Next year, I have 16 days holiday. I am looking at travelling Europe, in my Vauxhall Combo Life. I will be turning it into a micro camper, which I have been doing. It is Euro 6 diesel.
My travelling companion will be a cocker spaniel. My plans is to travel to the Black Forest, Germany, then on to Italy, maybe Slovinia, Lake Bled. Slovinia, could be one country too far.
I live in the Northwest, I could do Hulll to Rotterdam route, or if I can have free passage from Harwich to Hoek of Holland, my son works for Stena. It will depend on employees term and conditions as he does not work that route. I am thinking of travelling quickly to the Black Forest and spend time exploring the area, there is so much to see and do, before moving on towards Italy. I would possibly pass through or popping into Austria and Switzerland, then head back North, which route I have not decided. I am wondering if it would be manageable within the timeframe.
For each of the proposed countries I'm visiting, would I need a clean air stickers for my Euro 6, depending on where I'm going, before leaving the Uk. I know The Netherlands are toll free, as I have driven to Annan, South of Gronnningen. I will be doing a mixture of campsites, free parking and carparks for campervans.
I will need to acquire an animal health card, and so on.
Any suggestions on route, as could travel through France on the return leg. Places to visit and see, I don't mind detours, in any of the countries mentioned. I have already done some research, there are dog friendly river tours.
Thank all in advance for advice
Heather and Lichan
------------- New Year: Hesketh Bank
Feb/March: Red Squirrel
March: lakes
June: Morecambe
Aug: Lake District(not camping camping)
October: Red Squirrel
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
I can't help but think you're trying to achieve too much in the time you've got, you're in danger of spending all of your time travelling and not spending any time enjoying the destinations.
Regarding the emissions side of things this link and also this link will hopefully help you.
In Germany you'll need an Umweltplakette, I'd recommend applying through the Berlin authorities via this link their service is very good and what's more, you get charged the official price and postage (only about €7), other, non-official sites charge commission.
If you go via France I'd recommend getting a Crit Air sticker again from the official government site to avoid unnecessary commission. This should cost you less than €5. There are some that say it's not needed if you stick to the autoroutes but if you go visiting places or get diverted en route you might find yourself in a zone requiring it. The French parliament has recently voted to end the requirement but the government has so far ignored this and given the turmoil in the French government, who knows if or when it will be repealed. For less than €5 why take the chance?
The good news is, a Euro 6 will get you the best level of sticker for a diesel vehicle in both Germany and France (Umweltplakette 4/Crit'Air 2), you'll need to upload a copy of the technical section of your V5c for both applications.
My reaction is the same as Mr Wez above: reading through your plans sounds like a lot of driving and not a lot of time for sightseeing. From the NW, whether you go Hull-Europoort or Harwich-Hoek van Holland is brings you to day 2. From either it's about a 400 mile distance to the Black Forest. Not something I'd want to do in 1 day if I was the only driver, apart from the fact that it's supposed to be a holiday. You need an Umwelt sticker for Germany.
Going to Italy is either via Switzerland or Austria, both of which require a vignette. I think popping into both is rather ambitious within the timeframe. Of course you could, but would there be much time to spend in either?
I would cut back the distance quite a lot, so I could spend more time looking round and less travelling. But of course everyone is different.
Great replies. Thank you both, I was thinking if I was biting off mire than I could. I can spend time more time exploring Germany and Possibly France
------------- New Year: Hesketh Bank
Feb/March: Red Squirrel
March: lakes
June: Morecambe
Aug: Lake District(not camping camping)
October: Red Squirrel
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
I think that sticking to Germany and France would give you more time to look round that area. We've been to the Black Forest with our MH quite a while ago, and more recently, on a river cruise. It's a lovely area which merits a stay in itself. As part of it, you could, if you're interested in cities, go to Strasbourg. We thought that was a lovely city, the cathedral is fantastic. And then meander your way back to the port from there through France.
Edited to say that, coming from Holland, once you cross into Germany, you could also visit Koblenz; that's also a nice town, not a city, with a cablecar up to the fortress, where there are fabulous views.
