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Camping

Our UK Camping forum has all the information you need on finding the right equipment for your tent or caravan.

Europe road trip - trailer tent, caravan or...???

8 replies

SummerGardenFlowers · 27/11/2024 19:39

We're planning on driving to Italy next summer. We've got a combi camp trailer tent which is fab but only two berth, we'd need to upgrade to a bigger one as two adult sized daughters want to come too! Thinking of the pros and cons of setup times when staying overnight, Vs extra fuel costs when towing, Vs budget available, hive mind do we stick with a bigger version of what we've got, OR look at a folding camper hard top thing (halfway house between trailer tent and caravan) OR try to find a little caravan (caravan would have to be incredibly cheap which I know potentially has its own issues!) - who's done this and what did you have? Did it work/ what would you change?

OP posts:
VaguelyIneffectual · 27/11/2024 19:41

Shove a small tent in the boot for your daughter's to sleep in?

SummerGardenFlowers · 27/11/2024 19:43

VaguelyIneffectual · 27/11/2024 19:41

Shove a small tent in the boot for your daughter's to sleep in?

Ooh I love that idea - they would probably kill each other though 🤣

OP posts:
TheMousePipes · 27/11/2024 19:44

Pup tents for your daughters? One each to save arguments.

ThianWinter · 27/11/2024 19:45

Two pop up festival tents for your daughters, and take the trailer tent you have. A cheap caravan might not be robust enough for the journey, plus you'll have absolutely no privacy.

VaguelyIneffectual · 27/11/2024 20:36

Ah yes, we graduated to one tent per teenager a couple of years ago ... !

Copernicus321 · 03/12/2024 10:16

We've been on many European holidays with a trailer tent and then a folding camper caravan and 3 kids. We've camped in Italy, France, Spain, Austria, Germany, Switzerland.

If you are going to Italy, the weather is superb, you just need shade. Most of the time will be spent in an awning and you will most likely be cooking and eating outdoors. I wouldn't worry about the sleeping capacity of your camping trailer. I would just get a larger pup tent where your daughters can sleep. These tents can get hot but a fan on an extension lead and they will be comfortable. This is what we did with our DS.

We've had a series of trailer tent, folding camper and what might best be described as a folding tent caravan. What are my thoughts after 20 years. If you are going to tour then you ideally want something that goes up and down quickly. Nothing beats a caravan especially one with a motor mover and a fold out awning but these are expensive and you need to car with the towing capacity to pull it. Trailer tents take too much time to setup for touring but are handier for moving around tight campsites. A folding tent caravan takes less time to setup than a trailer tent providing you aren't going to put up the awning but you still have to set up the interior of the camper (we had a Pennine Pathfinder). If you are just going to stay on one site for the duration of your holiday then a setup time of 2-3 hours isn't too bad, it doesn't matter what you take as you will be in safari mode (mostly outdoors under awnings).

Camping in Italy is fantastic, it's getting there that's the problem, it's a long way. We went twice staying at Camping il Falcone in Umbria in between Orvieto and Todi. It's on a hillside in an olive grove. Mostly Dutch and Italians. In the most far flung places where we've been the Dutch are always there. They travel far and fast because they invariably use tents and are able to drive faster than the towing speed. The Dutch are a pleasant bunch, civilised and nicely behaved. In our experience, very few Brits get much further than the Dordogne or the Auvergne as they've already had to cross a country just to get to the channel.

Make sure you pitch is large and flat enough. Some of the trailer tents once fully set up with the large awnings might not give enough room for an additional pup tent. The Pennine Pathfinder with awning and extension awning is enormous. We would get many Dutch visitors from other pitches come and look around our tent. It was the hot and cold running water, the loo, oven, hanging wardrobe, curtains, fitted clock and spice rack with down lighters that had them laughing. The Dutch take a very simple approach when camping.

TheSnappyHam · 09/12/2024 17:19

Would use the trailer tent & take a couple of pup tents for the DDs.

Have driven multiple times from UK to North Italy for camping, always stopping off in Eastern France / South Germany for a night before continuing trip. Only taken tents in boot to save on fuel etc - packing light is usually a job in itself

SummerGardenFlowers · 19/12/2024 21:41

Copernicus321 · 03/12/2024 10:16

We've been on many European holidays with a trailer tent and then a folding camper caravan and 3 kids. We've camped in Italy, France, Spain, Austria, Germany, Switzerland.

If you are going to Italy, the weather is superb, you just need shade. Most of the time will be spent in an awning and you will most likely be cooking and eating outdoors. I wouldn't worry about the sleeping capacity of your camping trailer. I would just get a larger pup tent where your daughters can sleep. These tents can get hot but a fan on an extension lead and they will be comfortable. This is what we did with our DS.

We've had a series of trailer tent, folding camper and what might best be described as a folding tent caravan. What are my thoughts after 20 years. If you are going to tour then you ideally want something that goes up and down quickly. Nothing beats a caravan especially one with a motor mover and a fold out awning but these are expensive and you need to car with the towing capacity to pull it. Trailer tents take too much time to setup for touring but are handier for moving around tight campsites. A folding tent caravan takes less time to setup than a trailer tent providing you aren't going to put up the awning but you still have to set up the interior of the camper (we had a Pennine Pathfinder). If you are just going to stay on one site for the duration of your holiday then a setup time of 2-3 hours isn't too bad, it doesn't matter what you take as you will be in safari mode (mostly outdoors under awnings).

Camping in Italy is fantastic, it's getting there that's the problem, it's a long way. We went twice staying at Camping il Falcone in Umbria in between Orvieto and Todi. It's on a hillside in an olive grove. Mostly Dutch and Italians. In the most far flung places where we've been the Dutch are always there. They travel far and fast because they invariably use tents and are able to drive faster than the towing speed. The Dutch are a pleasant bunch, civilised and nicely behaved. In our experience, very few Brits get much further than the Dordogne or the Auvergne as they've already had to cross a country just to get to the channel.

Make sure you pitch is large and flat enough. Some of the trailer tents once fully set up with the large awnings might not give enough room for an additional pup tent. The Pennine Pathfinder with awning and extension awning is enormous. We would get many Dutch visitors from other pitches come and look around our tent. It was the hot and cold running water, the loo, oven, hanging wardrobe, curtains, fitted clock and spice rack with down lighters that had them laughing. The Dutch take a very simple approach when camping.

I've just revisited this thread and wanted to say thanks for a great reply! Some things have changed, in that I think we are going to stick to the south of France. My dad lives in the Dordogne so we will spend a day or two with him on the way and possibly on the way back.

And we've bought an upgrade! It's a bit leftfield as it's an American style hard top pop up camper, but the roof winds up in about 2 mins and then you just pull the bed ends out, so the set up time is really quite quick. It's got a double bed at each end, seating with a dining table and the seats can become a bed too, with a little kitchen area. Hoping it will do the trick, my eldest daughter is 23 and doesn't want to sleep in a tent and I doubt my 15 year old will either.

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