German Trip 2018: Sandra and Jeremy’s route

Our Bunk Campers German relocation holiday (2018) was brilliant; it was the first time Jeremy had done a campervan holiday and we are definitely up for doing more.

For our trip we only had campsites planned for the first and last nights. The rest of our trip along the Austrian/ Germany border (through the alps in Bavaria) was made up as we went along from a little research we’d done before we went, google maps and the DK Back Roads of Germany guide (ISBN: 9781409326472).

Our first night was a quiet campsite (Gasthaus-Pension Schrottenbaummühle) only 30 minutes from the factory, chosen so we didn’t have much driving to do after a day travelling and to give us plenty of time to unpack and get to know our van. The first morning we looked at the weather across the whole of Europe and chose to spend our time in Bavaria. We moved campsite each day, as it is so easy to do with a camper van, moving each day a little way across Germany and sometimes to our surprise across bits of Austria as well. Finding a new campsite each day was easy (with nothing more than google maps) and given the time of year we never booked ahead. Although we did email in advance our last night campsite on the Calais side of Lille (Campsites Alouettes) and they were really helpful, coming back to register us and let us in after we got slowed down by some traffic jams and arrived much later than we expected.

Most days we walked in the alps or explored the little towns with their lovely painted chalets and massive village may poles. One day we walked through the alpine wildflower meadows of the Bad Hindelang/ Sonthofen region. It was idyllic,  with wildflowers, alpine huts, pine forests and alpine peaks in the background. On that particular walk, we wound slowly up the hill on a snow ploughed track with snow on both sides to our picnic lunch at 4500ft with fantastic views. Another day we got to ride a cable car up the mountain and on other days after walking it was lovely to get back to the camper van, brew up a cup of tea whilst soaking up the view from the van with the sunshine coming in the side door.

Our route coincided a lot with the German ‘Alpenstrasse’ (Alpine route). Whilst driving there were great views of nature, mountains, castles and towns. The route was roughly:
Schönau am Königssee (Lake and mountain walking),  Chieming (Scenic lake),   Schloss Hohenaschau (Cable car, castle & Camping “Am Moor”)
Reit im Winkl, Bad Tolz (lovely alpine towns), Garmisch-Partenkirchen (in the rain), through the shadow of the Zugspitze into Austria to camp in Jungholz – an island of Austria in Germany. Our final day sightseeing was in Bad Hindelang/ Sonthofen before we crossed Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium heading for Bunk Campers in Gatwick via the ferry from Calais.

We had chosen to drive a Bunk Campers Aero as we plan to do a month long trip through Scotland and research indicated a smaller van like the Aero that had a shower and toilet would be ideal. The Aero worked for us; it is small but it has enough storage space for clothes for all weathers, plenty of food and even space for bigger items like a table and chairs (and foldup bicycles I suspect). All but one night, we cooked dinner in the van and loved not having to fit in with anyone else’s timetable, like in a B&B. When camping higher up in the mountains it was nice to wake up to the van’s (automatic) heating.

We hope to be back with Bunk Campers in 2019 either to do another German relocation trip (if possible) as we have plenty of Germany and Europe left to explore or hopefully our dream trip to Scotland.