My husband and I are interested in trying to rent a Volkswagen Westfalia camper van in Amsterdam or another location and driving around Poland, Germany, and possibly Slovakia and the Czech Republic in September. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who had done this style of camping in Europe. Please share your experiences, along with pitfalls, and benefits. It seems to be a cheaper way to travel. Are camping areas difficult to find? We have food allergies, so do most of our cooking rather than eating restaurant meals. Does anyone know of companies besides the Amsterdam one that rents these camper vans?
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
The camper vans (and RVs) are very popular in Europe, particularly with the Dutch, but you have to keep something in mind. Most use them not to explore the highlights of Europe, but to get out of the cities and... well, camp. Campsites tend to be located in out-of-way locations with poor access to public transportation. You probably won't have trouble finding a campsite in a scenic location like the Alps or Hartz mountains. But don't expect anything too convenient for visiting large towns or cities. One advantage of a camper van might be that unlike an RV, you could conceivably drive into a city and park for a few hours. However, European parking garages tend to be very tight. You may have trouble maneuvering the van and finding a large enough parking place. Parking an RV, though, would be next to impossible. And of course, you would need to pack up everything and break camp each time you did this. Finally, consider the cost of fuel. Diesel currently runs at about €1.45/L in Germany, which by my calculation, translates to about $7.42/gal. Becaues VW discontinued production of the Westfalia over a decade ago, I'm guess that the remaining fleet of vans wouldn't be particularly fuel efficient.
Posted by
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2779 posts
In addition to Tom's post: We just returned from a road trip to Poland and the Czech Republic and Diesel there is at the same level as it is in Germany. So the days of cheap Diesel in the East are gone as well. You do get Westfalia-like RVs built on the chassis of VW's current van, the T5. Its Diesel engine is excellent and fuel efficient. It needs between 6 and 8 liters per 100km (between 30 and 40 mpg, but you'd need the liters per km indication for your European maths).
Posted by
Grand Falls-Windsor, NL, Canada
307 posts
Another point worth checking...some rental agencies won't allow their vehicles to be taken into eastern European countries. For example, I rented a car in Austria a couple of years ago, and was specifically told that I couldn't take it into eastern Europe( ie Czech Republic, Slovakia, etc ... not sure why, due to the high rates of car theft or something like that..). I think it's important that once you decide on an agency, confirm whether there are any restrictions as to what countries you can take the rental to...
Posted by
OP
Salem, Oregon
2 posts
Thank you, everyone, very helpful responses. Do any of you know of a good place to find out about campgrounds in the countries I mentioned? We are planning to visit small villages and the countryside rather than spend much time in large cities.