We are looking to take an extended car camping trip through Europe in the Fall of 2010. I'm looking for good books to start researching both DRIVING and CAMPING in Europe. We'll be traveling with our 6 and 9 year old. Thanks much!
For an extended trip, I'd recommend leasing a vehicle.
To save a little money you could fly in and out of a French airport. The leases are for Peugot or Renault vehicles (we leased a Grand Scenic II for spouse, three kids and I). There is a pick-up and drop-off charge if it's outside of France. We picked up in A'dam and dropped in Rome but it was still a much better deal than renting or training.
We have camped from Mexico to Canada and coast to coast but haven't yet tried Europe, it's still on our to-do list.
I'm a carry-on nut and leaning toward buying equipment in Europe then checking it on the way home rather than attempting to bring our stuff with us.
We're still trying to answer our own questions: Buy new stuff rather than carry our own? Would gear be more expensive in Europe? What if we bring it but the airline loses our stuff? It's still up for debate, which is one reason we haven't made a camping trip yet.