RV RENTAL EUROPE

Book your Motorvana Europe RV rental or camper van hire early to secure best price and availability. Many clients book their Europe motorhome hire holiday months in advance.

EUROPE RV RENTAL DISCOUNT: If you place a Europe motorhome hire or camper van hire booking request with Motorvana, our software will apply a Motorvana QUANTUM discount to your rental.

Motorhome hire in Germany is considerably cheaper, i.e. features lower prices, than elsewhere in Europe. Indeed, you should strongly consider starting and ending your "camping car" tour of Europe in Germany — even if the bulk of your RV rental holiday lies elsewhere in Europe.

Germany lends its outstanding motorhomes and campervans — featuring manual and automatic transmission RVs — along with its central European location, and its leading international airports at Frankfurt and at Munich to motorhome hire tours of the more extended parts of Europe, including Italy, Eastern Europe, Greece, and Scandinavia, as well as neighboring France, Holland, Switzerland, and Austria.

Extra-country one way motorhome rentals are possible with motorhomes or campervans picked up in Paris or Marseille, France, and with our Scandinavian supplier Touring Cars. Intra-country one way auto caravan hire is possible within France, Italy, Scandinavia, and the United Kingdom — and now also from England or Scotland to Ireland.

Motorhomes rented via Motorvana can be taken by ferry or the Channel Tunnel to/from the United Kingdom and Ireland from/to continental Europe. Of course the motorhome's steering wheel will be on the left side of continental-Europe-based RVs and on the right side of the UK-based RVs. Though it is perfectly legal to drive such European camper rentals on the other side of the road, as it were, the driver will typically not be able to see around immediately preceding vehicles well enough to overtake those vehicles and will therefore in this respect have to rely on the eyes of a trusted passenger.

Similarly, the European motorhomes and camper vans can be taken between continental Europe and Scandinavia (now much more accessible, via a bridge between Denmark and Sweden) and by sea or land to Greece. The RVs can be driven in most of the road tunnels through the Alps in Switzerland, Italy, and Austria, and in most of the road tunnels in Norway.

Most of the motorhome and camper van rentals in Europe involve manual transmission RVs. However, these are mostly clutchless manual transmissions, so they are remarkably easy to operate. And it is possible to find an automatic transmission RV for hire, especially in Germany. Just ask us, or look for the emphatic "AUTOMATIC" transmission notation in our Search results. We want you to enjoy the very best RV rental in Europe.

How much does it cost to rent an RV in Europe?

RV travel is truly a big part of the European lifestyle. Nothing unlocks the continent of Europe like a holiday home rental on wheels, a motorhome sweet home. Unpack just once and waste none of your precious time!

So many well-marked campgrounds dot the European landscape that finding them is usually a no-brainer. Look for the RV camping Europe sign: either a "C" with a tent superimposed or else a stylized trailer. Europeans view camping as being cheap, socially oriented accommodation rather than the rugged, back-to-nature experience North Americans tend to picture. As such, organized campgrounds in Europe are good places to meet the middle-class sector of European society, a somewhat different crowd than you'll find in hotels or hostels. Europeans RVers tend to spend more time outside their RV than do North American RVers, and as such you will tend to meet more people in a campground there than you will in a campground (RV park) in the USA or Canada.

The major European cities, too, harbor popular campgrounds. Most budget guidebooks describe the best campgrounds in and around the bigger cities or otherwise-popular spots. Nearly every town in Europe is graced with a few RV friendly campgrounds. If you plan to do lots of camping, however, a special guide is worth its price. Consider this snippet from Mike and Terri Church's Travelers Guide to European Camping:

Campgrounds are also used by Europeans as destinations for extended vacation visits. Many Europeans get a month off during the summer, usually in July or August, and they flock to the seacoast and to sunny southern locations. The vacation campgrounds that they use are a little more like what we Americans are accustomed to. They are located near beautiful natural areas or places with great weather. Places like the Alps, the Mediterranean coastline, or southern Portugal. Even in these places, though, the campgrounds tend to be privately owned and provide more in the way of facilities and entertainment than we are accustomed to. Best of all, campgrounds are never crowded except in July and August, the rest of the year most places aren't even half full.

Remember too, just because you're traveling Europe by RV you don't need to spend every night camping. You can indulge in a sprinkling of hotels. You can sample a hostel or two, many of which welcome RV's. You can incorporate train and bus and moped and especially bicycle travel into your trip. Hey, you can put the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles to shame — and we encourage you to.

