereas I’ve bought you right here I’ll allow you to in on a not-so-little secret: no person truly says RVing in Europe. It’s also known as motorhoming or hiring a campervan, however by no means RVing. However, should you’re from the States you then’re in all probability used to the time period RVing. Same idea, completely different use of phrases.
Moving on. ????
So, why lease an RV in Europe? The norm when visiting main cities in Europe is to remain in an Airbnb or lodge. This makes complete sense should you’re solely visiting for just a few days. However, should you’re planning an prolonged journey overseas (two weeks or extra) and need to spend a while meandering by way of smaller villages and backroads, renting an RV is a good choice.
For us, we favor to remain in walkable Airbnbs in main cities after which lease an RV for visiting the countryside. 2019 was the primary time we’d rented an RV in Europe and the expertise hooked us a lot in order that we went again once more and for twice as lengthy.
Here are just a few explanation why we’ve beloved renting an RV in Europe:
1. How else would we discover hidden gems?
One of the primary days of our Italian RV journey, we had been driving over a mountain go and stumbled upon probably the most epic gondola. We had no thought it was there. If left to our personal planning, we’d by no means have seen it. Traveling by RV provides us an opportunity to randomly encounter gems like this (you’ll be able to see our reactions under within the video).
2. We favor sleeping in the identical mattress each evening—particularly with youngsters!
Motorhome leases are small, however they’ve all of the conveniences of a house (besides air-con) and even with the tiny European roads, we will drive nearly anyplace and all the time have every little thing we’d like. Traveling with youngsters who nonetheless take naps daily, having a mattress with us always is priceless. Plus we all the time have snacks + a toilet + a kitchen + a bathe for when somebody inevitably will get lined in mud and dust.
We stayed in Airbnbs whereas in Europe and used public transport as effectively, which is one of the best ways to see European cities for certain. But should you’re seeking to actually discover a rustic exterior of simply the vacationer stops, you’ll desire a automobile. We favor the motorhome as a result of it lets us see extra locations and nonetheless have the consolation of sleeping in the identical mattress each evening.
3. Hello million greenback views that value $0 ????
The finest a part of RVing is all the time the gorgeous locations it takes you—like tenting on the sting of a mountain within the Pyrenees watching the dawn.
We’ve camped on mountainsides, on seashores, in nationwide parks, and in among the most lovely elements of southern Europe due to our motorhome rental. In distant locations particularly, you don’t have the choice of accommodations or Airbnbs, making campsites just like the one above accessible just for RVers.
4. You get to truly go to a rustic.
Hear me out.
After spending two months in Tuscany this 12 months, we spent two nights at a lodge in Florence earlier than flying to London. Walking round Florence we noticed lovely historic buildings, ate scrumptious pizza, and savored one closing gelato. But we additionally a) didn’t discuss to any precise Italian individuals, b) didn’t want to talk any Italian as a result of everybody spoke English flawlessly, and c) had been surrounded by vacationers the entire time.
Florence is considered one of our favourite cities on the planet—however after exploring extra of the nation of Italy, being within the metropolis didn’t actually really feel like Italy anymore. It was extra industrial and catered to Americans like us.
To actually expertise a rustic—see the individuals, expertise the tradition, eat the meals—you’ll have to get out of the cities in some way. For us, a motorhome is one of the best ways to do this.
What It’s Like Driving an RV in Europe
The majority of autos in Europe are handbook transmissions. And my first day of driving ANY handbook automobile was our RV rental in Italy.
I’d practiced for all of ten minutes earlier than departing to Italy and determined I’d gotten the cling of it (in all probability not my finest thought). To say I used to be nervous was an understatement. My precise phrases whereas driving within the Italian Dolomites had been “I’m going to crap my pants”.
But, after that extremely traumatic first day, I bought the cling of driving a stick. Yes, the roads are small — nevertheless, extra stress truly got here from my lack of expertise driving a handbook than the roads themselves.
Flash ahead to as we speak, I’ve pushed a motorhome in Switzerland, France, Andorra, Italy, and Spain. Here are my two cents.
Are the roads considerably smaller than what I’m used to within the US? Yes.
Do they often appear like I’m driving on a golf cart path? Yes.
But it’s actually not been that dangerous. For one, the motorhomes and vans are a lot smaller in Europe. Second, you in some way modify to the roads. Similar to the film Santa Clause the place Tim Allen contorts a chimney to enter a home and ship presents.
Okay, so the RV doesn’t get smaller however you do grow to be accustomed to smaller roads.
Plus, solely as soon as did we run right into a street that was actually too slim for us to navigate.
We had been heading to a campground in Italy and the street all of the sudden bought slim proper in entrance of us. I needed to again up 100 yards and make an 846-point u-turn whereas my spouse strategically moved the world’s largest assortment of garbage bins—all of which had been chained to the fence and solely moved just a few inches in both course.
Against all odds, we escaped unscathed (and promptly walked one block over and dove into the Mediterranean).
A significant motive I don’t stress an excessive amount of over driving in Europe is that we use an app referred to as Park4Night. It not solely lists out free campsites however peak and size restrictions. Before longer drive days or visiting a brand new city, I’ll analysis to seek out the most effective locations to park or drive our motorhome. If there’s going to be some form of restriction on parking or roads, we sometimes find out about it upfront. Park4Night is $30 for an annual membership and 100% paid for itself throughout our monthlong journey.
