Author Topic: European touring advice  (Read 5086 times)

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Offline Young Tourer

European touring advice
« on: March 09, 2017, 04:04:34 am »
Hi everyone,
I am trying to plan my first touring trip in Europe this summer. Unfortunately, from what I have read online, wild camping is forbidden in many European countries. Another thing is that I like making small campfires when I camp (responsibly of course). So with that in mind, what 3,000-4,000km long route that goes through countries with relaxed camping and firemaking rules would you suggest? Preferably starting in Germany. Please let me know what you think, and I am also looking for a German-speaking partner if anyone is interested?
Thanks

Offline dacrazyahn

Re: European touring advice
« Reply #1 on: March 11, 2017, 02:54:47 pm »
Dear Young Tourer,

sadly enough, wild camping is a rather grey area in German law. If you put up your tent someplace you like and nobody shows up to shoo you away, perfect. However, my German fellow citizens like to be very duteous and might either report you or directly call the police when they see you camping while they walk their dog or something. As I said, it is a grey area and you never know what people will do if they catch you  :-[

Things are different in Sweden, for example, where there is the so called "allemansrätt" which basically means that you can camp on any ground that does not belong to anyone for 1 or 2 nights, making sure you pack everything you brought and that you don't litter the place or make a big bonfire. Not sure about small fires, you might want to look that up, not sure about any other northern European countries.

However, having made this really negative, camp sites in Germany are open to cyclists and the most I ever paid for putting up my tent, the bike and using the washrooms were 15€, which sounds a lot, but I could take the longest shower ever ;-) They are usually also equipped with washing mashines, tumble dryers etc. Depends on the campsite and their prices, of course. When wanting to tour Germany on one of our official trails get the respective copy of the respective trail guide from Bikeline or the Kompass Radführer(it does not let me post the links), we have those guides for most German bike trails. They give you everything from camp sites over hotels, b&bs and other information about mileage and altitude etc.

If you need anything else, feel free to email me as I live in Germany... I also have an overview map which features all of the official German long distance bike rides, I can easily make a couple of pictures of that map and send it to you. Just tell me if that would be of any use to you!

Germany is a beautiful country I, myself, have just started to discover and riding your bike in Germany is a great thing to do!

Best wishes,
Anne

« Last Edit: March 11, 2017, 02:56:33 pm by dacrazyahn »
*Sometimes I wonder whether my bike is thinking about me, too*

Offline BrianW

Re: European touring advice
« Reply #2 on: March 13, 2017, 06:06:08 pm »
I've seen people stealth camping on various routes in Austria, and in parts of Italy and France too (where they generally seem to be more relaxed about these things). In Germany it can be hard to find a place that is truly stealth, as there seem to paths through even the smallest wooded area and the local population loves to get out and walk/hike at all hours.

Offline Young Tourer

Re: European touring advice
« Reply #3 on: March 13, 2017, 06:36:39 pm »
Dear Young Tourer,

sadly enough, wild camping is a rather grey area in German law. If you put up your tent someplace you like and nobody shows up to shoo you away, perfect. However, my German fellow citizens like to be very duteous and might either report you or directly call the police when they see you camping while they walk their dog or something. As I said, it is a grey area and you never know what people will do if they catch you  :-[

Things are different in Sweden, for example, where there is the so called "allemansrätt" which basically means that you can camp on any ground that does not belong to anyone for 1 or 2 nights, making sure you pack everything you brought and that you don't litter the place or make a big bonfire. Not sure about small fires, you might want to look that up, not sure about any other northern European countries.

However, having made this really negative, camp sites in Germany are open to cyclists and the most I ever paid for putting up my tent, the bike and using the washrooms were 15€, which sounds a lot, but I could take the longest shower ever ;-) They are usually also equipped with washing mashines, tumble dryers etc. Depends on the campsite and their prices, of course. When wanting to tour Germany on one of our official trails get the respective copy of the respective trail guide from Bikeline or the Kompass Radführer(it does not let me post the links), we have those guides for most German bike trails. They give you everything from camp sites over hotels, b&bs and other information about mileage and altitude etc.

If you need anything else, feel free to email me as I live in Germany... I also have an overview map which features all of the official German long distance bike rides, I can easily make a couple of pictures of that map and send it to you. Just tell me if that would be of any use to you!

Germany is a beautiful country I, myself, have just started to discover and riding your bike in Germany is a great thing to do!

Best wishes,
Anne
Thank you so much for all the useful information. Please do send me photo's of that map. I am sure they will be usefull along the way. Thanks again