Yet driving in Europe is suprisingly easy. The roads are great. The signage is great. The rules, familiar. And as Arthur Frommer once said, "No one has seen Europe who has not traveled in it by car [or by RV!]."

Camping, of course, is a money saver. Discreet free-camping (alias dry-camping, boondocking, wild-camping) in an RV or camping car, although we do necessarily warn against it (for safety's sake) and although explicitly prohibited in certain countries, is tolerated almost everywhere in Europe, the most notable exception being Croatia, a great place to hire an RV and enjoy seaside and mountain camping. Nearby, Romania RV hire and travel is the cheapest in Europe. Sweden officially sanctions wild-camping, and Norway and Finland tolerate wild-camping in principle. The people of those countries consider free-camping a right: everyman's right (Allmansratten), they call it. To properly exercise that right, as it were, a person camps on unfenced and uncultivated land, at least 150 meters (just over 150 yards) away from any dwelling, stays no more than two nights, and cleans up after themselves. Please note, however, that Allmansratten requires RV's park either directly on a road or on a paved or gravelled parking place.

When not in Scandinavia, you could take your chances and free-camp unannounced in some discreet spot or, if you are intent on free-camping, you could do the right thing by asking permission of the land owner. If you choose the second option, chances are your host will engage you in a fascinating conversation and, if you're lucky, invite you to dinner. Of course you can sleep in your vehicle if you like.

Again, though, we officially recommend you do not free-camp, just to be safe.

European RV campgrounds usually itemize fees — charging for each person, tent, vehicle and trailer. Campgrounds in Europe are rated on a four-star scale; and apart from the basics, four-star operations are likely to provide several of the following: laundromat, grocery store, restaurant, bar, disco, swimming pool, water slide, sauna, tennis courts, fitness facilities, miniature golf course, horseback riding, a library, and a playground. Absolutely great for kids! Many campgrounds also offer mobile homes or bungalows for rent. Unless you plan to rent one of these, don't worry about reservations: European campgrounds are never "full"; the operators will pack you in if need be. Individual campsites are typically not delineated. But beware that most campgrounds lock the gate for the night at about 22:00 (10:00 pm) and for lunch from noon to 14:00 (2:00 pm). Also, most campgrounds in Europe do not provide picnic tables, and, sad to say, they disallow campfires. Though the toilets can be perplexing, we'd rather let you discover their wonders for yourself than force you to suffer through a description here. As for the showers, expect all varieties; and if using one that's token operated, make sure you know how much time a token gives you.

Most European motorhomes have chemical toilets with detachable cassettes designed to be emptied in special receptacles — called "Chem WC" units — installed at most campgrounds, or into a regular toilet. Because large, heavy, irremovable holding tanks (i.e. blackwater tanks) are not so common on European motorhomes, many campgrounds in Europe don't have a North American-type dumping station. Campgrounds or other camping facilities in Europe that do have such a facility are denoted by the trailer pictogram and/or the words "Entsorgungskanal" (German), "scarigare" (Italian), or "vidoir" (French). The German auto club ADAC publishes and distributes — free of charge to members of affiliated clubs — a list and map of such dumping stations. For a charge, some campgrounds will allow you to dump without staying overnight. Don't dump these tanks by a highway or in a field — this is highly illegal. If you must, visit a municipal sewage treatment plant to do the job.

Most campgrounds provide central drinking-water taps with a hose connected so motorhomers can fill their tank.

Most European motorhomes are wired with 10 ampere circuits that, given the 230 Volt standard, might allow you to use up to 2300 Watts (that's 10 x 220) of power at any one time. Note, however, that at 230 V or so you need about half the amperage that you need at about 120 V to result in the same power (Watts). A 1000 Watt hair dryer requires only about 4.5 amps in Europe whereas in the USA it requries about 8 amps. Some campgrounds offer a meter at each site, charge you to hook up, and then charge per kilowatt-hour. Others impose an inclusive charge. Since you may have to park quite a distance from a socket, a 25 meter connecting cord (the longer the better) designed for outdoor use is helpful.

You should tell us in advance, and the rental depot on pick-up day, all the countries you plan to visit and if you plan to use the RV for a special purpose.

If you plan to take the vehicle on a ferry, you should contact the ferry company in advance to be sure you bring all the vehicle documents required to board.

Motorvana: Free Your Travel