Why We Decided to Do a One-Way RV Rental
There are fairly just a few choices for renting an RV in Europe. We’ve opted for a one-way RV rental on each of our journeys to present us the pliability to cowl extra floor versus having to loop again to the identical drop-off level.
Our first RV journey in Europe was somewhat over two weeks from Venice to Rome.
The second rental was from Paris to Barcelona and we rented for 30 days. With the one-way rental, we had been in a position to discover six completely different international locations throughout this journey!
What RV Rental Company We Used
Both of our RV journeys in Europe we used the identical firm, Anywhere Campers.
They are one of many few RV rental firms that do one-way RV leases in Europe and embody sheets. They have 4.9 stars on Google evaluations and most of their RVs are lower than one 12 months outdated.
We had an amazing expertise (that I’ll discuss extra under) on our first journey, so we opted to lease from them once more on our final RV journey.
A couple of highlights for why we’ve loved utilizing Anywhere Campers:
- They do one-way leases.
- Simple reserving course of. The Anywhere Campers employees we spoke to had been skilled and straightforward to speak with, even with time variations and language obstacles.
- The RVs come absolutely stocked with what we wanted, together with linens, espresso maker, towels, bikes, grill, roadside help package, and so forth.
- The floorplan of the motorhomes might match our household of 4 simply.
- Car seats! I didn’t need to haul a automobile seat by way of airports and practice stations as a result of our rental included them.
- They’ve taken care of us when small service points have popped up.
As a bonus, Anywhere Campers has lately added computerized motorhomes to their fleet! Yay for Americans like me who can possibly drive a handbook, however really feel 100% extra assured with out having to recollect how the clutch works.
What Does It Cost to Rent an RV in Europe?
In 2019 we rented a motorhome in Italy for 16 days and paid roughly $162 USD per day. In 2022 our RV rental was 30 days and we paid $158/day. Anywhere Campers consists of the entire add-ons and there are not any additional charges for mileage. We traveled in September and October for each leases, which is shoulder season for RVing. Rentals will likely be dearer throughout peak summer season months.
Outside of anticipated journey prices, campground charges are very cheap (particularly within the low season) and at the very least in France, Spain, and Italy we discovered loads of free tenting choices. Our most costly campsite value $45/evening in Andorra, however most campgrounds charged $30 max per evening for a household of 4.
One of the largest sudden bills we bumped into in France was the toll roads. We break up our time between the quicker toll roads and the winding nation roads and nonetheless spent effectively over $300 in tolls over the course of a month. If you aren’t on a good timeframe, avoiding these will prevent a lot of cash. Plus, you’ll see some wonderful French villages you’d doubtless miss on the freeway. (The greatest offender was a $60 toll tunnel connecting France and Italy within the Alps…however it was that or a three-hour mountain terrain detour by way of Switzerland!)
What Countries in Europe Can You Do a One-Way Rental?
Anywhere Campers particularly covers 35 international locations and so they function year-round.
(But you’ll be able to see a extra complete record of which international locations provide RVing right here.)
What if the RV breaks down?
While there are positively cheaper alternate options to Anywhere Campers, a serious consideration for us was help for service points. RVs break. We full-time RVed for years and that’s one fixed we’ve all the time skilled. RVs break.
We needed peace of thoughts to know we might have help if we broke down someplace in Europe.
On our first two-week journey by way of Italy, we had a problem with our AdBlue sensor. Even although we’d added extra AdBlue within the diesel engine, it wasn’t registering. We had a message on our dashboard that mentioned in 50KM we might not be capable to activate the engine. We went backwards and forwards with Anywhere Campers to assist us discover a service station that would assist however to no avail.
Ultimately, Anywhere Campers allowed us to go away the RV parked at a campground just a few hours from our drop-off level the place they got here to retrieve it (fortunately, this was on our final day of the journey and we had been in a position to carpool in our good friend’s RV rental).
Here’s a video that reveals our expertise trying to find a service station whereas speaking with Anywhere Campers.
On our most up-to-date journey, our associates skilled a problem with their RV brakes. Anywhere Campers made an appointment for them and so they had been out and in in a few hours.
A significant motive we’ve loved renting with Anywhere Campers is their responsiveness to those issues once they pop up. In addition to being accessible for help, they supplied us with three emergency numbers in case of a breakdown (fortunately by no means wanted them). If you’re going to spend the money and time to ebook a global street journey, it’s good to know the corporate you’re renting from will handle you.
Renting an RV In Europe
If we hadn’t began RVing in America, we in all probability by no means would’ve discovered about RVing in Europe. But now it’s our de facto mode of journey once we go overseas. We’ve bought 4 extra international locations we’re hoping to RV throughout throughout 2023 (throughout three continents!).
There are loads of questions in the case of renting a motorhome overseas and hopefully this weblog publish answered just a few of them. For extra info on RVing in Europe, see under ????
Author’s Note: If you’re enthusiastic about taking a visit with Anywhere Campers, allow them to know we despatched you and we’ll get just a few {dollars} in the direction of our subsequent RV journey overseas.
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