Route help! Amsterdam - Germany - Switzerland

[Hexhamshire Lass]

I wonder if any of you more experienced motorhomers can help me. My family are planning a trip to Europe in our camper van this summer (August - bound by school holidays unfortunately)

 

Last year we did a loop around eastern/southern France (Northumberland - Calais via tunnel - Troyes - Castellane - Monte Carlo - Nice - Cannes - Ardeche Valley - Burgundy - Disneyland & Paris - home) - it was a bit of a whistlestop tour, although we spent 3 nights at each of Castellane and the Ardeche and Paris, but we coped with the driving and really enjoyed our experience - we are itching to go again!

 

Much as we loved France, we thought we might try something different this time and so have booked a ferry from Newcastle to Amsterdam. We wondered about travelling down through Germany, on to Switzerland. We'd wondered about trying to push on a bit further to the northern Italian lakes, but we're not sure if that'll be too much in one trip - we've only got 2.5 weeks!!

 

We've heard good things about Bavaria and areas of Switzerland such as Interlaken. Beyond that we have no reference points! Never been to Amsterdam, Germany or Switzerland.

 

Can any of you offer any advice on a good route to take and any nice points of interest or places to stay along the way? We have 3 children with us so prefer to book campsites in advance....they love swimming pools and nice weather!!

[Brian Kirby]

An almost impossible question! :-) For example, how far have your plans got to date? It would be pointless making suggestions for places to visit if you've already sketched in parts of a different route.

 

Also, what interests you? No good suggesting miles of breathtaking scenery if you are primarily interested in culture, or vice versa. I'm guessing that culture may not be the main interest, as you seem to have "done" Paris in two days!

 

But what else, apart from good weather (which can never be guaranteed) and a pool (which should be fairly commonplace on campsites in August), are you looking for?

 

Have you tried getting a guidebook or two (Rough, Insight, etc) to see which places appeal? Amsterdam alone has stacks of interest, and some superb museums and galleries apart from being a pleasure to just wander around - even allowing for kamikaze Dutch cyclists!

 

If you intend using Swiss motorways, and your van is 3,500kg or under, you'll need to get a Swiss vignette, which is fairly expensive, as it is valid for one year. If the van is over 3,500kg you can get shorter duration motorway passes.

 

Do you want to tour Germany en route to Switzerland (don't forget Switzerland is not a Euro country, so you'll need Swiss francs), or merely transit Germany. For example, Ijmuiden to Basel is about 6.5 hours actual driving time, so you could do the whole distance in one, longish, day. But then again, where in Switzerland do you want to go? That route wouldn't be much use for Lausanne, Davos, or Lugano (well, actually, it might for Lugano!).

 

But then, if you've reached Lugano, you're already near Orta, Maggiore, Monate, Comabbio, Varese, and Como. They'll all be crawling in August, and the sites will be expensive, noisy and crowded, but there's nothing you can do about that. You'll almost certainly have to book, and may well find that for peak season bookings a fee is charged, payment must be made in advance, and there is a minimum period that must be booked.

 

Go a bit further east, and you have Iseo and Garda, best reached via Austria and not Switzerland, possibly via the Brenner pass, or the old Brenner road if avoiding tolls. Ijmuiden to Pescheria del Garda, at the southern end of Lake Garda, is only about 11 hours driving time. From there, you could comfortably reach Verona, for example, or other towns. Even Venice is only about 1.5 hours drive from Pescheria (though I'd research the charges and height restrictions at parking San Marco on Piazzale Roma before setting off! :-) A move of site might be a better bet, and catch the bus). You've referred to a camper-van, so I'm assuming something fairly nippy, small and light, that could be used for day trips, but a clue on that would be helpful.

[StuartO]

It's a fair old hike to the Italian Lakes with only just over a fortnight's holiday, so if you want to go that far and enjoy some time there, you'll probably have to transit through Germany rather than hope to tour through there. 

 

We took two night stops to get to Italy (at the Mettlach Stellplatz and a beautiful alpine site at Mals, just into Italy over the Reisen Pass) using autobahn in Germany and non-motorway roads through Austria. We stayed for a week at a small site in Malcesine on Lake Garda which was nice and shaded, good toilets and showers and an easy stroll into the lovely old town - Villagio Touristic Priori, +39 045 7400503.  The alternatives on Lake Garda are mostly either terraced sites outside the towns (so more isolated) or big resort sites at the SE end, which we didn't fancy.

 

[rupert123]

How about, Mosel, Rhine, Lake Constance along the north side, Rhine falls and garden of Manau here abouts both worth a look. Around the end of Constance into Austria, Liechtenstein. Then head for Flims, Anderermatt,the superb passes of Furka and Grimselpass on to Interlaken and finish at Grindlewald with a trip up the Jungfrau. Superb scenary and no pay motorways. Plenty of sites and stells in Germany

[Billggski]

Look up "Romantische Strasse" for ideas, and if you fancy it, try http://boschexpo.hetnoordbrabantsmuseum.nl/en

For a once in a lifetime opportunity.

[ron.]

For clarity on Swiss road charges already mentioned.

 

If under 3500 kg you will pay a flat yearly toll of CF40.00 (approx £30) if using any motorway, and frankly it's not worth the aggro and wasted time in trying to avoid.

 

If over 3500kg you pay a different HGV charge of CH3.25 (approx £2.40) per day for every day the vehicle is in Switzerland, on ANY road - or not, with a minimum charge of CF25.00. Strangely, this means it's actually cheaper to visit with a heavier vehicle for up to a 12 day duration!

 

Interlaken is a must in my opinion and you would need the whole of your journey time just to scratch the surface of what it has to offer the whole family. My ideal journey to Interlaken would be a more compact route along the German Mosel valley, on to the Alsace region of France around Kaysersberg, and then the short hop to Interlaken.

 

I have a free guide to Interlaken, written just for motorhomers, which could save you a lot of time and hassle if you would like a copy.

 

Ron

[Bulletguy]

Two and a half weeks would be cutting it fine from where your start point is. You are looking at 470 miles from Amsterdam to Basel which is the northern most part of the Swiss border and Switzerland isn't a country to rush through if you really want to see it.

 

For a taste of Italy without going there, head for Ticino which is the Italian quarter of Switzerland. Very beautiful and very Italian!

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ticino&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=955&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi2q7a3kYnMAhVJuhQKHYsrAbgQ_AUIBygC#imgrc=MGlZVx9jLexasM%3A

 

Interlaken is ok if you enjoy being surrounded by other 'brits' as that's where they all go, park up on a campsite for a couple of weeks tossing burgers, then go back home and tell their friends they've "seen" Switzerland. They've seen nothing!

 

Germany is a big country and you'd need to decide between Bavaria or Switzerland really. There is much to see in Germany alone and as you haven't been to Amsterdam before, i can see you using up at least a couple of days there! And remember, if you go in any coffee shops there you will get a "menu". ;-)

 

No need to book sites in advance.

[ron.]

The very fact that it is so popular with the Brits, and most other nations, must tell you something. In fact Britain introduced the world to Interlaken in Victorian times and have been flocking there ever since. We have never found anywhere in Europe during 50 years of motorhoming that even approaches it for diversity of interest if you are an outdoor person or sport orientated. Some regions are strong in their own field of interest but the area around Interlaken has it all.

 

I am reminded of a person I was speaking with some years ago whilst surrounded by spectacular mountain views. His comment was "Once you've seen one mountain you've seen them all." Turned out he had the hump having forgotten his walking boots of all things. To each his own.