I'd echo Ina's comments on Koblenz, there's a good campsite right by the river near the Deutsche Ecke, you can catch a foot ferry across to the city. There's a stellplatz right outside the campsite but it gets full pretty quickly.
If you're going to base yourself around Freiburg in the Schwarzwald (Black Forest), it would be relatively straightforward to get to Strasbourg.
We're looking into a tour that would bring us down the Mosel from Koblenz down to Metz in France, we'd then work our way along to Verdun, Reims, Amiens before heading back to the tunnel which would allow us to visit some of the WW.I sites. Metz is just north of Strasbourg.
You could also explore the Alsace-Lorraine, we haven't done that area ourselves yet but we hear good things about it.
When I bought my vehicle, my priority was E6 diesel. I shall buy the stickers in advance. For France will it be worth while buying a tag for toll roads, im aware the booths are being phased out.
I will be travelling end of May. Castle's, rivers, mountains, forests and quaint villages. I will have my young cocker spaniel with me.[
Thank you for your suggestions. I was thinking of Strasburg and Koblense. I will have a look at the area in France as suggested. I was in France June, a lovely Country travellingwith a tour company :)]
------------- New Year: Hesketh Bank
Feb/March: Red Squirrel
March: lakes
June: Morecambe
Aug: Lake District(not camping camping)
October: Red Squirrel
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
We have a toll tag, we use the ATMB one, you pay a €20 deposit for the tag which is returned when you finally return the tag. You then pay a standing charge for the months you use the tag and the toll charges themselves, if you use one of the toll roads managed by ATMB you get a discount on the toll.
We got one because the Wonderful Mrs Wez used to get stressed out when paying the tolls in case our cards weren't accepted etc. The satisfying beep the tag gives as the barrier raises is very comforting. Bear in mind the toll booths would be on the left and I'm presuming you'll be driving a RHD vehicle which would make it difficult for you to pay at the booths unless you can train your Cocker to do it for you.
The phase out of the booths for the flux libre system is a gradual thing. My understanding of it is that you need to be registered to use it. The Connexion is a website that provides details of French life in English, you can access a small number of articles before having to register and pay for access so I'd suggest searching for Flux Libre there while you can do it for free.
The Crit'Air/Umweltplakette stickers take anything between 10 days to a month to come through so you'll definitely need to get them in advance.
No help with route/itinerary, just wanted to chime in about being too ambitious with the number of places to visit etc...
I learnt it the hard way with my trip to Scotland in July 2025.
Being a solo camping, I have no one to share the driving, and had planned at least a 30min break for every 2 hours on the road, taking it nice and easy. The 30min breaks were actually longer and a 4h journey on Google Map took about 6h in reality!
Not being a morning person, I left the campsites at about 10:00 with the aim to arrive at the next campsite at about 16:00.
I stayed at 8 campsites in 24 days, the longest was 4 nights, the shortest was 2 overnighters on the way up and on the way back.
I found after a long drive on roads I did not know well, once I arrived at the campsite, the rest of the day and the first night was wasted as I needed to decompress. Decompression would eat into the next day if the drive was very long on bendy single carriageways.
By the time I felt sufficiently relaxed to go out and about, it would be time to tidy up and pack up to move to the next site.
It was not the most enjoyable trip, and I would go as far as to say it was quite stressful at times as I needed to work from time to time.
I shan't do that again, and have planned to stay at least 5 nights or more at fewer campsites going forward.
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
Thank you DK for your input. When I drove the NC500. I also found i was driving long hours as well as visiting areas and site seeing, not benefiting from the glorious sunshine. I switched my mindset and chilled. I'll do the same in Europe.
All the fun is in the planning. Ill take a look at the suggestions from everyone.
------------- New Year: Hesketh Bank
Feb/March: Red Squirrel
March: lakes
June: Morecambe
Aug: Lake District(not camping camping)
October: Red Squirrel
Quote: Originally posted by heath63 on 09/11/2025
Thank you DK for your input. When I drove the NC500. I also found i was driving long hours as well as visiting areas and site seeing, not benefiting from the glorious sunshine. I switched my mindset and chilled. I'll do the same in Europe.
All the fun is in the planning. Ill take a look at the suggestions from everyone.
I only did a small section of NC500 when I was up in Scotland as I do not like narrow single track roads that are twisty.
With driving in Europe, there is the added complexity of driving on the other side of the road, and a filter lane being used for leaving as well as joining a main road/motorway.
Good job you are already au fait with driving in Europe!
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
25 years ago a friend and I drove to Rome and back in 2 weeks. I was absolutely exhausted and apart from the 3 days we spent in Rome, didn't get to spend much time anywhere else.
And from trips made since then, I know that we can drive from the French Med to Calais in about 12 hours with only toilet stops (and a huge bill for tolls).
These days we take about 5 days to get to the south of France, enjoying overnight stays at many favourite places.
Quote: Originally posted by heath63 on 09/11/2025
Thank you DK for your input. When I drove the NC500. I also found i was driving long hours as well as visiting areas and site seeing, not benefiting from the glorious sunshine. I switched my mindset and chilled. I'll do the same in Europe.
All the fun is in the planning. Ill take a look at the suggestions from everyone.
Good job you are already au fait with driving in Europe!
DK
Ii had driven abroad before many times in a hired car. I was with someone and we shared. I was such a wreck driving solo. I felt sick driving onto the boat at Hull, soon relaxed when I settled in, watched the entertainment, had a few drinks. Breakfast before disembarking at Rotterdam. I had butterflies again driving off, luckily I had a couple of routes planned, because I missed my turn off, lol. Spotted signs and followed them ( I did have my satnav) it was only a 3 hour drive to my friends house. Believe it or not, I found it harder to readjust in the UK.
I know im going to be the same again. :)
------------- New Year: Hesketh Bank
Feb/March: Red Squirrel
March: lakes
June: Morecambe
Aug: Lake District(not camping camping)
October: Red Squirrel
I went to Italy as part of a car club, drove as far south as Sorrento.
Even though I did not do much driving as my late partner did most of the driving, it was still exhausting due to lots of roadworks and Italian vehicles zipping left, right and centre.
We drove through Mont Blanc in the dark and missed all the scenery, hey ho!
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
Quote: Originally posted by franbee on 10/11/2025
25 years ago a friend and I drove to Rome and back in 2 weeks. I was absolutely exhausted and apart from the 3 days we spent in Rome, didn't get to spend much time anywhere else.
And from trips made since then, I know that we can drive from the French Med to Calais in about 12 hours with only toilet stops (and a huge bill for tolls).
These days we take about 5 days to get to the south of France, enjoying overnight stays at many favourite places.
That didn't sound like a lot of fun, driving to Rome. I shall, think about my return leg of my trip. Whether to return via another port in France.
I have to try and curb of stopping frequently as I have a habit of doing that; my journey becomes twice as long. All this will be in my planning. Ill be stopping overnight some where, as 7 or so hours is a long time to drive, especially with Lochan. I have chosen my route down. I know there is a picturesque road through the Black Forest. Someone was telling me about it. I just can't think what its called.
------------- New Year: Hesketh Bank
Feb/March: Red Squirrel
March: lakes
June: Morecambe
Aug: Lake District(not camping camping)
October: Red Squirrel
About Animal Health Certificate (AHC), there had been a few posts/threads about this subject, including recommendations for online providers that could save money. Have a search to see if you can find them in the travelling abroad sub-forum.
I have not tried using one of the recommended providers as the thought of arranging yet another appointment and the need to arrive within a timed window for my dog's chip to be scanned and confirmed does not appeal due to unpredictable road traffic conditions. One accident on M25 and I would miss the appointment, etc. etc...
My normal vet costs more compared with these online AHC providers (still need to bring the pets in for scanning to confirm the chips), however, they are only 5min's drive from home, and they know my dog.
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: Travelling Europe
via mobile 07/11/2025 at 11:02am
